Over 5,000 people bike to work every day in Boston. Those of us who don’t bike to work but who bike for exercise know that cycling is fun. Kids everywhere know that! Pedaling under your own power with the wind in your face and 360-degree views of your surroundings is arguably the best way to travel.

A little over a month ago I was training (casually training) for a sprint triathlon, spending a couple of days biking, a couple running, and a couple swimming, when I had an accident on my bike. A bus pulled in front of me to stop. Late afternoon light reflected off the windows of the bus and it blinded me for a couple of seconds. I turned my handlebars too far to the left and crashed. I wasn’t even going fast! My knee took the brunt of the fall and it cracked in three pieces. I’m still on crutches. This accident wasn’t really anyone’s fault. But if there had been a separate bike path or a dedicated bike lane, it would not have happened.

In April, 34-year-old Owen McGory collided with a garbage truck in Charlestown and was killed. The driver apparently never even saw him and left the scene of the accident thinking he had hit a pothole. In 2012, a BU student, Chris Weigl, was run over and killed by a tractor trailer on Commonwealth Avenue in Boston.

According to a city of Boston report, there were 9 fatalities and 1,446 accidents (incidents) between 2010 and 2012; 63 percent involved motor vehicles. Meanwhile, bicycle ridership in Boston continues to increase. And, of course, more and more people are using Hubway Bikes. There are 105 Hubway stations in the Boston area and, according to Hubway.com, ridership has more than doubled since former Mayor Thomas Menino launched the program with over 670,000 rides recorded.

Mayor Marty Walsh, we could use more separated bike paths and dedicated bike lanes in Boston. True, we have the Minuteman bike trail and the Greenway bike path, the Neponset bike path, bike paths along the Charles River, and many more paths in parks around Boston. But more safe and separate bike paths and bike lanes throughout the city would be better not just for cyclists but also for motorists.

Right now it’s a war out there for road rights and, although cyclists are increasing in number, they are no match for 2 to 4 tons of metal. Many motorists are mad at cyclists, whom they see as in the way. Cyclists are anxious about car and truck drivers who take right turns without signals, or pull over suddenly, or open street-side doors to step out. Motorists and bicycle commuters are both exasperated by cyclists who ride against traffic, ride on sidewalks, run red lights, and ride at night without lights. The answer to these problems is to separate cyclists and motorists.

A few cities in the United States are known for being user-friendly to cyclists: Portland, Oregon; Boulder, Colorado; and Davis, California to name three. In those cities, bike paths are clearly marked or color coded and often separated as paths. On a trip to Germany a couple of years ago, my wife, son, and I rode bikes through Munich in separate lanes with rails and posts between the bikes and cars. Safer conditions for cyclists and drivers will result in more women riding bikes, too. Currently most bike commuters are males.

To be sure, police must issue citations to cyclists who break traffic rules and endanger others. But, in the long run, we need to create a city that is bike-friendly. Not just for the sake of safety but because bike culture is a healthy culture, reducing pollution and slowing the rate of climate change. This will reinforce the trend among millennials to eschew buying cars. Instead, young people are using bikes and public transportation to get around. Mayor Walsh, you can begin to distinguish yourself by building on the initiatives begun by Mayor Menino by creating more bike paths and dedicated bike lanes to make Boston a cleaner, safer and healthier city.

Ed Meek is a Somerville resident who writes poetry and blogs at www.letsrethink.org.