Advocacy & Safety - Woah! Too close!

So I'm out doing some errands on my lunch yesterday, keeping pace in traffic so I'm in the lane. I make a left at a traffic light and start heading down a hill behind an SUV. The SUV suddenly stopped. I braked, I ended up braking as hard as I could. I had to pull to the right, and I still would have taken out his taillight if I hadn't swerved my handlebars right at the last second.

Scary stuff!


Guess it's time to clean my rims, and to remember to not follow too closely!

Translation of tjwarren's story in more accurate terms:


"So, I'm dicking about on my ill-tuned bike yesterday, attempting risky maneuvers that require skilled handling, a properly adjusted brakeset, and good brake pads - none of which I posses. I was recklessly flying down a hill behind a moving wall when the wall suddenly stopped. As I don't bother to maintain my bike - nor do I bother to calculate my stopping distance - I nearly became a blob of graffiti on that wall.

I'm now bragging about the fact that I cheated my own stupidity."

-Kurt

Pwned

Ooh, ow, that hurts, since it's about what I expect out of A&S.

So, now back to my (advocacy &) Safety: Don't follow too close.

Safety: Don't follow too close.

Which should be 1,000 feet if you are excluding Safety Rule #1: Proper maintenance.

-Kurt

Safety: Don't follow too close.

I agree. I used to have two hills on an old commute that would allow me to break 40 mph if conditions were right. I didn't allows follow your advice. I got lucky.

Disregard the Mr. Self-Important Richard-Head response above.

Disregard the Mr. Self-Important Richard-Head response above.

In other words, let your bike fall apart?

-Kurt

In other words, let your bike fall apart?

-Kurt

In other words you don't know the condition of that bike. It doesn't matter what kind of vehicle it is, nor how well tuned if the vehicle ahead is being followed too closely for conditions.

You are speculating on an assumption that may well be incorrect.

The only thing that we know about this incident, because T.J. admitted it, is that T.J. was following too closely. I have been guilty of this too.

Translation of tjwarren's story in more accurate terms:
-Kurt

Great stuff, you should write for comedy central!

I think there's some unnecessary derision in this thread (though, I think that's A&S in general).

I admit that my rims are dirty, so my stopping power may not be what it should be. It was also a beautiful summer day, the first sunny day in a while, so maybe I wasn't paying as much attention as I should have been. That said, I think the problem in this case is that I was too close to the vehicle in front of me.

We were stopped at a red light, turning left. When I leave a red light, I pedal pretty hard to get up to speed. I've also tended to stay close to the vehicle in front of me (say, 8 - 10 feet behind). Immediately after turning, and while I was still pedaling hard, we went down a hill. The car in front then stopped short -- he didn't slow down, he just stopped.

Had I stayed further behind the car instead of staying close to his bumper, I would not have come close to hitting him. Even a few inches more would have made a big difference. Had I been a car-and-a-half length back (as I would when I'm driving) I would have had no problem at all.

I think there's some unnecessary derision in this thread (though, I think that's A&S in general).

Hey, if we couldn't argue in A&S there wouldn't be an A&S because we'd all be over in P&R.:love:


I admit that my rims are dirty, so my stopping power may not be what it should be.

There you have it, Kurt. T.J. does feel he needs to do maintenance. Though I'd hardly call dirty rims a "bike falling apart". I wouldn't even call it unsafe to ride. He also recognizes that dirty rims were not the primary cause of this scenario.

Great stuff, you should write for comedy central!

About what I'm trying to do here - poke fun at A&S via Colbert Report-style methods.

-Kurt

About what I'm trying to do here - poke fun at A&S via Colbert Report-style methods.

-Kurt

Last fall, I ran into the back of a minivan while I was pulling a fully loaded trailer... with a bike that didn't have enough braking force to be particularly safe without the trailer.

That is all.

Last fall, I ran into the back of a minivan while I was pulling a fully loaded trailer... with a bike that didn't have enough braking force to be particularly safe without the trailer.

I had to read that one three times through.

:lol:

-Kurt

It would be ironic if the reason for the SUV stopping suddenly was due to a cyclist on a properly maintained bicycle with clean rims stopping suddenly in front of the SUV.

Let's now turn this into a bash the cager thread. Why did the SUV stop suddenly? Was the ragin' cager TRYING to cause an accident? :mad: Using her (isn't always a her?) rear bumper to inflict damage on an unsuspecting, defenseless cyclist?:eek:

Let's stop picking on the poor bike rider who was obviously a target of road rage!!!:D

MM

. . .
Guess it's time to clean my rims, and to remember to not follow too closely!

That sure applies to me.

What's up with that arrogant road hogging SUV driver? If she is going to be taking a leisurely drive she should get on another road where she belongs- out of the way!

I was riding too close behind a car here in italy, where I currently live, and the woman in front of me stopped suddenly because she thought this parked driver was about to pull out. I grabbed two fistfulls of brake, turned to the left a bit, and slammed my right shoulder into her rear window (car had a flat back like a station wagon). After chewing out the other driver, she turned to me and I told her, in my meager grasp of italian, that her window was fine. from my meager understanding of italian, she said "never mind the window, are you ok?" Probably would not get a response like that in general in italy, but it was an unexpected response and something that would never happen in the us.

Kurt's azzholishness aside, you were following too close.

What's up with that arrogant road hogging SUV driver? If she is going to be taking a leisurely drive she should get on another road where she belongs- out of the way!

:roflmao2:

Ohh if cagers could only get irony!

I was riding too close behind a car here in italy, where I currently live, and the woman in front of me stopped suddenly because she thought this parked driver was about to pull out. I grabbed two fistfulls of brake, turned to the left a bit, and slammed my right shoulder into her rear window (car had a flat back like a station wagon). After chewing out the other driver, she turned to me and I told her, in my meager grasp of italian, that her window was fine. from my meager understanding of italian, she said "never mind the window, are you ok?" Probably would not get a response like that in general in italy, but it was an unexpected response and something that would never happen in the us.

That is very nice of her to ask, but yeah, just don't follow too close and you should be OK. :)