Getting hit by a car, is it a matter of time?

[DurangoKid]

Originally posted by jwadleig

I refuse to be chased off a road. On narrow roads, I leave at least a foot (30 cm) or so between me and the edge. Public roads are for everyone's use. All users are required to operate according to the conditions they find. This includes drivers coming upon cyclists on narrow roads. Trying to be too accommodating just invites trouble. I'd rather be seen and honked at than left bleeding in a ditch. In the end, all I’m asking for is a few seconds out of their day to maneuver around me as the law requires. Don’t forget that cyclists have a right to proceed safely, too.

 

[Memphmann]

Originally posted by DurangoKid
I refuse to be chased off a road. On narrow roads, I leave at least a foot (30 cm) or so between me and the edge. Public roads are for everyone's use. All users are required to operate according to the conditions they find. This includes drivers coming upon cyclists on narrow roads. Trying to be too accommodating just invites trouble. I'd rather be seen and honked at than left bleeding in a ditch. In the end, all I’m asking for is a few seconds out of their day to maneuver around me as the law requires. Don’t forget that cyclists have a right to proceed safely, too.

You are totally correct in assuming this. I follow the same rule. Would think it would be common sense for drivers to wait a few extra seconds to safely pass us. But heck no, those few wasted seconds mean so much. That is why I love to dent or crack back windows with frozen waterbottles of arseholes vehicles when they do something stupid. Was that dent that is going to cost you a couple hundred dollars to repair worse not waiting a few extra seconds. Do not know of many ppl who earn $300/10 secs. Then again up in my country and neck of the woods, they give complete idiots, most are fresh of the boat immagrants (except Asians), drivers licences.......

Memph

 

[DG55]

I was hit today.
Hold on, lets go back.

I wasnt hit, I hit.

The most unsuspecting way of having a crash on my bike finally cam to my attention yesturday evening.

I hit a parked car's driver-side door.

I was simply riding at a slow pace down a road, when suddenly I was hit, I didnt know what had hit me until I had time to stumble onto my feet and look around.

This wasnt a serious incident thankfully.

I have learned from the incident. Now I have another factor to worry about whilst cycling down a road.

 

[jwadleig]

Originally posted by DurangoKid
I refuse to be chased off a road. On narrow roads, I leave at least a foot (30 cm) or so between me and the edge. Public roads are for everyone's use. All users are required to operate according to the conditions they find. This includes drivers coming upon cyclists on narrow roads. Trying to be too accommodating just invites trouble. I'd rather be seen and honked at than left bleeding in a ditch. In the end, all I’m asking for is a few seconds out of their day to maneuver around me as the law requires. Don’t forget that cyclists have a right to proceed safely, too.

The Highway Traffic Act in Ontario allows bikes on roads, defines them as vehicles, and provides the same rights as other vehicles. Despite that, legalistic motorists ( the kind who would go ahead and have an avoidable accident anyway on the grounds that being "right" is more important than hurting somebody), assume bikes to have no status or lesser status than cars. WORSE than this, many cyclists also assume the same lack of rights and ride timidly, encouraging motorists to act foolishly and continue to treat us as second class vehicles.
Take charge. Get out there in the left side of the left turn lane (signalling and looking to see if it is safe, just like driving a car), ride a comfortable distance from the side of highways (I keep my right hand more or less over the edge of the tarred part of the road as a minimum, meaning my wheel is about half a metre from the roads edge). The HT Act says to ride within one metre of the edge of the road. On most roads, this causes overtaking motorists to slow down and/or veer out to go around you.
So far so good, after loads of highway rides.
The main danger that I encounter is ONCOMING cars passing when you are approaching them head on. I sit up and wave and have only had to hit the gravel once.
For what it's worth....

 

[DurangoKid]

Originally posted by jwadleig

The Highway Traffic Act in Ontario allows bikes on roads, defines them as vehicles, and provides the same rights as other vehicles. Despite that, legalistic motorists ( the kind who would go ahead and have an avoidable accident anyway on the grounds that being "right" is more important than hurting somebody), assume bikes to have no status or lesser status than cars. WORSE than this, many cyclists also assume the same lack of rights and ride timidly, encouraging motorists to act foolishly and continue to treat us as second class vehicles.
Take charge. Get out there in the left side of the left turn lane (signalling and looking to see if it is safe, just like driving a car), ride a comfortable distance from the side of highways (I keep my right hand more or less over the edge of the tarred part of the road as a minimum, meaning my wheel is about half a metre from the roads edge). The HT Act says to ride within one metre of the edge of the road. On most roads, this causes overtaking motorists to slow down and/or veer out to go around you.
So far so good, after loads of highway rides.
The main danger that I encounter is ONCOMING cars passing when you are approaching them head on. I sit up and wave and have only had to hit the gravel once.
For what it's worth....

A person who causes an accident even though they have the right of way can be sited if the accident was avoidable. “I had the right of way” doesn’t count if they go too fast for conditions or needlessly endanger persons or property. Legalistic arguments won’t fly in front of the judge. Everyone has the responsibility to avoid accidents regardless of who has the right of way. For cyclists that means riding where you can be seen and not playing games at intersections.

 

[Memphmann]

Originally posted by jwadleig

The Highway Traffic Act in Ontario allows bikes on roads, defines them as vehicles, and provides the same rights as other vehicles. Despite that, legalistic motorists ( the kind who would go ahead and have an avoidable accident anyway on the grounds that being "right" is more important than hurting somebody), assume bikes to have no status or lesser status than cars. WORSE than this, many cyclists also assume the same lack of rights and ride timidly, encouraging motorists to act foolishly and continue to treat us as second class vehicles.
Take charge. Get out there in the left side of the left turn lane (signalling and looking to see if it is safe, just like driving a car), ride a comfortable distance from the side of highways (I keep my right hand more or less over the edge of the tarred part of the road as a minimum, meaning my wheel is about half a metre from the roads edge). The HT Act says to ride within one metre of the edge of the road. On most roads, this causes overtaking motorists to slow down and/or veer out to go around you.
So far so good, after loads of highway rides.
The main danger that I encounter is ONCOMING cars passing when you are approaching them head on. I sit up and wave and have only had to hit the gravel once.
For what it's worth....

Where you from in Ontario? I ride some of the busiest roads in Canada, not because I have to, but because I want to. Love to ride Yonge/Leslie/Woodbine like another vehicle and follow the rules. This pisses off so many ignorant drivers.

I also have experienced a few vehicles ATTEMPTING to overtake others on my side of the road. I head into the middle of my lane and play chicken with them. As you can tell since I am typing this and not dead. That the vehicles either slow down or head into the ditch.

I realize that one day I shall die on my bike. Atleast I am not going to ride scare or cave in to ignorant, lazy, fat, wimpy drivers.....

Memph

 

[jwadleig]

Originally posted by DurangoKid
A person who causes an accident even though they have the right of way can be sited if the accident was avoidable. “I had the right of way” doesn’t count if they go too fast for conditions or needlessly endanger persons or property. Legalistic arguments won’t fly in front of the judge. Everyone has the responsibility to avoid accidents regardless of who has the right of way. For cyclists that means riding where you can be seen and not playing games at intersections.

Good point. Riding where you can be seen means to me getting into the area of the road where motorists can see you and make clear decisions. Riding as if the overtaking car has the right of way invites them to pass too close...saw a guy knocked into the ditch by a passenger side mirror on a minivan. The driver had not slowed down beacause the cyclisdt was right at the edge of the tar and there was room to pass. Only the car driver misjudgd it by inches. As I was helping him, the cyclist said to me " I was just riding along and something hit me in the ass"...(he was shaken up but OK.)

 

[jwadleig]

Originally posted by Memphmann
Where you from in Ontario? I ride some of the busiest roads in Canada, not because I have to, but because I want to. Love to ride Yonge/Leslie/Woodbine like another vehicle and follow the rules. This pisses off so many ignorant drivers.

I also have experienced a few vehicles ATTEMPTING to overtake others on my side of the road. I head into the middle of my lane and play chicken with them. As you can tell since I am typing this and not dead. That the vehicles either slow down or head into the ditch.

I realize that one day I shall die on my bike. Atleast I am not going to ride scare or cave in to ignorant, lazy, fat, wimpy drivers.....

Memph

I live in Guelph, I, m working on six decades on this rock, and ride any decent piece of pavement. Longest ride to date 235km straight up hwy 6 to the cottage. Trucks are the best---minivans and pickups are the worst...but it's those oncoming guys passing that will get me some day....but I'm with you memph...I'll die doing what I like best.
I also drive cars and see a lot of dumb cyclists, just to be balanced about it. Share the planet.

 

[sloddesol]

being that I'm just now getting back on the bike after 9 months 2 surgeries and a lawsuit because he didnt see the 6'5" cyclist in neon lycra on an orange bike @ 25 mph his dog should have been driving adding insult to much injury they told me I was going the wrong way because I ripped the driver side mirror off his truck hence the lawsuit on the bright side I do get to upgrade my road bike now
Scott

 

[Lois]

We have a very nice bike path along Lake Pontchartrain. It is NOT a safe place to ride a road bike because the path is shared by families who are walking, biking, rollerblading - or just blocking the entire path - both sides - for no good reason. And I suppose they have a perfect right to do that!!! So...I would prefer a "rail to trails" path when available. Unsavy cyclists concern me every bit as much as motorists...and I too, have come very close to being hit by a car merging my direction who just didn't look to his left for oncoming traffic (that would have been me!). Very scary...

 

[FreeHueco]

I have many more near misses with peds than with drivers. They just can't seem to judge how fast you are going, and expect you to see them hiding behind the parked cars to jump out.

It infuriates me to walk through shopping centers and malls because people will constantly jump in front of you and stop, or turn into you while walking straight. Get a clue! There are other people besides yourself.

 

[glennjd]

Originally posted by Guest
Hi.

For people who frequently ride on road.. is it only a matter of time before you get hit?

I'm always thinking about it when I'm on the road, and just pray it never happens to me.. had a close call the other day.

Who here frequently rides on the road and has never been hit, and who has been hit.

Share your stories please. [/QUOTE

I commute 40 miles to work, some of it on major roadways and some in residential areas. I know I've been lucky, but I've never been hit. Here are my rules of the road. #1) Don't do stupid things--don't make sudden lane changes; don't run through a red light, etc. #2) Use hand signals so the cars know what you are doing and ride with the traffic. #3) Be visible--I ride with a Exte Ondo reflective yellow jersey (not stylin, but very, very visible). I also have red gloves and a strobe tailight that I use at dawn and dusk. When it starts getting really dark in the morning I power up my halogen lights (it's extra weight, but very visible. #4) DO NOT cut cost on brakes and tires!!!!! All this aside, some of it has to do with where you ride--I have the benefit of commuting to Salt Lake City Utah and I am able to find streaches of open frontage rode with very little traffic. I bike in the city for about 15 miles. I have a friend in London and we've done some touring in England together. February a delivery truck side swipped him and he turfed and broke his collar bone. He was riding from East Woodford to the downtown financial district. It was a zoo. All his friends who ride there have broken something.

Good Luck.

James Glenn
SLC Utah

 

[ditchgunn]

Originally posted by Guest
Hi.

For people who frequently ride on road.. is it only a matter of time before you get hit?

I'm always thinking about it when I'm on the road, and just pray it never happens to me.. had a close call the other day.

Who here frequently rides on the road and has never been hit, and who has been hit.

Share your stories please.

I never really got hit (knock on wood)-- I had quite a few close calls tho.

I used to bike to work every day for a long time. The only problem I had was drivers who didn't use turn signals during daylight. For some reason, this appears to be a problem for many minivan/SUV drivers in the city of rochester. Several times I almost got hit by on of them on my way to work.
-ANZ

 

[ebrunner]

My rules:

Always assume that the driver/pedestrian is a moron, doesn't see you, and is going to do the stupidest thing possible in a given situation. Prepare yourself to deal with that situation. In other words, ride defensively. Better let your heart rate drop 10 bpm for 5 seconds then to lose weeks or even months of training due to an accident.

Examples:
Don't ride too close to parked cars, and keep an eye out for opening doors. Assume that the car traveling next to or in front of you is going to turn right at the intersection. Assume that the car waiting in the oncomming left-turn lane will decide to start its turn just as you enter the intersection. Assume the car in the adjacent stoplight will make that right turn on red as you are riding through.

If I need to get a good interval or tempo-type workout, I find some backroads that aren't heavily travelled, and are wide enough to ride comfortably.

 

[jonnyb]

I haven't been hit, some close calls in 30 years of riding. Have to develop radar and anticipation. I commute in San Francisco, a nice biking town with some of the lamest drivers ever! I have totalled my car there by a red light runner. Always, always look at intersections with caution.

Unfortunately one of my good riding buddies, Armando Gil-Perrera died six years ago road riding early in the morning in south San Jose, the streets were empty and he was fifty yards from the entrance to a fenced bike path. The driver fell asleep from working allnight and hit him at 50 mph.

You can never anticipate something like that, God rest his soul.

 

[zmanzzzz]

i was hit when i was in 5th grade, concussion and road rash. a classmate and i were racing down an alley and i blew by at the end. unfortunatley there was a college chick fresh out of class speed along the street and boom off the hood. i woke up in the hospital.

but i won my first race.

 

[Memphmann]

Originally posted by FreeHueco
I have many more near misses with peds than with drivers. They just can't seem to judge how fast you are going, and expect you to see them hiding behind the parked cars to jump out.

It infuriates me to walk through shopping centers and malls because people will constantly jump in front of you and stop, or turn into you while walking straight. Get a clue! There are other people besides yourself.

Just do as I do. Walk in a straight line and walk over ignorant non-looking ppl. As these ppl are picking themselves up, they might look next time...

Memph

 

[FreeHueco]

Yeah, I usually just bump them as I sidestep them( it might look accidental, but....).

 

[Bug Smasher]

Originally posted by Guest
However, I don't subscribe to the theory that bikepaths are necessarily the answer. My (admittedly limited) experience of them is that they are more dangerous than any road I have ever ridden (and I've ridden the supposedly dangerous Burringbar Range quite a few times). I've also read statistics from the US indicating that cyclist death rates are three times higher on bikepaths than on the road.

Roads with good shoulders please, but bikepaths... I'll pass on that one.

I hear ya! I hate bike paths. I've been hit a couple of times by cars, but I still prefer roads to bike paths.

I used to race and actually worked as a bike courier many years ago. I loved riding in traffic. There is always risk on the road, and it does take a bit of aggresiveness (confidence) to handle it. But after a while you learn to "read" the traffic and the body language of cars. By that I mean you can tell by certain subtle behaviours that a car is about to turn before they signal (ha!) and actually turn. (Most of the time). The key though is anticipation and assume you are invisible, because to drivers you are - even if you are staring them in the eyes!

The last time I was hit was about a year ago when at night, a car coming from the opposite direction decided to turn left down a side street that I happen to be crossing. I was T-boned and was sent cartwheeling in the air into a telephone pole (luckily my legs hit the pole and not my head). The bike was a write-off and I broke a toe and had about a month of physio.

The other time was when I was racing back home (I was being timed) in downtown Toronto on Young street (back in the day). It was surprisingly quiet that night and I was coming up alongside a parked cab when it decided to do a U-turn. I watched my bike cartwheel past me over the hood of the cab. I bounced back up and grabbed my bike shouted something at the cabbie and tried to continue on (I was still being timed after all!) But I was in a bit of pain and one of my crank arms was bent. The worst part though was when a red convertable full of girls pulled up next to me and asked if I was all right and I said yes, I'm fine. They smiled and drove away. Dumb, dumb, dumb...!

 

[Memphmann]

Originally posted by Bug Smasher
I hear ya! I hate bike paths. I've been hit a couple of times by cars, but I still prefer roads to bike paths.

I used to race and actually worked as a bike courier many years ago. I loved riding in traffic. There is always risk on the road, and it does take a bit of aggresiveness (confidence) to handle it. But after a while you learn to "read" the traffic and the body language of cars. By that I mean you can tell by certain subtle behaviours that a car is about to turn before they signal (ha!) and actually turn. (Most of the time). The key though is anticipation and assume you are invisible, because to drivers you are - even if you are staring them in the eyes!

The last time I was hit was about a year ago when at night, a car coming from the opposite direction decided to turn left down a side street that I happen to be crossing. I was T-boned and was sent cartwheeling in the air into a telephone pole (luckily my legs hit the pole and not my head). The bike was a write-off and I broke a toe and had about a month of physio.

The other time was when I was racing back home (I was being timed) in downtown Toronto on Young street (back in the day). It was surprisingly quiet that night and I was coming up alongside a parked cab when it decided to do a U-turn. I watched my bike cartwheel past me over the hood of the cab. I bounced back up and grabbed my bike shouted something at the cabbie and tried to continue on (I was still being timed after all!) But I was in a bit of pain and one of my crank arms was bent. The worst part though was when a red convertable full of girls pulled up next to me and asked if I was all right and I said yes, I'm fine. They smiled and drove away. Dumb, dumb, dumb...!

I love riding Yonge. Takes balls to cycle along with the cars. Where on Yonge were you hit??

Memph