Originally Posted by
Paul Barnard
Standing in my front yard this morning I saw an uncomfortably close call. There's an older (55-60ish) fitness nut that runs and cycles past my house on a near daily basis. When he bikes, he rides an older steel bike, and he keeps a fast pace. This is a residential area with a lot of stop signs...
I have never seen him stop for a stop sign. In fact he rarely slows for them much at all...
I saw him approaching the stop sign in front of my house. It's a T intersection...
A Toyota Tacoma was approaching the intersection at a 90 degree angle. The cyclist's view of the Tacoma was obscured by my neighbors house. By the time the cyclist saw the Tacoma, he was into the intersection. The Tacoma braked.
The rider did as well and I could tell from the awkwardness of his reaction he was caught off guard. He wobbled and rode all the way across the perpendicular road into that oncoming lane.
Had the truck been two seconds earlier there is no doubt in my mind this would have been a crash. The cyclist doesn't wear a helmet....
I guess there are several safety lessons here. If you are going to roll a stop you need to be prepared to stop in the event another car is coming. Even early on a lazy Sunday morning you can't count on no other traffic being present. While your ears can give you useful information, there are obviously times they can't tell a complete story.
Originally Posted by
BobbyG
I've biked to work most days for 27 years. In my 30s I felt as invincible as I did as a kid in Chicago..... But some time in my 30s, enough close calls taught me to not "out ride my brakes" and always "leave an out" and to always "expect the unexpected".
And when I discovered bikeforums in the mid 2000's I learned strategies and attitudes for safer riding.
Whatever satisfaction I've lost from not biking with total abandon is somewhat made for up by the satisfaction and smugness of knowing I am biking smarter than the average, more casual cyclist. It's kinda ego-centric, but it keeps me safer.
[MENTION=86375]Paul Barnard[/MENTION] thanks for sharing. It's this kind of story and reminder that helps us all ride more safely. And thank goodness it didn't end worse or that you had to witness anything like that.
So often on these threads about calamities or near misses,
I post about my mindset that I believe gives me that extra edge.
Originally Posted by
FBinNY
In all fairness, I don't think there's anyone who's been riding for a long time, who hasn't at some time (or many times) ridden in that zone where
the only thing separating us from disaster is favorable alignment of the stars. (Note the "us" rather than "him")
We all take chances and make mistakes, but fortunately life is"organized" with plenty of forgiveness.
In my experience the difference between disaster and "whew, that was close" is millimeters and microseconds, and not anything we can take credit for.
Originally Posted by
Paul Barnard
I am a safety professional by trade...Safety is a tough sell. Especially to older folks who are often fairly entrenched in their ways. To a large degree, I am marketing boating safety.
..
Originally Posted by
Jim from Boston
I try to keep safe with certain aphorisms in my head that come to mind to alert me when I encounter a situation where unseen dangers may lurk, such as
“Like a weapon, assume every stopped car is loaded, with an occupant ready to exit from either side.” or“
Don’t ride over an area (such as puddles or leaves) when you can’t see the road surface
…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 (link), 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 [include]:
- …
- You don’t have the right-of-way until the other yields it to you (learned from my teacher in driver’s ed
- …
Those are all I remember for now, and they all pop-up in my mind as I encounter the situation.
Whether my advice is good is debatable, but as I posted to a now-closed thread, about mine or other suggestions
Originally Posted by Jim from Boston
In the past I have offered IMO several useful suggestions about cycling, particularly for winter and urban cycling, to multiple repetitive threads. They are usually lost in the morass of often scores of replies, both in agreement and dispute with mine.
and not just in knowledgeable discussion, but even in non sequiturs such as
Originally Posted by
goldensprocket
Did he at least wave to you?
Last edited by Jim from Boston; 05-20-19 at 03:22 AM.