First off, glad no incident and you are okay.

Now for the substance. That wouldn't have happened to me.. I could have been on the same street, with that same truck at that intersection, doing 25 mph, and the truck would not have pulled out in front of me. Why??? Because I got strong front blinky on doing the daytime, and strong front lights at night. If you had a strong blinky on the front, 98 out of 100, the truck would have stopped.

Now you talking. It works. The respect I get with strong light up front is nothing short of amazing. Whereas, with the OP, the truck cut him off. With my strong lights, even when a car in the truck's spot got time to pull in front of me without me getting close, they still wait because of the lights. Nobody has told me this, so on all my commutes, I am packing up front..

Not sure your definition of strong, but my blinking headlamp is a CREE XML LED, according to the data sheet it flashing on at about 550 lumens. Or this was the 2/100 you referenced. Oh, and yes this was during the day time.

That is a strong light. It looks like this would fall under that 2/100. Because from what have experienced the strong light up front during the daytime, gives more more respect than driving my car..

IMO, you made all the right moves, and I can say that was bad luck, but you overcame it.. Great stuff...:beer:

This clip illustrates a subtle move I make five times a day at least to help prevent such a move by crossing traffic. When a vehicle arrives at a stop sign to my right I automatically want to move as far left as possible (after checking my helmet mounted rear-view mirror) for a number of reasons:


1. I get unhidden from behind parked cars at the curb to my right as soon as possible. (00:06)


2. The van at the stop sign sees me sooner.


3. The van at the stop sign can better judge my speed from this angle, as opposed to cycling directly at him if I stayed right next to the parked cars.


4. By moving to the left curb the van operator at the stop sign has less of a chance of thinking "I can make it" in front of me because he now has much farther to travel to get past me.


5. If the van decides to ignore my presence altogether and proceed I have a better angle to turn onto the street he came out of as an evasive maneuver. This move by me would be nearly impossible if I were closer to the right curb AND the van would not have to move very far to nail me. So I have a few more seconds to react if I stay far left.


This van actually turns to follow me (00:10), which is why I do not move left when two blocks later a car approaches from the right (00:25). The van is just behind me very visible to the car. Finally, when I get a chance to let the van go by I move right and wave him past (00:45) - you can see my left hand leave the handlebars as I motion him to go past me.


(00:54) We all live happily ever after!



http://vimeo.com/56132202

Nice lesson here, thanks for posting this video and the explanation. I am really looking forward to getting the mirror I ordered this morning. Commuting to work is done for the year, but I will still be riding to run errands and for fun. I have been riding without a mirror for way to long.

BTW, how fast are you traveling in the video?

I had a truck driver cause an accident years ago. Then he said to me "Do you know how hard it is to drive one of these things in the city". Wait for it..........he was driving something like a 5 tonne flat bed, no articulation. I have driven larger trucks in the city and was astonished to think this guy thought he was a legend and everyone should give him special privileges in his measly 5 tonne flat bed.

When his Mum told him he was "special" I think he misunderstood what she meant.

18-22 MPH in general without killing myself.

Give the new mirror a fair chance. Some folks seem to take a while to really get used to them.

I have used them off and on in the past. Never replaced the last one that broke. I bought the take a look one that mounts on glasses, not tried one of those before. I hope since it is off my bike it will last longer.

It seems the video was speeded up!! ;) Doubt if I could matched that speed on my motorcycle! ;)

Video speed was not changed. The wide angle lens is to blame for any speed illusions.

Except it's narrow, usually one way streets, your experience sounds more like downtown Nashville. I enjoy riding downtown.

Every unpleasant experience I've had (save for one cab driver) has been on a suburban stretch that I'm on literally about 1 minute but unfortunately can not avoid. I turn on to the street in order to cross a bridge, then turn into a neighborhood as a cut through. It's two-lane, no bike lane or shoulder, in fact the fog line crumbles into the ditch in spots [see pic below]. The speed limit is 45mph, most are wanting to go faster. When I first started commuting, I was hugging the fog line and had my mirror brushed twice. After that I started moving out into the lane. That improved things dramatically on this stretch, now I may get honked at or yelled at, but that's OK.

The strange thing for me is, I turn onto this road from a really wide street, wide enough for safe semi-truck/bike lane sharing, that has both a bike lane plus a parking lane. The speed limit on THAT road is only 35mph. It's as if the suburban planners have the speed limits confused/backwards.
The good news is, the bad stretch is on a high priority planning for a bike lane. The question is only when.

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=289580

My bad then!! :beer: I was looking at that, and I said, wow! They got to be flying!! :D

With my bad old eyesight, it appears to be about 35+mph.. :D

Anyway, nice vid, and you be kickin it too.. :beer:

Really? That's good to know. But do you think they really don't see you if you don't have the blinky during daytime, or is that the strong blinky just give an emphasized announcement: there is a bike here! Don't hit me!

p.s. Some of those drivers running stop signs are probably on the run after just committing a crime.

I truly believe that less motorists pull out on me when running my bright white strobe up front during daylight hours. I can't be sure about the science of why this happens. Does the flashing catch their eye better? Does the signal from eye to brain get translated better? Does the eye see blinking and the brain see a potential cop or ambulance and react by freezing motorist actions?

If you flip the question, I think you will find the answer easier: "If I always run my bright flashing light up front, will fewer motorists notice me if I remove it? I give this question a resounding YES...fewer motorists will notice me without the light. It only takes one motorist to ruin your day, or your life. THAT is the one you want to notice you. Run the flasher.

I've always thought that they see you whether you have a light or not, but in my experience they pull out a lot less if you are using a flashing light on the front.

pretty sure I saw this article posted in this forum, but either way it is a good read. It certainly supports that a blinky light will help you be seen day or night. In general I do get more respect now that I am wearing high viz and running a light always. It just did not help me in this one case, which WILL happen again I am sure.

http://www.londoncyclist.co.uk/raf-p...each-cyclists/

I use a double LED on strobe when riding. Day or night. It is mounted on the helmet. I have tried both helmet and handlebar mount but the helmet mounted follows the way you look. I look the drivers in the eye if possible. Hard to miss the strobe. The rear has strobing yellow LEDs. My road bike uses a red triple LED on strobe. Use the left 1/4 of the lane, wear high vis clothes, and watch out for the dain bramaged cell phoners and all other cagers. It only takes one to knock you all over. Which is more deadly the 5000 pound cager or a bullet? I do armed transportation of felons at work and am on high alert at all times on the job. But I am in more danger each day commuting with cagers.

:eek: Salute!

This is a great thread that may save my or someone else's life some day.