With the break in weather here in the midwest, I am very saddened to hear of all the bike fatalities so far this year. I know that their are many families that are being torn apart by this and my prayers are with them. I am however constantly amazed at the lack of respect a lot of bikers and motorists give one another. We have several guys in our group that no matter what you say to them they can’t keep their butt’s out of the center of the freakin road. It is like they are oblivious to what may happen to them. Unfortunately it makes the whole group vulnerable to a motorists getting nervous and pulling off the once in lifetime pass they may take us all out. (I am done venting now) This brings me to the point of this thread. I know some will be obvious, but if it saves someone in the slowtwitch family it is well worth it.
Here are a couple of suggestions from me for what they are worth:
A) Helmet (You can’t be serious to say that with technology today that it is too heavy or makes you too hot!)
B) Bright colorful jerseys (As much as I hate to admit it I have come way to close to several bikers simply because you can’t see them when they are dressed in all black and yes I was probably on my cell phone)
C) Major Roads: (I have to ride some major roads to get to the country too and I know some people don’t have a choice, but try to avoid them if you can)
D) Groups: (Ride with several well schooled bikers as much as possible and eliminate the dummies, it is much easier for motorist to see us) I know this does not always work when you are in training!
E) Music: Are you kidding me! It is almost impossible to hear them when nothing is stuffed in your ear(s).
I hope I did not offend anyone. I do not want to here of anyone getting killed over something that could be prevented with proper planning. Please list your ideals…
I’m not sure anyone can answer this, but are most bikers killed by drivers doing stupid things as opposed to bikers riding in an unsafe manner?
I would bet that most of the bikers killed were not being unsafe in any manner and were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. It just seems like it’s always a drunk driver, or someone pulls in front of a biker or stuff like that.
My own rules. I live just west of Chicago - so I’m ridding on very busy roads.
Ride early to avoid traffic as much as possible. On weekdays I don’t mess with roads at all - I only ride on a path by my house (I’m lucky to have it). Weekends I’m on the road before 6 A.M.
Avoid at all costs; Highway exchanges. Truck routes. Roads without a shoulder. Roads with ‘blind’ hills - where oncoming traffic will not see you until they crest the top of the hill.
If I can’t stick to the rule above - I toss the bike in the van and drive to more rural areas.
Make yourself as visible as possible. I have one of those little red flashing lights in the back and front of my bike. I may look like a geek - but I know drivers will see me.
Assume drivers do not see you. Never cross a driver unless you have eye contact - and then still be carful.
Agreed luck’s probably the biggest factor but a rule I learnt this weekend is KNOW YOUR LIMITATIONS. As in if you’re a fairly inexperienced rider on new tyres AND a twitchified road bike due to several positional tweaks AND coming up to an unfamiliar roundabout don’t be forget that your not a TdF prologue superstar for whom getting off the aerobars is a bad idea.
You know what happened next - 28mph onto an unseen bit of ice and I’d gone from tucked into the inside line to picking my bike out of the far hedge in about a second. It was my incredible good fortune there was no traffic coming up in the one and a half lanes I crossed but if I had of been hit I’d probably have apologised for hitting their bumper - pure stupidity.
On the upside I didn’t even realise I’d hit my head till I took off my helmet once safely home and discovered three monster cracks where I’d obviously hit hard (thankyou Giro - I will be taking you yup on your half price replacement offer) and just to prove there are some great motorists out there I was offered two 40+ mile lifts home by drivers who’d seen the whole thing.
Don’t get caught up in the idea of “respect” and “right of way.” You’re exposed and wearing lycra, the drivers are inside a 3000 pound steel box. The car will always win so just acknowledge reality and assume they can and will do what ever they want whenever they want to and try to be ready for it.
Think like the driver. If I was in that car over there, could I see me? Would I even be looking over here and would I be looking for a bike? Is the sun in my eyes? Would I know what that guy on the bike was about to do?
I prefer to ride only a handfull of routes over and over. The less I have to worry about navigation, unexpected pot holes, cracks, glass, vanishing lanes etc, the more attention I can pay to traffic. I also ride routes that are heavily used by other cyclists. Any driver who regularly drives these roads will have seen lots of bikes over time. This doesn’t eliminate idiots but it does reduce the number a little and improve the odds.
I’m sure we have all almost hit a cyclist while driving. When you are driving, pay attention to cyclists and think about what they are doing that makes avoiding them either easier or harder.
You either have “it” (i.e. luck or keen awareness) or you don’t. If you keep getting hit, take up another sport before it is too late.
I think that the serious encounters happen as a result of:
The car driver trying to squeeze through or past. What’s with this? This happens on almost every ride. Car drivers seem almost pathologically obsessed with getting by the cyclist(s), no matter what. How about waiting for 10 - 15 seconds for a safe place in the road to pass. Happend to me last evening. Guy in a truck was so close to me I could almost feel the mirror on my elbow. It was on a narrow curve. Had he waited even 10 seconds, the road straightend out and the shoulder widened out. But no, he HAD to get by me right there! Of course they always have to gun it when they do this move to. Let’s see. I am going about 30km/h they are going 60 - 80km/h, they will pass in an instant but they still have to hammer the accelerator! Why is that?
Absolutly stupid and/or negligant behaviour on the part of car drivers - being drunk, poor observation skills, illegal passes and so on.
Unfortunate freak occurances, of the sort Tom D talked about in a post yesterday. That sort of thing you can’t control or predict at all.
Never ever assume just because a motorist “saw” you that it registered with them. Earlier this year I had a guy make eye contact, give me a little nod, and proceed to make a right hand turn into the post office right in front of me. As it was winter I didn’t trust the stopping power of my brakes but simply let the bike go and fell into the snow. The old man never realized I went down. He had seen me but it didn’t register that i was of any consequence to his intended path.
Those stupid little blinking lights. They save my butt almost daily. Stick a couple on you, your bike. I have several on my commuter and recently put a red flasher on the rear of my tri bike. It will come off for racing but since i do a lot of solo riding anything that will get the attention of a driver is good. (I know I am probably messing up my aero benefits of the Cervelo seat post)
helmet , duh
Kinda a minor one, but gloves. A lot of us don’t wear them because you don’t need them with aero bars. I don’t wear mine racing but for the little “couldn’t unclip” tumble, or you nudged your buddies wheel and went down falls they are great. Beats picking gravel out of your palms and trying to ride home with two hands full of road rash and broken glass.
Rear view mirror. One of those goofy little ones attached to the side of your helmet. Never leave home without it. The only time I don’t wear it is in a race.
Ride a few feet out from the shoulder. It forces cars to slow down or pull out to pass. If you hug the shoulder cars will do neither.
Avoid at all costs; Highway exchanges. Truck routes. Roads without a shoulder. Roads with ‘blind’ hills - where oncoming traffic will not see you until they crest the top of the hill.
Interestingly enough, I was on a local 45mph limit road recently, no shoulder, when I heard/felt something behind me. Glancing over my shoulder, I see a semi. I moved over as much as I could, but he just sat behind me (slight downhill, holding ~28mph) until the road widened into two lanes about a quarter of a mile later. He actually waved at me as he finally went by. There were some cars stacked behind him, but he felt it wasn’t safe enough to pass. It happens.
I hear this happens in Europe regularly, where there seems to be a bit more respct for cyclists out on the road. Happens here to, although it is a rare event. When it does, I am sure to give the driver a wave of thanks.
I try and communicate as best I can with the drivers out there. If there is a rough section of road, that I need to move to the left for, I shoulder check and if I see a car approaching I will signal that I am moving out and then give them the braking hand signal. I will then stay out there in the middle of the lane until I pass the rough section, move back to the right and the shoulder and wave the driver on through. When the car driver passes me I give them a wave of thanks. They often look at me like I am from outer-space, but I think this sort of communication is better than non at all.
On a road without a shoulder or without a rideable shoulder, the driver that doesn’t see you will hit you while on the white line or a foot to the left.
I ride to the left of the line to keep drivers from trying to “sneak by” as I ride along. I have decided that the threat of being plowed into from nehind while riding a foot to the left of the white line is less than that of being sideswiped while riding right on the line. The USCF coaches manual takes the same position as I do.
I’d be very interested to know what the league of american bicyclists say about such things.
**I ride to the left of the line to keep drivers from trying to “sneak by” as I ride along. I have decided that the threat of being plowed into from nehind while riding a foot to the left of the white line is less than that of being sideswiped while riding right on the line. **
This is a big reason I do almost all my riding on streets with speed limits between 25 and 30 mph. If I’m going 22, the drivers opvertaking me have plenty of time to see me even if they are going over the speed limit. If road conditions or traffic require me to take a lane and hold them up, its hard for them to get too pissed since I am going pretty close to the speed limit myself.
If ride through the 4 way stops, I can actually cover several miles in the same time a car does. Since we are all going about the same speed, I don’t have much trouble getting treated like a car as long as they see me (I take responsability for that) and I am not too much of a jerk at intersections.
I’ve made a vow to take my turn at the 4 way stops this summer. Besides safety, the “jumps” back up to speed seem to be helping my power. My biggest problem of late has been “Mexican Standoffs” at 4 way stops where we are each waving at each other to go first. I’ve caught myself getting pissed at drivers for being too nice. That has got to stop!
Good safety tips!
I’ll add one more, when I used to sail we called it the tonage rule. Its basically means give way to those who are bigger than you and could cause you more damage to you, than you could cause them. For example when your in a 30 foot sailboat in the middle of the sea and you have a 500 foot freighter barreling down on you, you get out of the way. So when your riding and there is a car or pick up truck coming up behind you, dont cut in front of them. This especially applies to pick up trucks, for some reason they very aggresive towards cyclists!
Best tip to road riding safety? Buy a MTB. Kidding… but you can get a good workout on a MTB and you’re reducing the odds of getting hit by a car by riding off-road.
When I ride on the road, I tend to ride the same roads week to week and ride where other cyclist frequent the area. It conditions the local drivers to the fact they are sharing the road with cyclist.
Then, I wave to every car I see. Yes, every car. About 50% wave back. I figure it creates a relationship with the driver and I figure if they are having a bad day, at least they are less likely to take it out on you. Of course, all my cycling is in the rural farm lands of North Georgia and Eastern Tennessee and most of drivers really are not in a rush to get anywhere. Most are happy to wave at a cyclist. And for some reason, 100% of farmers sitting on a tractor or some type of combine or machine on their farm always wave. Can’t quite figure out why they are so friendly, but to this day, I’ve never seen a farmer not wave.
I am chiming in here this morning because of an article in the local weekly about a cyclist vs. car confrontation on my local climb, Old La Honda Rd. It seems the two had a verbal sparring match about who had more right to the road and the cyclist dismounted to harangue the motorist only to get his vest or fanny pack caught on the passenger side rear view mirror and get dragged (running alongside) for 75 yards, according to the rider. The driver claimed the biker jumped on the hood and fell off after 75 yards.
My take away: The tonnage rule is always in effect. We are STUPID if we think we can take on a car. And you are not going to change an inconsiderate driver’s attitude toward cyclist by chewing him/her out with your profane vocabulary. So, I say you gotta let those go. Now, on the other hand, when a motorist does give you some space and respect, I always respond with a thank you wave, hopefully reinforcing the the courteous behavior.
Educate me on the hearing part. So I can hear a car coming up behind me. If I am on the right side of the road then what more could I do? Where do I go. If it is screeching brakes, I’m probably toast any way.
I have never use the mirror for basically the same reason. The only time I can really see its usefullness is if the car isn’t giving way, but then by the time I determine that it too late or (because I’m trying to figure out if the car is going to hit or miss me) I run off the road and wipe out or turn in front of the car and get wiped out.
For me, ignorance is bliss. I keep the music low so I hear the car approaching (still can’t do anything about it but it does take care of the startle factor). If I am hit from behind I hope to be yelling, “Open them pearly gates, 'cause here I come!” since it is out of my hands at that point. Tom D said something about being to concerned about getting hit and you would a few months back.
It was mentioned earlier in passing, but make eye contact whenever you can. Obviously you can’t when drivers are coming from behind, but you can with anyone pulling into the road or turning in front of you. It doesn’t always help. Some people will zone out no matter what, but I’ve found making eye contact gets attention.
“And you are not going to change an inconsiderate driver’s attitude toward cyclist by chewing him/her out with your profane vocabulary. So, I say you gotta let those go. Now, on the other hand, when a motorist does give you some space and respect, I always respond with a thank you wave, hopefully reinforcing the the courteous behavior.”
The shouting, the screaming, the obscene language and gestures from our side, does not help. I see other cyclists doing this all the time. It just reinforces behaviour and in a worst case scenerio enrage the offending driver. I know that it’s hard, but it’s often to best turn the other cheek. Agreed on the, “thank you” words and gestures. I find that drivers are genuinely shocked when I do this. I guess there is a shortage of “Thank You’s” out there!
If you see someone actually breaking the law in a car or endangering the safty of you or others and you can get the licence plate number and ID the car make/model/colour, you can report this to the police. They may not be able to charge the person with anything, but they can contact them and give them a warning. These nuts think that they are out there completely anonymous, but it’s easy to track them down. I have done this is the past.
