Jonahhobbes

Approaching a petrol station with an SUV moving towards it's exit which leads onto the road I'm on. I just knew he would not see me and/or pull out as I was crossing him. I was ready for the emergency brake and sure enough he pulled out in front of me with a couple of feet to spare.

Anyone else just get that feeling when you spot a vehicle and you just know it's going to do something stupid and then you prepare for evasive action?

Quel

Yah, every vehicle I see. Not that it happens a whole hell of a lot, but better to be prepared.

Andy_K 

Someone once told me that the best way to stay out of an accident is to assume that every driver, pedestrian and cyclist you see is going to do the stupidest thing possible. Then if they don't you can be pleasantly surprised.

Darth_Firebolt

i start to anticipate the current lack of skill in the current-model idiot, and they go and upgrade them!

caloso

All the time. It's like using the Force.

maddyfish

Yes, pretty often. The more you ride in traffic (as opposed to controlled club rides) the more your 'spider sense' will develop. I think it is a lot of what separates good city traffic riders from those who are scared to turn left off a 4 lane highway.

SlimAgainSoon

Yes -- I've got good radar. Saved me many times.

carbondale

For me the key is eye contact. No eye contact and I assume they're idiots and steer clear and expect the worst.

rnorris

This is part intuition and part skill... I'm always subtly "reading" the cars that are approaching me in any way, and how they're reacting to their surroundings. If they're reacting to things inappropriately (too fast, too slow, or irrationally), they get flagged in my brain.

maddyfish

Add to what I said and what the others have said--Don't get too full of yourself. One day you'll be riding along thinking you are Obi Wan Kenobi- and then somebody will do something you didn't expect.

uke

Too many car windows and windshields are too dark for me to see through; I don't even bother anymore. If I decide a car is too close for me to run a stop sign, I typically just wait until they go.

Wanderer

Even after avoidance, it's always nice to see the look on their face, as you yell in their window!!!!

BA Commuter

A riders traffic senses improve as their commuting miles increase. I also find myself looking further ahead and side to side more frequently than if I was in a cage…

corkscrew

Yep - I treat cars like I treat squirrels. You have to assume they will dart in front of your front tire at the worst possible moment.

cz2509

On yesterdays ride, I was coming up on a light with a dedicated left hand lane. There was a row of cars waiting for the left as I rode past in the straight/right turn lane.

My eyes settled on a car in the left lane and I got a little nervous about him. Sure enough, he jumped out of the left turn lane right in front of me so that he could take a right at the intersection. He never even saw me.

Nothing special about the car that tipped me off, i just had that feeling.

You cant really drive around counting on that little feeling to save your life, but there is no sense ignoring it when you get it.

merlin55

Read the book BLINK. It is about how you really make decisions such as these, and all others for that matter. The back room of your brain makes the decision in an instant, then the front room makes up a story about how the front room figured out the answer based on car color, vectors, time of day, etc etc. Front room takes the credit and it sounds more scientific. The truth be known you bought your bike frame based on fashion and color!

Cool book and a quick short read.

Jonahhobbes

Fair point, but even eye contact can let you down. I swear awhile ago I had eye contact with this guy as I crossed the junction. I swear he was even tracking me, then Bam! he's hit me, taco'd wheels and 2 broken ribs. He reckons he never saw me at all.

making

Dont depend on the eye contact thing too much. Just use it as one more indication they know you are there but dont bet on it. A year or two ago I got hit jogging with the lady looking straight at me. She was babbling on the cell phone and I thought she seen me. When I hit her hood she started screaming and threw the phone accross her SUV. Scared her half to death.

degnaw

I used to do that, but I've found that I gradually get less anticipatory after hundreds of miles of non-incidents.

Andy_K 

Man, where do you ride that you can go hundreds of miles without the people around you doing stupid things?

bhop

Just yesterday a guy in a Porsche Cayman pulled up behind me out of a parking lot while I was first at a red light. I had bad vibes, and sure enough, as soon as the light is green, he floors it, accelerating at Porsche speed, not more than 3 inches from the my handlebar, only to make it to another red light about 10 seconds ahead of me.. scared the crap outta me. It would've made my month if he would've lost it and totaled it, or if there would've been a cop around..

exile

There seems to be something about the anticipatory feelings you get when you ride with traffic. But do remain cautious nonetheless.

DataJunkie

Controlled paranoia is paramount.

CB HI

I got a pretty bad vib from the guy that suddenly changed lanes and clipped my rear tire with the front right side of his bumper.


I must have vibrated on the road for at least 50 feet.


My bicycle did its own separate vibration down the road.

crhilton

This turns out to be impossible. You can't operate your vehicle on anything but a one way one lane road because the stupidest thing possible is to suddenly swerve right into you from the next lane over.

I'm a fan of defensive driving but you can only be defensive about the likely stupidity. You can't fully control your destiny on the roads.