Slight Fear of the Road
 

Hey All
Ive wanted to get into road cycling for a while now, and have been browsing this forum for the past few weeks. However I have one concern, that being cycling on major roads. There are so many poor drivers out there, many who fail to give ample space to cyclists, and I have a fear of getting hit or clipped by a car. The number of fatalities probably isnt that high, but you never know.
Anyhow I really want to get involved in this sport, should I just avoid major roads, and thus cycyling more on side roads and residental areas and along the various bike paths in my area?

Any insight would be appreciated.

Thanks!

trying biking on one way streets first then you can move on the 3-4 lane streets.
ive been biking since i was little and im still afraid of biking on the 3-4 lane streets. i only go there if necessary

I think that would be a good idea to start and so you get more comfortable with the cars goin by
as a teen I used to ride on major roads around Cinci, Oh. and Northern, Ky.
but have started my kids on backroads till they get more use to cars goin by

I dont know where you are frrom, but when I lived in NM I was not afraid of any roads (even in Albuquerque). But since I moved to Floriduhhh I found the drivers here to be a mixing pot of drivers from all over the United States, so they all bring their own habits with them. The law must say somewhere that once you reach the age of 60 you must move to Floriduhhh.
So needless to say i wont and dont ride on the roads here unless its an organized ride. I do have a few favorite trails that are paved and pretty good that I ride on dail if I can. If the roads scare you I suggest you find a bike path, bike trail or park where you can ride until you feel more comfortable..
Good luck

G'day,

fear of car drivers is a perfectly natural thing & probably a very sound survival instinct. Even experienced cyclists should think twice about really busy roads, where the difference in speed between the bike & the car is accentuated. Try some less crowded routes for awhile until you get your confidence up....but always retain your fear of cars....it's healthy & will probably keep you alive....


regards,

Hitchy

Contact the League of American Bicyclists and ask what bike groups or organization sponser Bike Ed classes in your area.
I'm a certified cycling instructor and teach people with the same concerns as you how to safely ride on the roads and handle traffic situations. Some of my former students have even "graduated" to bike commuting to work.

If you would like more information, send me a PM (click on my user name and select "Private Message") and perhaps I can get you some names, email addresses, and phone numbers.

Yes, join a club, you have so much to benefit from the experience of more seasoned riders; many can be very helpfull. Years ago I found use the of a mirror made a huge difference for myself, knowing what is behind is a good feeling. They are not for everyone but sounds like an issue for you. Welcome to the road! ride, ride, ride!

Dude,,,,,,,,,,,,, you want to get more comfortable on major roads? Do what I did,,, practice on the freeway.. Its a total rush, watch out for the cops, its against the law...anyhow, always use hand signals and get good at high speed lane changes and merging at the off ramps. Trust me dude, after that youll be fine, standard roads will be cake.....

One of my biggest concerns when I bought my road bike was great, I have the bike, now I need some paved roads to ride it on. Doesn't matter there are zillions of miles of paved road; it matter which are relatively low risk. First thing to do is research (internet, bike stores, etc.) where others ride, especially group rides. This tells you several things:

1) Places where other riders have already found good to ride. Avoid re-inventing the wheel.
2) Where many others ride, car traffic is more likely to expect and be on the lookout for bikes.
3) Safety in numbers. A 20 mph flowing peloton is much easier to spot than a lone rider.

Also:

4) look for SHOULDERS. They allow car traffic to pass you without evasive maneuvers. Where there are no shoulders, car drivers freak out easily and tend to oversteer to avoid bikes. This can cause them to change lanes unexpectedly, maybe hit another car.

5) i like to ride a popular area FM99 area outside Houston. Lots of country type rodes. Some w/shoulders, some without. I dont understand the bikers who ride the shoulderless roads; there are enough with shoulders. I am not a member of Critical Mass, because I don't believe the way to generate positive awareness and acceptance for cycling is to block major roads and piss off rush-hour drivers.

Somehow, this fallacy keeps perpetuating itself.

Laws on riding freeways vary from state to state and place to place.

In Colorado, there are many places where riding on the freeways is perfectly legal, particularly when the freeway is the only possible route from one place to another, as is the case for many of our isolated towns.

A freeway with a good shoulder is probably one of the safer places to ride, IMHO.

It is quite common to see freeway riders from Pueblo to Walsenburg on I-25, for example, or on parts of I-70 before Loveland Pass.

And you don't have to watch out for the cops. They know you are supposed to be there.

I have found that early morning rides are best wherever we go. Less traffic at 5:30-6:30am especially on weekends. Sorta like getting to ice rink @ 11:30pm and finishing @ 2:30am

Thanks for the welcome, and for the many tips and suggestions that have been offered

I live in a suburb of chicago, which is more unfriendly to bikes than the city itself. not a week goes by where im almost involved in a traffic accident, i am a fairly cautious rider. i mainly get people driving alongside me who then pas me by 15 20 yards then go to make a right turn underestimating my speed , so i always come to a screeching halt, they then see me and instead of proceeding they stop out of panic. so i stick to trails, and only ride large roads when necessary

It sounds to me that what concerns you is being struck from the rear by a car overtaking you. According to Forester's analysis and everyone else who has studied bicycle accidents, overtaking hits on cyclists are extremely rare. I think the vast majority occur at night and the cyclists are riding without lights. Most accidents occur at intersections or are motorists pulling out from driveways or parking lots.

However, riding on a busy road takes confidence. If you ride too far to the right, you encourage cars to try to "squeeze" by you even when there is oncoming traffic with the result that cars come way too close when they are passing you and that is just plain scary. I recall riding on a particular road near my house in my first year of cycling. It was only a half mile stretch but I was riding pretty far on the right and when someone passed really close I would move over some and then another guy would pass really close. The result was that I ended up run off the road 3 times in that stretch. A year later, I rode the same stretch at the same time of day with about the same level of traffic. But I rode out far enough to force the motorists to cross the midline in order to pass me. Some of them had to slow a bit and wait for traffic to clear but no one passed me particularly closely.

I would suggest that you scout out routes that have lower traffic volumes. Be very, very careful about "bike" paths. They are far more dangerous then people think. The reason for this is people on the paths tend to feel free to follow no rules at all making their behavior virtually impossible to predict.

if it helps the stats show that cycling is not a dangerous activity and that you are more at risk in your car. The health benefits from cycling outweigh the risks by about 20 to 1.

As someone else already said, try riding with a club. The large number of cyclists are very visible, and drivers don't tend to be surprised by a peloton like they can be by a solo rider. You will also benefit greatly by learning the ropes from experienced cyclists.

It is my understanding that those stats are figured on a per hour basis, not on a per mile basis.

Lets compare this to working on electricity....start off with 12V stuff and move your way onto 220 and 440, but never 13Kv.

What I'm really saying is, by expressing a concern for your safety you have an equal amount of respect for the dangers that lie within. Much like the analogy above. Don't give up though if you experience a "near-miss". Learn from the incident(s).

Several points/ideas:

1) choose places and times that seems especially safe (low traffic volume, few crossing streets, few blind curves)--you will probably need a bike rack on your car for this approach
2) practice your bike skills in an empty parking lot to build confidence in your abilities and to see what the bike can do
3) keep in mind that (at least here in NC) over 60% of bike/car accidents were found to have been due to cyclist error, usually b/c of not stopping at a stop sign/light--therefor: **your safety is very much in your control!**

ExMachina's exactly right. Your safety is very much in your control. I thought I read somewhere (probably on these forums) that there is a distinct safety tipping point. If I recall correctly, riders who average at least 900 miles a year are extremely less likely to be injured in a cycling accident.

Of course that doesn't mean you're innoculated once the odometer rolls over to 901st mile, but that experience counts. The more you ride the more confident you'll become, the better you can predict what cars and pedestrians will do, the sooner you can plan any evasive action.

Clevelandguy . . . you'd look real nice with a shaved sheep, three cans of K-Y, and a nice little bonnet. Mmmm, I'm already picturing it. God it's soooooo nice. Makes me all warm in my special places.

i never ride on public roads any more, kust off road or trails. I used to be a road cyclist, but got hit by a car twice. (2 different times)
I now ride a mountain bike.

I agree that you should be afraid of cars, I plan rides keeping in mind the traffic patterns. I also stay off of busy streets that are designed specificly for cars...3 lane roads with timed lights for example are not good for bikes, the drivers want to go at least 30 mph. there are usually other roads right next to these busy roads that are great for bikes. just give it a little thought and you will find many routes to get to where you need to go.

It's pretty amazing - once you start riding a road bike and you're in your car, the roads look very different than they used to. I now find myself saying, "wow - nice wide paved shoulder on this road" - "ouch, that would be a killer hill", etc. It will become fairly obvious as to which roads are going to work better than others.

People here are constantly talking about getting run off the road, etc. (and I have no doubt that happens), but I'm constantly amazed at how respectful most drivers are of cyclists. Most of the time when they honk, they are just letting you know that they're there - not necessarily harassing you.

That said, always wear a helmet!