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Originally Posted by Rollfast
(Post 19011306)
An adult and licensed adult is supposed to be in the passenger seat in the FRONT and able to critique and assist the practicing driver. In some places if I'm not mistaken no passengers who are not also sharing the driving practice are supposed to in the vehicle. Maybe only one practicing driver.
But the little sister isn't supposed to be in a front seat even, if she is allowed. She is supposed to be in a child restraining device (child seat, proper booster, seat belt) in the rear. Mother was not supervising the practice, she was using her phone. I would bring this up whether the young driver was at fault or not. The driver was not legally supervised. |
Just saying... just because the driver is young doesn't meant she hasn't been driving for years. Any adult could have made the same dumb mistake. Just last month a student pilot took himself and his instructor to the next life. Dual controls... proximity can only do so much. Which is why I doubt that having a human back-up in those self-driving cars is anything more than PR bull#$%^. When it goes sideways, it gets there fast. Faster than you can say #@$W%^!!! Carry on.
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That's true, we are making an assumption that the young driver was not licensed and that the parent was required to supervise. People of all ages 'see' cyclists physically but do not register that they are relevant obstacles to avoid
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OP. Change your habits. Take the lane when needed. Try some blinky lights front and rear 24/7. Got a mirror? Start there.
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Originally Posted by mtb_addict
(Post 19019285)
I feel really bad for the young driver and her little sister. They were probably traumatized for life.
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Originally Posted by corrado33
(Post 19010278)
You and I have very similar riding styles, although I don't see the issue with saying "car lane." Yes, technically it's the "traffic lane," but I think of it like how the US is called America, when there are a ton of other countries that could fall under that name. Sometimes it's easier simply to refer to the thing by whatever/whoever uses it the most.
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I was hot for the first time the other day. Lady pulled out from my left into my lane which I was hugging the line and then she made a quick right just as I was going past the entrance of the lot she wanted to turn into and I basically jammed the brakes and steered a little with her turn and hit the side of her car. She never saw me. I wear a blaze orange jersey. I wonder if she was on her phone. She was scared to death that I was hurt. I hate being in higher traffic areas but i didn't have a choice at the time.
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We've been considering retirement in Pittsburgh. It's good to see we won't be leaving our idiot drivers behind.
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Originally Posted by Leebo
(Post 19019149)
OP. Change your habits. Take the lane when needed. Try some blinky lights front and rear 24/7. Got a mirror? Start there.
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Originally Posted by Daniel4
(Post 19008121)
Motorcycles ride in the block position of the lane. There's a reason it's called the block position. Cyclists should do that too.
I ride like I'm on a really slow motorcycle and leave enough room for someone to make a right turn to my right. Sometimes you have to deal with the irate entitled duchebag that thinks you are blocking their spot at the starting line but it beats being splattered by a right hook. |
What I got out of it...A driver wasn't paying attention and hit you while you were stopped. You were injured, cursed at her but did nothing else...you let her off the hook for hitting you and causing you injury...what she learned is she got away with it...sigh
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Depends on the situation. Usually, I stay some 20 meters to the rear, allowing the drivers to turn right, and, in case they didn't see or notice me, I'm all the way to the right, not in their path. Once the traffic starts moving, I have enough time to merge, never had any problems. Right hook is not an issue at such low speeds (just speeding up). Especially if you look out for it. Hands on the brakes, moving away from the side of the road as I speed up, to have some maneuvering room.
The other option, if the right turning lane is really, really busy, is to stay in the right side of the forward/left moving lane. Usually letting one car in front of me. But staying to the side of the lane, just in case some driver doesn't stop and on straight (happens sometimes). |
Originally Posted by Kai Winters
(Post 19031269)
What I got out of it...A driver wasn't paying attention and hit you while you were stopped. You were injured, cursed at her but did nothing else...you let her off the hook for hitting you and causing you injury...what she learned is she got away with it...sigh
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Originally Posted by takenreasy
(Post 19032397)
The implication here as you too have experience being hit and had positive results waiting for the authorities to show up. I am glad for your fortunate experience. My historical experience, as well as three other friends’, were not so good. Thus, I did what I did and you, I assume, did something else.
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I don't mind going around the aisles at the grocery store and meeting the same nice women over and over, but you gotta stop meeting like that!
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I feel sorry for those that have to commute or otherwise use busy city roads. I wouldn't dream of it, do most of my riding early early Sunday morning and mostly on secondary roads and bikeways. Rights or not we're a small slow target and there are just too many inattentive drivers, and huge semi-trailers plying city roads.
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Originally Posted by takenreasy
(Post 19030732)
Old dog, no new tricks here: 53 years riding bicycles and 40 years riding motorcycles. I've only been hit twice over this span of time. Mirrors and blinkies don't do much for being broadsided in full sun.
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Originally Posted by takenreasy
(Post 19006148)
This morning I was stationary waiting for a light when a new young driver “didn’t see me” as she was turning off the main road to go on the parallel service road on the other side of me. Luckily, at the last second, out the corner of my eye, I saw her and inched up just enough for the impact to be with my steel rear rack and not my leg. Even so, I was knocked down pretty good but only suffered one healthy gash on my leg and a couple of smaller ones along with a sore shoulder and back. During the “I didn’t see yous” and the “I’m sorrys” from the driver and her little sister, who was the front seat passenger while the adult mom was in the back with her phone (no mystery there why I was hit by a new driver), I was unleashing f-bombs because I was so pissed. I thought of what happened when I was hit a year or so ago. In that incident, a Sheriff passing by witnessed the entire event. He called the EMTs and told me to stay on the ground because it was the driver of the car who was at fault. Two rescue squads, one fire truck and four cop cars later and the verdict was no one was at fault. So, this time I wasn’t willing to go through all of that since I appeared to not have any broken bones etc. So, I rode off with my rear wheel rubbing because the quick release had be knocked loose and the front wheel rubbing because a kind of quick release on my fender mount had come loose. Both issues easily corrected once I got away from the crash site. Afterwards I was somewhat upset about how I handled the situation since over my many years of commuting I thought my reaction to all of the stupid stuff had become just things to be ignored. I was focused on getting to work and not wasting time calling the cops. Of course, the cops might have been able to educate the adult mom how to prevent her daughter from killing someone. I guess it’s my bad for not investing the time for that process to happen. On the bright side, maybe the girl will be scared straight and not run into people.
The above scenario is one of the many reasons I do not typically sit at red lights. I usually do whatever it takes to stay on the move. And, on those few occasions when the light is not in my favor or traffic is too heavy to blow the light, like this morning, I do what it takes to get off the road and onto the sidewalk or simply hug the curb. Sometimes, it's not possible, of course. Sometimes I am stuck in a line of cars...or worse, in front of everyone all out in the open. But, when that happens. I sure as hell feel my vulnerability, and hate it like I would a root canal. |
Originally Posted by Leebo
(Post 19035745)
So this works for you? When I am driving in my car, during daylight hours, the bikes I see first have blinky lights on. Picture a sunny day, the driver of the car has sunglasses on, you are in the shade of a tree, or underpass or bridge. Start there. The downside is? 4 extra ounces on your bike?
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Hey, it's totally normal to get pissed off and just want to get away, that's a normal response to a traumatic accident, and it'll probably happen regardless of how many times you are hit. In fact, the more accidents I have the more of a wuss I become. I used to be really daring, a huge risk taker, longboarding and skateboarding and cycling in dangerous situations, but I've been traumatized and I guess I am also older now, so I am a lot more cautious these days. The last longboarding accident I had turned me off of downhill longboading forever. It was my fault, but I fell into oncoming traffic and they just went around me and no one stopped for a very long time. I had to drag myself bleeding (very injured) to the side of the road and no one cared enough to phone an ambulance. At that point I was like "my faith in humanity is gone".
Well finally someone stopped and I used their phone and caled someone to give me a ride, because I had the most terrible road rash ever, like half my leg muscle had been ripped off. And I knew what they were going to do in the hospital for that and DID NOT want them to touch it lol. (For road rash they literally take a stiff brush and scrape at it to get the gravel out!!! There was no way I was having that done to me on that injury.) So I just got a friend to drive me home. Oh that was painful and im surprised my leg muscle grew back in time. It's scary when you're in an accident, and of course it's terrible to be injured regardless of how minor those injuries are. Well, I've done the same thing, but when you're in shock it's hard to think clearly. Then I regret leaving so fast, because I would have liked to talk to the driver to see if they were okay, because can you imagine how scared they must feel after hitting a cyclist. And, you never know, they might offer to pay for any damage on your bike lol. |
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