The situation was familiar as much as it was tragic: A 25-year-old bicyclist was hospitalized with a serious head injury after getting hit by a car while running a red light. He was not wearing a helmet.

While Seattleites have built one of the most bike-friendly cities in the nation, infrastructure improvements can go only so far in keeping cyclists safe. Personal behavior is a key component of riding safety that too many students ignore because of vanity or expediency.

While there are strong benefits of urban biking, poor cycling etiquette can lead to serious injury or death. In 2005, New York City released a report concerning urban bicycle accidents since 1996. They found that 92 percent of fatalities involved crashes with motor vehicles and 89 percent occurred near an intersection. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety found that in 2008, 91 percent of bicyclists killed were not wearing a helmet.

While death may be the most worrisome result of a biking accident, serious injury is a more likely outcome. Between 1995 and 2004, 34 bicyclists were killed in King County. During the same period, 1,765 were seriously injured.

However, your fate is not left up to chance when biking. There are several easy changes you can make that will vastly increase your safety. The most common suggestion to prevent a trip to the emergency room is to wear a helmet. According to a Seattle study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, helmets reduce the risk of serious head injury by 85 percent and serious brain injury by 88 percent. Wearing a helmet is also the law in King County.

Avoiding an accident is the most preferable option. This can be achieved by being visible and predictable. The best way to accomplish this is by wearing bright or reflective clothing and using lights. A white front light and red rear reflector are required by law when riding at night. Also, if you are on a road, act like a car. That means obeying red lights and stop signs, using hand signals when turning, and not trying to weave in and out of traffic.

Unfortunately, student bikers regularly violate these common-sense practices. For example, a 1999 U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission survey found that 71 percent of people not wearing helmets did so because they were either riding a short distance, forgot, or found them too uncomfortable. The excuses for not following safe biking procedures range from reasons of vanity — safe biking gear makes you look foolish — to expediency — stopping at red lights or stop signs slows you down. Feeling fashionable and cutting seconds from your trip time are not worth the extra risk.

With at least 58 miles of shared use paths or bike lanes, Seattle and King County have put forth considerable effort to make cycling safe and efficient. However, student bikers put themselves in unnecessary danger with risky behavior such as not wearing helmets or passing stopped vehicles. Safe riding is simple and can help keep you a happy and healthy cyclist for years to come.

Reach columnist Mike Noon at opinion@dailyuw.com.