Scariest Moment You've Had While Commuting?

[sunshiney]

Do you feel like you've had any near misses while cycling?
I've had two, fortunately neither lead to injury but they definitely made me jumpy about road cycling for a few days.
The first was when I was biking home from a hiking trip. I was going downhill on a pretty steep grade, and this is a road out in the bush so there's barely any shoulder, no sidewalk, and definitely no bike lanes.
I could hear a logging truck coming up behind be and pulled as far into the side of the road as possible.
Tree branches started hitting me and I could feel myself start to wobble and lose my balance right as the truck came up next to me. It was so close I was almost touching it.
I ended up bailing into the bush, away from the road thank God. I just laid in the ditch thinking about how lucky I was and catching my breath. I was a lot more careful after that. This was when I had just started riding so I learned my lesson pretty quick.
The other time I was commuting, I had the right of way and was crossing the street. Someone started pulling forwards slowly, and I remember thinking "they must see me" seconds before I realized that they weren't going to stop.
The bumper of the car ended up knocking my back tire and I banged on their window and screamed that they almost hit me.
Probably not the best way to handle the situation but I was scared!
What about you guys, any scary moment commuting?

 

[Susimi]

It wasn't while I was commuting but while I was out on an early morning ride some years back.

I was riding along a road and was approaching the entrance to major brands distribution centre. In the entrance was a big truck that I concluded wasn't going anywhere so I passed. As I passed he starts pulling out, causing me to swerve and jump on the curve on the opposite side of the road to avoid being hit by him. I can only guess he did not see me as he just drove off. He was turning at the time too so I figured that had I not moved I would have been crushed by his wheels.

Made me even more nervous of big trucks while out on my bike but it didn't put me off riding.

 

[Corzhens]

It looks like the big trucks are getting to be a scary image for riders. But drivers of big trucks here are comparatively better than bus drivers. And on the contrary, buses here are more roadworthy than those big trucks that look dilapidated. I don't remember a scary moment when I was riding except for some near miss of crashing. And since I am a slow biker, the risk is less when it comes to accidents. That's how I ride, safety first before anything else.

 

[Keyan]

I almost got hit by a delivery van on my way home from a friend visit. It was about to get dark the road ends with a sharp curve making it quite difficult for motorists to drive and see what lies ahead. The van was spinning 360 as I was approaching that deadly curve. I did not know what happened to him but I almost got hit by it. I was too quick to evade it and did not bother stay I just rushed back home thankful I was OK

 

[gavinfree]

I haven't had many scary moments aside from almost-falls on the mountain trails. In the city, I seem to have a knack for almost running over little animals like dogs, though. That scares the **** out of my every time because I'd rather not murder someone's dog while out cycling. That just seems like the meanest thing I could do during my day.

 

[Susimi]

I haven't had many scary moments aside from almost-falls on the mountain trails. In the city, I seem to have a knack for almost running over little animals like dogs, though. That scares the **** out of my every time because I'd rather not murder someone's dog while out cycling. That just seems like the meanest thing I could do during my day.

That's a pretty big fear of mine; hitting someone's dog or cat while I'm out cycling (or driving even).

What makes it worse is I often see people walking their dogs along country roads with the dogs off their leads. Yeah the roads not as busy but the road is still a road. Every time I pass the dog comes over and has a sniff which I don't mind as I've learnt to slow down to a crawl when I see a dog, but it's just that constant dear in my mind.

 

[coffee_minion]

I was biking in another country and was following my cousin. She suddenly turned right and I made a sharp right to follow her. It turns out the alleyway she turned into had huge trench-like hole and was only covered by a wooden plank. Luckily, my hands were steady despite the adrenaline and I managed to cross without any problems.

 

[pinkride]

I never had any very serious indecent occur, just slight injuries from falling of the bike. I have heard of serious accidents when cycling mainly in cities,like collisions with cars etc, so I'm really careful.

 

[sharkantropo]

Years ago. I was cycling aside the road lane's border at a slow pace , then suddenly, a guy riding a motorbike lost control, fell away from it and the built up momentum made the bike slip across the road, ending u quite close to me .

I only heard a strong crash, and the when I turned my head and saw the battered bike and its front wheel still moving. What a mess... I offered my help but the rider politely refused it , pick his bike and keep riding like nothing. At least He got a helmet.

 

[AryaSnark]

Five years ago, when I still a student, I had a near miss with a truck while biking home from a bakery. The shortest route was a biking path along the busy main road, but back then, the track was not complete yet, and you had to go on the road for 50 meters or something. I had cycled there several times, so I felt quite safe, and when I heard a truck driver behind me using his horn again and again, it took me a while to realize he was beeping at me. Guy got dangerously close to my back wheel and for a while I considered driving into a sideroad ditch (there was no sidewalk or anything). Thankfully, after a moment I reached the spot when I could take to the bicycle path again. For the record, I was going steady on the right side of the lane, and I have no idea why the trucker was so aggressive - it's not like it was a highway and shouldn't they expect bikers on a road in the country? Anyway, later that summer I always took a longer route with little traffic when goignt o the bakery.

 

[OursIsTheFury]

Never had a problem with cars, but I have had problems with pedestrians and them trying to steal my bike. That's why it is incredibly difficult to just leave it for a second when you are trying to do something while commuting. Maybe take the time to answer a phone call, or maybe buy something at the store. But there's always this feeling that, since living in a terrible part of town, my bike would get stolen the moment I leave its vicinity. I think it's a really scary thought, because I really did save a ton for a long time just to purchase it, and for someone to just come and carry it away is very frustrating.

 

[Damien Lee]

Yeah, I've had several close calls which have been quite scary. A couple of weeks ago I was riding down the main road of my town, and the traffic wasn't too heavy. But I came to a point where a large lorry was passing me by on the right, at the very same point when an SUV was disembarking from a parking bay on my left. This required me to carefully swerve away from the SUV while trying not to hit the side of the lorry.

 

[Sianmelonie123]

Does anyone use a bike camera or helmet cam? Would you upload your footage to be sold to news?

 

[Corzhens]

Years ago. I was cycling aside the road lane's border at a slow pace , then suddenly, a guy riding a motorbike lost control, fell away from it and the built up momentum made the bike slip across the road, ending u quite close to me .

I only heard a strong crash, and the when I turned my head and saw the battered bike and its front wheel still moving. What a mess... I offered my help but the rider politely refused it , pick his bike and keep riding like nothing. At least He got a helmet.

This reminds me of a motorcycle rider who lost control. We were on a traffic stop in our Honda Civic and there came the motorcycle right at us, hitting the right side of our car just at the end of the hood beside the passenger window. Our car had a big damage and the rider had a bleeding hand that was was sandwiched by his bike and our car. That's why there are many accidents here because motorcycles are always speeding.

 

[AryaSnark]

That must have been a horrible experience, Corzhens. I'm glad you were unharmed - do you know whether the unfortunate biker recovered in full from this?