Originally Posted by
GeneO
I think it is a little bit of luck. No matter how diligent you are, a distracted driver on the cell, texting, eating food, grooming, and even reading a magazine planted on the steering wheel ( I have witnessed this) can swerve and hit you before you can react.
I was riding at about 9 PM on a wide, well-lit, low volume residential suburban street with no parked cars, wearing two rear view blinkies, and right and left rear view mirrors when I got hit from behind. It was so serene that I don’t remember what I was thnking.
I do have this memory, not of the immediate impact, and perhaps not even real, of my feet coming out of my clipped-on cycling shoes. Nothing then until vague memories of the hubbub at the scene. I now scan my rear more frequently than before.
IMO, rear view mirrors are the best way to bolster your confidnce on the road.