1. I was on my normal commute on a 2-lane country road this afternoon (speed limit 45-50 mph), riding far right in the shoulder, going uphill round a bend. A huge rock/gravel moving truck came up behind me suddenly and seemed very surprised, and swerved way out into the oncoming traffic lane. If a car had been there, they would have been killed! I have no idea why he did that - I was well off onto the shoulder and he had plenty of room to get by me while staying in the lane.

2. As I was approaching home, I was passing a small residential road that turned off to the right with no light or stop sign. A lady in a small white car wanted to turn right onto the street and seemed shocked to see me on the shoulder, and to avoid me she zoomed passed me and turned right into the exit lane and almost hit a pickup truck! Again, I was over on the shoulder, traffic was moving about 35-40 mph, it was broad daylight and everyone should have been able to see me quite well. We were on a slight uphill with no bend in the road. All she had to do was slow down the slightest bit to turn behind me as I passed the road. I never saw her until she zipped right in front of me.

I'm seriously re-thinking riding on these busy streets. Both of them are just packed full of traffic speeding to get home at that time of day - maybe I'm just being naive to think that they will pay attention while they're driving and not do something stupid? Both drivers nearly hurt someone with their dumb moves, which were completely unnecessary. I appreciate them going out of their way to avoid me, but it wasn't necessary in either case.

I normally ride with a mirror on the end of the left handlebar but I didn't strap it on today. I should have - I probably would have stopped as a courtesy to the lady in the white car to allow her to turn right. But even so - I shouldn't have to stop in the middle of the road to let someone around me just because they are paying zero attention to their own driving.

If I'm doing something wrong, please feel free to critique me. I would rather suffer the slings and arrows of harsh words from fellow commuters than see a motorist get killed or injured just because I'm on the roadway.

Sincerely,
Anxious Andy in Austin

It doesn't sound like you are doing anything wrong to me. People are so distracted on the road these days.

Do you have an alternate route with less traffic (even if a bit farther)???

The alternate route has NO shoulders or bike lanes for about 7 miles, and still has lots of fast moving traffic. So I prefer this one. If everyone drove sanely, this one actually looks like a perfectly good route! The road that the small white car turned in front of me on has nice wide bike lanes for most of the route. The country road where the trucker swerved to "avoid" me is one of the favorite bike-riding roads around town, because you can go such a long distance with such nice wide shoulders. The part that the trucker passed me on has a narrower shoulder, but still he had plenty of room to stay in his lane.

Do you use front/rear blinkies day and night?

Top this one...

One day last July, I was riding far to the right when I notice a VW Jetta coming up from behind kinda close. I looked down and directly to the left, just in time to see some lady texting as she barely missed me. Next thing you know, she hits the curb, bounces off, and quickly corrects her line back into traffic.


She pulled into a driveway about half a mile down the road. She was breathing heavily and nervously shaking. I stopped and asked her if she was alright. She then told me that she had just temporarily lost control of her vehicle and almost ended up on the curb somewhere back there, but that she'll be alright in a minute. I then told her that she almost hit me too, due to all that texting stuff. She then looked embarrassed as she earnestly apologized.


She wasn't even aware of the fact that she had just missed me by inches!

No, riding in the lane does not seem like a good idea. The country road is one lane each direction, and that part of the road has a lot of sharp bends. Traffic is moving 45-50 mph, so someone could drive up behind you so suddenly that they might not be able to brake in time.

Yes, I need to be sure to wear the hi-viz vest, even during the day - good point. Especially on the country road.

Crazy! Nice of you to go make sure she was OK. I wonder if either of the drivers I ran across were texting - I couldn't see them except to tell there was a lady driving the smaller car. I guess you just have to assume they are going to be texting or doing something stupid, and just ride accordingly.

+1 on looking into another route. If people are that surprised to see you it may be a matter of time before you are buzzed with a close call, or worse. I avoid as much heavy traffic as I can especially in the evenings coming home. The mornings are great because there's no one but me out there. In either case, be safe bud.

Were you going up the hill slowly, and wobbling? Or just not a steady line? This can cause drivers to get as far as possible from you as fast as they can.