After a recent nasty crash, I want to really be sure I am doing everything to be very safe while riding… My question is: what are some of the tips, tricks, and best practices to stay safe on the road. Sounds like an easy question, but honestly, what can one do to avoid (at all cost) being one of the 1000 bicycle fatalities / 45000 bike injuries per year?
My approach to date:
Always always a helmet
Front and rear lights
Garmin Varia
Avoid dangerous roads
If cant avoid dangerous roads, then ride very defensively
Dont ride in the rain; dont ride in the dark
Dont ride when temp is near / at / below freezing
In the Fall and Winter, ride with my winter training bike - slower and fatter tires
(obviously) no alcohol when riding
Despite that, I had a nasty fall (no motor vehicle involved). What else should I be doing? …or just accept that there is a small probability of an “event”? (but that scares the crap out of me now).
I was hit by a car while on a solo bike tour. I had large highly visible pannier bags, a red helmet and bright jacket on and the driver said he didn’t see me.
After biking around the world, my sense of what makes you safe may be different. A helmet is a must but I think flashing lights are a mistake, driver’s tend to drive towards them. If you avoid rainy days, biking only on roads without a shoulder, etc. , then half the world will be off limits.
The biggest problem is distracted driver’s so your only real protection is to be lucky. I’ve stopped riding on roads as it is just not going to change and I’ve used up my luck. If I bike again it will be on trails.
-Spend deliberate time practicing bike handling skills: emergency stops, quick unclips, fall down on purpose on a grassy hill, cornering at speed, weight transfer
-probably obvious but you didn’t mention it - choose quiet times of day to ride (Sunday evenings; Wednesday weekday mornings).
I prefer the word assertive to the word defensive when it comes to riding. There are situations where the safest place to be is in the middle of the lane, even if that pisses off a few drivers.
I think group rides are great not just for providing safety in numbers but also helping you to become a safer rider when on your own. Teaches you good handling skills as you need to ride smoothly, maintain your line when taking a drink or cornering, having good awareness and reactions as to what’s happening around you, can pick up some good assertive riding habits (also some bad ones - depends on the group!) and may show you good roads to ride in your area that you didn’t previously know about.
Another factor is picking what kind of training you do and where. E.g. never good to be in a position where you’re trying to do hard intervals on roads with traffic or lights to contend with - can be tempting occasionally to compromise on safety to hit a power number, however irrational that seems when typing it from the comfort of my office.
Bike maintenance is key. Well-adjusted brakes with clean braking surfaces are the obvious one, but a puncture, chain break, seat post/saddle coming loose, bar tape or brifters slipping, etc can all cause crashes if they happen at the wrong time. Can’t always avoid a puncture or broken chain but you can certainly minimise the likelihood of them occurring. I ride 5000+ miles per year and have done for most of the last 20 years, and I’ve never had a chain break in all that time, and average maybe 1 or 2 punctures per year despite riding on some pretty bad roads. Some of that is luck, most of that is keeping an eye on things and replacing tyres or chains when they’re worn out. Worst crash I’ve ever had that didn’t involve another vehicle was when my handlebars snapped through metal fatigue (over-tightening the stem may have been a factor as well). I never knew that was a risk, won’t be making that mistake again, I get a torque wrench on everything now.
Last one is if you do ride in cold and/or rain make sure you have the right clothing. Nothing worse for bike handling than number fingers and tight shoulders.
Fluorescence on moving parts (legs, shoes, pedals) during the day. Reflectivity on moving parts during the night.
Video-recording won’t prevent you from harm, but it may help you rectify it afterwards. The Fly12 and Fly6 seem to be the best (though they’re pricey).
Don’t ride in dark coloured kit. **Wear bright kit, preferably flouro. **
Ride with others. Two bikes are more visible than one.
For whatever reason, a lot of cycling kit comes in black, slate gray, midnight blue, etc.
However, based on my n=1 experience (but it makes sense), I’m much more “noticeable” when I’m wearing a long sleeved dayglo yellow jersey. (Road workers and guys working on trash trucks wear yellow/orange vests.) Probably not considered “cool” by some cyclists, but save the black Team Sky jersey for group rides
The best thing for me is to go early and I drive 30 minutes north of NW Atlanta (about an hour from downtown) to some popular rural cycling routes.
There are a bunch of things I consider, but my top one is to stay aware at all times and hold my line. I’ve seen quite a few cyclists make abrupt changes in the lane to miss objects or potholes without looking back. The passing cars are not expecting abrupt changes and I have seen some close calls when cars are trying to pass. We may have the right away to miss those objects, but most drivers do not know how to cope with cyclists and they do not understand why we have to avoid objects and potholes. I just try to keep this in mind and always try to take a glance further up the road now and then while in aero. The moment I see something that I may need to avoid I sit up and take a glance back to see if anyone is behind me in preparation.
There’s a large luck factor involved but your decisions will influence the degree of luck you actually need. And no matter what you do, there will always be a certain risk with riding bikes outdoors.
Personally I have not crashed since a bike race in 1994 at the end of the season despite riding a lot including in some fast street racing type group rides. I know there is lots of luck involved, but at the same time I try to minimize risks in various ways. I never ride with people who don’t wear a helmet - never, ever. I stay clear of the people who I know have poor bike handling skills or who make poor decisions (like ride too close to parked cars, go too fast into blind corners, etc). I buy equipment based on proven reliability, durability and strength rather than weight or latest ‘tech’. I do all my work on my bikes myself which also makes it easy to check wear on chain, cables etc and preventatively replace them. I check the tire wear indicators frequently and replace my tires when the indicator is almost gone. I don’t ride on narrow high commuter traffic roads but rather take detours for a quieter alternative. And I ride with confidence - I claim my spot in my lane when needed (block cars from passing when the lane is too narrow) without battling with drivers. I am aware of my surroundings - looking well ahead to see what the obstacles are (potholes, rocks, cars) and behind to ensure it’s safe in case I need to move into the lane. I don’t ride in the dark and I don’t ride in the rain (but that’s because I don’t like to be wet and cold).
Meaning, I try to do a thousand little things which all contribute to my cycling safety as well as my cycling enjoyment. I know I’ve been very lucky but I also try to create my own luck. That said, I fully accept that one day I’ll be less lucky (main reason why I have life insurance).
And I ride with confidence - I claim my spot in my lane when needed (block cars from passing when the lane is too narrow) without battling with drivers.
This is huge. Act like a motorist and you will generally be treated like a motorist. i.e., don’t pass cars sitting at a stoplight if there isn’t a dedicated bike lane. In stead, claim your spot in the line like you would if you were in your car and wait with the rest of them. It blows me away when I see cyclists inch past waiting cars to now force those cars to pass you again when the light turns green.
I drive about 20 minutes to a bike trail that (if you pick the time of day) has few others using it, no stops (has underpasses for cross streets) for about 9 miles in each direction … San Luis River Trail. There are a couple of trails within that car travel time … although the one with hills has a couple of cross streets in the 9 miles … State Route Hwy 56 Separated Bike Path … and you can continue on the streets to Torrey Pines Hill.
There is no perfect place to ride … In 2011 the CEO of the San Diego YMCA was killed when riding on the Separated Hwy 56 bike path when a motorist vehicle climbed the embankment, jumped a chain link fence, and hit him and a fellow cyclist.
For something like that kind of a coincidence … your number is up … you would have difficulty choreographing that crash.
Granted it can get boring to do the same bike path routes … then I resort to the streets but try to stay ‘on the road less traveled’.
I think for daytime the very bright red blinking tail light is helpful when on the streets.
From my location for an ‘on the road’ route … along a separated bike path for most of the rail line from Escondido to Oceanside …
then … Oceanside to Dana Point through Camp Pendleton … has reasonable motorist traffic with a portion of it through a state park with a 15 mph speed limit and little traffic … then more street traffic through San Clemente.
Unfortunately we can’t recommend the same things to everyone.
As people with good legs who are get up to say 40km/h reasonably quickly, you and I can sit in traffic. We’re not going to hold people up as much and they’re going to see us differently. I would never recommend that to my wife or my brother.
But “hold your line” and being predictable is incredibly important. People who pull to the side and then pull out again for parked cars are inviting collisions. (I’ll stop and wait rather than push back in front of a car)
Some good tips already. I’m big on the bright colors, lights front and rear on every ride, and no headphones. I’ve got a couple decades and well over a hundred thousand miles, so I’ll throw a few things out there…
“Riding defensively” can have many definitions. For some, it would mean being as far right as possible on a busy road. For me, it means I am at least 3-4 feet over from the berm of the road most of the time when riding. This puts me more in the line of sight, and does not allow cars to pass when there is oncoming traffic.
I also find that I experience more unfriendly drivers when riding in a group vs. alone. Luckily I prefer to ride alone for 70-90% of my miles. I also find that when riding during the winter, I get more cars waving and general respect. After all, anyone can ride a bike in the summer
If I am coming over the top of a hill and a car has slowed down behind me, I will motion them around if I have very clear and obvious sight that there are not any oncoming cars or bikes. This is a big one and tends to get the most waves and general appreciation from drivers.
When riding the bike path, I also stop at each intersection. I find this shows drivers that I am respecting them as they should respect me. When they stop short to allow me to cross the road, I am friendly and wave.
And I ride with confidence - I claim my spot in my lane when needed (block cars from passing when the lane is too narrow) without battling with drivers.
This is huge. Act like a motorist and you will generally be treated like a motorist. i.e., don’t pass cars sitting at a stoplight if there isn’t a dedicated bike lane. In stead, claim your spot in the line like you would if you were in your car and wait with the rest of them. It blows me away when I see cyclists inch past waiting cars to now force those cars to pass you again when the light turns green.
+1
Distracted driving was mentioned above. The other big one, I think, is aggressive driving. The quoted part above - if you force the same car(s) to pass you more than once - you irritate people and they get more aggressive. Don’t bring that on yourself.
The other big thing for me is choosing good routes. Prefer bike lanes if you can, and also pick roads where the speed differential between you and cars is low. If the cars are already moving slower, they get less upset being stuck behind a bike. And they have more time to react.
