dynodonn 

"Might equals right" to a number of motorists, but thankfully I haven't had to deal with very many motorists using the "freight train" tactic in my locale.

Chris516

I remembered something from when I talked to a county police about almost getting hit. It was like, he was saying I had the ROW but, 'oh yeah you can get yourself killed'. Like he couldn't resist a parting shot to basically tell a cyclist to get off the road.

howsteepisit

I think the officers comment was more a pragmatic acknowledgment that even if you have the ROW, a collision with a car or truck will turn out badly for you. Your survivors can sue for compensation to offset their loss. Seems to me its more just a statement of reality than a get off the road message.

FBinNY 

Then again he might just have been giving you good advice. My wife was in a very similar accident. She was turning on a green left arrow, but a mistimed light had the opposing left turn red, with a green thru. She was T-boned by a driver who came around the stopped left turners and went straight, almost shearing off the front of my wife's car. Fortunately, with air bags there were no serious injuries. Interestingly when the insurance companies reviewed the accident, the other driver was held at fault, because had room and the option to stop, but insisted on her ROW, and made no effort to do so. Her words to the police "I had the right of way, and assumed she would stop".

ROW is find for those who write accident reports, and assign responsibility, but when you're unprotected and surrounded by 1 ton plus vehicles, discretion is the better part of valor.

dynodonn 

Most motorists know this, a number of them will use it to their advantage to get further down the road, and those are the type of motorists that I generally report to law enforcement.

spare_wheel

Word. Everyone who bike commutes should spend at least a few hours a year practising emergency braking.

FBinNY 

If you commute in an east coast city, there's no need to devote any practice time. Real world traffic conditions there will keep your skills sharp.

But the point is well taken, riding safely in urban and suburban traffic, especially among drivers rushing to work or home, calls for good bike handling skill, proper conditioned reactions, and constant situational awarenes.

For me one indicator of the difference between commuting, and doing weekend rides or extended tours is brake shoe life. I've never worn out a pair of road bike brake shoes, and replace them because they dry out. OTOH, I'm lucky to get one year out of a set of shoes on the commuter, riding roughly the same number of miles per year.

Chris516

I wasn't asking the officer to be pragmatic(or not), in his response. I just asked him about legalities regarding ROW. I only wanted to know, considering how it happened if I had somehow violated the ROW.

I am glad your wife had air bags in her car.

I also take time of day(AM/PM Rush) into account. As for braking. Prior to the driver even attempting to make their left-turn, there were two motorists' far ahead of them, that made their left-turns' completely before I had reached the intersection. The motorist in question, had not started their turn, when I reached the intersection, then they gunned it.

FBinNY 

You're projecting. Cops always say things like this, to motorists, pedestrians, truck drivers and cyclists. Most cops will take any opportunity to remind folks to drive defensively right of way or not.

About two years ago I was stopped by a cop because I use a blue strobe as a tail light. He told me it was illegal, and only police and emergency vehicles could use blue strobes. After a short conversation, he agreed that it was more visible and more likely to get the attention of a motorist passing me, and decided it was better than writing up an accident report. So he let go, but couldn't resist reminding me that cops pulled over with the light bar stobing get tail ended all the time.

Chris516

I wasn't projecting on the officer being pragmatic('howsteepisit' said it first), so much. But regardless, the word is fitting. With you it was your blue light. With me, it is my bright yellow jacket. The same officer who was being 'pragmatic', also said I was very will lit and with no dark clothing.

dynodonn 

Anybody who commutes by bike in an urban setting, probably already does, and not by choice.

Chris516

randomgear

I've been doing an anti-smidsy maneuver to help me avoid this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqQBubilSXU

The vid was made for motorcyclists, but translates well to cycling.

Chris516

Excellent recommendation!!! I can see how translating it to cyclists', would definitely work.

turbo1889

Yah, but it only works if they actually care about other people besides themselves and it isn't a "by force and might" maneuver they are knowingly making on you when they know you are there and they are playing chicken with you betting that you being more vulnerable will be the one to flinch.

dynodonn 

Drawing back to my motorcycling days, I feel a SMIDSY avoidance routine is too much work, whereas I had found that I got better motorist reaction when I converted my motorcycle headlight to a daytime strobe. As for translating to cycling, my forward speed is too low, whereas I can slow down before colliding into a motorist's vehicle.

turbo1889

Well I do know the "weave and wobble around the lane" tactic works sometimes on a bicycle to get tailgaters and/or too-close-passers to back off a little and/or pass nice and wide.

Doesn't work though if the tailgater is deliberately chewing on your rear wheel and/or the too-close-passer slicing at you as a deliberate form of "get off the road" harassment.

dynodonn 

In my locale, the weave and wobble routine would probably be mistaken for cyclist arrogance by the following motorist, and possibly escalating an already volatile situation.

turbo1889

Entirely possible in my area as well, so its a judgement call whether or not to use it.

howsteepisit

I think its more likely you would get pulled over for drunken cycling in my community if you employed a weave and wobble strategy.

spare_wheel

I've been riding on a daily basis in heavy urban traffic for decades and I've only used emergency braking skills a handful of times. Learning how to panic brake without endoing or skidding is something you should learn in a parking lot.

FBinNY 

Even in a parking lot setting, practicing emergency hard braking can cause crashes. And pavement there is just as hard and unforgiving as it is on the road, though there's much less chance of secondary injury from a passing car.

This is a catch-22 of learning bike handling skill. You can't learn about crash management and avoidance without risking crashing. So, if you decide to test the endo limit in a parking lot, (which I agree every rider should) consider having a safety man or two just ahead of where you plan to stop to help catch you or break your fall.

There's a similar situation in scuba diving. Every new diver has to learn a controlled rapid ascent without air. This is probably one of the most dangerous events in diving, and the instructor has to do this with each student, to make sure it's done correctly. Unfortunately doing this a few times in close succession with his students is the number one cause of decompression illness or injury for scuba instructors.

turbo1889

Hay-bales

The square smaller ones. Take a trailer load of them out to practice parking lot and place in two rows with a narrow 3' wide strip of pavement between them and then cap off one end. Sweep the narrow middle strip well for clean pavement and then go flying into the open end of that strip and try to emergency brake right before the end.

Haven't tried it myself but just now thought of it as a possible good way to practice in a parking lot and give yourself something soft to fall against after reading you guys posts above.

Me, I did all that kind of practice and practice on every possible crazy or half crazy stunt that can be done on a bike when I was a young kid and I bounced right back up again. Now days I just kind of thud instead of bounce.

FBinNY 

That makes sense. All us urban and suburban commuters have easy access to trailers and hay bales. When we're through with the practice, we'll feed the hay to our horses.

Blue Belly

People don't see bike lights. I've had the same issue. I look & don't see it. Assume it's a lamp post or some other stationary light on the side of the road & proceed. People don't want to hit a cyclist & cyclist always seem to think they've got the safest, most visible light on the road. The truth is, often it isn't moving fast enough to appear in motion. I often found it safest to ride without a head light(obviously in low traffic areas) & with a taillight that flashed. People see the red or yellow light from your backside. When riding w/o a headlight it have good enough vision to acclimate to the light & I never find myself assuming that anyone sees me. I know it sounds nuts, but I never had close calls, like I did when riding with a head light.