Vehicular Cycling (VC) - Poll: Close calls and car type

Is there a link between the car type and the threat to a bicyclist? Not sure if this would be a valid poll because it probably varies a lot depending on what country you live in and in the USA what state you live in and whether you are in a rural or city area, but this still might be interesting to see:
Which type of vehicle have you noticed that seems to more often come very close to you while driving or endanger you in other ways?



For me, it seems like sports cars are the worst offenders as far as coming very close to me while riding on residential streets. Next would probably be large SUVs. Maybe I'm imagining it though.

This is probably way to involved to be a poll and I'm sorry I even posted it now. I just thought it might be interesting to see if any others have noticed any link to car types. I started thinking about it and there are way to many variables.. For example, it's possible that sports car drivers, who are probably mostly better drivers then others, may feel more confident that they can pass closer with out being a danger to the cyclist because they can react faster, who knows? Of course, it's also possible that many of you haven't been aware of looking at the type of car in certain situations that are dangerous.. naw, way to complicated, sorry everyone if this was a stupid poll. :o

In order of how close they get:

1 Tourist buses.

2 Taxis

3 Large luxury cars (the bigger and more powerful, the closer they get)

4 School buses.

The CSUMB shuttle buses like to squeeze cyclists the most, I've noticed. I guess they want to encourage people to take their shuttle than ride their bikes. (It has a bike rack on the back!)

I don't think any type of vehicle is better than the others. They are all bad. That may seem nutso. But, IMO it comes down to the individual person, not the type of vehicle. Because, The only mindset that changes, is when a motorist gets' behind the wheel.

It's not so much that one make or type of vehicle is more likely to pass me unsafely. Rather, if the driver is male, then the cheaper the vehicle the more likely he is to pass maliciously. If the driver is female, then the more expensive the vehicle the more likely she is to pass dangerously. Males in new SUVs or huge pick-ups seem to be fairly considerate drivers where I live and females in older vehicles also seem to be relatively safe. Same car with the other gender and I've got troubles. All bets are off with youngsters; they are all lousy drivers hereabouts.

I really can't 'profile' a type of vehicle or driver that is more likely to cause me problems; there isn't any leaning, one way or the other -- I get the same good AND bad from older drivers, younger, male or female, junker or 'whip'. If they decide on any given day that I'm 'in their way', they at least partially disregard my space and right to the road.

I have noticed that they are fewer and further between, though. Maybe it's the madly blinking taillight....

I often find that the large pickups, though loud, actually will swing wide. The school buses and, worst of all, power company trucks, give ZERO extra room.

My most consistent profile is:

female
young
small car
cell phone


Or, worse than cell phone, is young, female, passengers filling the car.

Call me sexist, but I calls em as I sees em.

Old people and Town cars! Older ladies more so! Two very close calls!
Had words with both, Both had the same idea. "You should get out of
my way!"

Both have dents in the drivers door now!

I actually got bumped by a school bus, and regularly get cut off by Taxis on a regular basis. Almost everytime Ive been honked at, its been by a woman, and everytime I get yelled at, its by a man. No other correlation exists that Ive seen.

I regularly commute to work past a large school bus depot during peak periods. Also share a section with plenty of tractor trailer dump trucks. I have very few close calls with drivers of any type of vehicle, and can't really say one type is worse than another.

Most really close calls are from one ton duel axle pickups pulling 8 foot wide utility trailers, horse or animal trailers. Especially when they blast a big rig air horn as they are passing you with oncoming traffic. (no shoulder). I had the camera running but the file was corrupted.

I'm not sure of the car type, but i just had a nun pull out right in front of me from a library parking lot while I was riding in the middle of the road.

I'm not sure of the car type, but i just had a nun pull out right in front of me from a library parking lot while I was riding in the middle of the road.

Popemobile?

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/03/Popemobile_passes_the_White_House.jpg

the two closest calls i've had were from 2 gigantic SUV drivers, who i am pretty sure thought they were leaving me plenty of space on the right, but did not realize how wide their vehicle really is (one side view mirror must've come within 3" from my arm) -

from what i've gathered though, careless/distracted drivers come in all shapes/sizes/vehicles...

North Carolina's PBCAT database (http://www.pedbikeinfo.org/pbcat/_bikequery.cfm) lets you do online cross-tabulations on the 12,671 bicycle crashes in the state from 1997 through 2009. The Motorist Overtaking Bicyclist crash-group are very close passes indeed, so close the bicyclist was hit. Here are all the Crash-Type Groups versus the more common vehicle types:

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-C34poVJM8V8/Tzvsm2gXhbI/AAAAAAAAABs/Hz1o5t6Oqwk/s800/NC1997-2008CrashGroupXVehicleType.png

If you want to see all vehicle types, e.g. farm tractors etc, go to LINK (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?key=0Ao6FjtcLI2QmdDBzalZaSzRrUHdtb3REc01yZy05SlE&single=true&gid=0&range=a1%3AAB23&output=html).

As always, to get risk per event the question is how many motorist overtaking bicyclist events occurred in this time for each vehicle type?

NHTSA's FARS data is also online and beginning in 2010 it includes some of the PBCAT data fields. NHTSA also has data on number of vehicles and (I think) number of miles driven which is of limited help in getting at relative (not absolute) risk. However, this is over all roads and bicyclist numbers or mileage are not the same on the same roads as for motor vehicles.

If someone wants to use the NHTSA FARS & PBCAT data, you can not easily do this same cross-tabulation online (as you can do for some other cross-tabulations of the bicycle fatality data (http://www-fars.nhtsa.dot.gov/QueryTool/QuerySection/SelectYear.aspx)). Instead you have to download the underlying tables of data, link them, and do the query. Once you have done that, you can find out all sorts of information as obscure as individual bicycle crash-type vs. motorist's weight, color of motor vehicle, speed limit, type of distracted driving, etc. If you want to have at it, start by reading the documentation on the data HERE (http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/cats/index.aspx) and then go on to download the data tables by FTP HERE (http://www.mmnt.net/db/0/1/ftp.nhtsa.dot.gov/FARS/). You will need a reasonably capable relational database to handle the tables, some of which have roughly 50,000 records and dozens of fields. OpenOffice Base was not up to it when I last tried it, but Microsoft Access did the job.

Thanks, Giro, very interesting. Notice how many accidents are the bikers fault! ...failing to yield mid block and at sign controlled intersections.

Could someone explain what does "bicyclist failing to yield - midblock" mean? - at midblock, i thought i had the same rights / share of the road and there is no law requiring me to yield to vehicles (again, at midblock)

am I missing something?

Could someone explain what does "bicyclist failing to yield - midblock" mean? - at midblock, ...
The Crash-Type Manual for Bicyclists (http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/research/safety/pedbike/96104/) by Carol Tan illustrates most of the Pedestrian and Bicyclist Crash Analysis Tool (PBCAT) crash-types. Here are the two pages illustrating the Midblock. The numbers are different since these are taken from a different study (see the link to the manual for details).

See also the PBCAT Manual, Version 2 (http://www.walkinginfo.org/facts/pbcat/manual.cfm).

Thank you Giro!

Thanks, Giro.... WOW! 45% of the adults crashed in mid block had been drinking!

I've noticed a lot of ******** in pickups. A lot of them have road rage. Some SUVs get close, but they're not as bad in my experience. I regularly see taxis and haven't had any bad experiences with them. There are a lot of semi-tractor trucks where I commute, and they are so big and intimidating.

http://youtu.be/bapbHFZLxN0

Near misses and bad drivers turn volume down for bad language on the last clip

My first you tube vid

Wow, James... I don't think I would be riding that route anymore!

http://youtu.be/bapbHFZLxN0

Near misses and bad drivers turn volume down for bad language on the last clip

My first you tube vid

Actually, looks similar to the road I live on, as far as lane width goes. (sadly, we have fields, instead of trees) I've had similar close passing problems, but that's gone down, since I started riding further into the lane. (just left of the right tire track) Still get the idiots that "must pass cyclist" despite the oncoming traffic. *shrugs* Whuchagonnado?

I have had close calls with all types of vehicles.

Where I live there is a main road which has two lanes and also filters to the left hand side.

One woman in a BMW tried to squeeze me into the curb but I swung out to the right of the left hand lane and made her overtake right out into the right hand lane so she failed in her objective and probably endangered her vehicle in the process so hopefully she will think twice about doing that again.

On another major road which has enclosed lanes on either side which are very safe for cyclists. I was cycling to work and there was a British Gas van parked straddling this lane which meant I had to pass to the left of it and stop at red lights at a major crossroads.

When they turned green I thought it wise just to nose forward instead of just cycling on and just as well as a car was passing from the road to the right of the crossroads, his lights were on red but if I had just pushed off he would have hit me for sure and he was cursing at me when my lights were green and it would have been my right to go.

And yesterday cycling to my mums house, this girl on a scooter turned left into this road right in front of me without looking or indicating, she had no idea I was there until I yelled in her ear watch out next time.

So all vehicles pose a hazard, need eyes in back, right, left and forward.

School buses are the worst, followed closely by the Power Company bucket trucks. Most of the large pickup trucks swing wide, except those driven by kids, but then anything driven by a kid is a particular danger. But school buses are without a doubt the worst - they have cut me off, given me no room, insisted on half of my bike lane, and more. In a year of commuting, I have had one, ONE, move to the left of the lane to give me room. Have had two bucket trucks do that, so they are 100% better. Sheesh. And those folks get paid to drive whether they are going fast or slowed down - its them cussed folks in cars/trucks hurrying to get TO or FROM work that scare me the most.

In San Diego it's BMW automobiles ("Baader-Meinhof Wagen"). How is a scorpion different? The prick is on the outside.

I have had two occasions when a motor-vehicle has actually made contact with me while I was riding my bicycle. In one case it was a close pass (caught on video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAkPlAkGTMo ) and in the other a left hook. In both cases the vehicle was a Toyota Prius. In neither case as I injured beyond bruising to my hand in the left hook incident

Every time,every single time I've had a close call in the nearly-year I've lived here,it's been either a handicap licensed/placarded or US Mail vehicle,every single time (makes you wonder if the mail feels threatened by an Xtracycle,and the others are mentally handicapped,dudn't it? :lol:) :notamused::twitchy:

Strange that by far the worst offender in my area is not even represented in the polls. I live in Boston, the mbta bus drivers are by far the worst drivers I have ever experienced. They consistently pass you, cut you off and slam on the brakes. I can not think of a commute where this has not happened to me. They also sometimes just drift a good foot or so into the bike lane while riding alongside me. I am certain that if/when I have an accident here, it will be with one of these idiot bus drivers.

On another note, the taxi drivers in Boston are the greatest drivers around. Never have problems with them.

Strange that by far the worst offender in my area is not even represented in the polls. I live in Boston, the mbta bus drivers are by far the worst drivers I have ever experienced. They consistently pass you, cut you off and slam on the brakes. I can not think of a commute where this has not happened to me. They also sometimes just drift a good foot or so into the bike lane while riding alongside me. I am certain that if/when I have an accident here, it will be with one of these idiot bus drivers.

On another note, the taxi drivers in Boston are the greatest drivers around. Never have problems with them.

I agree 1000%. When I lived in NYC, the city buses would always cut you off whenever they pulled over to pick up passengers. And you can't simply pass them on the left at that point.

I can't tell which ones are worst since that seems to be pretty much a group effort around here.

I can tell you which ones I've had the least trouble with:
----- Big Rigs, as in semi-trucks, the vast majority of them treat me with respect and pass with care.
----- Most beat up "farm trucks" as in you wouldn't expect anyone but farmer brown to be driving it, a few nut jobs occasionally, but most don't drive much more then 55 and respect my space and wait to pass until its safe if I'm taking the lane and slow down and swing wide when I'm riding on the shoulder (when there is a shoulder of sufficient width to be a safe place to ride).

Everyone else is potentially problem looking for a place to happen and you can't too relaxed even with the Big Rigs which seem to be the best of all.

Rented motor homes, 4X4 pickups driven by hotshots with acne, cement trucks, and big cars driven by little old ladies.

Any one you are in danger of intersecting with.

Phew...I teach bicycle safety courses and I get that question all the time.

I've given it considerable thought "over the years" and I can't pin it down to vehicle type.

However, when I see a sideways baseball cap on a driver, I prepare for the worst. These are youngun's, male, new drivers. It gets much worse when they have other male passengers and MUCH more worse when there is a young female passenger.

Regardless, thinking back, if I WAS held at gun point and asked which vehicle type is the worst, I would have to say large, black shiney pickups with alot of chrome. Would that be driven by an insecure male?

Most of my more serious incidents have been with commercial vehicles. They seem to be more unwilling to share the road.

There is a correlation of sorts.....Most of the cars I've had problems with all had drivers in them.......:)

Most of my more serious incidents have been with commercial vehicles. They seem to be more unwilling to share the road.

There is a correlation of sorts.....Most of the cars I've had problems with all had drivers in them.......:)

Motorists in commercial vehicles in my experience are more reckless and pretty bad in general.