On my commute home today I was run of the road by a car turning into my lane. So as not to sensationalize I will mention that I managed to recover without falling. Anyway, clear, dry, great conditions. I'm going about 30 kph and approaching a t-intersection in the thru lane farthest from the entering lane. (See the attached picture). A car comes to a stop at the intersection, signaling to enter across the intersection and into my lane. I'm sure they've seen me since I'm the only vehicle around and I have a blinker up front that gets me high-beamed regularly. I check my mirror and look back up, I'm now 10-15 feet from the intersection and the car quickly enters the intersection, I apply my horn, brakes, and start moving to the right immediately. The driver ignores my horn and within a second is in my lane less than 5 feet in front of me, so I'm forced to swerve off the road into the gravel shoulder. I almost lost it on the gravel, but I managed to clip out and come to a stop before I slid into the ditch. Despite my horn the driver sped away.



This all happened in farm country where the speed limit is 60 kph but everyone drives close to 100 kph so there wasn't any hope of catching the driver. I continued and just as the car was about to go out of sight it turned left into a driveway. I got to the driveway just as the driver was getting out and called: "hey, you just ran me off the road!" Basically from there it was me telling her she ran me off the road and her telling me she didn't she me and she was sorry. She told me she heard my horn and thought it was a truck, but didn't see anything so she kept going. She said that only after did she see me in her rear view mirror and wondered if it was me who honked. After that I told her that running someone off the road and not stopping is a basically a hit and run, and that I almost went in the ditch. She told me she knew that since she was a lawyer and was really sorry.

Anyway, I was really nice to her and didn't tell her off or anything. She seemed sorry and more shocked than I was. Pretty much left it at that since no damage done. Good lesson for me though. It's my first real near-miss after a year and a bit of riding so I was starting to get a little complacent I think.

Broadzilla.

On my way home there is a stretch of road for pedestrians and cyclists only. People ofte drive there and since it is quite narrow, I was run off road twice already by a car and a lorry coming towards me. Both times they were overtaking cyclists comming my way and just moved to their left (into my "lane") and gassed it. Had to move off road or would have been hit.

Intersections I don't consider running off road, since people in cars don't look for cyclists and really don't see us. I know it's stupid, but can't get angry at them. They often apologize AFTER they finally see me.

Honest question: What type and brand of horn do you have?

I was a motorcycle rider prior to getting into bicycling, an upright vertical figure is sometimes almost invisible to people. I was invisible to a LOT of drivers on a wide fat Honda Goldwing, I am damn near invisible on a tall skinny bicycle. People are just looking for something wide and lower in their minds eye and complete tune out the upright figure of a cycler. Using the lights and horn is about all you could do. Congrats on the recovery, it could of gotten nasty real quickly.

happened to me yesterday too, with a school bus.

Glad you are OK and did not go down. I think the fact that you had a blinker and a horn scare me the most. I've kind of assumed they were enough. I guess some people just really don't see. My "horn" is a whistle and even with a bright blinker up front, I've had to use it more than once. So far, it has worked. I think your experience will remind me not to get complacent.

You must ride as though invisible. My father almost ran down a cyclist once when he was making a left turn on a green yield. The cyclist was simply in front of the 'A' pillar right in his blind spot. If I hadn't have been sitting in the passenger seat and yelled out I think he might have hit the poor guy.

+1

incident just like the one in the OP was when I realized that this is true. I was the only object over 3' tall for 1/2 mile, and a driver pulled across 5 lanes and almost hit me. I swear I had eye contact and could see her tracking me, and she easily could have pulled into the left lane, but she went right for the gutter. Ever since then I haven't trusted eye contact at all

Airzound air horn. She told me she thought it was a truck horn, works for me.

Yes, drivers often don't recognize cycles (or motorcycles) as a danger, so we sometimes don't even register in their minds. She probably didn't "see" the OP at all. Not an uncommon occurrence. +1 on riding as though invisible.

Not all of these apply to bicycles, but a lot of the ideas do:
https://motorcycles.about.com/od/howt...Be_Visible.htm

Never assume a driver sees you, even if you think they made eye contact, because you are invisible. A driver waving at you is probably just talking on the phone and waving their hands around. A truck air horn without the truck is just that: a random truck horn, dismissed as a hallucination by the driver.

At least it didn't end up like this:


Seriously though, it's always a good idea to ride as if you are invisible, as has been mentioned a bunch above me but I am just reiterating it.

Your situation is exactly why I ride with a camera now. It helps to document a situation so at least I can learn from it and perhaps help others learn as well. Your incident would be a good reminder for rural road riders to help point out that regardless how much traffic is on the road it is still possible you won't be seen.

OP, she misjudged your speed. glad she apologized.

ckaspar - wow

A high-vis vest makes a big difference in my experience. Once when riding in the dark with "only" lights and reflectors (~6 AM commute) I was nearly sideswiped by a car making a right turn into my lane. The driver was less than an arm's length away from me when I yelled out and only then did she stop. She had no idea I was even there. Ever since then I always use the vest in the dark, but I probably should even in the daytime.

She said she never saw him. That means she looked right through him as if he did not exist to her.

what camera do you use?

GoPro Hero 2

https://cyclingsavvy.org/hows-my-driving/

At least she was apologetic. I've started wearing a hi-viz vest whenever I ride. I have noticed cars giving me more room and people waiting to turn in front of me. It really helps, especially when riding under trees where a cyclist could easily be lost in the shade.

To the OP: where in the lane were you riding? This seems like a case where "taking the lane" would have increased your visibility.

I'm glad that you avoided a collision and injury. Is the bike alright:> I think complacency says it all. Never assume that petroholics, peds or other cyclists see you even if your rig is lit up like a Xmas tree. We have to go a step beyond defensive driving to paranoid cycling. Ride like they are out to get you! But don't be extreme or stupid about it and make things worse. I have wide enough tires that on occasion I have gone off the road or stopped briefly to be a little safer.

I was about one foot from the edge of my lane. It's a rural paved road that is quite narrow for the speeds people are going. The limit is 60 kph but people routinely go 100 or more. I try to keep along the edge of the lane at all times for the drivers going 100 and texting at the same time. I feel the risk is to great that Someone could come over a slight hill etc and just ram right into me without having time to react if I took the lane in this area.

I totally understand that fear. It's what keeps me in the gutter on one section of my route to work. However, I think that after checking mirrors, moving out into the lane would have helped in this case. Just something to think about for next time.