General Cycling Discussion - What is your greatest threat while riding on 2 lane highways?

1. Is it when a car passes to close to you? Like within an arms reach even though there is no on coming traffic and the driver could very easily have moved into the oncoming lane to avoid passing to close to you.

2. Is it when there are 2 oncoming vehicles and one wants to pass the other and you are faced with a possible head on collision with a vehicle much bigger and heavier then you travelling at about 60 mph? Keep in mind with this scenerio there is not always a ditch or other safer place to head into. And whats worse is when it is done in a no passing zone.

These are the only 2 I can think of right now but please if you'd like to add your own then by all means do so. Keep in mind this for when we ride on highways, state or county. Not in the cities and towns.

For me it is #2. Although both happen when I ride on the highways the second one I listed happens far more often then the first.

How about everyone else?

The totally random idiot whose attention diverts to anything: cell phone, drops purse, kids screaming in the back seat, looking elsewhere ie the well known phenomena of crash induced crashes except car on bike, geriatric driver out of the nursing home for a Sunday drive, the driver that drifts to R or to L then overcorrects, or towing a trailer that is wider than his truck on a narrow road.
Scenarios are endless and completely random. It is unusual for a driver to be so malevolent as to committ a felonious assault, most are "accidental", bikes are less visible than motorcycles and motorcycles are relatively invisible compared with cars. Steve

I was almost a hood ornament this past week due to #2! This is the only time this has ever happened to me, BTW. #1 is much more common, although I did have one old beater PU cross the line by about 3 feet twards me! This was susposed to intimidate me or something, I didn't even realize what he was doing untill he was past! I hope I don't see that truck around, it could be feloneous!:eek:

Small rocks that could put me into trouble

The usual inattentive driver scenario is the most common around here. Aside from that, inattention on my own part almost did me in the other day when I hit a sudden mound in the pavement that threw me forward and left onto the bars, nearly resulting in a faceplant. That would have been a lousy injury story to tell.

I find neither of the above scenarios to be overly concerning. I'm more worried about some idiot pulling in from a side road or running a red light. They're harder to predict and evade.

My two closest calls.... a oncoming semi passing an oncoming car persuaded me to move off to the shoulder, which was loose sand, and more recently, an SUV passing by giving me plenty of space had it not been for the spare tire mount on the rear door which was not secured, and managed to swing to the shoulder side of the rode shortly after the vehicle passed me. THAT sent a chill down my spine.......

The biggest danger is yourself. People that ride in urban areas often "get used to" traffic passing them closely. Several cyclists were klled in "broad daylight" by mirrors on RVs and school busses this year.

Needless to say - I usually wear an eyeglass mirror and ride like my life depended on it.

AS Chris L stated.

People coming out of driveways and side streets are the biggest problem.

Another major concern are buses pulling out from a kerb. For some reason they think they are exempt from even looking when pulling out into traffic. When I'm passing a bus I usually expect them to just pull out now. Terrible drivers. I have alot of respect for truckies , but buses - Nah!:mad:

Well it sort of depends.

According to statistics, something like 80% of all cycling fatalities involve motorists. But I went through the data and discovered that quite a few of the fatalities involved riding at night (and I bet without a lighting system) or riding on the wrong side of the road and so on. Even with all fatalities factored in, cycling is half as risky as being in a motorized vehicle per hour and it is safer then being a pedestrian (is this because cyclists are more nimble targets?).

Let me put this another way. I reckon that club cyclists riding on Saturday and Sunday mornings account for the majority of miles ridden in the USA by cyclists. But if you look at the fatality data, there is no upward blip in fatalities on Sat and Sun mornings. All those club riders apparantly have a vanishingly small fatality rate.

If someone is going to get you then, it is probably going to be a real brain dead sort of stunt and those are fortunately rare.

On just about every weekend ride, someone comes closer to me then I find comfortable and almost always it is on the open road with nothing coming so they could have given me lots of space. But I haven't been hit yet. Still, it is disconcerting.

Also there is another kind of hazard. Forester looked just at injuries suffered by cyclists that required medical attention. He found that half of these were caused by things in the road like potholes. He found that cars accounted for only something like 10% of the total injuries and most of these happened at intersections or cars pulling out of driveways. So they almost all happened at low speeds. Actually, dogs got as many cyclists as motorized vehicles if I remember right - not by biting but by getting under a wheel and causing a nasty fall. And other cyclists caused as many crashes as motorized vehicles.

So it depends on what you mean when you talk about worry? Are we talking about risk of death? In this case, you worry about motorized vehicles. Or are you talking about risk of serious injury? And here you would worry more about other things.

i will admin that i was one of those drivers that didnt give too much room for a biker. Now that i bike, i go out of my way for them, because i would like people to do the same for me. I guess its a respect thing, if you have never been nearly run off the road while on a bike, you would not understand how it feels, so you drive that way.

Originally posted by Chris L
I find neither of the above scenarios to be overly concerning. I'm more worried about some idiot pulling in from a side road or running a red light. They're harder to predict and evade.

The discussing in concered about two lane highways...
There are no stop lights there...:rolleyes:

Originally posted by Richard Cranium
Several cyclists were klled in "broad daylight" by mirrors on RVs and school busses this year.


This is a great point! I haven't thought of this before but will keep in mind now.

Originally posted by Inoplanetyanin
The discussing in concered about two lane highways...
There are no stop lights there...:rolleyes:

Here there are...:rolleyes: The only roads without stoplights up here are freeways (usually 4 lane and up). So maybe things are different in Australia too.

SCH's suggestion has my vote...I hate seeing people on cell phones on/in any moving vehical. Their brains can't handle two things at once.

My greatest scare is truck pulling a trailler (usually a boat). It's scary because you thought it's over when the truck passed you, and then all of the sudden the trailler came along.

anyone here use one of those mirror things? I have wanted one but then i found really low traffic roads. I might be able to slove some problems.

Originally posted by spazegun2213
anyone here use one of those mirror things? I have wanted one but then i found really low traffic roads. I might be able to slove some problems.

I assume you're talking about helmet mirror? Most kinds can also attach to eye/sunglasses. Yes I use one and I'm pretty sure a lot of folks here use them too.

They are a good safety tool to have and use, not matter what the traffic conditions are.

On a recumbent, such as I ride, a mirror is the only way to see what is behind me. While riding a 'bent a person can not look under their arm or over their shoulder to see what is behind them.

I do not recommend the use of a handle bar mirror though. Most of them work the same way the left side mirror of a car works, Objects are closer then they appear. Though that is not stated on the mirror itself and if you don't know or forget and go to make a turn and it looks like a car is far enough behind you to do so safely you will find out differant.

I used to use a handlebar mirror up until I was hit by a car for the very reason in the paragraph above. I did not know that it worked the same way as a left side mirror of a car. Went to do a u-turn and was hit. The mirror I was using is partially to blame for it.

So I say yes on helmet/eye/sunglasses mirror and a definant NO! on handle bar mirrors.

Originally posted by firebolt
My greatest scare is truck pulling a trailler (usually a boat). It's scary because you thought it's over when the truck passed you, and then all of the sudden the trailler came along.

I agree. The trailer pullers who freak me out the most are the lawn care and landscapers. Those trailers are usually much wider than the tow vehicle, and it seems those are the drivers who never give me enough room.

What really freaks me out is weekends - when these wide trailers are rented by do-it-yourself homeowners who have no clue whatsoever about trailer pulling.

One day I fully expect to see pieces of bicycle and cyclist bodyparts hanging off the right front corner of one of these trailers while the driver goes merrily about his/her rounds.