Originally Posted by
ascherer
FWIW I ride with Tom in NYC and I assert that that he is a VERY aware cyclist...
Originally Posted by
noglider
Thank you, Andy. I didn't think to say it, but I really am more aware than most people. Every time something happens, I add it to my repertoire of things to check.
When I come to an intersection, for example, I check for so many things that I couldn't verbalize them all. The same is true for a huge number of situations.
I am focused on awareness when I ride too,
in a systematic way, to keep my attention up.
I have posted to several threads about my “Safety Aphorisms”:
Originally Posted by
Jim from Boston
I liked these posts by [MENTION=195670]berner[/MENTION] (also from the Northeast Megalopolis) about the fundamental use of mirrors, furthermore of the safety mindset I employ:
Originally Posted by
berner
I'm a firm believer that experience is the best teacher and it does not have to be your own experience. Just as much can be learned from evaluating how others may have screwed up.
With this in mind, learning of the misadventures of others, as in A&S, can be valuable provided we really pay attention.
Now really paying attention is a large category. Part of it is not only being visible but how our visibility changes depending on clothing worn and shade...
Originally Posted by
berner
Anticipating is one thing to work on to improve our safety but the act of paying attention is equally important…
I believe I know how to keep myself safe, or safer, on a bike but I don't know how that might be taught. Being hyper alert is not a characteristic we are born with. It is a characteristic to work on improving.
conguent with my post earlier:
Originally Posted by
Jim from Boston
…I was hit from behind by a “distracted” (? inebriated) hit and run driver on an otherwise seemingly safe and peaceful route. By good fortune, I’m alive and relatively unimpaired.
Over the past few months I have come to realize that my safety aphorisms, collected over the years by personal or vicarious experience, are my way of actively aligning the stars in my favor, to anticipate those unseen and otherwise unanticipated dangers.
FWIW, for my own information at least, my other aphorisms beside those above are:
- Make yourself as visible as possible,and assume nobody sees you.
- …[follow this link]
- Jim’s Law of the Road: “No matter how well-paved and lightly traveled the Road, a vehicle is likely to pass on the left as you encounter an obstacle on the right.”…my argument to wear a rearview mirror.
Those are all I remember for now, and they all pop-up in my mind as I encounter the situation.
Originally Posted by
Jim from Boston
In my mind, anticipation is a major component of “paying attention," especially facilitated by a mirror. Visibility is my first aphorism, but obviously also depends on the mindset of someone else (the motorist).
FWIW, my posts to Bikeforums are what they are worth as a decades-long year-round lifestyle cyclist, including urban commuting, but I have been cited as a good source:
Originally Posted by
Stun
My experience is that people drive differently in every city and treat cyclists very differently.
The best advice often comes from cyclists that live the closest to you …
The exception here would also be Jim from Boston--anyone that can successfully commute around Boston has my full respect and probably knows how to deal with about every intersection imaginable!
Originally Posted by
chefisaac
LISTEN to [MENTION=124426]Jim from Boston[/MENTION]
he knows his $hit!
