Road Cycling - Most Common Accidents Caused By The Cyclist Themselves?

I ride a lot in traffic. Growing up in LA, you either get comfortable riding in traffic or you didn't ride. Nowadays, my commute is 18 miles one way straight up the busiest highway that isn't a freeway in Portland (99). So, I think of myself as being "traffic savvy".

Yesterday on a group rec ride, one of the guys was hit by a car that turned right without seeing him.The driver didn't race up next to him and cut him off - he had been drafting along in her blind spot for a couple good blocks. Fortunately, other than a bit of road rash to both body and bike, (as well as mind) everything was ok. But I couldn't feel 100% sorry for the the rider.

And I wondered...what other types of common traffic related accidents are more the fault of the cyclist and not the driver?

55/Rad

While I've never hit a car doing this, I have come close a few times. Misjudging when they're going to take off from a light or stop sign. Sometimes you get the huge SUV's you can't see past and as soon as the light turns green they jerk foward a little bit only to stop because not everyone else has gone. I can't think of anything else really, but cars turning right in front of me (literally right) is a problem even when I'm in the bike lane.

I'm guessing, but I'd say the most common error would be a failure to look behind before swerving to avoid something like a parked car. Also, not looking for people in parked cars, therefore not anticipating an opening door.

How about equipment failure that is purely your own fault? I was frantically rushing around before riding to Uni one day, swapping wheels around, and didn't do up the front skewer properly.....BANG....wheel came off when riding over a curb: cracked rib and badly damaged shoulder ligaments; in bed for a week. :mad:

I can't think of anything else really, but cars turning right in front of me (literally right) is a problem even when I'm in the bike lane.


I almost got creamed by a campus bus in that exact way. I was zipping cheerfully along in the bike lane when the bus on my left, blissfully ignorant of my presence, turns right, cutting me off hard. I pushed off of it with my hand and so didn't go down, but it still sucked.

While I agree that the cyclist should bear some of the blame for the crash you describe, the driver not checking his/her blind spot (or even knowing the cyclist was there) before turning was also in the wrong.

Good defensive cycling would have saved the day, though.

the only my fault situation i got into was sort of both our faults. it was a one lane road with one lane of parking on the right. so i was behind this lady and i guess i caught up to her pretty quick...well she slammed on her brakes and i almost went into her because i was a bit too close...nobody got hurt or mad but the look on her face when she looked into her rearview mirror to see me almost right in her truck was priceless...so i gave her a little wave:D

Well it depends on what one means by an "accident".

Forester found that the leading cause of bicycle crashes were road hazards: potholes, RR tracks, road kills, grates, and that sort of stuff.

By "accident", you seem to be talking about motorized vehicle - bike crash. I know the majority of these occur at intersections. There is the right hook, the left hook and the ever popular pulling out in front of the cyclist. Many of these are the motorist's fault and some are the cyclist's fault caused by wrong way riding or passing on the right etc.

If you mean fatalities, the most common kind of fatality in the USA accounting for nearly half of the total happens at night. Now, in the statistics, they do not mention the circumstances, but I would wager that in the vast number of these nocturnal fatalities the riders did not have active lighting systems and probably not even adequate reflectors.

Now there are notorious examples of experienced cyclists operating in a safe manner being struck and killed by vehicles which were operated in an appallingly careless and dangerous manner. Fortunately, these cases are pretty rare which is why, I suppose, they get so much attention.

If you mean fatalities, the most common kind of fatality in the USA accounting for nearly half of the total happens at night. Now, in the statistics, they do not mention the circumstances, but I would wager that in the vast number of these nocturnal fatalities the riders did not have active lighting systems and probably not even adequate reflectors.

Which would mean the other half occurs in the day, thus making it just as dangerous and negating the idea that night riding is more dangerous. Although I'm sure the number is actually higher than half of night time accidents.

The funniest is a "Busstop flop", for whatever reason, failing to unclip.