Are you being serious?
But yes cycling is mildly dangerous. How much so depends on the area. Cycling through london is way more unsafe than riding through glen coe.
Is road cycling dangerous?
- Thread starter sammyjay
- Start date
Are you being serious?
But yes cycling is mildly dangerous. How much so depends on the area. Cycling through london is way more unsafe than riding through glen coe.
That is a sound and feeling I will never forgot, I hope I never get hit by a car again.
Yes, road cycling is dangerous, but everything in life has risks. If in the remote chance I do get killed while cycling, I'm okay with that because it's doing something I love
Yeah it is dangerous but that's part of the allure. I have to admit it is more dangerous than I ever thought it was. I've come close to being t-boned by a car twice in the same intersection. They were going too fast and they weren't looking. One of them was an old lady. Both times were very close calls. Another time I almost got clipped by a guy backing out of his driveway. If he had hit me I would have been pushed out into a very busy street full of cars zipping by at 45 miles an hour. I could have easily died there. My only other mishap was sliding on wet leaves and getting some scrapes and gimping up a hand for a while. From these close calls I have learned to be very vigilant in urban traffic and I try to stay on bike trails as much as possible. I would never give up riding but I would warn people to be very careful when they are riding especially if there is any car traffic around.
Everyday I ride I climb a hill. 2 10' lanes double; yellow line; reasonable amount of traffic. I don't like the road.
Everyday cars pass me as I climb the hill. They make a choice. Either pass very close to me or make the oncoming traffic "move over."
Someday someone is going to make a mistake.
Someone making a mistake seems to be a real cause of accidents.
A few years ago I was driving down Bancroft St. at UC Berkeley and stopped to let my wjfe out to go to class. She opens the passender side car door to get out and a guy plows right into the door with his bike at what seemed like a high rate of speed. Fortunately he was not hurt too bad and my wife was not hurt. I ride bike a lot and am always careful when traffic is around. Anything can happen and you can't be too careful.
one of the most common cause for an accident, the cyclist simply cannot guess where and when the car passenger will open his door, number two would be a car turning in front of you after overtaking you, number three a car hitting you from the back, number four a car overtaking another one on the contrary lane, then in cycling paths: pedestrians using the trail, cyclists using the trail in both senses riding against you, then animals or dogs specially: unpredictable behaviour they have when crossing a street, so you know a true cyclist or regular commuter when he has a vigilant attitude, as you posted in your former post, all the time, its no use to ride scared or with a hateful face, it is annoying but sometimes you cannot change your riding streets or trails,maturner said:
"She opens the passender side car door to get out and a guy plows right into the door with his bike at what seemed like a high rate of speed."
Usually, the passenger door is on the curb side. Was it a one way street and your vehicle parked on the left side of the road? Was the cyclist between the vehicle and the curb and passing on the right side of the vehicle?
Usually, the passenger door is on the curb side. Was it a one way street and your vehicle parked on the left side of the road? Was the cyclist between the vehicle and the curb and passing on the right side of the vehicle?
It likely depends on the exact circumstances. Still, there is a responsibility for drivers and passengers to check behind to be sure that a door isn't being opened in front of a cyclist or pedestrian. Where did you stop in the street?maturner said:
Last fall I had an Escalade's side-view mirror miss my left ear by approximately .03 nanometres. I saw, through the climate killer's rear widow, that the driver was texting. She didn't even see me, in spite of my lurid Lycra jersey. According to the Ontario Provincial Police “Distracted driving is cited as a causal factor in 30 to 50 per cent of traffic collisions on [sic] Ontario, but is probably much higher due to under-reporting.†The $155 fine (Section 78.1 of the Highway Traffic Act) apparently doesn't deter many drivers from this insanely selfish habit. Hell, my two road work buddies do it. Like everyone else they rationalize by saying - “.. well I know what I'm doing. Those other idiots probably don't.†Hmmm.
So unless you are in a place where everyone drives a late model Volvo and/or has a modicum of responsibility I would say, yes, it is dangerous. Compared to the other dangers listed in this forum social networking adds a unique threat. That said I am in complete agreement with everyone's advice so far - get out there regardless. What I've done to mitigate some risk is the following:
So unless you are in a place where everyone drives a late model Volvo and/or has a modicum of responsibility I would say, yes, it is dangerous. Compared to the other dangers listed in this forum social networking adds a unique threat. That said I am in complete agreement with everyone's advice so far - get out there regardless. What I've done to mitigate some risk is the following:
- Whether day or night wear super bright, flashing LEDs. Include the front and back of your helmet.
- Avoid main roads used by commuters, particularly roads with 4 lanes.
- Buy and wear the most expensive helmet you can find.
- On your head tube fasten a medallion of the Madonna di Ghisallo (the patron saint of cyclists). I'm told she is secular in that you don't have to be Catholic nor ride with Campagnolo.
The bicyclist is at fault. He has legal obligations in the situation.
The road at my house is narrow. Most people who have a need to park for any length of time pull one wheel off the pavement. I give all parked cars a wide berth regardless of if there are are people in the car or not. Similiar situations happen on the bike paths. Maintainence vehicles block half of the path. Bicyclists slow down and are careful.
The larger roads that provide parallel parking have a wide enough parking lane that most car doors should not extend into the traffic lane. Where there is no parking lane. Most traffic lanes are just as wide.
It appears the bicyclist was trying to share a lane with a parked car. That may not be legal.
Really doesn't matter who was legally at fault, it's the cyclist that gets hurt. In this state, unless the police actually witness the accident, no one can be cited for breaking traffic laws. If a cyclist is hit by a car running a stop sign, that's just "an accident" unless by a one-in-a-million chance a cop sees it happen. So basically, the law says you have a right to the road, but when that right is infringed by a negligent or aggressive driver, they normally aren't held in violation of any laws.
Since your concern is getting aproval from your mother, I won't go into how discourteous cyclist reduce the safety of all cyclists. I've been riding a very long time (since about 1959), but I'm not a mileage junkie, so there are probably others on this forum tha have riden a lot more miles than me, Still, you'd have to say I'm pretty experienced. Road cycling is dangerous, but the danger can be greatly reduced by defensive riding, paying attention and not being foolhardy. I've never been hit by a vehicle, but I have gone done several times, and have had a number of close calls. The times I've gone down, I took the lip of a driveway at too shallow an angle, I hit a rock in the road, I hit a patch of ice, and I hit a hole in the road. Pretty much all of these could have been prevented by being more attentive. Here's how I've avoided being killed. I assume that that guy turning left doesn't see me. I assume that guying waiting to pull out doesn't see me. I don't ride on busy roads with no shoulder. I watch my rear view mirror and if a wide load is coming up behind me, I'll pull into the next driveway or sideroad. I never forget that I'm always going to lose any contest with a car or truck. I yield when I'm not obligated to. I'm not willing to die rather than give up my right of way. And I don't come down Flagstaff Mountain faster than my skill permits. I know my limitations. A man's gots to know his limitations.
speaking of the devil, i was riding in my favourite coastline road, two lanes, one in each sense, no shoulder, in daylight, this bus passes me speeding only to stop 3 meters in front of me (to pick up a passenger) and closing to the right the tiny space i had to avoid him... it is my favourite road because it has low traffic, this driver was simply insane !
To agree with (varying degrees of hilarity) Yes it is - it has risk associated with it
But the life years gained Versus Life years lost arguement was won a long time ago
The number of Life years lost by cyclists in accidents is far less than the Life years gained by active health in outdoor exercise.
But in UK we have a scheme called Bikeability which teaches riders to ride safely.
To ride in a position on the road where you can be seen, out of the gutter, 1 metre from the kerb (called secondary or sharing position) - and in areas with greater risk to ride in the middle of your lane (called Primary or Hogging position)
The reason being when not at risk - share the road and allow faster traffic to over take you
But in locations which attract a higher risk, to not share the road, to avoid being boxed in - to be seen more clearly in the position where other road users are looking for traffic and YOU CAN SEE OTHERS more clearly
any questions - get in touch [email protected]
But the life years gained Versus Life years lost arguement was won a long time ago
The number of Life years lost by cyclists in accidents is far less than the Life years gained by active health in outdoor exercise.
But in UK we have a scheme called Bikeability which teaches riders to ride safely.
To ride in a position on the road where you can be seen, out of the gutter, 1 metre from the kerb (called secondary or sharing position) - and in areas with greater risk to ride in the middle of your lane (called Primary or Hogging position)
The reason being when not at risk - share the road and allow faster traffic to over take you
But in locations which attract a higher risk, to not share the road, to avoid being boxed in - to be seen more clearly in the position where other road users are looking for traffic and YOU CAN SEE OTHERS more clearly
any questions - get in touch [email protected]
[COLOR= rgb(24, 24, 24)]Many folks on a riding forum really like riding and like with any activity in our lives many have probably weighed the risk/reward ratio (even if subconciously) and have determined it is better for our overall life quality to cycle. I'm not sure how old you are but like myself you may have to live by moms rules until you can pay your own rent. Personally I think the self esteem and fitness benefit one gets from cycling far outweighs any downside.[/COLOR]
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