How to avoid bicycle accidents?
Originally Posted by
Bruce su
…Today I would like to share some my opinions about the way to avoid bicycle accidents.
Actually, accidents are inevitable, all we can do is to reduce the probabilities...
Welcome to share more cycling experiences with me...
I have been year-round cycle-commuting, road riding, and cycle-touring since about 1972...truly a lifestyle. I was hit by a car in June 2012, and was hospitalized for six weeks, off work for three months, and off the bike for five months.
I recently posted the mental mindset I have developed over the years to keep as safe as possible.
Originally Posted by
Jim from Boston
Just yesterday, I posted about my concept of Riding Safety Aphorisms ("The Sayings of Chairman Jim"), little sayings that come to mind when I encounter a situation where unseen dangers may lurk, such as:
Originally Posted by
Jim from Boston
…surely a car door is one of the most frequent and dangerous obstacles. I have an aphorism,
“Like a weapon, always assume a stopped car is loaded, with an occupant ready to exit, from either side.”
Originally Posted by
Jim from Boston
A valuable tip I learned from Bike Forums courtesy of local Metro Bostonian, @
buzzman, is to
watch the front tires of a car rather than the body or the hood. The car will go where the front tires point.
Others as I recall off the top my head:- Make yourself visible as possible and assume nobody sees you.
- When riding at night, look for cars, not just headlights.
- Make sure you can see the road surface if you ride over a puddle; a pothole or frozen ice may lurk at the bottom
- Jim’s Law of the Road: "No matter how lightly-traveled or well-paved the road, a vehicle is likely to pass you on the left as you encounter an obstacle in the right."
Then there is my Golden Rule of Cycling: “Do unto the pedestrians as you would have the cagers unto you.”
Finally,
Originally Posted by
Jim from Boston
… I have a mental analogy of bikes as nimble amphibians compared to autos as lumbering dinosaurs. Like amphibians who can live on land and water,bikes ride on the roads and go off-road, on sidewalks and narrow trails. Our survival depends on not being trampled by the behemoths, so I do everything I can to avoid them, for example when stopped at red lights in traffic.
Last edited by Jim from Boston; 08-03-16 at 06:20 AM.