First ride and I almost get hit bad
 

Riding along on the side coming up to a 4way light and have a green. As I am about to go through the intersection a Mercedes dealership taxi decides he need to pass me and turn right immediately as I am about to cross the intersection. To top it off he had to take the turn as slow as possible making the situation even worse. Managed to brake and miss him but sure woke me up and made me wonder what people are thinking to do something so blatantly stupid.

damn, dude. Hope you're okay. Do you have a mirror on your left handle bar? It could help to see what's creeping up!

You need to ride further in the travel lane. Being off to the side invites this sort of thing. You become insignificant riding along on the side. When coming to an intersection that you are going straight thru, merge onto the travel lane long before getting to the light.

Become part of the traffic flow for your safety.

Mercedes dealer ship....should have hit him. :roflmao2:

DO NOT give cars the chance to right hook you.

Take the lane at intersections. Even if you are not the first car line up at an angle with your bike pointed to the curb behind the last car you come up on. That way if the drive coming from behind hits you you have a chance at being pushed off to the side. Do not allow cars beside you in the lane if at all possible anywhere near the intersection.

People in cars cannot judge your speed and assume because they pass you that you are not moving any faster then a walking pace. Once you are past the door you are invisible to the average driver. That's why you block them from passing till you clear the intersection.

+1

Take care dude.

I've found this website http://bicyclesafe.com/

and these books useful

http://www.johnforester.com/Articles/bikebooks.htm - Effective Cycling by J Forester
http://www.cyclecraft.co.uk/ - Cyclecraft by J Franklin

The bicyclesafe link posted by markhr is very well done.
This is a classical beginner error. While on a bike in traffic you must think about your positioning reative to cars at all times, and consider the blind spots. At an intersection where cars may turn right, for instance you can position yourself in the middle of the lane to block the car behind you from cutting your path. If traffic is dense you will accelerate faster than cars anyway.

Don't get put off cycling by that incident, instead consider it as a warning, and think "this will not happen again because I will not put myself in a position where it can happen.

Take care ;)

As others have said, you generally want to merge into your lane (whichever travel lane is appropriate) at intersections. Hugging the shoulder puts you at much greater risk.

You should probably read the following:

http://www.bikexprt.com/streetsmarts/usa/index.htm

I agree with everyone commenting that your road positioning was not correct.

Stuff like that happens once in a while. Kind of sucks but it's not worth dwelling over.

Just remember that when people are either walking, driving or cycling, they tend to be in their own world. Go to the mall, people walk aimlessly. Drive a car, people make crazy turns and lane changes all over the place. Ride a bike, there is always going to be some clowns out for a day on the strand not paying attention to their surroundings and hog up the road. Be careful out there. I do believe that when there are more and more of us cyclists out on the roads, people will be forced to take caution to who is also sharing the roads.

Mercedes dealership car almost hit you? Why didn't you vault off the pedals and superman across the hood? (joking)

Things like that happen, and they are going to happen. It's not your fault for not taking the lane. Luckily, they don't happen often. Keep your wits about you and you will stay safe.

anything that doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Take the advice given in this forum about lane position and don't dwell on accidents that almost happened. Wait utill the real thing comes along.

Happy biking

yup ... the lane is yours