JumboRider

Ok guys and girls,
I am going to commute to work but my wife has grown worried about me after reading these forums. It seems like everyone is getting run over etc. What I would like is for everyone that has not had an incident to post in this thread.

Reply if you have never had an physical altercation with a vehicle.

Let me know how many close calls you have had.
Let me know how many times 'stuff' has been thrown at you from cagers.

Thanks, and remember, I am trying to ease her fears.

Falkon 

I've never had a wreck with a vehicle.

I've been passed closely before.
I once had something thrown at me while riding in Nashville. They missed by a mile and I laughed at them.

lil brown bat

I've never had an accident with a vehicle, never had anything thrown at me either. It's like anything else bad: when it happens, it's news, but it doesn't happen all the time.

pedalMonger

I won't tell you about what happened to me on a motorcycle once! I survived it intact tho. Nothing has happened to me on a bicycle yet (jinx).

I saw an article, I think it was in NYT, that said about 600 people got killed riding bicycles last year. That doesn't seem a terribly high number if accurate. How many people choked to death on food? More injuries on bikes, then fatalities, of course.

Riding a bicycle is a lot less dangerous in many respects, then a motorcycle. Even if you have some sort of collision with a car while on a bicycle, you won't have been traveling as fast as you might have been on a motorcycle.

Hope that helps the wife relax a little. Get good lights, helmet, and brightly colored clothes, learn defensive riding techniques, and the odds are in your favor.

georgiaboy

I commute in downtown Atlanta everyday. As you may or may not know Atlanta is rated one of the worse cities for bicycle commuting. Having said that, I have had a great experience in 3 years of commuting.

Yes, a few instances of horn blowing. I can think of only one experience of someone being very upset (in that instance I don't think it was me just them having a bad day.)

Also, I have to add that I don't ride my bicycle on any street in Atlanta. If you ride on some streets here you are asking for trouble. So, I avoid potential trouble by not traveling on streets that are considered fast paced boulevards.

My commuting experience has been wonderful. I would suggest it to anyone. Great for my health and saves me money. By in large I commute everyday with no problems and the cagers are courteous and cooperative.

AFPJ

Jumbo, don't set yourself up for failure so quick- Don't fall for the "Us and Them" attitude by using the term cager. I had that till I started to read the calm threads on here when people were wronged by a car, and it made a huge difference. Just this morning, a woman slowly crept into the bike lane and was not turning or anything, just not paying attention. I slapped my open palmed hand against her rear quarter panel, she got back in her lane and waved. I waved back. Before I read any of the other threads, I would have been cursing and throwing fingers, but would have defeated why we ride in the first place. See what I mean? I do the best I can with the roads and laws, but if someone is going to hit you, they're going to hit you.

Allen

Well, in my god only knows how many years of biking on the road, today was the first time I made physical contact with a vehicle. It was the third time I've been in an altercation that drew blood (not counting getting skint up as a small kid). The first I went down in a peloton pileup, and the second time I was in a curb vs. truck grill situation. Both my previous incidents occurred when I was in my early 20's now I'm 40, so about once every ten years I screw up.

I've had something thrown at me once, and had to stand my ground, when a drunkard got out of his car to yell at the bicycle, once. I've had folks honk and yell out the window as they pass about every other day, you just blow those off.

DogBoy

Never had anything hit me, but at least 2 close calls, one of which involved me slapping my open palm on the passenger window to alert the driver that I was there. It worked.

HardyWeinberg

I try to post in the 'how was your commute' thread as a kind of negative control on eventful days on the bike.

bdinger

I've done over 2000 miles since last June, with no car incidents (again, yet to avoid the jink). In fact, only two tumbles that caused injury - both of which were DEFINITELY my fault. The first one was a late night commute, and involved me focusing more on putting back the water bottle than actually riding. Oooops.

Second one involved toe clips and a test ride, the first such in toe clips. It was extreme slow speed - I tumbled over in some old lady's driveway. Scraped up my arm (again, about two weeks after incident one) pretty good, and the leg. Pride was worse.

Beyond that, nadda. I've had a couple close calls, one of which was my own fault. There's a rather shielded residential intersection with a yield sign on my commute, and well, yeah. You get the idea.

One was pretty hairy - a concrete truck decided it wanted to leave a parking lot and didn't pay attention to the guy on the sidewalk (me) and the Saturn in the lane of traffic closest too him. Let's just say I'm glad I can sprint very well, and glad the Saturn had good reactions, or it would have been ugly. His boss got a rather irate phone call, and apparently one from the Saturn driver as well.

Friday I got buzzed by a pickup, which was another close call. Buzzed and birdied. However, I doubt he will do that again. Just... trust me on that one.

Really, I feel more safe commuting by bicycle than I do in my vehicle. I think part of that is because on the bike, I tend to stick to residential streets where riding the speed limit is fun, and traffic is sparse. And, in my time on a bicycle, I've never been seriously hurt.

In a vehicle, I've been permanently injured. My eternal back and leg pain is testament to that, along with the occasional nightmare.

Oh, and generally I'm a much nicer person to be around when on the bike as opposed to when I spend time in the car.

YMMV, but I believe you'll love it.

crtreedude 

Never a problem - except having to bunny hop chickens, cow guantlets (that is where cows dump their poop before being milked in your path - as you are riding by) - logs missing from bridges and various other obstacles.

The only time I had a close one was a tourist from up your way...

caloso

I've never had a wreck with a vehicle. I have had a couple close calls where I had to lock up the wheels or take an emergency evasive action.

I've never had a fight with a driver.

I've had two drinks thrown at me. One was a half empty Big Gulp. Had to wash my bike after that. Another was a full plastic bottle of water. I nearly caught it. I wish I had because I was all set to whip it right back and put a huge dent in his door.

bdinger

Heh, I guess I neglected those. I have those about once a week, but I don't consider them "close", as the area they happen in is a low-speed area. However, they are on the driver side (left lane of a 4-lane), which always will wake someone up.

greenstork

Seems as though you're asking folks to tempt superstition here

thdave

No incidents for me.

mcoons

I've been commuting for almost exactly a year - 1800 miles - 3-5 times a week.

No close calls to speak of, and only a few honkings of the horns. My wife also worries, but has gotten better the longer I've ridden my bike, but I think she just doesn't tell me as much.

When you ride the same route, you usually figure out where people may not see you, and you can adjust accordingly.

Caspar_s

I've been commuting for 8 years now. 6 of those all year round.

I had a drink thrown at me in Michigan on a recreational ride.

I have had one car pull forward to right turn on red and I sat down on his hood. The other incident was my fault - no lights, so a car backed out in front of me. No damage to me or the bike in either case - low speed on both parties in both cases.

As long as you ride carefully and expect the car to just pull out because they don't see you, most drivers don't actually want to hit you - it damages their car and increases insurance....

Oh, and the "How was your commute" thread is better reading - a lot of people post every day, whether they've had an incident or not. If you look at any car forum, it will have lots of threads on problems. If you're not having problems, you're busy riding or driving. Once their is a problem, you post about it to try and fix it (or in cyclists cases, to let off steam.)

vulpes

After 4 months and over 1000 miles, no spills, no close calls. I feel safer on my bike than I ever did in a car.

JumboRider

If you believe in the Jinx please don't post.

bfromcolo

I am new to this commuting and have had no issues to date. I think a lot would have to do with your route, I am fortunate to be able to drive a short distance to a trail system and ride in on a route where motor vehicle interaction is less likely. I do have a number of street crossings and have generally found drivers down right courteous at these well marked trail crossings.

Where I do have issues is at intersections where I am briefly sharing the road. Specifically with drivers making right hand turns. If I am stopped at the intersection waiting to go straight in the right lane, people wanting to pull a right turn on red seem to get too close for comfort. And the ones wanting to make right turns on red while I have the right of way crossing an intersection have on a couple times pulled right out in front of me, or blocked part of the intersection in front of me. But I would have exactly the same problem as a pedestrian crossing the intersection. I guess the purpose of the white painted lines at intersections, where you are supposed to stop, is lost on some of these folks. But so far this is an annoyance and not a safety issue as long as I remain alert.

Good luck

everichon

I have commuted on and off for 16 years, in cities including Tuscon and Milwaukee, and had no incidents worth reporting. *knocks on wood* I would add that defensive cycling is very, very important.

Az B

I've been riding on the road since 1969. The last altercation I had with a car was in 1972. I was riding on the wrong side of the road and it was totally my fault.

I've been commuting on and off since 1982. I also ride motorcycles and have never had a problem there either. Maybe I'm just lucky.

Az

rando

only incident I have had in over a year of commuting was when I was riding wrong way on the sidewalk. never do that. even then, I only got scraped up a little. your route makes a huge difference.

mtnwalker

So far close calls have plagued me. 2 close Tbones, 4 close right hooks, 3 times been yelled at(once by another cyclist). Nothing thrown at me yet.

EDIT: Forgot the 4 times I've almost ran into sidewalk cyclists suddenly jumping/merging/weaving to my path.

richardmasoner

If there's an internet forum in which car commuters all mentioned their daily close calls, she might be scared to death of you driving, also. Click this link for fun adventures for car commuters. Or check the Streets blog Carnage files for more True Stories of motorist deaths that happen every day!

The usual perception of the danger of cycling does not match the reality. We talk about the injuries and deaths on this forum because it's interesting. Nobody talks much about the incident-free days that make up most of your cycling miles.