Chris516

Since I have a subscription to 'Bicycling' magazine, I got this link:https://www.bicycling.com/bke/slide/h...-561-0,00.html

In my e-mail yesterday.

It is about the five most common reasons for bike-car collisions!

I thought I should pass it on to everyone here.

closetbiker

Seems very close to

How to Not Get Hit by Cars

cudak888 

#1. Motor vehicle driver.
#2. Motor vehicle driver.
#3. Motor vehicle driver.
#4. Motor vehicle driver.
#5. POB ninja cyclist.

-Kurt

aMull

I find it ironic how motorists like to yell stuff like 'get on the sidewalk!' but then you read how when they're driving they're not looking for cyclist on the sidewalk...lol

genec

There was an article presented graphically in the magazine in a two page spread... "Six deadly driving mistakes (even you can make)/How to drive around cyclists."

Now if such an article was only published in AAA and Car and Driver Magazines (and what ever other car mags exist...)

Telling cyclists to watch for other cyclists is a bit like preaching to the choir. Time to reach out to the "congregation."

Shadowex3

Logical fallacies are like that. You can claim the opposite just as easily: "Motorists keep hitting bicycles in the road because they're not looking for a cyclist in the road". Or you can switch it around and say "Cyclists keep getting hit by cars when they ride on the sidewalk because they aren't paying any attention to motorists on the road and are riding irresponsibly". Or you can have a LOT of fun with it and say "Motorists and Cyclists keep getting hit by each other because neither group consistently behaves responsibly and both of them are polarized by politically extreme factions which foist unsustainable extremist behaviors on their groups."

As long as you're allowing an argument to be based on claiming to know what some group is thinking (maybe the arguers are telepathic?) you can basically make any claim you want.

Really every one of these boils down to the last one: At some point someone is behaving irresponsibly and doing something stupid and reckless: Not PAYING ATTENTION to possible hazards. That kind of stupid doesn't really care whether your butt is on a bike seat or in a car seat, and it causes the same issues regardless of WHERE you're exercising it.

genec

Interesting logical analysis, but I think all he was trying to say was that motorists tend to hit persons riding bicycles on sidewalks more than cyclists riding in the street... "why in the world would I want to ride on the sidewalk in that case."

Of course the fallacy in that argument is that the statistics used for that latter point fail to separate sidewalk cyclists by age, and in reality young inexperienced cyclists make up the bulk of cyclists hit on sidewalks... which means that experience is a greater factor than location... but hey, why let such trivial realities get in the way, right?

Those same statistical anomalies also suggest that MUPs are more dangerous, and more collisions occur... but said collisions tend to result in scrapped knees and the like, rather than the deaths that may occur when one collides with an automobile on the street... but again... trivial reality. Why let such subtleties get in the way of dogma.

Shadowex3

The same overwhelmingly applies to driving as well, all other things being equal experience is ALWAYS the single greatest factor in number and severity of user-error related problems. That's why a minimum biking or raising the minimum driving age will do exactly dick for accident rates, it just means people will be just as inexperienced later.

What we really need are good bike-safety classes like I had as an elementary schooler, only instead of falling-to-pieces bikes and a few rides around an empty lot it needs to be more like drivers ed.

Laserman

I'm not sure what things are like where other folks live and ride but around here I usually see 3 to 4 bikes on the sidewalk for every one I see on the road. If crashes were evenly distributed among the cyclists then a larger number of sidewalk cyclists would be involved in crashes. Younger riders are also more likely to become crash victims and are usually confined to sidewalks by parental decree. I am not sure how much care the people who analyse these statistics have taken to separate the variables so I tend to view the statement that sidewalk cycling is more dangerous with a grain of salt. I ride on the road when practical because it typically provides a better surface and opportunity for higher speeds but I don't hesitate to take to the sidewalks when I need to.

pueblonative

1 Seems a little odd (Turn so you can't see the car? What happens if he swerves wildly?) And 2 seems a result of all of the "bike as far to the right as possible" advocates. Sorry, at an intersection I'm setting myself dead center so the driver can't hit me with the right cross without veering into the next lane.

009jim

Well put !!!

ekincam

Cannot say it is always motorists fault. Though this is a bicyclist forum, still you cannot say that bicyclist do no wrong.

I almost hit a bicyclist like in example 1. I stopped my truck and saw the bicyclist about 50-70 ft from the 2-way stop -- just didn't expect him to run the stop sign and especially not after I started turning. Then I noticed he has one of those bikes that doesn't have brakes so maybe that was the reason.

Another incident I witness something similar to example 1. Bicyclist was riding wrong way down a divided road 2 lanes per direction with a 6 ft wide sidewalk height median. I was stopped on that street on the right lane and the both directions had green left arrow. Bicyclist got hit by a minivan turning left when he went through the intersection. I think it was inevitable this guy was going to get hurt. I don't know if this is considered left hook or not though.

Example 2, I almost did once because I couldn't see the bicyclist. Only noticed him holding on to the bed when he started banging on the truck as I was moving over into the bike lane where the striping is dashed. He was riding with 2 back lights and no front lights. I knew I passed him 1/2 mile or so back but didn't know he caught up to me. Either that or he grabbed on to my truck... extra 200 lbs won't make much difference as far as load on with a 6L diesel.

I haven't doored anyone yet but have nearly hit one woman while pulling out of a parallel parking space. Again no front lighting equipment at night and none on the rear either.

m015094

I'm not going to lie and claim that I never run through stop signs or red lights, but the instant I do those things is the same time that I forfeit any right-of-way with cars or pedestrians. If you get hit running a light (or hit somebody) it's your fault.

genec

Yes, I have often thought a cycling/driving program in public schools would be a great thing. Start kids off young with the rules of the road and a path to good cycling habits and better health, then later in upper grades a mandatory driving ed program that focused on the laws and ethics of driving... not just the "flow" aspects. Both cycling and driving are done in the public way and are life long activities, there is no reason they are not as important as any other aspect of a good education.

ghettocruiser

Last time I was mirror-slapped at night I was running two PBSFs and at least a cumulative square foot of rearward-facing reflective tape.

Just sayin'.

Seattle Forrest

If I'd seen this summary, I wouldn't have needed to read the whole article.

Most of the accidents I've been in, were left crosses. Most recently, the driver was on a cell phone, waiting to turn into a fast food joint while I was coming down the hill, with my front light blinking in obnoxious mode. Years ago, I was once again coming down a hill, this time between street car tracks, went straight through an intersection with a green light, and a minivan made a left turn directly into me. Before the crash, my eyes met the driver's; afterward, he said he hadn't expected me to get into the intersection before he cleared it, as if all bikes have a maximum speed of 1 mph.

I'd really love to see something happen to make us safer.

sauerwald

I would not claim that cyclists do no wrong, however, very few (statistically insignificant) numbers of people are killed by cyclists, whereas motorists kill tens of thousands of people each year in the US alone. The fact that the motor vehicle is such a deadly machine should place the vast majority of responsibility on the motorist.

genec

AMEN! Say it brother.

I have been hit 3 times by motorists, and had countless close calls with motorists...

never once have I been threatened by a pedestrian or a cyclist... and that is in over 40 years of cycling.

genec

Or to make it safer for us.