CrankyOne

About 6:20 this evening I was pulling up behind a car in the left turn lane at a traffic light. As I got closer I realized that there was a cyclist about 10' behind the SUV in front of me. No lights. Only reflector was a rear one but her angle kept it from doing anything. She was wearing black pants, dark green sweatshirt, and a Giro helmet. She completely disappeared behind the SUV in front of her. All of it's lights and chrome shown through her. My heart is still pounding how close I came to killing her.

About 10 minutes later the car in front of me sideswiped someone riding just on the right of the white line. Their mirror hit the cyclists shoulder. This one had a bright strobing blinky and a bright white front light. The driver swerved left just after and then came back in their lane and pulled over to check on the cyclist. He said he was OK. Driver was extremely apologetic.

spare_wheel

For those who drive often almost killing people/human beings is a fairly common occurrence. There is, however, a very easy solution to that anxiety...

kickstart

That's only true for those who lack even the most basic driving skills.....unless one is considering the perceptions of thin skinned people with overactive imaginations.

Driving, like cycling isn't nearly as dangerous as some want it to be.

spare_wheel

You are a professional driver, sir. Don't try to tell me that you don't notice the civilians doing dumb @#$% every day because I won't believe you.

kickstart

Sure I do, there's many if not a majority of mediocre drivers out there, no doubt about that, but "almost killing"? That's a matter of perception, not fact. One could argue we spend most of our lives "almost" dying, yet somehow we usually manage to dodge it.

I'm far more concerned about fairly competent drivers (and cyclists) who over estimate their skills, because when they fail, they do it in a big way.

downwinded

OP, I'm curious as whether or not the setting sun might have play a role in the second incident. That brightly lit background (the SUV's lights) and lack of lighting on the cyclist, is what caused the first. Before the time change, part of my evening commute put the sun right where you don't want it. In traffic, I find that one of the scariest situations to ride in.

Mr IGH

I had the same thought. In my old age I find myself avoiding the roads at sunrise/sunset. Add in the distracted driving epidemic and I find the risk too much for me.

snow_echo_NY

oh geez. i'm glad everyone walked away unscathed but still. how scary.

locolobo13 

Tho I don't drive as much I do drive often, have driven a lot more. Never hit a bike, motorcycle or pedestrian. I have had 3 fender benders with other vehicles. So after 40+ years of driving it seems to me that such occurrences are rare. For most other drivers I know they are very rare as well.

As a cyclist it seems like I have had more near misses. Even then one near miss in a month is a lot. Most near misses are the right mirror passing within a few inches of my left shoulder. Very rarely the mirror has brushed my sleeve. As they happen I try to figure out how to ride so that they occur less often. Taking the lane and proper use of lights has helped.

yankeefan

Almost killing pedestrians is a daily occurrence for me, given how eager they are to jump out from behind parked cars (blindspot for cyclists) and into the bike lane. Its almost as if pedestrian crosswalks don't exist. If they want a insurance settlement they need to jump out in front of motor vehicles and get hit by a Wall St guy driving an expensive car, not by a broke grad student on a $300 bike.

spare_wheel

Cluck-clucking, IMO. Much of the CAR-nage on our roads is associated with the mediocrity of unintentional negligence.

But...I agree that the "almost killing" theme here is mostly hyperbole.

spare_wheel

Nonsense. There are ~10-12 million serious motorvehicle collisions each year (NHTSA) and ~2-3 million of those involved are admitted to an emergency department (CDC). The frequency of fender benders is obviously much, much higher.

TransitBiker

Thank you for sharing this with us. Hopefully it will remind people to stay visible and operate their vehicle safely and defensively.

- Andy

jyl

And remind cyclists of the reasons for lights and more visible clothing.

cobrabyte

That's the most exaggerated thing I've ever heard of in my entire whole life.

scroca

Out of how many cars driven over how much time? Your figures may be more or less sensational after including the rest of the information.

Cyclosaurus

Tell that to the approximately 100 people per day who die in motor vehicle accidents. Or 200 injured pedestrians per day. Maybe you and I have different ideas about "dangerous".

scroca

And this is out of the 318.9 million people in the US, and the 7 billion people world wide. What do you mean by "dangerous"?

cobrabyte

If there are literally millions of people driving every day and 100 die in a car accident, you could argue that yes there is a danger, but your odds are pretty good that you'll end up at your destination unscathed.

Cyclosaurus

Driving or being around moving vehicles is far more dangerous than any other activity practically any of us engage in. It falls between hypertensive heart disease and diabetes as a leading cause of death worldwide.

Huzzah! Driving is a little safer than having diabetes!

cobrabyte

Sorry still not scared of driving...or riding a bike for that matter

scroca

Looks like a bogus chart. Where is starvation, for example?

Starvation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Cyclosaurus

Yes, you know how World Health Organization is with all their bogus charts.

Since you didn't click the link in my post to see for yourself whose chart it was, you wouldn't have see any of the other data. Starvation seems to be classified under "other causes"

Cyclosaurus

Who said you were supposed to be?

cobrabyte