What does the helmet have to do with anything?

So did the cyclist you're complaining about. ;)

You don't know if any drivers vented to their families that night about those unlit cyclists appearing out of nowhere and scaring the crap out of them. :rolleyes:

+1

dont really want to get into a helmet debate but, helmet wearing doesnt belong on the list with contraflow riding, and ninja riding.

I never ride at night without lights, reflective sash, or light colored clothes. I never ride against traffic, and I always do my best to obey the rules of the road. I also never wear a helmet.

A comment on this discussion (which comes up a lot) but not the OP directly...

This is a great example of the "fundamental attribution error". I see someone contraflow riding in the dark, and assume that he is the "kind of person" who does that all the time (i.e., a nimrod). But when I do it myself, well, it's not because I'm that "kind of person," but because the situation called for such behavior (e.g., batteries died, no berm on right side of road). We do this stuff all the time to justify our actions and to more succinctly explain the behaviors of others.

Kinda like the difference between a real human being and those darned colored people, eh, Billy Bob? :rolleyes:

Not hardly...A&S maybe...unless this is the CAR commuting forum.

Hanshananigan sed --> OP's experience seems on topic for the Commuter forums, I reckon.

Chipcom sed --> Not hardly...A&S maybe...unless this is the CAR commuting forum.

Hanshananigan sez --> OP came from the perspective of a driver, but his topic was entirely about bike riding on streets. Although this is the "Commuter" forum, there are tons of posts about grocery runs, bike locks, wet-weather gear, touring, winter riding, etc. that could fit in other forums as well. Not to mention that the description of this forum includes safety (bold italics added):

Let's come together as "bikers" or "cyclists", doode, and not work so hard to pigeonhole everything that has to do with 2 wheels! It's more fun that way.

http://www.mgae.com/2006_product_pag...TandemBike.jpg

Yeah, let's all take warm showers together and sing kumbya.
The OP's 'topic' was just one of many griping about people who don't things in the proscribed 'serious' cyclist manner. Such BS is more appropriate in A&S, IMO.

Gotcha- if everyone posted every gripe, it would clutter the board with non-information. Agreed. Kumbya, my friend.

Yeah, and instead he might have plowed some poor pedestrian who didn't see him coming. How about if he had been properly illuminated and riding somewhere legal and safe, he'd have been better off. One of those places is in a traffic lane on the correct side of the street.

Because they are Ninjas. :twitchy:

Sure. But the risk of death in a cyclist-ped collision at 5 mph (<1%) is several times less than the risk of death (>50%) in a car-bicyclist collision at 35 mph. I don't think anyone here is debating what he should have been doing.

Er, OP suggested he should have been on the sidewalk. Which is fine, if you're actually riding at 5mph. I've never seen anyone ride that slow.

I'm old enough to have had bicycle safety taught to me in elementary school (lots of kids biked to my school). I sometimes think I'm the only cyclist in Boston who gives hand signals (the standard kind that I was taught -- lots of people do give the rude kind!) Even as an 8-year-old, I knew to ride on the right side of the road (we didn't have sidewalks in my neighborhood).

Why don't schools teach kids anymore to ride bikes safely? Then we wouldn't have so many wrong-side lightless adult cyclists.

Sounds like you're not paying attention on your rides, then.

+3 to the OP...
i live in a college town and school has begun, bringing with it the bevy of freshmen tooling about helmetless, lightless, clueless.
I have had several near-misses in my car, and more on my bike. i holler "get lights!" when the opportunity presents.

ride safe all