Close Call With A Teen Driver
 

Don't ever become passive about your riding.

This morning, while I was making a routine right turn on a very quiet suburban corner that I have crossed hundreds of times over the years, a distracted teen driver came within inches of plowing into me, head-on, as she cut her left turn way too short. The speed she was traveling would have been enough to put me in the hospital, if not in the ground. Instead, I ended up lying in someone's freshly cut grass, my bike on top of me.

Whenever I am on the bike, I devote 110% of my attention to my surroundings. As a motorist for 35 years, I have never had a collision, and I consider myself a much better cyclist because of my driving experience. However, you never know what the OTHER person is going to do next, and it just might be something so unbelievably stupid and dangerous that even the quickest thinking won't get you out of harm's way.

My life could have changed drastically today, but I'm glad I had this near miss to remind me of how critically important it is to keep your eyes and ears open ALL THE TIME on the road.

I usually bike commute, but last week I was actually in the car, and in the right lane going downhill, when a driver in the middle lane abruptly decided to make a right hand turn out of the middle lane without looking for traffic in my lane, and took out both my driver side doors.

All I could think of as he was apologizing profusely was that had I been on bike at the same time and same place, I would be at best in a coma right now.

This is seriously ****ed up. I hope you're alright after the incident. I second the advice: never get too comfortable!

GLad you're okay. I hope she never forgets it.

Glad you made it through!

People looking at cells phone have been the trend in all my close calls. Glad you escaped virtually unscathed.

Same thing happened to me yesterday, teen driver blew through a yield sign as I was making a left turn. She didn't seem to be playing with her cell phone, so I don't know what distracted her. Scary, I have a teen driver of my own... I tell her "be careful" every time she gets into the car. At this point, I've said it so much, I'm not sure it means much. She is pretty alert and aware, but I wonder if that will continue as she gets more confidence. I don't want her to get hurt or to hurt anyone else.

I rarely see a teenager (especially a teenage girl) driving around here WITHOUT her face buried in a cell phone. It's infuriating and very frightening for those of us who drive and ride bicycles. However, this girl did not seem to be looking at her cell phone when she came at me head-on. She just seemed lost in that teenage drama that so many kids go through. Or maybe it was something really serious, like a family illness. Either way, we can't fix the other person. We just need to do whatever we can to protect ourselves.

Is that "drama" like the close call/hallucinatory observations so frequently experienced and reported on BF by some middle aged and senior bicycling drama queens?

Glad you were not hurt.

As I was reading the op, the local news was running a story from last night about a teenage girl who had ran her car off the road while going around a curve. She said she "looked down" while she was in the curve. Wanna bet what she was looking at?

All we can do is stay on alert while we're out there.

Glad you're OK.
I can relate - happened to me more than once. Last one 2 days ago. I was on my way when a car entered the road from the left, there was a lot of space and no other cars, but he took a wide turn and forced me against the curb. I thought to go over the curb and fall on the sideway, but he corrected about 1m from me.

After spending my stupid years on a motorcycle, I assume all cars on the road are out to kill me. Accident free for 35 years.

This. Riding is an active thing. I thank decades on motorcycles for the situational awareness I bring to riding bicycles, a healthy respect for other road users, and the ability to anticipate some of the more common boneheaded moves drivers make.

While I was learning to drive, my dad had a serious conversation with me about how I was piloting a two-ton machine that could easily kill someone. It worked. No at-fault collisions in 18 years of driving.

That, and it's really hard to text while driving a stick shift. :)

Wow.

i got buzzed a number of years ago by a teen driver. the good part of it is i knew the boys father so i went and had a talk with him. The boy denied everything as i figured he would thats when i describbed the other passengers in the car and the drive way of the house they pulled into. He confessed at that point. His dad had him hand over his car keys and his drivers licennse to me and told me that it was up to me how long his boy was walking. ANd damn his dad did mean walking. no rides from him or his wife and no rides with friends. I kept the keys for 4 months. I figured that was enough to teach a good leson..

get em coach

Thread has the ring of a gaggle of whiners complaining about all them gol dang teens with drama driving cars and texting everywhere on our road; OMG I had a close call with one! Can you believe it?

Yeah? In my mind the thread serves to warn cyclists of idiot drivers who don't pay proper attention to other road users. While most of us are aware of them, it's good to bring up that topic every once in a while, because the supply of idiot drivers never seems to run out.

vat dim: Do yourself a favor and ignore those guys like the rest of us.

Unless it is a teenager? Then it is time for the "dramatic" close call report to BF warning us of the teenage texting drama scourge. Most of them are staring at their smartphone and have no idea where they are driving or who might be cycling nearby. That is your dramatic story isn't it?

I have to agree with everyone here. I have been accident free for years because I have a very healthy fear and alertness for other cars. As I've become into a commercial driver, and been trained in safety driving. I learned something that many people seems to be unaware, tunnel vision. When a person is fixated at a certain item too long, the person develop a tunnel vision and in the peripheral side of the vision, they cannot see anything. It is especially dangerous for motorcyclist, and bicyclist as they are very small targets, and when people have tunnel vision, they cannot see this small target. So heed all the advices on this thread. Assume that the driver did not see you and act accordingly.

W

Glad you're OK. And glad most of my riding is now on protected (from teens and others) bikeways.