Originally Posted by
erig007
Anyway, this was to show that some cases requires to unclip quickly or act in ways that requires reactions not really compatible with clipless pedals like jumping rearward from the bike. The best solution with clipless pedals being probably to unclip before actions are required but is there always ways to anticipate unexpected random events? I doubt that all unexpected random events can be. Among those that won't be anticipated some of them will requires braking, steering, unclipping quickly and others will requires actions not compatible with clipless pedals like i believe is what happened to me, which is only one example. The drunk homeless guy jumping in front of me being another, scary but not life threatening.
I preface this by saying that I purposely didn't adopt clipless my first year back to biking because of a combination of fear and a congenital condition that, believe it or not, impacts my balance but causes no limitations to me on a bike, really. It's been my experience that if you know how to care for and adjust your pedals, you'll eliminate any potential issues as much as possible. Beyond that, there are things I do when I ride down to NYC such as keeping one foot unclipped and resting on the pedal in heavy traffic, to help eliminate an unforeseen situation. In these situations, you're not going fast enough to really need to pedal anyway.
The other things most don't do is properly adjust their pedal tension and occasionally lightly lubricate the release mechanism. If you have a pedal tension that's tight enough to keep you connected but not so tight that you'll have to struggle to release, you'll generally be good.