Very sorry to hear about your coworker. Prayers are coming his way.

As far as fear goes, I finally overcame my fear of being hit from behind and removed my handlebar mirror last month. All it really did was cause me to incessantly check it instead of just focusing on looking back when I *need* to.

Ride with Dinotte lights at all times. I ride with Dinotte Amber lights on my front which are very visible during the day and Dinotte red rear lights. It not only demands the attention of clueless drivers, but it grabs them by the throat and screams to them: "LOOK AT ME MOFO!!!, YOU BETTA NOT RUN ME OVER, FOOL. YOU BEST, GIVE ME ROOM OR YOU WILL GET A SEIZURE FROM STARING AT MY MESMERIZING LIGHT WAVES. THANKS YO. NOW CONTINUE ON WITH YOUR GAS GUZZLING WAYS." Cars slow down, stop, and give me the right of way all the time. My Dinotte lights are my road battle armor. The brightness is confidence boosting. Awesome peace of mind. Being Visible is really the only way to protect yourself besides following all traffic laws and riding defensively.

I got hit by a car twice. I don't want to be hit again. It is simply not a good way to meet new people. After getting hit the second time, I stopped riding for about a few months. You definitely get a fear of riding after a collision with two thousand pounds of steel. But as with all things, time heals all. Oh yeah, having a really bad memory helps. Forgetting things is quite a blessing. All those smoking sessions in college really paid off.

I feel safest on my commute if I've been using the same route at the same hours for a few months. It seems I encounter the same drivers and over time they recognize me and give me more room.

Yes, we had something similar happen in Baltimore a couple months ago. A Hopkins student got pinned under a SUV, which was making a right, and the feeling is that he will not recover from his injuries. My morning route is in the dark, so traffic is light, but I don't take anything for granted. In the afternoon, it is a different ballgame all together. I don't challenge anyone and I don't teach anyone lessons. I use my arm for turn signals, hoping to prompt cars in on-coming traffic to use their turn signals, but there are those that never use turn signals, so I wait, and sometimes with cars blowing their horns behind me. When I finally get to my safe spot, I blow a sigh of relief, and playfully steer my bike all over the road, feeling I survived another day.

Yikes, and here I am afraid to get hit once!

Last night I mounted two more MS Tailight off of a different battery. I feel more secure with all that blinking going on back of me :)

Thanks all for the well wishes. Last thing I heard is that before the induced coma, he's was able to move his finger when asked.

I toldy partner last night and that kinda worried her but nevertheless it ain't going to keep us off the road. She willing to participate in some safety class with me.

Buy the brightest lights you can. Even if you have to save up and spend more than you want to. It's an investment to your safety and could save your life one day. Also what everyone else said. Stay safe out there.

I just recently started biking. I mostly ride trails/neighborhoods but ride the occasional busy road and not a day goes by where I don't think about getting hit. There is a 25 mile commute I want to start making on the weekends to work and I would have to ride 15 of those miles on a light to moderately busy one lane 60mph road with little to no shoulder. Guess I'll have to be extra careful on that one.

In 20-some-odd years I've been hit 5 times, although you must take that number with a grain of salt. For 2 years my job was to play in traffic for 9 hours a day (courier) and that ups the chances versus 1 - 2 hours of commuting.
However, the risk is always there for any of us. Everyone's touched on good points and there's not much that I can add aside from the fact that after 5 separate car/bike altercations I'm still here and still riding.

Trust that inner voice...

Stay strong Colleen. Pray for your friend and go enjoy what you love doing; it's called "living". :thumb:

5 times? eek! And here I am anticipating my first time. Nevertheless the info still still a good confidence booster for me.

I feel better now. Thanks for all the replies!

sorry about your coworker.

the only bits of advice are:

'trust yourself'
'dont hesitate'
'all lights are red, even when they are green'

thats it.

I do what I can to make myself visible vis-à-vis active lighting, reflective materials, and defensive riding. Having a mirror and an Airzound to make myself heard doesn't hurt either. I also try to follow the rules of the road. I will admit to some rolling stops, but for the most part I ride my bike as if I were operating a motor vehicle in regards to traffic signs, lights, and flow (i.e., no salmon-biking). I also use those all-important hand signals. I wear a helmet and gloves at all times; I doubt they would offer much protection in a serious collision, but if knocked off my bike they could help save me from some injuries.

Sometimes I just need to have a little faith in motorists, and trust that they will "share the road". Unfortunately that's not always the case, but I only have control over my own actions. I do what I can and hope others will do the same.

Today I went for a ride with my son on his tag-along bike, and we have to travel some surface streets to get to the MUP. I mounted extra brackets for my PDW Radbot 1000 and PB Superflash on the tag-along, and I make sure their on and blinking before hitting the street. His bike also has a fluorescent orange safety flag to grab motorist's attention. I can't help but wonder if I'm putting him at risk when we go riding, but I get the same uneasy feeling every time I strap him into his car seat when we travel by car.

I want to live and enjoy life, and I want my son to share in the joy of cycling. I therefore take reasonable precautions and leave the rest up to the "Powers That Be".

I agree on this point - I commute usually the same route, and I leave at approximately the same time every day. I can almost tell which car is going to pass me next by which one just passed me. But I have a pretty rural commute too, most of it along a stretch of 45-55mph road with a decent shoulder.

Like others here, I've started using my lights in the daytime, especially the rear blinkies. The Radbot 1000 is a really good choice, very bright, and probably the best option out there short of the Dinotte lights. I have that on my seatbag, and a PB Superflash on my backpack. I've been thinking about hanging an orange streamer or flag from one of the loops on my pack too -- to add some motion that might be another visible cue to a driver.

Make yourself as visible as possible, but ride like you're invisible. Treat every intersection like a trap and put your head on a swivel. If something doesn't feel right, stop and get off the road as soon as you can and figure out why, then proceed.

I have only been hit four times since 1975, though the first time it was the organist from my Church (I was 6). Situational awareness and preventitive action are my bywords. I am a big fan of making noise when threatened or worried that a situation may develop. I keep a bell on the bike since it is an unthreatening but unusual sound for motorists. I also yell and honk in more dire cirmstances.

I have been run off the road a number of times, to be honest it is hard to remember that number as in most cases it was frightening but I was unharmed. Cycling is pretty safe in the end, especially if you pay attention and keep your awareness up.

My heart goes out to your co-worker and friend.

What I've learned through my 5 experiences is that it's pretty rare that something like a full on t-bone or head-on is going to happen. As a rider, you're likely to have more situational awareness, and will avoid things like that. It's pretty obvious when a vehicle is coming straight at you or when your path will intersect directly with cross traffic.
I've been right hooked a couple times, and both I was lucky enough that the person doing it was far enough ahead that I went over their hood rather than under the wheel. (Pass, then quick right w/o signalling... nice!)
I've been hooked standing at a light in a LTO lane by a guy making a right-on-red (from my left, cross traffic side) and trying to fit somewhere he shouldn't, so as he whipped through and swung wide over the lane line he clipped my panner and spun me down.
Finally, I've had a couple times where I was making a left-on-arrow and some jerkass made a right-on-red smack into my right of way; either clipped my front wheel and sent me tumbling or one time I went sideways skidding into his door.

Of course, there have been the standard "nudging" incidents trying to edge me off the road or into parked cars, but I don't really count those since there was either no contact, or no tumble. Chalk it up as a "s*** happens" moment and keep going, I get about one of those a quarter just because I ride in a bunch of traffic. Heck, a bus squeezed me from the right just last week because he didn't have the foresight to pick the lane without traffic cones in it 50yds from the stoplight, then got mad that I was dead-even with him when his lane started to disappear and I wouldn't give way. Pffft. Whatever... punched the numberplate as he squeezed me over, zipped into another lane and went along my way.

Keep aware to the best you can for what's happening around you.
Never ride where you don't have an "out"; like lane splitting or curb filtering when there's no bike lane and you can't hop up onto the sidewalk.
Never punch vehicles worth less than your bike. (The chick in the Mercedes sports sedan is less likely to mess up her paint job running you over than the kid in the Civic hatchback with 4 different color body panels, mismatched rims, and duct tape holding the bumper up.) :lol:

Sorry to hear about your coworker Colleen. I hope he heals up and everything turns out well.

As for you Colleen, there really is no right or wrong way of dealing with it. If you feel like taking some days off from riding then do it. If you feel like more visibility is the answer then go for it. If taking a safety class will help, there is nothing wrong with that. It may take some time, but eventually the trepidation and worry is no longer as strong. Unfortunately the truth of the matter is you can't control the actions of others, only your reaction to them.

Personally, I don't feel that vulnerable on a bike. I've been bike commuting for a long time and have a pretty good sense of what's risky versus what's okay. It's not perfect awareness, of course, but it feels safe to me because I've learned how to ride in traffic over the years. If I were a new bike commuter, not only would commuting seem more dangerous to me, it WOULD BE more dangerous because I would be less skilled at it.

It's like driving in that regard. If you've never driven in a city like New York or Paris, it would feel (and be) dangerous to drive there. But if you drive in a busy city all the time, it doesn't feel dangerous at all. That's not because you become complacent, it's because you become proficient. I'm a proficient cyclist. Sure, I can still get hurt, but in all honesty, I don't think my bike riding puts me significantly more at risk.

I've been riding city streets and rural roads since the early 70s. Never been hit when it wasn't my fault - an that was only once before I was smart enough to know not to pass on the right.

I am never worried or afraid when I ride my bike. Similarly, I am never fearful when I drive or fly in an airplane.

Why? because it's nothing to be afraid of.

Bike as if you're the only one responsible for your own safety. Be smart, be vigilant, think ahead. It's not rocket science.