My father turns 86 in less than two months.

Because of my age and the fact that I’ve fractured an elbow, a hand, a collarbone, a hip, and two femurs while bicycling, he’s told me a number of times since my last accident that I should stop. There’s more traffic and people drive faster than ever before, he claims, but what’s worse is that so many drivers talk and text on phones and pay little attention to the road.

The last time we discussed this I became annoyed enough to ask him if I should spend the rest of my days in the fetal position sucking my thumb.

That’s when the real issue emerged. My dad admitted that every time I leave for a ride from his house, he now gets anxious, really anxious.

Anxious enough to sometimes pop a Xanax.

I said what I could, but logic is no match for fear. Our conversation ended with him declaring, “The day I stop worrying about you is the day I stop being your father.”

I left him that weekend thinking he had finally started thinking like an old man.

And then I read an article written by Ed Blazina of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that made me reconsider. It was based on a study that found a significant increase during the first six months of 2019, not in deaths from vehicles striking cyclists - but in deaths from vehicles hitting pedestrians.

The study, conducted by Sam Schwartz Consulting and released by the Governors Highway Safety Association, found that from 2009 to 2018 pedestrian deaths increased by 53 percent.

Richard Retting, the author of the study, attributes the increase to three factors, two of which were rather similar to my father’s concerns: an increase in vehicular traffic, particularly large vehicles, and cellphone use by both drivers and pedestrians.

But Retting’s third reason is the one that really deserves our focus: more people are walking as a form of exercise.

While I recognized from the start that cycling on the roads was a potentially dangerous activity, I never really thought that walking near them or on them was. But I never really thought that cyclists had much in common with walkers, either, and now it’s clear that they do.

Our common bond: we need to be vigilant when we do what we do so we don’t pay the price for someone else’s negligence.

Interestingly enough, none of those bones I’ve broken crashing a bicycle were ever caused by a car. In fact, I’ve told many people, including my dad, that you develop a sort of sixth sense while cycling that helps you avoid accidents.

I’m convinced, for instance, that I can sense when a vehicle from behind could hit me. On dozens of occasions, I’ve instinctively leaned my body to the right and kept the passenger-side mirror of the oncoming vehicle from whacking my left arm.

More than once, I’ve quickly turned into someone’s driveway because my cycling sense screams out that the car approaching from behind has two wheels on the wrong side of the white line.

Strangely enough, these close calls have caused me to have more, not less, confidence on the roads. I do, however, recognize the potential disaster of overconfidence - of doing a ride with my guard down.

So if I don’t feel mentally ready to be a true road warrior, I don’t ride the roads. I ride the D&L Trail or stay inside on the wind trainer.

Because I’ve managed to avoid cars for 30-plus years and an estimated 200,000 road miles, I feel I can offer advice to walkers. Keeping the cell phone at home is No. 1 on my list, especially because it’s foolish to be anywhere near vehicular traffic while listening to music.

What you need in any potentially dangerous situation is enough reaction time to keep potentiality from becoming actuality. Since the first can morph into the second in a millisecond, you want to hear any vehicle-related noise clearly and quickly.

When I’m riding, I value my hearing so highly that on those first few cold-weather rides when my ears need to be covered, I use “safer” roads. I’d keep using them all winter long except my hearing seems to adjust with time, and I eventually feel comfortable with my ears covered.

Course selection is the second major consideration. If you have any worries about walking on a certain road, go another way.

I know that there are roads I won’t ride regardless of the degree of traffic or time of day. Similarly, there are roads I’ll use only when I’m alone but never as the leader of a group ride.

In short, don’t fear walking outside simply because of the statistics cited earlier, but don’t lie to yourself either. There is a degree of danger if you do any form of exercise on open roads. You need to admit that to yourself and actively take measures to mitigate the danger.