Pedestrians

I commute in an area with very little pedestrian traffic so the blindly turning car traffic is much more dangerous.

tpat3 said:

Seems I am more likely to collide with a pedestrian on my urban commute than I am a car. I nearly went over the handle bars this morning avoiding a woman who stepped right in front of me, out from behind a parked truck in the middle of a block.

I'm only into this bike commute a few weeks now, but can't count the times hordes of people, waiting for auto traffic to clear a light but not, of course, waiting for the walk signal, will jump off the curb right into my path as though I were invisible or perhaps have some immunity to the laws of physics. I have come to expect it but still have close calls.

I did enjoy strafing a few this morning, not slowing much and coming fairly close to them but will need to learn patience.

There are a few pitfalls in riding a bicycle:

- The bike is much more silent than a car, so you might need to warn off people.

- Many cyclists tend to ride too close to the sidewalk.

There isn't much you can't do against the first factor (except shouting at them), but I find that you avoid most pedestrians if you ride 1 m (3-4 ft) away from the sidewalk.

Indeed, riding a bit further away from the curb makes you much more visible. It can be extremely difficult to see a cyclist that is riding on the extreme right hand edge of the road particularly if the road is curving right for a person on the inside edge of the curve and similarly the cyclist will have difficulty seeing the pedestrian. Also all vehicles on the right side of you will have more difficulty seeing you. It's called line of sight. It goes for all vehicles on the road.

Unfortunately, 3 feet from the curb will get you honked or yelled at quite a bit around here. 🙁 Thankfully, I don't see too many pedestrians during my commute. 😉

bikeguy said:

Indeed, riding a bit further away from the curb makes you much more visible. It can be extremely difficult to see a cyclist that is riding on the extreme right hand edge of the road particularly if the road is curving right for a person on the inside edge of the curve and similarly the cyclist will have difficulty seeing the pedestrian. Also all vehicles on the right side of you will have more difficulty seeing you. It's called line of sight. It goes for all vehicles on the road.

You are probably right about my riding too close to the curb, but it's downtown Boston, Massachusetts, heavily congested streets with cars and people weaving all around. I sort of ride where I find space.

The curb jumpers I understand and try to guard against. It's the folks waiting for car traffic to clear intersections, but who seem to have no qualms about stepping in front of a bicyclist, who are a greater worry.

Downtown Boston, yeah it's probably hard to ride well away from the curb. Sounds like the pedestrains are worse than in Toronto, most people at lights stay on the curb, it's the ones that run across in the middle of the block that I've had problems with. I once almost hit two people in one go when 4 people in their twenties ran across the street. Steering wasn't an option but I braked, slided at an angle of 15 degrees to straight ahead and missed one on my left by a foot and one on my right by about the same. They screamed in fright as I passed by. Sheer luck, for them and for me that I didn't hit somebody. Sheer dumbness, for just running out off the sidewalk like that.