Originally Posted by bkrownd
So after they run me over at 45MPH I can act all superior and chastise them for driving too fast or not paying enough attention? There's nothing superior about being dead/maimed.
We agree on at least one point: there is nothing superior about being dead/maimed!
Where we disagree is regarding what is the best way to avoid being dead/maimed, and still ride our bikes.
The vehicular cycling principle, on which the riding described in the book
Effective Cycling by John Forester is based, is:
Cyclists fare best when the act and are treated as drivers of vehicles.
You, apparently, do not believe this principle to be true. You seem to think that if you ride down a hill with a narrow lane on which traffic normally travels at 45mph you will be run down. But you ignore the effect that your presence will have on the traffic. When there is a bike going 25-30 mph down the hill, the motorists slow down.
What percent of cyclist crashes do you think are car-bike collisions? It's less than half, something on the order of 30%.
What percent of those car-bike collisions do you think fall into the category of "car hits cyclist from behind"? It's tiny. Something like 10%.
During the day? A fraction of that.
In the city (as opposed to a rural road)? A fraction of
that.
In short, if you're worried about getting hit by a car from behind you might as well also worry about your house being hit by a meteor and plan on winning the Lottery while you're at it. Does it happen? Yes, but very rarely. If you worry about odds like that, you must live in constant fear of all kinds of highly unlikely events.
Yes, on a bicycle I am an inferior vehicle. I always keep that firmly in mind when I ride on the street. Motorists accept collisions as a fact of life and worth the risk to get around faster. On a bicycle I can't/won't/don't. YMMV
Motorists accept collisions as a fact of life and worth the risk to get around faster? I don't believe that's true, but I can see how you would be terrified to leave the house, much less ride a bike on the street, if you believed that to be true.
Collisions are a hassle. If nothing else, they consume time and money. Motorists do everything they can to avoid the hassles of collisions. In fact, I find that they take even more care when around cyclists than when around motor vehicles. In a car I can signal to change lanes and lots of cars will pass before someone finally yields to me. When I signal the desire to merge with a turn hand signal on my bike, almost always the first motorist yields to me. Sometimes I have to wait one or two cars, at the most.
Don't take this personally. I'm only taking the time to write all this because most cyclists think like you do, and I'm hoping my posts will reach
someone, if not you.
Serge