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How to Not Get Hit by Cars

bicyclesafe.com

211–220 of 262 posts

Re: How to Not Get Hit by Cars

#211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People can get sufficiently elderly and sick that an electric tricycle would be the best form of transportation for them. In car centric areas they are usually confined to their homes in these cases.

What do you mean, those old people's motor rollers? I am not convinced.

There are bicycles with three wheels. There are also electric bicycles with three wheels. They require neither effort nor balance to ride, make a rather large part of the city accessible if proper infrastructure exists, and they have storage capacity, e.g. for groceries.

Re: How to Not Get Hit by Cars

#212
post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So this is the only road and there's no alternative bike path. It's too narrow for overtaking so presumably there's also not enough space for stopping on the side. You said yourself that cyclists tried to let you overtake which you didn't because it's illegal. So what I don't understand is what else you think a cyclist can do in this situation other than not existing and bothering you. There's no alternative route.

There is easily enough room for a bicyclist to stop on the side because there are driveways a-plenty plus utility pullouts. These things cannot do anything to increase the usable width of the road for a car. I see a really consistent trend of people who feel it must be the case that the bicyclist must be justified in what they are doing, then go on to make assumptions that are wrong, just as you here assumed somethin…

Honestly, you could have said from the start you wanted them to pull over.

You started with "Don't ride on narrow back-county roads where you block the regular flow of traffic.". That sounds to me like, don't do it at all, not "please pull over every so often to allow card to pass".

Re: How to Not Get Hit by Cars

#213
post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think I understand. Apparently it's unreasonable for one set of road users to say to another "When we're around, you have to go much more slowly on this road than you would like to". But it's not unreasonable for one set of road users to say to another: "You must not use this road at all". Actually, I'm not being entirely sincere. I think I understand very well: you think that car drivers are proper road user…

Yes, the universe shall operate on the bicyclist's time and speed. Anyone disagreeing with this is hostile and should receive lashes for being such an angry hater of anything that is good and just in this world. I think the problem here is there is scarce resources, and you cannot understand or deal with this in any other way than to force everyone to live in the universe as you expect them to. All people shall trave…

Yes, the universe shall operate on the car's time and speed. Anyone disagreeing with this is a hostile and should be run down and mutilated at the first possible opportunity for being such an angry hater of anything that is good and just in this world.

I think the problem here is there is scare resources, and you cannot understand or deal with this in any other way than to force everyone to live in the universe as you expect them to.

All people shall travel at the speed of the car. This is good and just and non-negotiable.

Re: How to Not Get Hit by Cars

#214
post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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? Look in the manual for your car (or pick a random one on the internet and download it). If the headlight stalk has a momentary mode there's a good chance it's literally referred to as "flash-to-pass". It's not aggressive, it's how to communicate a desire/intent to pass to slower traffic. To your specific…

> Look in the manual for your car (or pick a random one on the internet and download it). If the headlight stalk has a momentary mode there's a good chance it's literally referred to as "flash-to-pass". It's not aggressive, it's how to communicate a desire/intent to pass to slower traffic.

This is clearly a cultural thing. It doesn't exist where I live, there's no such thing a flash-to-pass, and would actually be illegal to perform here.

> How about bicyclists on a path shared with pedestrians? Funny that, cyclists often have the same problems with pedestrians as drivers have with cyclists. Heck, I'd bet joggers have conflicts with walkers.

I strongly believe that cyclist sharing space with pedestrians need to be patient, slow down and give pedestrians plenty of space. I also believe that cyclist that don't should be vilified. However a big difference between car vs bike and bike vs pedestrian is that car vs bike = dead cyclist, bike vs pedestrian = injured pedestrian and cyclist. Cyclist kill between 0 to 2 pedestrian a year in the US, cars kill over 7000 pedestrians and around 1000 cyclists every year in the US. Cyclist's aren't perfect, but they're 4000x less dangerous than car drivers.

> Slow traffic that is blocking fast traffic on a shared path should attempt to enable safe passing, for everyone's benefit. Sometimes, especially in hilly/mountainous areas, this involves actually pulling over and stopping because there's not enough room to allow for safe passing in motion. It's not unheard of for such roads to have pull-off areas specifically for this purpose. It's courteous and it makes everyone's day better.

I agree it's courteous, and I certainly make an effort to do this. But the arrogance of drivers to demand that vulnerable road users make way for them, and failure to make space is a licence for drivers to injure and kill vulnerable road users is beyond comprehension.

Re: How to Not Get Hit by Cars

#215

>#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…

You'd be surprised how much give car door hinges have. I've managed to almost rip doors off their hinges before when people door me. They are also very surprised when they call the cops as a result of this and receive a ticket for breaking the law. If somebody opens their car door into the bike lane and after slamming on my brakes, and I can see that I'm not going to stop in time: 1. Try to skid sideways. Your body w…

Then it could be worthwhile practicing that sideways slide maneuver into unexpected obstacles, and always remembering the law is on your side, if there is any law in your country.

[But, like the original bike safety article says, also try not to be so close to stopped vehicles that a door collision can happen]

Re: How to Not Get Hit by Cars

#216

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…

Speeding is ILLEGAL as well. Yet car drivers don't seem that bothered. Funny how a car driver doing something ILLEGAL which substantially increases the risk of death for other road users is acceptable, but a cyclist doing something ILLEGAL which doesn't increase the risk of death for other road users is completely unacceptable.

Re: How to Not Get Hit by Cars

#218
post #3

Pretty interesting advice with lots of less obvious advice along the lines of "doing this may be less legal but safer". An additional fact like this is riding without a helmet can actually make surrounding drivers perceive you as more dangerous, end up giving you more space, and there by make you actually safer. I still always ride with a helmet but it goes with this website auite a bit: doing things that are less ob…

It may be so but it's the same as saying put a big spike in the stearing wheel and people drive safer, good intentions over all but flawed when the cyclist ends up in a&e.

In risk management this is trying to flatten the curve by increasing the chance of death.

Re: How to Not Get Hit by Cars

#219
post #17

Living 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…

No post body was provided.

Re: How to Not Get Hit by Cars

#220
post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where I live its the legal right of bicyclists to use the road in the same manner as cars do. Just because your vehicle is less agile than yours, they are not inconsiderate, e.g. you would not honk on trucks just because they accelerate slower. Or on school buses because they need to stop often.

If you are driving a camper up a mountain road and you are going slower than traffic you are supposed to pull over when you get too many cars backed up behind you. I've heard the number is six cars backed up till you have to let them pass. I see no reason a similar rule doesn't apply to bikes or anyone else legally using the road but traveling slower than the flow.

That would really only be feasible if a cyclist could safely make such a judgment while keeping their eyes on the road. If as a cyclist I'm holding up more than 6 cars behind me it's because whoever is in charge of building/ maintaining the road wasn't doing their job. I'd also say I've seen plenty times where cars have held up 20+ cyclists and given no indication they intend to let them pass.
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