V73

Today on my way home from school, I was almost flattened by a school bus leaving my neighborhood as I crossed the crosswalk with my bike. The driver was making a left turn through the intersection and stopped within arm's reach of decking me out on the pavement. Thankfully I was saved by my bicycle horn, which got her attention fast enough for her to stop, but I'm left wondering what else I could have done to avoid this, or whether it was at all my fault... it was pretty terrifying and I'm still a bit in shock about it. I was wearing a bright orange coat and was pretty hard to miss in the broad daylight, or so I thought, but apparently not. I have a feeling that my helmet wouldn't have helped me much here...

All this being said, the one thing I can be sure of is that having a loud horn within thumb's reach is something I will never again ride on public roads without. While reflective gear and lights rely on the driver looking through their windshield, a loud horn can force them to notice you, and I would probably be in pretty bad shape if I hadn't had one.

Chris0516

I won't use a horn. But to each their own. A horn on my bike, scared me more, than the 40mph traffic I ride in.

indyfabz

The same thing could have happened if you had been walking through the crosswalk. Do you feel the need to carry a loud horn while you walk?

10 Wheels

"crosswalk with my bike"

Were you Walking?

Looigi

It likely would have mitigated the impact if your head was hit by the vehicle or hit the ground after getting knocked down. This might have prevent or reduced the severity of injury to your head or brain.

berner

It's been well established that we generally only see what we expect to see and ignore the rest. This means cyclists as well as motorists. If we don't see something it doesn't mean we are bad people. It means we should be paying more attention to the world around us. It also means that, to a large extent, our safety as cyclists is in our own hands. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJG698U2Mvo

BobbyG

I commute and have used AirZound airhorns for over 20 years. I used to say "Ride like you're invisible." But a motorcycle friend told me to "ride like they can see you and want to kill you." I will sometimes honk at cars even if I think they have seen me. My brother-in-law does this when he drives (in New Jersey).

jfowler85

An air horn isn't going to do anything for interacting with a school bus - especially true for a compressed air can with a diaphragm in cold weather . Expect stuff like this to happen and be proactive. So many around these parts want to rely on gear to keep them safe, which is a great way to get hurt. You need to rely on you and not an air horn.

ItsJustMe

How do you get scared by your own horn?

practical

If your point is that bikers should have horns on their bikes, well... maybe.
If your point is that bus drivers are sometimes not paying attention, well... sure. Probably more so than car drivers since they have this big vehicle with blind spots that take up a lot space and a crew of kids inside.
If your point is to never assume that another driver (or cyclist or pedestrian) sees you, then absolutely. In fact, assume the opposite if you can't make eye contact.
Glad you didn't get hurt.

eff-J

My thoughts exactly.

I avoid riding through most crosswalks for this very reason--drivers don't expect to see bikes in a crosswalk, or anything else that moves faster than a pedestrian. Assuming they look at all, they typically only look in that area that a pedestrian might be in or be coming from. A bike can easily be outside of that area and still wind up in front of a turning vehicle.

Not to mention the legality of it. Around here, a bicyclist may ride in a crosswalk, but only if they are allowed on the connecting sidewalk in the first place (i.e., non-business-districts only), and even then "at a speed no greater than an ordinary walk so that other drivers may anticipate the necessity to yield when required."

All of which is to say, I usually either "take the lane" and turn using the road, like a vehicle should, or I get up on the sidewalk, dismount my bike, and walk it across the crosswalk.

V73

You aren't entirely wrong. I actually use an electric horn rather than an air horn, but that's besides the point- I was not suggesting that horns should be required for safety or that one should rely wholly on their gear to keep them from being missed by other drivers. I simply mentioned the horn because it worked well in this situation (as well as a couple earlier, less dangerous ones). I would recommend a horn to other cyclists because sometimes there isn't really much you can do about a situation, whereas if you have a horn you have another option that may just keep you from worse injury.

I was riding across the walk in this case. In my area this is perfectly legal and the crosswalk is very nearby the school I was coming home from. I always wait and check for any drivers that aren't stopping, before slowly pedaling across the road. I make sure to look for safety hazards the entire time as I'm crossing. The intersection is between the entrance to the neighborhood and a major road, so I have less traffic to worry about and usually don't see the need to walk like I do on other intersections. After this, I may change my habits and walk on this particular crosswalk, in the hopes that it will convey some slight safety advantage.

rawly old

Getting almost hit is part of the cycling experience....unfortunately. That's a shame because infrastructure for bikes
is cheaper than freeways. It would also be nice if public transit were better used to get around that portion
of the cycling experience one prefers to avoid. Having been hit a few times, I don't much care for it.

Chris0516

It may sound strange to think of it this way. But when getting honked at by a motorist. They are in, either, the passing lane, same lane(but far back) or the oncoming lane. Also that getting honked at by a motorist is expected. When I had a Loud Bicycle horn. The sound was so loud. That I thought I was TAILGATING MYSELF!!!!

GamblerGORD53

Stay the hell away from schools. ha

Chris0516

Dave Cutter

Those close-calls can be terrifying....or is it actually exciting?

Those near misses (and even accidents) are all a normal part of cycling. I prefer to see that split second of fear as a positive affirmation of just how good and precious life truly is. Take a deep breath... be thankful to be alive... and pedal on.

TenSpeedV2

Please clarify what you were doing in the crosswalk. This will clear the situation up quite a bit.

Chris0516

This is a foregone conclusion. Because, In the DC-Metro region. My experience is that. A cyclist has to look out for themselves. Because the MPD(DC), along withe county and city police forces in suburban MD n' VA. Won't do it. So we have to look out for our own safety.

John33702

Try a bluish-white strobe light on top of your head, you know, like the ones on the school buses. School bus drivers like those.

bakes1

Pretty sure there is no cure for scaring yourself with your own horn
That's just special

Wanderer

And, I would make an effort to notify the school bus company - a safety meeting is in order here!

Especially in an area where school children could be biking on a regular basis.

Inexcusable! MHO

Chris0516

One cure....Get rid of the horn. Which I did.

skye

If that's the case, we should all wear helmets when we're walking.

CrippledKonaBoy

This.

The supposed "safety factor" of wearing a bike helmet is grossly overinflated; statistics used by advocates don't prove out.

A few years ago, I looked up the numbers, spent part of an afternoon doing the comparisons. That old, fabled, "88% reduction" was an outright lie.

Other than the ubiquitous anecdotes that so many think are positive proof, there's NO evidence of a positive effect of helmet use.

The FACTS, as derived from recent testing: helmets protect from the temples UP, at travel speeds generally below 15 mph. There ARE exceptions, of course, but they are notable ones. Pedestrians and joggers are more at risk than riders are.