Anyone had a Toyota Prius sneak up on you yet? I never realized how much I rely on my hearing to know when traffic's coming, until I encountered the Prius. Just riding along, taking a quick look back every once in awhile to see if anyone's coming, not actually expecting to see anything cause I don't HEAR anything, and HOLY CRAP there's a Prius right there, quietly lurking behind me! You know they beep when they back up...maybe they should make a nice noise for bikers, too. Pretty sure one day I will be killed by one, especially here on the West Coast where they're so popular.

Not ragging on the Prius. I've driven them before, and they're pretty cool. Plus helping with global climate change issues, etc. I DO NOT hate the Prius!

I fear it...

I'm deaf in one ear and can't use a hearing aid in the "Good" ear, due to wind noise. Tire noise is in my frequency range, though, and never fails. Wait till your hearing falls off by about 60% and you will learn to listen for tires, instead of engines.

Yet another good reason to use a mirror (e.g., the Take-a-Look, available at REI). With a mirror, you're hardly ever "surprised" by traffic.

I just about bought it when a civic hybrid coasted up on me from behind. I was about to move into position to turn left and all of a sudden there it was. Scared the crap out of me.

At which point paranoia dictates that you're looking in the mirror more than you are looking forward.

Oh, puh-leeze...when driving your car do you spend more time looking in the mirror than looking forward?

A mirror is simply a device for enhancing "situational awareness". With it, you can easily monitor the situation behind you without having to turn around or depend on your hearing. They work just as well, if not better, on the bike as in your car.

FWIW, I've never run off the road, or into a parked car, or anything else, when taking my 0.5 second glances back in the mirror. I do, however, ride more assertively because I can monitor overtaking traffic much easier with it than without.

Plus you can pretty much always monitor stuff behind you with a mirror out of your peripheral vision. Something moves in the mirror and your brain will pick it up even though you're paying attention to the road ahead...

One of the things we get used to on our country roads are Cars suddenly appearing behind you. Unless it is a big engine-as you have in the US, or being driven by an idiot- which most of us have- Then we do not hear cars behind us. Modern cars in general are too quiet. Only one thing for it and that is a mirror- which I do not use since it got knocked off by a car coming too close about 5 years ago.

Stepfam, I would say that was a fairly close encounter.

This should probably be cross-referenced with all of the "What's on your i-pod" threads