Drivers: evolve and stop driving like a mefirst jerk, use your turn signals even when you don't have to, and pay attention to driving.

Bikers: Decide if you're a car or a pedestrian, stick with the decision, and follow the prescribed rules. You can't switch between the two at will and wonder why cars get mad at you.

Fundamentally, everyone needs to be equally considerate of fellow drivers, cyclists and pedestrians. We must be diligent in our own behavior, and be prepared to offer non-threatening "guidance" to others who have not yet evolved to this level of awareness.

Despite a few recent tragedies, Seattle is a fantastic city in which to ride bikes, both as a commuter and for pleasure. In the big picture, we're doing all the right things; with time and continued effort safety will improve.

On a personal note, my car sports Share the Road plates; it's a great way to send a positive message out on the streets, while also funding bicycle initiatives in our state.

People are going to say a lot about what drivers should do. I agree with all of it. However, no matter how much we improve driver awareness, we have to assume that the roads are full of drivers that don't see us or don't know how to drive safely.

So here's my advice to my fellow cyclists, plus a note for the police and state patrol. 

Attitude: When you ride a bike, remember that the driving habits that put cyclists in such danger are the norm, not some road rage that only flares up when a cyclist is present. Cars hit each other all the time, but most of the accidents are minor fender benders so drivers accept the risk. Riding a bike as if you are like any other vehicle on the road makes you subject to the same risks. It's not fair. It's not right. But being an activist in the saddle and insisting on your full rights every time your ride is not going to fix it.

Visibility: Consider using a very bright, flashing headlight in the day.

Sidewalks: You can ride on the sidewalk in Seattle. Use this to get around dangerous roads. It's particularly useful on long climbs where you are going to have to ride slowlly anyway; you might as well be out of traffic.

Police: Please, PLEASE, bust drivers for having side windows tinted so dark that cyclists and other drivers can't make eye contact. If I'm going down the road and one of these blacked-out cars comes up from a side street ahead of me, I have to assume they don't see me and slam on the brakes, creating a risk of other kinds of accidents. There's a law on the books regulating how dark windows can be tinted. Let's enforce it.

Everyone would be a lot safer if both cars and cyclists followed right-of-way rules as if bicycles were vehicles. That means both should yield when they're supposed to and actually *gasp* stop at stop signs and lights.

As a cyclist, I find that a lot of drivers stop for me when I'm crossing a busy street and don't have the right of way. While I appreciate the gesture, it's actually kind of dangerous for me (you stopped for me, but other drivers may not). Better for everyone if you just keep going.

Cyclists who aren't comfortable negotiating busy intersections should dismount and use the crosswalks. Apparently a lot of cyclists get hit while crossing from one sidewalk to another, because drivers aren't watching the sidewalks for anything as fast-moving as a bike, and can't necessarily see a bike coming in time.

Everyone follow the same set of rules all the time.

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This intersection of cars and pedestrians would really benefit from 100% blinker use. I used to walk through here twice a day to get to and from work.

Don't drive a car.

enforce helmet laws with the same vigor we enforce seatbelt law.

operate in each mode like the law says you should.

raised bike lanes.

tested licensing for bike riders.

add more bike awareness quizing to licensing for drivers.

sue/boycott the media when they treat bike deaths as somehow different than all the other transportation related death in our city.

Get your friends to vote for the $60 VLF in November. 22% of the $204M it will raise over the next decade will go to bike and ped improvements. About half of it will go to buses, and a good chunk to the streetcar network, so that will get more people out of their cars too.

If you are into slacktivism, simply changing your Facebook icon is an easy way to build awareness. Check out Streets for All Seattle- they are curently running the best (although still pretty weak) FB campaign: http://www.facebook.com/StreetsForAllSeattle

Here's the thing though: Biking in Seattle is already relatively safe. Seattle routinely makes top 10 lists of the the top biking cities in the USA. I realize that those are dubious honors, but bikers in Seattle don't seem to know how good it is for them here. The public outrage over the 3 recent cycling deaths, while warranted, simply wouldn't exist in many cities. They would be regarded as any other traffic accident, not as casualties lost in the war against cars.

Here, it is like bicyclists are a protected class. When was the last time local blogs got all up in arms because a pedestrian got hit by a car? Food for thought...

If you and your friends ride bikes, tell them to be safe, obey the rules of traffic, and SHARE the road. Sharing means that they need to make way for pedestrians, and even take the needs of cars (gasp!) into consideration.