Your thoughts on this near "head-on"?
#1
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Your thoughts on this near "head-on"?
This is a repeat of a threat I placed over in one of the other forums because I really wanted to hear what you guys thought. I'm always going on about how I like the riding in the area where I live, and its true. It's light traffic and smooth roads and views for miles. I can break it up with dirt roads of almost infinite length when I want to. Well, in several years of riding on sparsely travelled country roads I had my first really scarey car incident.
Last Saturday morning I was out for a 45 miler, with about 7 miles being on Texas "Farm-to-Market" two lane, no shoulder roads. On some days I will not see but one or two cars on this entire stretch of road. It is in the hill country. As I am grinding up one of the bigger hills there is a car approaching from behind. It's a no pass, yellow stripe lane for me as well as the driver of car coming behind me. I'm trying to make the top of the hill before he gets there, but I'm only doing about 6-7 mph.
Then I hear the other car coming from the other side of the hill. I'm near the top and doing 5 mph. I can see the guy coming up behind me (helmet mirror) cross the yellow line so he can pass me on a blind hill without even slowing down. From the sounds of the approaching traffic, my judgment tells me the two cars are going to reach the top at the same time. I slam the breaks, hit to the right, and quit the pavement just before the car behind me gets there. Luckily, I am able to keep the bike upright.
I didn't see everything, but the car approaching comes over the hill and swerves into the bar ditch to miss the idiot behind me. I did see and hear the gravel, but the driver approaching from the other side of the hill didn't lose control of the car. He was fortunate. The idiot coming up behind me swerves and passes over where I would have been had I not jumped off the road. At the least, he was very close to me. He never slows down.
I think I saved everybody's life in this deal. It had me a little shaken, but I think I did everything I could to keep anyone, especially me, from getting hurt. I don't ever want to be dead right, but the fact that I had to endanger myself by going off the road and into the ditch doesn't sit well with me. That some person values their life, and mine, so little that they could not take an extra minute for me to clear the hill is proof that some people are not qualified to drive a car.
Like the old sarge of Hill Street Blues said....."let's be careful out there".
Last Saturday morning I was out for a 45 miler, with about 7 miles being on Texas "Farm-to-Market" two lane, no shoulder roads. On some days I will not see but one or two cars on this entire stretch of road. It is in the hill country. As I am grinding up one of the bigger hills there is a car approaching from behind. It's a no pass, yellow stripe lane for me as well as the driver of car coming behind me. I'm trying to make the top of the hill before he gets there, but I'm only doing about 6-7 mph.
Then I hear the other car coming from the other side of the hill. I'm near the top and doing 5 mph. I can see the guy coming up behind me (helmet mirror) cross the yellow line so he can pass me on a blind hill without even slowing down. From the sounds of the approaching traffic, my judgment tells me the two cars are going to reach the top at the same time. I slam the breaks, hit to the right, and quit the pavement just before the car behind me gets there. Luckily, I am able to keep the bike upright.
I didn't see everything, but the car approaching comes over the hill and swerves into the bar ditch to miss the idiot behind me. I did see and hear the gravel, but the driver approaching from the other side of the hill didn't lose control of the car. He was fortunate. The idiot coming up behind me swerves and passes over where I would have been had I not jumped off the road. At the least, he was very close to me. He never slows down.
I think I saved everybody's life in this deal. It had me a little shaken, but I think I did everything I could to keep anyone, especially me, from getting hurt. I don't ever want to be dead right, but the fact that I had to endanger myself by going off the road and into the ditch doesn't sit well with me. That some person values their life, and mine, so little that they could not take an extra minute for me to clear the hill is proof that some people are not qualified to drive a car.
Like the old sarge of Hill Street Blues said....."let's be careful out there".
#2
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Hate to say it- but you have to ride as if every car is out to get you. You did the right thing- but all these car drivers- safley tucked up in their own little world- unable to think straight or think of others thanks to their invincibility of their own little world, make you realise how vulnerable you are.
Glad to see you had the sense to get through the incident safely, but keep thinking, and keep living.
Glad to see you had the sense to get through the incident safely, but keep thinking, and keep living.
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#3
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Thanks for the cautionary thread. This sounds like a very good argument for a rear view mirror. Which ones do you like or dislike?
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"Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing." --Theodore Roosevelt
Capo: 1959 Modell Campagnolo, S/N 40324; 1960 Sieger (2), S/N 42624, 42597
Carlton: 1962 Franco Suisse, S/N K7911
Peugeot: 1970 UO-8, S/N 0010468
Bianchi: 1982 Campione d'Italia, S/N 1.M9914
Schwinn: 1988 Project KOM-10, S/N F804069
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For me the first rule is to do anything to avoid getting hit by a car. Hence, going off road makes complete sense to me. You had more than a reasonable suspicion that you were about to become engaged in an impact with vehicles much, much larger than you. I'd have gone off road too... probably swearing under my breath, but definitely safer for it.
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I'm sure we'll hear from someone that you should have "taken the lane." I'm glad you didn't.
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Originally Posted by webist
I'm sure we'll hear from someone that you should have "taken the lane." I'm glad you didn't.
Originally Posted by Helmet Head
05-15-06, 01:39 PM #7
Helmet Head
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Location: San Diego This is why I use a centerish default position when cycling, especially when approaching a blind hill topping.
The goal is to get approaching vehicles to notice you, and, at least in this blind situation, to slow down before they reach me. The idea is that if you simply keep to the right, they mostly stay on auto pilot (perhaps even keep the cruise control on), and see you like an obstacle that they simply need to drive around. No alarms go off. On a narrow blind road, I want their alarms going off. That's why I move left, and issue the slow/stop signal.
However, none of that is guaranteed to work. As Itsjustb notes, they can still just move entirely into the other lane to pass. In that case, I believe you did the right thing. Sometimes ditching is the only option, though, thankfully, I've never encountered a situation where I had to do that.
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This happens to me on blind corners EVERY DAY. Drivers just can't wait the two seconds it would take to see if there is an on coming car in the other lane and go over the solid center line into that lane to pass me. Of course when someone is coming they dive right back into OUR lane. Theres sort of a "in my way" thought process going on when prople drive these days, I think solipsism describes it best.
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That sounds like Orlando. A large number of drivers HAVE TO PASS a cyclist RIGHT NOW no matter what the road conditions are or how much risk they run.
It sounds to me as if your approach worked. Whether it was the best possible solution or not I can not say. But it worked and no one got hurt and that is the important part isn't it?
A number of years back, I was on an organized ride with a narrow road and a number of drivers who had to pass right now. A number of the riders rode well to the right and were run off the road by yahoos. I chose to ride farther out into the lane and that gave me a cushion to move over. I talked to one guy who had a more devious approach. He intentionally wove erratically as he heard them approach. He figured that this sent motorists a message that if they came close to him that he might weave out and get hit by them. He said it was a very effective technique for getting a proper cushion from motorists. I have never had the audacity to try that one.
It sounds to me as if your approach worked. Whether it was the best possible solution or not I can not say. But it worked and no one got hurt and that is the important part isn't it?
A number of years back, I was on an organized ride with a narrow road and a number of drivers who had to pass right now. A number of the riders rode well to the right and were run off the road by yahoos. I chose to ride farther out into the lane and that gave me a cushion to move over. I talked to one guy who had a more devious approach. He intentionally wove erratically as he heard them approach. He figured that this sent motorists a message that if they came close to him that he might weave out and get hit by them. He said it was a very effective technique for getting a proper cushion from motorists. I have never had the audacity to try that one.
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Mono-I commend you for having the foresight for taking the precautions you did. That situation could have been disastrous. As it was, you had safety at the forefront and prevented a very serious incident. Kudos to you for recognizing the hazard and taking action.
I'm also very surprised that the oncoming driver was able to maintain control of his vehicle and not overcorrect and crash. Geez......he could have even swerved over and hit you.........My biggest concern is what would have happened had you been in a group of several riders. There's no way all riders would have taken the path you did........
I'm also very surprised that the oncoming driver was able to maintain control of his vehicle and not overcorrect and crash. Geez......he could have even swerved over and hit you.........My biggest concern is what would have happened had you been in a group of several riders. There's no way all riders would have taken the path you did........
#10
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It sounds to me like the driver pulled into the other lane to pass, so taking the lane wasn't an issue here. Just a stupid driver. Glad to hear you got out of the situation in one piece.