Flying Merkel

In your experience, what is the most common car vs. bike hit?

Mine has been the "car making a right turn into a parking lot or driveway, ignoring me on the shoulder of the road." Narrowly avoided a serious accident last weekend. I suspect the driver saw me, but he didn't want to let me go ahead or he thought he could beat me by a safe margin.

In the above paragraph, the words "accident" and "thought" are used loosely.

Motorcycles are usually taken out by the left-turning car. Bicyclists, which is it?

-=(8)=-

I havent been hit yet but Im sure it only a matter of time.
When it is it will be a right hook from an indicatorless driver.

The indictor using righthookers (potential) are easy to deal with
as are the ones who start beeping about 20 yards behind you
meaning you are to stop so they can make their turn without
using brakes but the last-second ones are in my opinion the
most treacherous.

ChipSeal

All of my close calls were left cross's. (Two near miss, one collision- no injury)

Because nearly all the roads around here are of the narrow right lane variety, I always take the lane. That is why I have never experienced a right hook in Texas. (About 7,000 miles now.)

I had four or five right hooks each year in the Los Angeles area. (4,000 to 6,000 miles a year) I attribute that to the wide outside lanes found there.

MetalClydesdale

I've had the right cross a couple of times but I'm sad to say that most of my accidents have been t-bones. Either the driver has run a red light and hit me while I was crossing, or they've neglected to come to a stop before making a right hand turn against the red and hit me.

I've also been hit from behind twice, both times while in the bike lane. I'm fairly positive that one of them was intentional.

shmooth

i wonder if any or puts together a nice composition of real data on safety. what do 'bicycle safety' courses teach from?

i kinda thought riding a bike was common sense, but if you want to live, it's really not. there are so many situations, especially in the city, where you really need to know what you're doing. that is - what is legal, and what is common sense and practical and safe - folks don't know that stuff - at least, i know i don't. i'm concerned with new riders, and wants who want to ride but don't think it's safe (which i'd agree with, in general).

twinquad

I think I've avoided the left and right hook so far because that's what I'm most on the alert for. Had a near-miss right hook once when I passed a non-signaling SUV and actually brushed the fender with my leg.

Actual accidents: t-boned once (from the left), doored once.

pirate

I've never been right hooked, but I've been damn close. Never ride alongside a car.

I've been in 3 crashes involving cars. Two were left crosses, the other one was a sideswipe from some guy who was speeding and talking on his cellphone. I was in the right lane on a 3 lane road because there were broken bottles in the bike lane, and he tried to weasel his way between me and a car in the middle lane. the ****ing scumbag pulled the "I didn't even see you" card even though he obviously slowed down a little bit and tried (and failed) to manouver around me. When I finally got him to admit that he had, in fact, seen me he said "Well, wrong place, wrong time huh?" I told him he had 3 seconds to leave before he would be picking his teeth up off the ground.

San Rensho 

From purely unscientific anecdotal evidence, I would say right hook, followed by the left hook and the t-bone, which are probably equal. Then maybe getting hit from behind? But getting hit from behind is pretty rare I think, although probably the scariest because its the hit you have the least control over.

closetbiker

for me, I'd say it'd be a left hook, but I know I read a lot about people being right hooked.

this page, https://bikesense.bc.ca went through over 6,000 collisions between cars and bikes in BC and found most cyclists were riding straight ahead and motorists turned either right or left in collisions. Most motorists failed to yield right of way when they were at fault and most cyclists failed to ride with due care when they were at fault

this page https://bicyclesafe.com/ shows the top 10 types of collisions between motorists and cyclists and shows ways to avoid them

maddyfish

That one has never happened to me, see sig.

maddyfish

That being said the ones I see most often are stop light running bikes nearly getting splattered. Thankfully I've only seen close calls, no hits.

BarracksSi

That's my guess, since bikes usually aren't very fast (or at least that's the perception), and drivers forget how long it takes for their car to slow down and make the turn.

I haven't really had any close calls, fortunately (knock on wood!). The moments that make me nervous are when someone's about to pull out in front of me or a right hook. Those are the first two things that I expect to happen, so I try to ride so that I could avoid them if necessary.

BarracksSi

Me too. Just a reminder that there are dumbasses using all kinds of vehicles, including bicycles.

AlmostTrick

Well, "in my experience" it was being t-boned when when riding in a crosswalk:

https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...795&highlight=

This was my only car/bike crash as an adult. When on the road (which is almost always) I enter all intersections in the center of the lane and have not had a close right hook or left cross yet. Side paths and sidewalks seem to add danger if you ask me.

ghettocruiser

Clipped by passing cars.

closetbiker

I've been t-boned three times while I was just riding down the road. Once by a bike and twice by cars.

Actually one time, the car t-bone was just the start of a left turn, so was it a left turn or a t-bone?

Still have had more close calls with left turns than anything else.

joejack951

Never been hit but here is my list of almosts while cycling:

right hook (twice), I never use the shoulder in that area any more
distracted driver from behind (guy was watching traffic merging from the right just as I was and overlooked me)

In a car, the only time I've been hit (with any damage) was a left hook/t-bone. I've been rolled into at intersections while trying to make a right turn twice but no damage. In both cases, the guy behind me thought I went and rolled forward while looking left only to find me still there.

John E

My only collision with a motor vehicle was a left-cross. Riding farther from the curb arguably makes one more visible to oncoming traffic and therefore less susceptible to left-crosses as well as to right-hooks.

closetbiker

being more towards the center forces a motorist to make a wide turn to make the right turn and they're less likely to try it.

I find the left hook/cross to be the most unpredictable of motorist moves. They just wait and sometimes, despite good reason, they inexplicably go.

I find, if I'm alone on the street and a motorist is waiting to make the left turn into my path, it's most likely they'll try. They almost never turn left if there's traffic at my shoulder. Most times, if I'm in that situation, i'll angle myself so that I'm almost riding at the turner. That seems to help.

BarracksSi

I'm watching a movie called "Two For The Money", in which Matthew McConaughey's character is a bike commuter. When the notification of your post came into my inbox, Matthew was riding straight towards the camera, cresting a hill.

The ONLY way I could tell that he was moving closer was because of his pedaling. Well, besides him coming higher over the hill, of course, and it was shot with a long lens zoomed-in... but if I only had a glance, and if he weren't pedaling at all, he might as well have been standing still.

So here's my new question -- do motorists take better notice of us if we're pedaling versus coasting? If we look like we're going fast, are they better at estimating our speed?

(I'm only watching this flick because I can't get to sleep yet and I'm not getting Formula 1 coverage )

AlmostTrick

I agree, plus there is a brief window of time where if they do go, it will be nearly impossible to avoid the collision.

This sounds like helpful advice. I've also had success holding up an open palm "stop" signal while looking right at the motorist if I thought they were going to try turning into me. I would only do this early on though. Once I'm near that danger window, I want two hands on the bars and brakes.

AlmostTrick

If you're not pedaling they may take that as yielding or stopping. I like to keep pedaling so they think I'm not going to stop.

BarracksSi

Conversely, if I want to make it obvious that I'm coming to a stop myself, I unclip one foot and dangle it, hopefully also looking like I'm about to dismount and wait my turn.

maximan1

Fixie

pirate

When I ride my fixed gear, I notice that people seem to yield to me at intersections, probably because it looks like I am going to blow the stopsign or light.