Road Cycling - Almost run over by a truck yesterday

Hello everybody. I’ve been lurking for a few months, and have decided it is time to de-lurk and contribute.

Anyway, here’s my question.

Yesterday afternoon, I’m riding on a county road with 1 lane in each direction. Traffic is light, maybe 2 or 3 cars per minute pass me on my side of the road. In most places, the road has a shoulder that is about 1 foot wide, and typically I ride about 2 feet into the lane.

As I’m riding, I can hear that a large truck is approaching me from behind at a high rate of speed (the speed limit is 50 MPH and I think he was going faster), and a car is coming from the opposite direction perfectly synced up to pass me at the same time as the truck, and there was no shoulder at all - just a nearly vertical wall of rock that began at the beginning of the lane. I had no indication that the truck was going to stop, so I moved as far to the right as I could go. The car and truck past me at the same time, and the truck yielded no space to me at all. It was close, really, really close.

The whole situation took 2 seconds to occur – there was no time for much thought. What’s the proper way to handle this situation? If I would have stayed in the lane, maybe the truck would have skidded to avoid hitting me or maybe I would have been run over.
Is it safer to ride in the lane, relying on the diver to slow down, or moving near the shoulder and hoping the driver won’t run me off the road?

Thanks.

Such situations are excellent for learning the finer points of prayer.:D

It's hard to say what's the best thing to do without being there. Obviously you made it through so you can't have done too much wrong.

I always ride a metre and a half or so out from the kerb. That way, if someone gets too close I have 'a little' space to move.

Sounds like you were in a very tricky situation. Glad to know you got out alive.

Welcome to BikeForums. Good to have you here. Hopefully the next few cycling stories you post will be a little happier.

2 things you could have done,

1. moved to the middle of the lane to force the truck to slow(or run you over), but be sure he has enough reaction time to do that.

2. You could have either sped up or slowed so that the car would not have passed you the same time the truck did.

3. Don't ride on a road that is marked 50mph with not shoulder--sounds to me like your asking for it!!

I've had this sort of thing happen, too, in the past. I use one of 2 tactics:

1. Speed up to pass the on-coming vehicle first then ease up to let the following vehicle past

2. Ease up and let the follower past before the on-coming gets to me.

No. 1 is most useful on very tight lanes or when you hear the follower slowing for you.

No. 2 better on wider roads (as in your situations), when follower maintains speed or if on-coming vehicle slows down.

What I find least useful is maintaining steady pace and hoping it all works out - often just the change in pace is enough for other traffic to pay more attention to you.

This one is always a tricky call.
Take up a more assertive position in the road, but listen to that engine, and if they dont ease up, be prepared to scoot to the side. Try and establish eye contact with the driver behind. Make sure they really notice you.
Ive had to scoot once, when the car behind me tried to overtake at the same time as an on-coming car. The overtaker had to slam their brakes on at the very last moment, and scared the living poo out of me. They did apologise, but left me pretty shaken
When I have forced a driver to slow rather than crash, they can become irritable.

Thanks everyone.



Originally posted by msparks
2 things you could have done,


3. Don't ride on a road that is marked 50mph with not shoulder--sounds to me like your asking for it!!


You know, I never thought of this road as dangerous. Most of my rides are on county roads. They are well maintained, smooth, etc., they have 1 lane each direction and do not have shoulders. The route I took yesterday makes for a pleasant ride, 20 miles through rural areas with rolling hills. I was being past by only 2-3 cars per minute going in my direction. Is the general thought, that this type of road should be avoided?

Iwould say the truck driver saw you all right but he thought he would give you a fright , just to teach you a lesson for daring to try and impede his progress & because he was having a bad day !

Sounds to me like you trusted your good judgment and handled the situation well. If you felt the truck was not going to slow down, you did not have much choice but to move to the right. As far as whether or not the road is ok for riding, that depends on whether or not you're comfortable on it. It would probably be a good idea to check behind you before entering that particular stretch of road again, though.

i say you carry an air horn with u and scare the poo out of him, or go james bond style and have your watch rigged as a bomb and throw it on his truck, just thought i would humor the situation

I've never been in this situation since I ride mostly in the city. In Manhattan, if you ride in the gutter, you get treated like sewage. I tend to ride in the lane dedicated for buses but in the MIDDLE of the lane. This way there is NO confusion as to what THEY have to do which is yield.

You should also listen to the throttle. If it's wide open, your riding in the gutter so they're going to take advantge of this and try to squeeze by at full speed. It's insane but don't put yourself in this position.

You could have started removing articles of clothing! I would slow down to see what's next! :p Just kidding (maybe)

You have to remember that you're the lightweight. The car and truck are very heavy thus needing more room to slow. Good call on moving over. People just generally don't care about cyclists, just that you were in their way.

Don't ride on the road.

:-)

A similar thing happened to me, i was on my way home after a pretty long cycle, and this is a pretty narrow road, with no markings and very light (but fast) traffic.

I was tight into the left side of the road, when a tractor overtakes me (:D i was going that slow) and it cuts me off, by turning sharp just in front of me, it had a huge trailer full of grass, which almost caught me and shared the sh1t outta me, plus the fact that the git driving was younger than me (illegal) was annoying.

Good luck in the future man, and welcome :)

The pucker factor on that little incident must have been a 10.

I've had trucks pass so close if I had a tire iron I could have changed a flat. I never know what these people think and really don't care. They are violating my legal right to use the road and therefore they are just stupid.

If I sense someone comoing in close I will try to give up as much lane as possible to protect my own a$$. Too many reasons a driver can get away with running a cyclist over these days.

Originally posted by msparks
3. Don't ride on a road that is marked 50mph with not shoulder--sounds to me like your asking for it!!

True. Although I have as much right to ride that 50mph road with no shoulder as that truck driver, that right isn't going to do me much good when I am dead or in a wheelchair.

I play the odds. I try to stick to rural roads and roads with shoulders. True, sometimes riding that road with no shoulder and a 50mph speed limit is inevitable. However, I avoid them as much as possible and I usually only ride them when they are short. Like I said, I try to play the odds.

Originally posted by NW NJ Biker
Hello everybody. I’ve been lurking for a few months, and have decided it is time to de-lurk and contribute.

Anyway, here’s my question.

Yesterday afternoon, I’m riding on a county road with 1 lane in each direction. Traffic is light, maybe 2 or 3 cars per minute pass me on my side of the road. In most places, the road has a shoulder that is about 1 foot wide, and typically I ride about 2 feet into the lane.

As I’m riding, I can hear that a large truck is approaching me from behind at a high rate of speed (the speed limit is 50 MPH and I think he was going faster), and a car is coming from the opposite direction perfectly synced up to pass me at the same time as the truck, and there was no shoulder at all - just a nearly vertical wall of rock that began at the beginning of the lane. I had no indication that the truck was going to stop, so I moved as far to the right as I could go. The car and truck past me at the same time, and the truck yielded no space to me at all. It was close, really, really close.

The whole situation took 2 seconds to occur – there was no time for much thought. What’s the proper way to handle this situation? If I would have stayed in the lane, maybe the truck would have skidded to avoid hitting me or maybe I would have been run over.
Is it safer to ride in the lane, relying on the diver to slow down, or moving near the shoulder and hoping the driver won’t run me off the road?

Thanks.


I think you can do something about situations like this.
If you have a mirror, it will tell you what's approaching you from behind so you might RESERVE the space, look if there is shoulder. If there is no shoulder, and cars are constantly passing on oncoming lane. It might make sense to OCCUPY the whole lane, but be sure that traffic from behind stops to let you pass the "wall/ no shoulder" section. You could use bright red cloth, or even walk throug that section.
If road is just too dangerous, the best soulution maybe to gett off the highway and walk along it, or on the shoulder of the other side...
Mirror and early prediction can help avoid similar sitatuions.

I have had this same thing happen to me! I have found the best thing to do is ride about 2 feet into the lane from the right margin and trafic will see you and slow. I use a mirror and when the passing vehicle swings to the left I swing to the right giving myself even more room. I even take the middle of the lane on hills, untill I can see over the top, to keep autos from passing and hitting someone head on with me right beside the whole mess. I even had one car try and pass me last week on a hill and I could see the other car coming! I had to wave my left hand frantically to stop the car form passing in the other lane!
I didn't understand if the truck was in a posistion to see you from a distance, or did he just sorta "appear out of no where". If he was able to see you from a distance, I have found it far better to "take the lane". BTW a car or truck can slow down MUCH faster than a road bike. If you slow down with something overtaking you, it will just get you sooner. Speed up while they slow down and it will actually increase the time it takes them to overtake you. I have found if you give them just enough room to pass with out crossing the line they will use just that and squeez you. I have also found if you ride for 30 mins. on the same road with out seeing one auto, when you do there will be two and they will be in a posistion to pass right beside YOU!

Being from NJ myself, I know all about the no-shoulder roads. Sometimes the 50 mph no shoulder roads are just unavoidable. I have a long stretch of one on my 16 mile loop. I usually ride 1 to 2 feet in the lane, and just let the cars pass by me. When I approach a hill (not that there are many here) or overpass, I'll move over if I hear someone approaching, since they can not see oncoming traffic in the other lane they use to pass me.

MSD

We Manhattanites make frequent use of a road called 9W. This is an officially designated "bike" route. It runs parallel to the Palisades Parkway. Well, guess what? No trucks or large vehicles are permitted on the Parkway. Therefore they're forced to drive on 9W!!!! What brainiac thought up this idea? So, I spend a good portion of my bike rides with 18 wheelers zooming by me. Actually though, they tend to be very skilled drivers. It's the a__holes in the Mercedes' yapping of the cell phone that go by me at 60 mph within centimeters that I can't stand. But, I do carry a large amount of C4 in my backpack. If I were to get hit, the motorist would die as well. :) lol

Steve

You know, I never thought of this road as dangerous. Most of my rides are on county roads. They are well maintained, smooth, etc., they have 1 lane each direction and do not have shoulders. The route I took yesterday makes for a pleasant ride, 20 miles through rural areas with rolling hills. I was being past by only 2-3 cars per minute going in my direction. Is the general thought, that this type of road should be avoided?

This sounds exactly like a road I ride on regularly - narrow 2 lane country road, 80kph speed limit (much to ofast for this road) and it is twisty.

As to what you should have down it depends on the truck....for me. If it is a pickup, then no i will not stop. If it is an 18 wheeler, then YES I will. I always get a thank you wave from these guys.

My reasoning is this: The road is twisty and narrow, they can't see what is coming on the other lane, I am small they are big, I am havin fun they are workin, they don;t want to hit me, I don;t want them to hit me, it does not take much out of my ride to pull over and stop when one appears behind me. Does not happen often.

I recommend a mirror to monitor what is happening behind you, listen to the motor and...judge by the look and actions of the vehicle.

Digger

Recommending not to ride roads like this is pointless. Everyone knows that the most scenic (and often training effective) roads are those narrow 2 lane roads with either tourists who aren't paying attention or locals who know all the turns and therefore go Mach 5. There can be no rule to follow in any situation, you must adapt to what the roads throw at you. I tried for a long time to stay as far to the right as possible always, to try to be a good ambassador to the sport. But that backfires quite often. So I've started taking control of the lane but curteously moving over when I know the situation is right for someone to pass easily. I also use hand signals to let the driver know that I am aware of their presence and I either signal them to pass or to slow down depending on oncoming traffic. I've found that if you use the signal to slow them down they will usually wave a 'thank you' when they go by rather than the typical one finger salute. Again this isn't 100% of the time, so react to your own situation.

Well, I just got back from a 50 mile ride on these same kind of roads and no close calls or motorist agrivation. You should have seen the old fellas at the country store on the other side of the county when I stopped for some dinner! I guess they don't see too many people in bike shorts and wild jerseys!:D

I allso use hand signals to help motorist deside what to do, they seem to be apreatative of the heads up.

The only agravation I had is FLATS!