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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

#141

Post by lelanthran »

avianlyric wrote: post #107
dotancohen wrote: post #98

Car driver here, not a bicyclist. I don't see your side of the story, and probably never will unless I kill one of you. Don't want me to hit you? Make yourself visible and courteous. Put on a bright jacket, bright helmet, or something else bright. And use a steady (not flashing) red light in the back and a steady (not flashing) white light aimed at the ground in the front. If you use flashing lights I cannot tell how…

> You've got a right to use the lane just as much as I do, but be a good citizen and actually let me pass you safely. If you hear me coming up behind you or notice my flashing high beams, please dip to the right a bit so that I can continue past you and leave you safely. Do you take the same approach to cars? Or do you reserve such aggressive tactics only for vulnerable road users? As you say, bike user have just as…

> Do you take the same approach to cars? Or do you reserve such aggressive tactics only for vulnerable road users?

I assure you almost all car drivers get annoyed by slow-moving[1] obstacles in their path, whether car, camel or bike.

Why on earth would you think that someone would not get annoyed?

[1] Depending on how slow the obstacle is moving, the annoyance can range from muttering-under-the-breath to honking in disbelief at the inconsideration shown by the obstacle.

When you see a line cars all slowing following some obstacle for a large amount of time, it's unreasonable to expect that the drivers won't be annoyed. When you're on your bike, wouldn't you be annoyed at slowing to less than 10% of your speed for the duration of your journey because of a slower-moving obstacle?

Re: How to Not Get Hit by Cars

#142

Post by kqr »

makecheck wrote: post #129

The overwhelmingly most common one I see is cyclists not stopping at STOP signs (or worse, red lights), and the real crazy ones appear to not even slow down . It is illegal to run a stop sign, and it is certainly possible a car (crossways or turning) will arrive first and have right of way. So a car is turning, why should it expect a cyclist to come plowing through on a whim? Again: it is ILLEGAL for cyclists to run…

In some situations, it is empirically safer for cyclists to clear intersections against red/stop signs. Usually because there's no other traffic crossing their path at those times.

Of course, the egregious cases you've witnessed are probably not those situations, so this is more as a reminder that sometimes the dichotomy of the law is not what matters most to the individual.

Re: How to Not Get Hit by Cars

#143

Post by agumonkey »

s1k3 wrote: post #66

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 understa…

Totally. Ensure twice or thrice. Stay at large safe distance, avoid crowded places, speedy places. Also your sometimes your breaking distance will be longer.. so if a car brakes hard, you'll ram into them. Distance. (that's why I take longer isolated paths now)

Re: How to Not Get Hit by Cars

#144

Post by ygra »

alisonatwork wrote: post #61
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 merg…

Similar here; got my driver's license at 30. The first thing I noticed behind the steering wheel was that drivers in cars have basically zero visibility of their immediate surroundings due to the various pillars. Took me quite a while to get used to. But yeah, it also taught me a lot of things to never do on a bicycle since motorists are likely to not even see you.

Re: How to Not Get Hit by Cars

#145

Post by larrymyers »

ninesnines wrote: post #86

I really think we should build better infrastructure for bikes in the US. this has been done in so many European cities even over the last couple of decades/half century. It is very difficult to have cars and bicycles coexist without them both having their proper lanes. Especially with cities like Boston I really hope this can become a reality.

We're attempting to fight this battle (again) in Chicago. Paint is not protection. Fortunately we have some city alderman who get it and more bike lanes are getting actual raised concrete barriers for protection.

Re: How to Not Get Hit by Cars

#146

Post by laurieg »

This article is very useful and very practical.

Unfortunately where I live cycling is a mess. Cyclist often ride against the normal flow of traffic and this is so common that it is relatively normalized. Almost every day I'm riding on the correct side of the road and I come face to face with a potential head-on collision. Of course, in this situation it's difficult to know whether to keep left or right.

Cyclists are also extremely unpredictable here. They often dip and dive around traffic and pedestrians so when dealing with them it's very hard to predict their movement.

Knock on effect of this is other road users can't predict my movements as a cyclist even if I follow all the rules. Drivers don't expect me to yield to them. So when I stop at a stop sign they angrily honk their horn and wave me through. Construction workers don't expect me to ride on the road so they ignore me leading to a head-on confrontation with a car or they run out in the middle of traffic to try to stop me from cycling with the normal flow of traffic.

Above all, I implore cyclists to ride a predictably. Pedestrians and other road users don't want a collision. If you ride predictably they can work out where you are going and avoid you.

Re: How to Not Get Hit by Cars

#147

Post by CJefferson »

paulnpace wrote: post #104
iofiiiiiiiii wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You sure sound like a driver who owns the road. Nobody expects you to pass on a double yellow. You are supposed to slow down as needed to stay behind the cyclist until it is safe to pass.

> You sure sound like a driver who owns the road. I hear this often, but it doesn't make sense to me. I have one single route to get to any destination, and because one person wants to ride a bicycle on this round, >5 cars will often be lined up behind the bicyclist traveling >30 MPH below the speed limit. Of course, it's the drivers who feel they own the road in this scenario (even if it's one driver). This is the t…

I don't own a car, but do own a bike. At least where I live, I also have the same single route as you to commute to work (there might be lovely alternative cycle lanes where you live).

Re: How to Not Get Hit by Cars

#148

Post by mplanchard »

dagurp wrote: post #102

They only thing I don't agree with is using a flashing light on the front. It is incredibly inconsiderate, especially to other cyclists and pedestrians

Much more important to be visible than nice, particularly when riding at night. Bikes with just a rear light are not especially visible from the front at night, and it’s easy to miss them if you’re a car turning into the road where the bike is traveling.

As someone who commuted by bike daily for about ten years, I cannot imagine thinking that another bike having a flashing front light is inconsiderate. I love to see my fellow cyclists lit up like Christmas trees, because it means they’re more likely to make it to where they’re going safely.

Re: How to Not Get Hit by Cars

#149

Post by Beltalowda »

devit wrote: post #62

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).

As a cyclists you tend to go a bit faster, and it may not be as obvious from the "body language" that you intend to cross (depending on the situation). In quite a few cases, the driver may not have seen you or it may just not have been obvious that you wanted to cross. And as a pedestrian your movement is a lot more flexible: you can stop very quickly if something goes wrong. As a cyclists, not so much.

Re: How to Not Get Hit by Cars

#150

Post by afc »

yohannparis wrote: post #11
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…

Quite true. For novice riders are simply tell them to ride where they would put they right wheel when driving a car. And at least a meter away from the curb/parked cars.

I love the simplicity of this formulation. It's very obvious in retrospect. Thanks for your comment. I'll steal this.
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