Originally Posted by
noglider
You were unprepared because you assume people act rationally and intelligently in their own interests. They don't, and they are also inattentive. In NYC, a lot of pedestrians navigate mostly with their ears, as if they will know danger is coming by the sound of it. But bikes don't make much sound, so they walk in front of us often. Or they see us but misunderestimate (with apologies to George W Bush) our speed.
Add this to the list of things to expect. It will serve you until something else new happens, and you'll add that to the list.
Things are less of a panic when you go slowly enough. Also, practice panic braking while riding in a straight line. It's much better to do that than to swerve into another lane. The person directly behind you has a responsibility not to hit you. People in other lanes don't have that.
Amen brother! I never swerve into the next lane and risk getting rear ended by a car. It happens quite often and good at shifting my weight back and squeezing the life out of my front brake. I also value my life over some random pedestrian so I'd prefer my bike crashing into them as opposed to having a car crash into my bike. I've actually hit a pedestrian in a scenario like this except I had slowed down enough (via emergency braking) that my front wheel grazed her instead of a full on crash. I dismounted and offered an apology only to be lectured about not being able to ride a bike properly on the street. Yes, the woman who blindly stepped into the bike lane (wasn't even at an intersection/pedestrian crossing so she was basically jaywalking) scolded me about not knowing proper street etiquette. The irony!