Bicycle Safety-common ways Bicyclists are hit, and how to avoid them~

Collision Type #1:

The Right Cross

This is one of the most common ways to get hit (or almost get hit). A car is pulling out of a side street, parking lot, or driveway on the right. Notice that there are actually two possible kinds of collisions here: Either you're in front of the car and the car hits you, or the car pulls out in front of you and you slam into it.



How to avoid this collision:

1. Get a headlight. If you're riding at night, you should absolutely use a front headlight. It's required by law, anyway. Even for daytime riding, a bright white light that has a flashing mode can make you more visible to motorists who might otherwise Right Cross you. Look for the new LED headlights which last ten times as long on a set of batteries as old-style lights.

2. Honk. Get a loud horn and USE IT whenever you see a car approaching (or waiting) ahead of you and to the right. If you don't have a horn, then yell "Hey!" You may feel awkward honking or yelling, but it's better to be embarrassed than to get hit. Incidentally, the UK requires bells on bicycles.

3. Slow down. If you can't make eye contact with the driver (especially at night), slow down so much that you're able to completely stop if you have to. Sure, it's inconvenient, but it beats getting hit. Doing this has saved my life on too many occasions to count.

4. Ride further left. Notice the two blue lines "A" and "B" in the diagram. You're probably used to riding in "A", very close to the curb, because you're worried about being hit from behind. But take a look at the car. When that motorist is looking down the road for traffic, he's not looking in the bike lane or the area closest to the curb; he's looking in the MIDDLE of the lane, for other cars. The farther left you are (such as in "B"), the more likely the driver will see you. There's an added bonus here: if the motorist doesn't see you and starts pulling out, you may be able to go even FARTHER left, or may be able to speed up and get out of the way before impact, or roll onto their hood as they slam on their brakes. In short, it gives you some options. Because if you stay all the way to the right and they pull out, your only "option" may be to run right into the driver's side door. Using this method has saved me on three occasions in which a motorist ran into me and I wasn't hurt, and in which I definitely would have slammed into the driver's side door had I not moved left.

Of course, there's a tradeoff. Riding to the far right makes you invisible to the motorists ahead of you at intersections, but riding to the left makes you more vulnerable to the cars behind you. Your actual lane position may vary depending on how wide the street is, how many cars there are, how fast and how close they pass you, and how far you are from the next intersection. On fast roadways with few cross streets, you'll ride farther to the right, and on slow roads with many cross streets, you'll ride farther left.

Now I get to see if the new parts make a difference. I used to think that "equiptment junkies" were funny and pathetic people who had too much time on their hands.

Imagine my horror when i woke up one morning and realized that it could very well be me!

Oh well, Its a hobby, and there are worse things one could do with their time.



Now if only I could figure out a way to keep the squirrels from scampering out in front of my bike...

I actually had to replace the rear cassette cogs. It was time, and a good idea since the chain was replaced about 200 miles ago, and you should also replace the rear cogs at the same time.

Evidently, when these wear out, the shifting gets sloppy, and it can slip. This can suck if you are standing up while climbing a hill. It can hurt your joints if it shifts when you aren't expecting it, and I have bad ankles, so therefore I replaced the parts.

I have never owned a bike that had to have anything replaced due to use, and MUCH less one that had gear needing replacement before a season was over with.

Pretty crazy stuff man.

Bicycling Myths

"A very pernicious myth is that if you ride in traffic, the motorist will run into you from behind. There are a number of collisions of this type, but they happen mainly at night with cyclists who have no lights on their bikes. To avoid being struck from behind, some cyclists ride the wrong way or on sidewalks, dangerous behaviors because the motorist doesn't see them when turning. Cyclist who ride in the roadway and obey the traffic laws are more visible and much safer.
At the other extreme, some are maintaining that all one has to do is to obey the traffic laws and maintain the proper lane position to be safe. While this is usually true, it is much more logical to watch nearby vehicles as well. Careful motorists and motorcyclists die every day, so a little extra caution, especially during times of poor visibility, at intersections, or when the motorist is acting strangely, makes a lot of sense."

(For more info check out http://www.kenkifer.com/bikepages/lifestyle/myths.htm)

I am now thoroughly convinced that following the traffic laws while bicyling is essential. Thanks for all the great feedback on this. I will relate a great story from my friend Dan S.

He was telling me he was at a stopsign where he made a complete stop. He began to pull out, and a guy on a bike RAN THE STOPSIGN and narrowly avoided a collision with Dans Van-And yes kiddies...Its the biggest frigging Van that he could find too.

Not that it matters, as a SLUGBUG could still kill ya if you are on a bike..

But I digress...

Anyway, deputy dipsh*t the biker guy had the AUDACITY to yell at Dan. Yes...he BREAKS THE LAW, and gets PISSED at Dan for almost "hitting him".

So it occurs to me that IF Dan DID hit Jackass monkey bike boy and say put him in a body cast, El Morono del biko stupido would have had a ticket mailed to him in the transcare unit of whatever nursing home he was convalescing at for failing to make a complete stop at the stopsign and causing an accident, and probably would have had to pay for my buddy Dans body shop guy to rub a cotton diaper over his quarterpanel to get the blood and scalp off.

But no-Thats not what happened. Dans son Matt...A GREAT kid I must add...And made even greater in my mind ater he made this statement:

(This in retort to the chastising of the guy on the bike yelling at Dan for "...not watching where he was going...")

"YOU RAN THE STOPSIGN MORON" Matt says

Nuff said?


Two thumbs up for Matt S. You rock!

ENTERING THE ROAD

Bicyclists sometimes will ride against traffic or take unusual routes across intersections to get to their lane positions.

Don't do it!

Instead, look for a good place to enter, where you can start out with a normal intersection maneuver: a left or right turn, or a lane change to merge into traffic. The traffic laws apply as soon as you're on the road, and even if you have to walk your bike half a block to a driveway, a legal start is much safer. Besides, you often get started faster, since you can then move with the normal flow of traffic.When entering the road from a narrow driveway, ride down its middle.

A pedestrian could be approaching on the sidewalk from either side, and a car could be about to enter the driveway from either direction. By placing yourself in the middle, you can see in both directions equally well.

When entering the road, look left, but always look right as well for pedestrians and overtaking cars.Even when preparing for a right turn onto a rural highway, look left, right, left, and then right again. A car approaching from your right can pull out to pass very quickly and head for you in the lane you're about to enter.

Even when preparing for a right turn onto a rural highway, look left, right, left, and then right again. A car approaching from your right can pull out to pass very quickly and head for you in the lane you're about to enter.

Man did my legs hurt today, but did 25 miles anyway. Had to have my fix! I am going to go help JL study over at the Spyhouse. I will post the next installment of "rules of the road for Bicyclists" later on!

So today I tried something different. I actually tried to obey EVERY traffic law that I could. That meant no blowing through stoplights when the light was red even though there was no traffic.

You want to hear something really wild? I beat my average time by 5 minutes. And I think I know why. since i was stopping at the lights and stopsigns, I got a little rest. I was able to go all the way through for 2 hours because I got little rest breakes every few miles or so.

That meant I cut out my little halfway rest break due to the fact that I wasn't tired. And this was the day after roofing over the weekend, so my legs and back were WICKED sore before I started.

The moral of the story: I will try to obey every traffic law whilst on a bicycle from now on for the following reasons:

1) Its the right thing to do
2) The time you gain will be lost later anyway
3) I believe that it will irritate motorists less if I am obeying traffic laws as well, and maybe cut down on stupid comments or road rage from other idiots as well.
(See the post below from Thursday, September 22, 2005 for more details!)

Ok, in the name of safety, and me trying to be a better bycyclist, I am going to start posting some bycling rules of the road in short bursts starting tonight. I will give bonus points if you can identify the sources!

Part 1-where on the road can you ride?

With very few exceptions, the safest way to ride is as part of the traffic, going with the flow of the normal traffic pattern. Bicyclists who ride this way get where they're going faster and, according to scientific crash studies, have about five times fewwer crashes than bicyclists who make up their own rules (J. Forester; Effective Cycling. Cambridge, MA, MIT Press, 1985).

Generally, the more you follow the normal traffic pattern, the safer and more predictable you become. The rules of the road set up a pattern for every situation, telling which driver has to wait. Sometimes you have to wait for other drivers -- for example, at a stop sign -- but sometimes they have to wait for you.In this way, the rules of the road protect you by making it clear what you're going to do next.

In other words-No driving against traffic on the left to those of us with poor reading comprehension!

I just got back from helping my good friends in Bayport put on a roof. This took 2 days and more hours than I thought it would take. I learned several things from this:

1) I NEVER want to be a roofer
2) It's VERY important to lift with your legs as much as you can
3) There are degrees of soreness,

and last but not least:


4) NEVER EVER lift weights the night before you roof a house

"... cycling is a remedy for dyspepsia, torpid liver, incipient consumption, nervous exhaustion, rheumatism and melancholia."
-- Frances Willard, A Wheel Within a Wheel, 1895

"The ordinary horseless carriage is at present a luxury for the wealthy; and although its price will probably fall in the future, it will never, of course, come into as common use as the bicycle."
--The Literary Digest, 1899

1,565 Miles on this baby. That roughly means that I have to ride 65 miles to lose one pound.

And Don't even get me STARTED about the eating habits. Thats a WHOLE new post.

25 Pounds less later. Of course this guy is smiling...He isn't carrying the extra flab. Only 25 Pounds more to go!

Before biking

I said it before, and i will say it again...J..You ROCK!!! I think I will likey HTML

Thanks to the gentleman from Shepard Family Enterprise
for commenting. Check out his Blog-Its cool. Also Check out My friend J's AWESOME Blog at reverie cafe Thanks for the HTML Coaching...Man I am having fun with this!

Allergies. What do i like about em?

Nothing. I am a human snot factory, and I hate it.

If that statement doesn't get me a date, nothing will!

Ok, so anyway I was on the road the other day on my road bike. I usually have a route that I take, and it goes along a bike path that runs parallel to Minnehaha Parkway, and I will cut over onto the parkway too if it makes me go faster.

Because I like to speed on my bike. But that's only 17-20 MPH so I can't get a ticket.

Now here's the problem we have as bike people: You can't TECHNICALLY go more that 10 MPH on the bike paths, and if you DO, then the slower people get annoyed when you blow their crew socks off. BUT if on the road you don't go AT LEAST 20 MPH, sometimes the motorists will get irate. Sometimes the motorists will go freaky.

Hence my next story:

I was on the parkway getting ready to switch to the bike path when this woman and man in a beat up old pickup pull up behind me and try to pass.

Now I don't see them at all, but evidently they couldn't pass me because of opposing traffic coming at them on the left. So all of a sudden I hear what seems to me to be hysterical SCREAMING.

I am not exaggerating. I thought a woman was being killed. I looked around for the injured party, but saw no one. Then I heard it again, but it was closer. It was the woman in the pickup going into a coma over the fact that she couldn't pass me when she wanted too. And I mean the language...I was embarrassed for her.

Now usually, someone yelling at me for no reason would illicit an angry f-you from me, but this woman was so OUT OF CONTROL over the thing, I was laughing at her.

NOT a good idea. It REALLY pissed her off. This made me laugh harder. Well, they did pass..And got maybe 50 yards before the traffic up ahead stopped them

Then I remembered...I was the older brother once. Maybe its time for some fun.

I passed the line of cars til I got up to the cab of the pickup, leaned over and said: "Maybe if you learned to drive that heap, you could have passed and traveled this 50 feet faster"

Oh man, I hit the bullseye this time...I was SURE there would be a stroke victim here for sure. I laughed and sped off yakking to another cyclist about the crazy bitch. I went another 2 miles, and yes as we were talking, me and the other cyclist, guess who pulls up BEHIND us...Yes BEHIND us...So me being in her way made NO effect...No surprise here right?

I looked over and mumbled to the other cyclist:"yup..There she is"

She went BALLISTIC yet again.. This time I said: "You should lay off the meth or crack before you have a coronary!" and sped off laughing my butt off.

Now was this sh*t funny? Oh yes indeedy! People like that are GREAT humour. Was it a good idea to goad them?

NO. BAD idea. I KNOW they were both on dope. I know the signs. Pupils were as big saucers, and both sweaty. Do the math!

What is they had guns? Could have been bad. REAL bad.

I have a BIG mouth, and need to learn to control it sometimes.

But then it wouldn't make for a good blog entry then would it?

Holy Bat Sh*t, Batman...It worked! My pic really uploaded!!!

Ok here I am with a smug look getting ready to bike. I guess thats really no surprise now is it?

I decided in the beginning of the summer to make a buch of changes to my lifestyle, one of them being to start bicycling for health, and because my ankles are all messed up. The pedaling, I thought, would help rehab them.

Once I got started going, I found I loved it. I mean its like a zen thing.I feel like I am floating, andI get my best answers to questions when I am out there. I think it's because I have to talk alot at my job. I mean its part of the deal. I am in the mortgage biz, and I am on the phone yakity yakking all day long.

But i have found to get answers, I need to have some "quiet time". And to do that, I need to do something, because I also have Adult ADD so I think better if I am doing an activity that doesn't take thinking.

Well since this is my very first posting with my friend J's help, I am going to publish it, and get an opinion on my coached HTML kung fu style.

Ok, so i decided to give this a shot. My good friend J insired me to this, so if it sucks, blame her. i mean i can't take the rap for all this right?