Yes, that is right. I rode my bike 2000 miles this season and not one single mishap or close call, seriously! Actually, I have not had a bicycle safety problem in 31 years to be exact (I cracked my skull in 74').

It pays to be safe,

ehenz

Having said that you're likely to be hit by a bus tomorrow. Hopefully not (knocks on wood)

I thought of that as I hit "submit", I'll keep my fingers crossed on my ride home tonight.

congrats!! i havent had any accidents yet (knocks on wood) but i've had many close calls. you must live in a pretty bicycle friendly neighborhood

I used to have close calls too. For 30 years. Then I read Effective Cycling by John Forester and learned to ride in the vehicular manner. Not only do I not have close calls any more, but all the moron drivers have vanished.

I, for one, am convinced that the rate of having close calls has little or nothing to do with the motorists' behavior, and everything to do with the cyclist's behavior.

To a vehicular cyclist every lane is a bike lane and every city is bicycle friendly.

"The more experience a cyclist has, the fewer wrecks s/he has per mile or hour of riding. A decade of experience will reduce a cyclist's accident rate by 80%."

-Robert Hurst, the Art of Urban Cycling

I was involved in a minor dooring last year - I didn't go down - but before that my last contact with a motor vehicle was close to 30 years ago.

I said the same thing two months in this forum, that I haven't had an accident in five years of riding in South Carolina with 1,000s of miles of rural riding. Then about 3 weeks after posting that, guess what?

I am going about 20mph when a dog comes out of nowhere and wham, I'm flying over the handlebars on the road. Made me very thankful that I wear a helmet (got cracked, replaced) and gloves (prevented my palms from being scrapped off). Other than about 8 strawberrries, I was okay.


Cheers,
BLake

Near the end of last year, I had a flurry of cars aiming at me. Then, 10 months of no problems. Now, starting yesterday, again with the cars aiming at me. I'm beginning to notice a trend -- something to do with the months of November/December maybe????

I ride in enough traffic that I can usually predict the problems, but I'm getting weary of continually having to avoid those idiots, er, I mean errant drivers. If possible, I'll chase the culprit down and merely point out that the driver should "look out!" I usually just get a shrug and the lame, "sorry, I didn't..." blah, whatever. What's that phrase I see in this forum occasionally... it describes my state... oh yeah, "I'm tired."

But, I've had no major problems this year; I've got some stories though, for any interested (and bored) souls Yesterday was a doozy!

Skill, confidence, prominence and awareness = riding without incident.

The thread reinforces what I tried to state on the other one: This forum is a real downer

Byut of course, good news stories like this don't get the attention they deserve.

Good job, Ehenz!



No reason you can't keep up the good work. Just don't get cocky!

I ride in a vehicular manner too. Although I can't watch over my shoulder all the time a car passes. I have a mirror and do look over. I have had two close calls in the same area. Two lanes. I am in the right hand lane in the middle. There isn't a shoulder and I figure I can take the middle since I am not holding up anyone. I saw this guy just pass right in front of me and speed off. There was no chance of getting his license #. We are still at the mercy of the vehicles to a certain extent. Thankfully I wear a very bright jacket with the standard blinky lights on back & on my helmet. This was in broad daylight so it kinda makes me more nervous. I will continue to take the lane when necessary. I celebrated one whole year in October of commuting. So I hope to someday be able to say the same thing.

Congrats!

never had a major accident
but did hit a car once ( totallly my fault )
was riding at the backend then swerving to see how close I could come to it lol
well got too close once // gave it up after that lol

WOW! 31 years - Care to share some of your secrets?

I've been riding regularly in Southern California for 17 years and have never had problems with cars other than the occasional honk and/or shouted curse. This year alone I have logged over 3800 miles, which is a combination of weekday commuting and weekend group rides.

Tom

that explains some things

Only have about 3000 miles total on both bikes combined. So far - no accidents ot serious incidents. I ride quite conservatively though.

After reading a few of your posts, I just printed out the amazon.com web page for "Effective Cycling".

When my kids get home I'm telling them It's what I want for Christmas.

Serge, I mean this in absolutely the most humorous and endearing way: you're CRACKING ME UP!!! I happen to have read about a million of your posts recently, then I read this one tonight and almost lost it. I see your name and and then I know I'll soon be reading about Effective Cycling and the vehicular manner. You're like a walking infomercial for Forrester. I love it.

Just giving you a hard time. Your message is a good one. I may actually buy the book; who can turn down a 600-pager about cycling?