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How to Not Get Hit by Cars

bicyclesafe.com

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Re: How to Not Get Hit by Cars

#61

Post by alisonatwork »

kmlx wrote: post #20

after 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

This. I didn't get a driver's license till I was in my 20s, but it made me a much more conscientious cyclist, because I understood better what drivers were looking for and how they thought about sharing the road. Often as a cyclist on busy roads the safest thing to do is behave exactly like a driver would behave, just much slower. It might briefly annoy people behind you, but it sure is better to cross lanes and merge into traffic as a first class citizen of the road than get stuck in the shoulder and try to dash through a gap.

Re: How to Not Get Hit by Cars

#62

Post by devit »

I don't understand why crossing between sidewalks would be unsafe.

Pedestrians obviously do that all the time, and assuming that you start crossing from a stopped state and not at speed, it seems to me that a bike is as visible or more visible than a pedestrian (about same height, much wider, similar speed).

Re: How to Not Get Hit by Cars

#63

Post by CBarkleyU »

adrianN wrote: post #36
CBarkleyU wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are there? Do you mean the designated cycle path which are adjecant to the sidewalk using the same material as the sidewalk, but in different colour (red)? Correct me if I'm wrong, but bycicles are forbidden to ride on the actual sidewalk (Bürgersteig, Gehweg) by adults.

I mean dedicated "cycle paths" that are not a "benutzungspflichtiger Radweg" (sign 237), but are legal to cycle on. They usually are on the same level as the sidewalk and only visually distinct in some form. They were typically constructed in the sixties or seventies, are too narrow to overtake or use with a cargo bike, and suffer from the same visibility problems that illegally cycling on the sidewalk has.

Oh yeah, we mean the same thing. I was just hung up on the definition of sidewalk.

Re: How to Not Get Hit by Cars

#64

Post by ipsin »

FatalLogic wrote: post #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 kill…

It's best to be out of the path of the door so you don't have to decide, but I imagine otherwise it's situation dependent. "Am I going fast?", "Is there a huge truck behind me?", etc.

Re: How to Not Get Hit by Cars

#65

Post by paulnpace »

acd wrote: post #4

Lets get cars out of cities. No car in the city centre no car hitting bicycles and pedestrians. Clean air less noise.

With such policies you will quickly discover there are many more health conditions that preclude riding a bicycle than you were previously aware. For example, middle-aged and older men who suffer variously different prostate-related conditions that aren't usually discussed.

(Please don't tell me about special bicycle seats.)

Re: How to Not Get Hit by Cars

#66

Post by s1k3 »

Reading through all these comments I’m floored that no one has pointed out the most obvious safety tip of any bike/pedestrian. Use the roads defensively and as if every car doesn’t know you’re there. Before entering traffic with cars make damn sure the car sees you and make sure you are fucking visible. Motorists aren’t looking for bikes (you are small) they are looking for cars. It is your responsibility to understand what every car is doing and to ensure that a motorist sees you taking an action that might result in a collision. You technically own the road by law, but you practically speaking don’t. Bad accidents don’t happen because everyone was aware. Bad accidents happen because either the driver or the cyclists wasn’t paying attention. It doesn’t matter how much of the road you own if the motorist is distracted answering a phone or changing a radio station. Their car will crush you all the same. Drive defensively. Be aware of all of your surroundings at all times, particularly motorists and defer to the car when in doubt. The law cannot save your life after your chest has been crushed.

Re: How to Not Get Hit by Cars

#68

Post by LVB »

CBarkleyU wrote: post #24
stonepresto wrote: post #7

I 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'…

The concept sounds a lot like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strict_liability. I was introduced to the term at a mine site since it applied to blasting activities. Basically if anything/one was harmed during the blast, it was on the mine, regardless of them doing everything correctly. (I’m not holding my breath for this to be applied to US drivers.)

Re: How to Not Get Hit by Cars

#69

Post by OJFord »

hammock wrote: post #2

So 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…

In the UK, cycle lanes stop or are explicitly painted out in front of cars in such areas.

Such as: http://s0.geograph.org.uk/geophotos/02/57/34/2573447_7290591... (it's not clear without more context why the lane's on the right, remember we drive on the left so usually the lane is too, but my point is the area in front of the cars, forcing cars to see you and allowing the cyclists to clear the junction first.)

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