Breadpudding

Seriously, I purposely dress like a giant stop sign in the hopes that since people can see stop signs (most of the time), they will be able to see me. My bike is bright white with red stripes all over it, I'm pasty white, my jersey is bright red with white stripes, helmet is silver, black and red and I'm not the smallest cyclist in the city.... I mean seriously people pay attention when you drive! /rantoff

What makes this time so bad and such a big deal for me is that I was riding along a road in front of a very well known park where I live where HUNDREDS of children play every day. There are lighted cross-walks on the ground and 'watch your speed' radar detectors everywhere. You would think drivers would be specially concious of what was in the road that is not a car. I was approaching a 3-way intersection with me on the right shoulder. For example's sake we'll say I was traveling south, the other road connected to the intersection was on the west (to my right) and they were the only one with a stop sign. There was a car sitting at the stop sign who I mad sure to make eye contact with and let them know I was crossing their path, they acknowledged and I kept going after checking my six and seeing a single SUV about 15 feet behind me with no blinkers on. I mistakenly assume this means they will continue straight and have realised that I made no signal and therefore would be going straight through... WRONG.

AS IM CROSSING the intersection, the SUV zooms up next to me and makes a hard right turn, narrowly missing the truck that was sitting at the stop sign and forcing me to lock up my brakes and swerve to the right so my front wheel didn't get clipped. They just kept going, didn't stop and say 'OMGWTF are you ok?!' nothing... I looked at the truck that was sitting there and we exchanged surprised looks, I shook it off and kept going. Luckily I kept my balance and was able to keep rolling but only by the grace of god.

So from now on I'll have to make sure to not assume soccer moms in SUVs near that park care about what's going on around them. They can continue to drink coffee, talk on their cell phone and yell at their kids and I'll make sure to watch for them.

for the TLDR crew: I'm still alive. Be safe and keep an eye out.

xenologer

Try not to lock up your brakes next time, when they lock and start to skid you actually lose traction with the road and take longer to stop; also you're less in control of the direction you'll go(if you can't stop then you might be able to turn right and ride alongside the car instead).

I pretty much always check for right turning cars as I come to intersections, and driveways, and parking spots. Riding out in the lane so they can't zoom past you and cut you off like that helps too.

Breadpudding

I may have failed completely explain. I'm an avid motorcycle rider and realise that locking up brakes are bad. More to the point of what happened was that I locked up my brakes to curb my momentum then realised my mistake, released them and then turned right to avoid getting swiped by the SUV.

Also, I DID look for any right turning cars, she was at least 15 feet behind me and sped way up to turn in front of me. No signal light or anything.

xenologer

Wierd, I guess the only thing to do is be extra agressive; even if there's no sign that the vehicle is planning on turning, get out in front of them anyway so they can't pass you. Tho that means getting all the ones who were going straight mad at you for the slight delay of merging and unmerging.

I'd guess that the particular soccer mom in the SUV doesn't signal in general, and did the speed up and too close turning because she didn't give enough thought to the speed you were travelling. Probably assumed there'd be plenty of room because 'bikes are toys and are slow...'. Then didn't stop because she was clueless and didn't realize she'd put anyone in danger. Nothing to do there unless you want to catch up and try and give a lecture to someone who probably won't understand...

rbrian

It wasn't that she didn't see you, she saw you alright, but didn't want to sit behind a bike, waiting for a few seconds to make a turn, or if the bike is going fast enough, not even waiting at all - she just had to be in front of the bike, at all costs. The only solution is to mount a crossbow onto your handlebars, and aim at the tyres. When they get used to bikes with crossbows on the handlebars, they will want to stay behind.

Brian T.

I like^^^.

rsyb

I always ride on the line down roadways and streets, never on the shoulder. Some say that is dangerous, but it establishes my presence in the lane of traffic.

When I come to an intersection or a place in the road where I need to make a turn (right or left) I pull out off the line and into the lane. Once again making myself a vehicle in traffic, signal, and complete my turn.

Probably doesn't agree with vehicle codes in all (or many) states, but I'm seen and the vehicle behind me should understand my intentions.

Then again there are no absolutes. There are absolute morons unfortunately.

Just be careful out there.

Breadpudding

Bolded for truthiness. I like this idea, someone needs to patent and produce it. I'll buy it.

trailfinder41

I did not get "almost side swiped" on my bike. Several months the car got me! (even when I was obeying the laws of traffic and road rules as a bike rider) and ended up taking a 3 hour visit to the hospital, followed by Physical therapy session. Be careful.

Kevrob

Since BP was going straight, he needn't have signalled, by law. I will sometimes point straight ahead in such circumstances, to let others know that, Yes, d*mmit, I'm on a bike and I'm not turning!

There's no protection against invincible ignorance, however.

Kevin

xtrajack

OP: Have just missed being a statistic myself the other day. All I can say is the same thing that was said to me, Glad that you weren't injured.