How To Stay Safe On County Highways

[lectraplayer]

I live in a rural area, and most routes are quite busy, and full of coal trucks going to and from mines at all hours, with few routes away from heavy traffic that leads anywhere. Who has tips for cycling/commuting these areas without these load-bearing rigs going 60MPH running over you?

 

[DancingLady]

Ride with at least one friend, preferably two or three. A group of cyclists will be more noticable sooner and probably cause the truck driver to be more careful than he/she would be if they were passing just one cyclist.

Also, I would recommend wearing bright colored clothing so you are as high contrast with the surrounding colors as possible so that the truckers see you as far in advance as possible.

 

[gavinfree]

^ I'd have to agree with riding with multiple people because you're more noticeable. Having bright clothing works, too, as does having reflective tape on your bicycle. The more visible you are to drivers, the more likely they will be to actually give you some distance. I'd try to stay as far away from the vehicles as possible while still riding on the highway!

 

[kana_marie]

I thi k confidence and steadiness are pretty important. You don't want to waiver or change your speed and them not realize it. That's an accident waiting to happen

 

[joshposh]

wear bright protective gear with your bike reflectors blazing. Give more then enough room for the trucks to pass. Lastly, never think for a second that they respect you and will give you and rights to the road. You hear them coming, make sure you see them coming and move way on the side.

 

[adfnio]

As josh already stated. Make every attempt to let then know that you are there and give them more then enough room to pass. They don't really care about you, but you still need to protect yourself. If they bump in the middle of the night, do you think they will stop to make sure you're alright? I don't think so. They wont feel a thing on those big rigs.

 

[warrengeb]

If any vehicle is coming, you should give it a room to pass. You should not try to compete with the drivers and you should not block them from coming forward and most importantly, choose the lane at most right hand side or the lane at the most left hand side. If you choose the proper lane, there is no chance of any accident.

 

[lectraplayer]

If any vehicle is coming, you should give it a room to pass. You should not try to compete with the drivers and you should not block them from coming forward and most importantly, choose the lane at most right hand side or the lane at the most left hand side. If you choose the proper lane, there is no chance of any accident.

If that is the case, why is YouTube full of videos of accidents where cyclists riding the line gets bulldozed? While the chances of having this happen is reduced by riding tje line, the likelyhood of having it happen to me is still uncomfortably high, and being rear ended by a Silverado running 60MPH in a 30 hurts.

 

[north woods gal]

All good points. I ride county roads for most of my biking, now that I live in a rural area. Bright clothing is a no brainer. Strongly recommend a rear blinking light, too, even during daylight hours. They now make models designed to be used by night and by day. I have a little clip on Bontrager that recharges by plugging into my computer. I can ride for a full week, an hour or two a day, on one charge.

 

[Froze]

The only thing you can do if you don't have a friend, or even if you do have a friend, is to invest in a bright tail light that can be seen in the daytime readily like the See Sense Icon + that puts out up to 250 lumens and will last 15 hours on flash mode. And if you have a friend that rides with you make sure they get one too. Yes that particular one is expensive but you're talking about a lot of trucks with truckers either yakking on cell phones or texting, they may look up for a second and if nothing catches their eye their back at it, so a brilliant flash should grab their attention fast. Also wear something that stands out, a neon green safety mesh style vest from a home improvement place for under $20 works great. Helmet color is sort of important too but if you already have a helmet don't worry about getting another one till you need a new one then get some odd color like neon yellow or neon orange to contrast with the neon green vest.

See Sense also makes a front light, not sure if that's important for you to have since the traffic is passing you from behind, but if you find trucks and cars turning left in front of you then by all means get a bright light with a flash or strobe mode. While See Sense makes a good front flasher I think you can get better front lights that put out twice the lumens with strobe or flash modes although those will cost more than the See Sense.

https://shop.seesense.cc/collections/icon/products/icon-rear-light-1

 

[Corzhens]

I agree with some posts here like riding with someone, better if with a group. Also wearing reflectorized clothes so you could easily be seen. But I have to be honest that if I were you maybe I would ride in that highway for I am exposing myself to danger especially if I don't have the experience riding alone. But if you have no choice then I would suggest you be aware of the vehicles behind you by sticking to the outer lane of the highway.