Originally Posted by
John_V
Unfortunately, being lit up like a Christmas tree doesn't always help. The two guys from Florida, killed last week, were wearing reflective clothing and had more than proper lighting on their bikes when they were hit by a driver that claimed he didn't see them. A third rider was injured and sent to the hospital and thankfully will live.
Link to story
That's just sad and shows the driver of the vehicle was not paying attention. I know that I'm at risk every time I ride. But, what I do hopefully reduces my risk--I had a driver once tell me that I have one really bright headlight and it got his attention. I do ride on back streets and not the main roads(especially the 4 and 6 lane roads in Newport News). The roads I do ride on, for most of the route, have signs identifying them as bike routes. Anyway, I try to be diligent and ride defensively. I don't trust many behind the wheel--heck, I don't trust many other cyclists(especially the college kids around me). Today, some kid from the college campus, not wearing a helmet, crossed the road right in front of me with one car turning left, other cars turning right on the other side and some cars going straight, and me going straight about 19mph. I slowed a tad and swerved to ensure there wasn't a problem--but, I also I exclaimed, "Geez, Dude!" He responded with a "Sorry."