These are all fine tips, but I'm wondering how/why they are not mandatory in the US? Getting a headlight, having a bell, having a rear-light, not riding on the sidewalk are all mandated by law here in Germany.
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How to Not Get Hit by Cars
41–50 of 262 posts
Re: How to Not Get Hit by Cars
#42>#2 The Door Prize: A driver opens his door right in front of you.
If you have time to react to a car door suddenly opening in front of you, is it best to go around the door?
Or should you brake and stop in a straight line, even if you might crash into the door and the person stepping out of the car?
The same site contains a list of cyclist fatalities[0]. In over 95% of the car door collisions, the bicyclist was killed because they swerved or bounced in front of a following vehicle. They were not directly killed by crashing into the door.
But, naturally, that list doesn't include all the times that a cyclist successfully swerved around the door and nothing happened.
Re: How to Not Get Hit by Cars
#43Living in a densely populated urban city where I walk and take public transport. The problem cuts both ways, irrepressible cyclists are a danger to pedestrians and motorists when they aren't following the road. It must vary from place to place as to which group is the most dangerous, but in Scotland the cyclists in the major cities (especially delivery ones) are getting more and more dangerous. They seem to treat eve…
>The problem cuts both ways, irrepressible cyclists are a danger to pedestrians and motorists when they aren't following the road.
This keeps being brought up often but is it actually true. Accidents involving cyclists and pedestrians seem to be quite rare and if there's injuries it is more often the cyclist when falling off their bike.
Also how are cyclists supposed to endanger motorists? They're safe in their metal death box.
Re: How to Not Get Hit by Cars
#44I have cycled for the better part of 2 years through a busy city going to and from work during rush hour. There are very few cycle lanes so most of my cycling is done on the road with cars. The first thing to pick up on is being aware of the cars around you. You can look around and look into cars so you can easily notice people scrolling on their smartphones - it's one of the first types of people you need to keep a lookout for as they are most of the time oblivious to other people on the road (including you).
The other big advice is taking the lane. Especially in intersections, it is essential to be the middle of the lane and making yourself as visible as possible. Its a few dollars for a high visibility jacket that's water and windproof and it will make a huge difference in other drivers noticing you.
The general rule is that you need to be a bit more brave and you should take extra care because while helmets help, most of your organs are kept in a bag of skin which won't do much if a car runs into you...
Re: How to Not Get Hit by Cars
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Re: How to Not Get Hit by Cars
#46So much of this advice is “ride to the left” and I wish to emphasize it. Novice riders are trained to stick to an invisible (or painted) bike lake which ends up with them being far less visible than they need to be. Your safety is more important than some car’s need to get to work 5 seconds faster, and you shouldn’t feel controlling anxiety if some idiot honks at you for riding in the main traffic lane. You have righ…
Where I live, the cars greatly outnumber bikes. Cyclists that go in the main traffic lane will slow things down substantially, and I think that is inconsiderate.
Re: How to Not Get Hit by Cars
#47I've been commuting by bicycle for nearly 40 years, under a broad array of circumstances, and the article's advice checks out with my own personal rules. Although the vast majority of the crashes and wipeouts I've suffered involved no cars, just me losing control. However, over hundreds of wipeouts accumulated over a lifetime of cycling, I have never hit my head! Wiping out is a skill. A skill best cultivated when on…
> hundreds of wipeouts
Wait, hundreds? I don't own a car and use my bike daily, including commuting to work (which means 24 kilometers per day commuting alone), for around 6 years now. As a kid, I cycled to school every day for 9 years.
I had maybe 2-3 crashes as a kid, and 2 crashes in the last 6 years: once a garbage man rolled a trash can into my handlebar at full speed, and another time a small branch got caught in my front wheel, blocking it completely and sending me flying over the handlebar onto the street.
(The latter was by far the worst bike accident in my life - the bike was ruined, I did not wear a helmet that day, yet for some reason I walked away without even a scratch. Nothing. It didn't even hurt. All the other accidents were far less serious, but always involved pain for days or trips to the hospital for suspected bone fractures).
Re: How to Not Get Hit by Cars
#48after cycling for more than 30 years across 3 continents, i have just one piece of advice for not getting hit by cars: get a driver’s license. you will then better understand the flow of cars around you, the various signs, the right of way etc etc etc
Virtually all adult cyclists in the US have a drivers license. Yet from the numbers I've seen, the US is more dangerous than many European countries for both motorists and cyclists.
Re: How to Not Get Hit by Cars
#49I had #8 happen to me. Broad daylight, no other cars around, just a distracted driver who wasn't signalling. I'd ridden road for 5 years, but haven't since (2018). No matter how hard you try, if its a problem with the driver the car will always win. Also if you're riding in an area that's not accustomed to bikes, your risk of drivers not paying attention or being actively malicious is much higher. Now I exclusively m…
> No matter how hard you try, if its a problem with the driver the car will always win. Which is why we have the "Betriebsgefahr" (operational danger) in Germany. Hard to explain, but it boils down to "You're operating something that is inherently very dangerous. So you will be held responsible to some degree when something goes wrong, even when its not your fault. You accept this responsibility by driving a car" It'…
That sounds nice. We have the opposite rule in one of your northern neighbours. "Bicyclists are inherently unpredictable so it's never your fault if you drive a car, even if it was a little."
(Obviously nobody involved would put it like this, but this is the general theme of the police investigations and the court response the rare times it goes to court.)
Re: How to Not Get Hit by Cars
#50Step N+1: advocate for better cycling infrastructure in your area / town / city. Places that are bike-friendly don't rely on driver or cyclist behaviour to prevent collisions; they build separated lanes, provide bike boxes in front of stopped cars, reduce speed limits, install automated speed enforcement, connect cycling paths through parks, and so on.