Originally Posted by JoeyBike

Let me put a finer point on it.

I was on a bike tour from New Orleans to Maine. Some old friends in Charlottesville, Virginia offered to let me crash a few days at their condo. I hit Charlottesville near 5pm rush hour on a weekday and they lived a few miles out of town. About one mile from the entrance to their cul de sac, the city to my back, I hit a long hill and huge curve in the road. It was a 2-lane, narrow, mountain road and 50mph commuter traffic was roaring up behind me heading to their bedroom communities, as well as traffic coming from in front of me to a lesser extent. I COULD HAVE held my ground and winched up that mountain at 4 mph, taken the lane, and continued on. It was only ONE MILE to my bud's house from that spot. One mile at 4mph would take 15 minutes right? I could have pedaled my entitled, rude, happy-go-lucky arse up that hill, and risked many close passes by irritated motorists. Instead, i pulled over onto a grassy front lawn, spread out my sleeping pad, and took a nap for an hour until rush hour traffic subsided. (My friend, also a cyclist, apologized for sending me up what he called "The Death Road", not knowing I would hit it at rush hour).

^^This is my most extreme example of situational awareness on a bicycle. I DIDN'T KNOW what was ahead or I would never have been there at the wrong place at the wrong time. So how did I handle it? I "disappeared" from that situation until conditions improved. This is the kind of situational awareness I am promoting. I probably would have survived, but why take the risk in a situation that was obvious (to me) to be high risk?

BTW...use an oven mitt. Or be careful. Or eat out. You are not helpless in most situations. (And no distracted/drugged second party CAUSED your injury. That was 100% on you). Would you cook breakfast standing in the middle of a freeway lane on an East-West highway, at sunrise, if it were legal? No? Why not? Would it be even more risky than your kitchen? Think about it and let me know.