darksiderising

Hi folks. I just saw a commercial on ABC that they have a special report tonight at 11pm (PST, -8 GMT) that will apparently settle some sort of debate about cycling and motorists (whatever the hell that means). I'm not sure if it is just local to the Bay Area, or what. It should be a good piece of entertainment at worst, and maybe a quality report, although, just the fact that they are settling some sort of debate about bikes on the road is disturbing, because they naturally deserve to be there.

Bikepacker67

What's your local affiliate's call letters?

UmneyDurak

So saw the add apparently they will be talking about bikes on the streets and who is to blame for all the accidents. So who do you think they will blame?

UmneyDurak

Cyclists are to blame. Gee didn't see that one comming. I think a trained monkey can do a better job at researching and reporting news then idiots who are working for news companies now.

twobikes

I downloaded a podcast from KBOO in Portland, OR. They talked about a local drive time radio guy who encouraged motorists to target cyclists and run them down. His chain got pulled up short for that. Part of the outcome was that he went for a bike ride in traffic with some Portland cyclists. I do not know if he was forced or merely invited. It gave him a new perspective and he said it was more scary than he imagined to ride in traffic. Maybe a cycling group could invite the ABC local talking heads for a spin around a few blocks.

Bikepacker67

Can someone please give those of us NOT in the Bay Area, a synopsis?

Mel_bikes

https://abclocal.go.com/kgo/front

is the station lead page

Bikepacker67

Sure... if you lump in homeless alcoholics as "cyclists".

closetbiker

Looks like the I team found something different than we did up here

from https://www.bikesense.bc.ca/appendices.htm#common

The following statistics are from a 1996 study*, which analyzed the reported 6,000 collisions between bicycles and motor vehicles that occurred in BC during a three-year period.

Contributing factors

The most common error among cyclists was to ride without due care. Among motorists the most frequent fault was failure to yield right-of-way.

Operating vehicle without due care - Cyclists: 23% Car drivers: 14%
Failure to yield right-of-way - Cyclists: 13% Car drivers: 27%
Using the wrong side of the road - Cyclists: 10% Car drivers: 0%

Several other studies in North America have found that the primary fault in bicycle/motor vehicle collisions is approximately equally shared between cyclists and drivers. These studies also found that the single most common bicycle accident was falling without any other vehicle being involved.

All cyclists should be aware that the three most common motorist-caused bicycle/motor vehicle collisions are:

* An oncoming driver turns left in front of the cyclist.
* A driver on a cross street stops, and then pulls out directly in front of the cyclist.
* A driver barely passes the cyclist and then turns right.

closetbiker

Although I'd readily admit cyclists ride without due care and attention (and are over represented in bike/car collisions) more often than drivers, I find the drivers failing to yeild my right of way is the biggest problem I have to deal with.

CB HI

I would like to know what the cops are calling "unsafe speed" for cyclist? Are they including the cyclist was not able to stop in 10 feet when a car cut them off, so it is the cyclist fault for unsafe speed?

Also noted that they appear to be including cyclist/pedestrian collisions and collisions when the cyclist is walking a bike in the 60% count of "cyclist fault".

An old study in Hawaii found that for adult cyclist, 70% of accidents were the fault of the motorist. Note CHP does not limit its count to only adult cyclist.

CB HI

Noted huge # of wrong way riding accidents.
The BUI claim appears exagerated from the overall data, just not that many BUI's for the news cast making it appear that many cyclist are just riding drunk.

caloso

What about us alcoholics with homes?

WriteABike

Wow. So just by following traffic rules, I cut my chances of being in an accident in half? That makes biking safer than driving! (Of course, the driving stats would have to be adjusted similarly. Following traffic rules helps in a car, too.)

caloso

I'd like to see the fatality numbers on cyclist-cyclist collisions and single-cyclist accidents. I'd bet they're pretty small.

closetbiker

Yeah, and if you keep your eyes and ears open to avoid those bozos breaking the law in their cars (like refusing to yeild to your right of way), you probably can reduce your chances of being in a collision by half again.

Read collision reports and you'll get an idea how ridiculous the behavior is that leads to these collisions.

closetbiker

Extremely small. Somewhere around 95% (or more) of fatalities are motor vehicle/bike collisions.

Helmet Head

I suspect that's a major understatement.

Most of these studies and reports focus on primary causes. In almost all cases, the other person (i.e., the cyclist in car-bike crashes where the motorist makes the primary mistake) did or didn't do something that is arguably a secondary/contributory cause, and if the cyclist did or didn't do that, then the crash would have been avoided despite the primary mistake by the motorist. This is the fundamental claim of defensive driving, and some defensive driving instructors claim that defensive drivers should be able to avoid all crashes. There is no reason this should not apply to cyclists.

So, by obeying the rules including those rules that enable you to be defensively prepared for those who don't obey the rules, you should be able to avoid making secondary/conributory cause mistakes as well as primary/ridiculous cause mistakes, and I think you can probably reduce your chances of being involved in a crash to practically zero.

Of course, this means learning, knowing, understanding and integrating the rules into one's thinking and riding so that they become instinctive. This is why I am a VC advocate.

LittleBigMan

This quote pretty much characterizes the whole article.

Some newspaper writer just preaching to the choir to get noticed.

The other Inane

Stats from australia, but the percentages are probably pretty similar to what you would find in the US

caloso

Wow. Much lower than I guessed.

specq

Another addition for the "How to speak motorist" phrasebook.

They think they own the whole road = I think I own the whole road.
I'm concerned for their safety = I'm concerned about my convenience.

At least when they swear at me, I don't have to translate.

Helmet Head

closetbiker

check out this link at about 3/4 of the way down for simple descriptions of each death of a cyclist in BC over an 8 year period.

https://www.helmets.org/bcstudy.htm

If I've counted right, 1 death from collision with a train, 1 death from a cyclist simply falling over and the rest (62) collisions with motor vehicles.

closetbiker

Once I was interviewed by a newspaper about my commuting to work by bike and after the interviewer had finished and the photographer was about to take some photos, he and I chatted a bit. He asked me how I felt about all the cyclists that pass illeagally on the right side of the road, and I replied by saying I guess I felt the same way about them as I do about all the motor vehicles illeagally passing on the right.

Some people just see things from one point of view and don't realize they do. Someone has to open their eyes sometimes.