doraemonkey

I was side swiped by a car this morning on the way to work. Silly me and my assertive impulses! I was coming up to a round about, and heard a car approaching from behind. I accelerated a bit, wanting to be the first to the round about. You know the feeling: this is my lane *&^$ it! But no, the car passed first and pinched me off between the road and sidewalk.

This time I couldn't avoid hitting the car, but took a glancing blow. I don't really know what hit, but the right rear wheel of the car hit my left petal and foot. The hub cap ripped off with a crunch and rolled into the middle of the round about. And the thing is the person driving didn't stop... just went about like nothing happened.

I wasn't knocked over, so I assume the person looked in his rear view mirror and saw me on the bike, and thought nothing happened.

I looked left and right, exchanged glances with another driver, and decided that I came out on top in the affair and continued on. Me: Tire scuff on shoe, Driver: Missing hub cap, perhaps some paint scratches.

JeffB502

Heh good trade off. Could have been a whole lot worse, especially with contact between a quickly rotating object and a foot.

Do you use a mirror? You might have been able to make a different decision seeing the person wasn't yielding to your assertiveness. I try to be assertive because it's usually the safe thing to do, but if somebody's failing to yield to me I can see it in my mirror and at least try to get out of the way or give a stern look back or something.

Xrisnothing

I'm not sure I'm reading your post correctly, but it sounds like you should have taken the lane. I'm willing to bet the cager didn't feel a thing, but I hope he did, otherwise he won't realize why his hub cap is missing. Maybe it'll actually be a lesson to him: bicyclists stand their ground and you're risking your car by being a ******.

doraemonkey

Heh, I just saw your thread.... at least the car that side swiped me was a newish Ford Fiesta and not a Suburban!

Bah, the mirror would not have been any use, because I was being silly and trying to be assertive while the driver was already along side me. If I was actually anticipating, I would have let it go, but he had a whole other lane. My impulses are going to kill me. I should be thinking about what the reality of a 1000kg car means instead of the concept of my right to "take the lane"

doraemonkey

I had the lane! At least my foot or two from the out side strip... the lane just got pinched off going into the round about. I had too much speed and not enough room.

JeffB502

Heh 1000kg...I don't think they make any cars that light over here

Yeah 2 lanes going into a roundabout, even if you were taking the whole lane it wouldn't have mattered I guess...first one in wins the spot, but without a mirror or a good look back I think I'd have a problem stopping before entering the roundabout for fear of getting rear ended.

There are a few roundabouts around my town. Haven't had to ride through them yet. Maybe I'll go for a pleasure ride a little out of my way and test them out sometime.

jyossarian

Glad you came out on top in that affair. Be safe!

Gus Riley

A close call! You were lucky this time.

doraemonkey

Thanks guys. I'll be safer.

ItsJustMe

Uh, yeah, they do. "Light passenger cars" are in the 2000-2500 pound weight class, which is in the 1000 KG range. Ford *******, Honda Civics, Saturn S-Series, and a bunch more are in that range. Really most really compact cars. The really small cars, like the Honda Insight and Geo Metro are under 2000 pounds.

SDRider

Too bad you could have put a well protected fist through a side window. I'm sure that asshat would have noticed that.

M. Rhoten

Cars are heavier than you think. A base Honda Fit (a little smaller than a Civic) weighs 2400 lb. A civic weighs about 2600 lb. An Insight (that's their CRX-looking hybrid) is under 2000 lb, but it's exceptionally light by modern standards. A Prius is pushing 3000 pounds, and so is my Mazda3 hatchback.

Basically, with all the wiring harnesses, A/C, noise insulation material, big glass area, extra crash protection, stereos, airbags, and other cruft that comes with a modern car, even the small ones get fat and heavy. For a date-based comparison, my 1959 Chevy pickup weighs about 3500 pounds; it's a full sized pickup with a long bed and an iron-block-and-heads V-8 in it. The comparable Silverado today weighs about 1000 pounds more.

If you see a car on the road, and it's not an Ariel Atom, then you have to guess it weighs as much as much as you and your bike put together ten times over, or four+ motorcycles, or six 500 pound bombs. Add 2-3 more 500 pound bombs if it's a full sized pickup or SUV. That's a lot of momentum to transfer to your fragile body.

To the OP: Glad you're OK.

Daily Commute

There are a couple of roads that turn 90 degrees on one of my commute routes. I aggressively take the lane as I approach those corners while keeping a close eye on my mirror.

I'm glad doraemonkey came out on top, and I hope that was a very expensive hub cap.

newbojeff

I ride through a rotary on my way home. It has 2 lanes on the approach and the rotary itself is 2 lanes wide. My strategy is that I approach the rotary in the left side of the right lane, well away from the curb, while clearly signaling "left." If I can, I signal "left" while I'm entering the rotary and a good ways around it. I take the lane and do my darndest to not let people pass me while in the rotary. It starts on a descent and I'm usually going about 15 MPH when entering and 25 MPH when exiting.

(For the record, I have crashed in the rotary once, but it was not because of an overtaking car).