Nicholas L

Litespud

You don't - there's really nothing you can do the prevent such admittedly rare occurrences. You can't control for random bad luck, the same bad luck that might place you on a bridge in Genoa right as it collapses. **** happens. Your options are to be as visible as you can, in the hope that the drunk or inattentive driver might notice you, or to stay off the roads. You could also just be driving along and get nailed by an F150 running a red light. I love road cycling, and I go out on the assumption that I'll come back, but I kiss my wife every time, and I'm well insured.

Bang0Bang00

This guy's got a good approach:
https://youtu.be/tBLPb0LzQnA

cameras, Helmets, lights, neon, head on a swivel, bike paths, bike lanes, alternate routes, life and health insurance, hugs and kisses to the max!

One doesn't have to Google far to see the stats men cycling during the day create. And yet risk and thrill are part of the drill.

Colnago Mixte

". . . alternate routes . . .":

I'm big on this one. Certain times of the day, I can't leave my the end of my driveway due to the ridiculous amount school traffic generated by parents whose kids are apparently too good to ride the free local school buses that the school operates.

I set up a couple of bikes with tires wide enough that they can can be ridden on dirt as well as pavement. I found some dirt roads and railroad tracks that allow me to bypass the busy school traffic. Is it legal? I don't know but I much rather risk being cited for trespassing than be hauled away in an ambulance in great pain and at great expense. It's not ideal, but it's a risk I'm willing to take.

dabac

Every now and then there's a specially heart-wrenching story of someone being killed by a drunk driver. And it's usually followed by an interest group saying "we should make alco-locks/breathalyzers mandatory on ALL new cars".

But for me, I'd much prefer an "aggro-lock", if one was possible.
For me, the ratio between encountering a scary situation most likely caused by drugs, or one most likely caused by an angry driver trying to "educate" or intimidate me, is probably 1:50 -1:100.

cynergy

i've been bicycle commuting lately and i worry about this issue as well... unfortunately, there's not much you can do to reduce this risk - however, one thing that i do is shift my commute time. Fortunately, my job lets me have somewhat flexible hours. I try to ride into work really early before the rush hour commute. I also try to ride home a little earlier to try and avoid the afternoon rush.

Although you would think that there would be less impaired drivers earlier in the day, in the news recently there was a DUI accident in the early morning (about the time I commute to work) so shifting your commute/ride time might not help much.

As others pointed out, i try and be very visible on the bike (high viz clothing, reflective tape on bike frame, bright blinkies on front and rear of bicycle) and when it's convenient i try to take bike friendly routes (local roads with slower traffic, bike paths, etc.).

Good luck and ride safely!

bobwysiwyg

Bad as drunk driving is, I worry more about distracted, or semi-distracted cell phone users. See several every ride.

Maelochs

Lots of good answers.

A large part of safety on a bike is not being scared. As @Litespud says, you can get hit from any direction by anything .... people slip, fall, and die in the bathroom with ridiculous frequency. or, you heart or a vein in your brain could give out---no warning. You could choke on breakfast.

In fact, it is a lot more dangerous to drive than to ride a bike, IMO.

Also, as @cynergy and @dabac note---we see the stuff on the news and it seems terrible because we picture it happening to us. But fewer than 1,000 people die on bikes each year, and most of Them are drunk, and a lot of them riding at night with no lights ... When you actually talk to people with a lot of commuting time, most of them can say that the times they have actually been hit---not scared, or buzzed by, or almost hit by---a car are pretty few and sometimes at least partly the rider's fault. (Head on a swivel, constant attention.)

Most bike commuters just ride to work and back each day ... like most drivers.
@Colnago Mixte and @cynergy raise an important issue: time and route. Rush hour is never a great time to be on the road unless you literally drive a tank or an armored car. But most rush-hour collisions are low-speed ignorance---people trying to force their way into traffic, spacing out and hitting the guy in front at a stoplight, trying to beat a light. Extra care mitigates a lot of that. Finding the best, not the shortest or quickest route, helps too. I figure the time on the bike is the best part of the day, so if I have to ride an extra few miles ... it is more like I Get to ride more.

Also ... drunks are mostly a late-night, weekend problem.

I had a job which every so often let out in the deadly period, between about 1-3:30 a.m. .... in a state where bars gave last call before or at 2 a.m., I Knew there were a lot of drunks on the road in that time period. As a rule it was okay, but in the mile or two around a bar, I worried. The only real answer was to sit in the parking lot after work (there was always a post-work party in the parking lot anyway) and wait it out. i could have taken a much longer route, but generally that was the end of a long work week and I took my chances and trusted my abilities.

Whatever worked, it did, because I am still alive and riding.

I won't say nothing bad can happen ... but I have had bone-breaking crashes because I was having a bad day and lost concentration, with no cars around. I have gone too fast on a wet road and crashed ... and almost crashed a few times that way. Back before i got smart, I got into a few collisions because I was willing to joust with cars. Nowadays I will take a lane, impose myself onto the other drivers ... but I make sure Everybody with half an eye can see me. I don't dive and dart and try to steal a space, because you only have to lose once to lose big ... I learned.

Take all reasonable precautions, and other than that, forget it. The stuff you cannot control is out of your control. Keep in mind ... a few cyclists do get hurt through absolutely no fault of their own---and they have my sympathy. But almost all sensible cycling commuters simply ride each day without the slightest problem. "Fear is the mind-killer," some fictional character once said.

BobbyG

Good Visibility
Good Situational Awareness
Good Attitude

Good lights/reflectors.

A good mirror (like a glasses or helmet mounted Take-a-look mirror) increases your situational awareness.

An airhorn like the the Delta Airzound which you pump up with a pump (better with a floor pump) lets you be heard.

Don't trust anybody. Be defensive. Always leave yourself an out. Don't assert your right to the road. Discretion is the better part of valor. Anticipate bad behavior and judgement by others in traffic.

I used to say "Ride like they can't see you." But a motorcycle friend of mine said, "Ride like they CAN see you and they want to kill you." That's what I do now.

An action cam isn't just for gathering evidence. Record and evaluate your behavior, strategy and tactics in traffic.

Remember it's not "you vs. traffic"; you ARE traffic. Ride where cars expect other vehicles. Ride where cars can see you. Ride predictably.

Find less-trafficked alternate routes. The extra five, ten, or twenty minutes a quieter route takes decrease your odds of an accident, and are more pleasant and enjoyable to ride.

You say you've had some close calls with motorists in your first year of cycling. I've been a serious bike commuter for 26 years and my rate of close calls has gone way, way down by following the strategies I have posted above.

Good luck, ride safe, and have fun!

Maelochs

^ Everything he said.

mcours2006

I was struck from behind by a driver under the influence of alcohol on a Monday morning at 6:30 AM. Yeah, you read that right. Apparently still intoxicated and sleep deprived from the previous evenings cocktails. I had hi-viz clothing, solid red lights, flashing red lights, and that didn't do a thing to prevent me from being hit. There are things you can do to reduce the odds of being struck by drivers, drunk or otherwise, but you can never reduce that to zero.

I am still commuting via bicycle, but I choose my routes much more judiciously--more MUPs and trails, more bike lanes when possible, more residential roads where the speed limit is 40 kph, or the most 50, and even sidewalks if I deem it necessary. I also have front and rear facing cameras. Though it won't keep me from being hit it will show what happened after the fact. Hopefully, though, it won't ever be necessary to review the video for such a purpose.

I think you are much more likely to be struck by a distracted driver than one under the influence...however, with marijuana becoming legal as of this fall in Canada, I suspect that it may become a much bigger factor.

jefnvk

Not much you can do, besides not worry about what, all things considered, is a rather unlikely event to happen.

Drunk drivers also kill plenty of people in other cars. A bike is simply no match.

And, FWIW, the last company I worked for had a push button start system that could sense alcohol through transdermal IR sensing. IMO, it should become a legal requirement for new cars, at least until self driving vehicles becone ubitquious.

livedarklions

I don't bike commute, but I often start an evening ride between 5:15 and 5:30. When I ride during rush hour, I make it a rule to always stick to routes I know very well before 5:50 or so. That way I know the danger spots and have a strategy for dealing with them, so it's less I have to think about that might distract me from reacting quickly to the unexpected crazy driver.

As to utterly unpredictable drunk drivers, this is an irreducible risk we all run whenever we're anywhere cars can go. Maelochs is right that drivers face at least as much risk from that, especially at high speed, but keep in mind that pedestrians also face such risks, and drivers also have to walk from their cars--there's no reason you're immune from being hit by a drunk driver in a parking ramp, for example.

Cars give us a subjective feel of relative safety, but statistically, I think it's an illusion.

Nicholas L

Koyote

I was once hit hard by a distracted driver...While in my car. Nothing we could have done about it, and we were lucky to survive.

On the bike, I try to take less-travelled routes, ride defensively, always wear a helmet, and (even in broad daylight) my commuter bike is equipped with lots of bright flashing lights.

Milton Keynes

^This. Nothing has contributed to the rapid increase of distracted driving like cell phones, especially smart phones. For every responsible driver out there, there are two or three who think it's totally OK to text while driving (or check Facebook) because they've never had a wreck yet.

Troul 

I'm not one for casino gambling, but I'd wager this is more likely to cash in my chips then anything else in general, & not just while bicycling...

TrojanHorse

I was going to say something similar; the odds of encountering a drunk driver skyrocket after midnight but the really dedicated drunks are drunk for much more of the day. A cyclist out here was struck and killed by an 18 year old girl (drunk AND high of course) at 7:30 am one unfortunate Sunday a few years ago.

I was doing a little digging and for YEARS the injury rate per mile traveled has been going down... until 2009. Coincidence?

https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api...ication/812318

wipekitty

+1

Most things, such as the actions of other people, are out of our control...so just enjoy the ride.

A road cycling buddy recently pointed out that the MTB folks who are afraid of the roads still take the risk of driving their bikes to the trails.

Maelochs

The Steelers won the Super Bowl that year ... so i assume you are blaming them?

TheLibrarian

Not sure what you expect to do about getting hit by drunk drivers vs anything else. Just in general I pick my routes carefully. Best you could do is not ride late at night on the weekends in particular, labor day, 4th of July, New Years Eve, and Memorial day are times to avoid if it's a concern for you. Not all trails are mountain biking there are mups, hard packed dirt, carraige roads and circular tracks. Playing in traffic assumes a pretty fair level of risk as it is. Oh and lets not forget right after the superbowl.

GeneO 

^This.

Maelochs

it's all karma. Be the best you can to everyone, and at least improve your chances.

justtrying

dedhed

The only one I personally know who died in a bicycle accident was mountain biking. Just say'n