Waterloo Coun. Diane Freeman started commuting by bicycle last year. She hoped to inspire others by showing that anyone can do it.

Last month a car hit her on Northfield Drive. She hit her head on the road. She needs physiotherapy to help recover from back injuries, road rash and whiplash. The driver was ticketed $110 for failing to yield.

"I'm on the mend," she says. She expects a full recovery, but it will take time. It will not keep her off her bicycle. "I choose not to live in fear."

Admire her pluck. But the lesson most easily drawn is the opposite of what she intended — riding a bicycle to work is dangerous and counter to common sense.

Many people cycle for recreation, often away from traffic. Relatively few in this region cycle for meaningful transportation, despite noisy promotion by cycling advocates and city halls trying to appear green. Just one per cent of regional commuters — 2,820 people — rode bicycles to work in 2011 according to Statistics Canada. That number is insignificant as a transportation share. And it's not growing.

Residents have many reasons to shun bicycle commuting. There's winter and distance and geography. Above all there's safety. People feel unsafe riding bicycles in traffic.

A 2008 survey found that most local cyclists choose to ride unlawfully on sidewalks or on boulevards even if cycling lanes are painted on the road. People ride where they feel comfortable and painted lanes add little comfort.

Freeman argues that drivers and cyclists need to learn how to share the road. She's not wrong, but exhorting people to get along will not persuade more people to cycle to work. To make people feel safe bicycles must be separated from traffic. Even then, odds are long that commuter cycling will ever take hold.

Freeman did everything right. She wore a helmet and reflective gear. She rode carefully in traffic. Yet it still went wrong in a collision that was not her fault, and she got hurt. She understands that this will confirm for some that cycling to work is dangerous and unwise. "That would make me sad," she says.