PMo wrote:
Sanrafaeltri wrote:
PMo, You are right that the one waving them didn't check the bike lane. But that is negligence not intent. They truly did not mean the cyclist harm. It was an accident.
To contrast that, I (and I imagine most cyclists have similar stories) have had folks throw things at me (while I'm in the bike lane), get real close and yell at me to make me fall, see me and choose to turn out right in front of me and see me and choose to do an illegal u-turn in front of me causing me to hit them and then telling the officer "I had no right to be on the road".
Unintentional would be the old lady who turned left in front of me and nearly hit me or the driver who turned right into a restaurant after passing me in the bike lane. Should they have seen me? Yes. Did they? No. I am upset about these two as my life is still in danger, but these were not intentional like the others above (and many others that I could recount) all of which have occurred since 2017. In 2014 to 2016 I had zero situations where someone intentionally mistreated me on a bike. The sad thing is that I feel hunted on the bike these days by people who are bullies behind the wheel. I now wear a blinking safety vest on every ride and a camera on my helmet in addition to the normal array of blinking lights all over my bike.
Saying that it wasn't an accident isn't the same as saying that it was intentional.
Calling something an accident implies that there is no on at fault and that it couldn't have been prevented and it's just something that is always going to happen. This makes us complacent and doesn't motivate us to improve our driving skills and situational awareness.
If we just say "oh it was an accident, nothing you can do" then drivers will continue waving other drivers across the road without checking their mirrors for bikes. If we instead call it an incident and look for a root cause, then we can educate ourselves and others and make the roads safer.
There's an important distinction in the words used that shouldn't be taken lightly.
https://www.vox.com/2015/7/20/8995151/crash-not-accident
Never rely on others for your safety.
Never pass a car sitting in the traffic lane on the right unless you are sure they can't turn into you, the road ahead is clear and/or they see you.
Part of survival 101 for cyclists in urban traffic.
Yes, I hate to be preachy and that I am the slowest of my group to get out of town.
Last edited by:
windschatten: Oct 12, 17 21:41