It’s very pleasant to ride early mornings, but there’s always some maniac driving through red lights and ignoring stop signs, not to mention the people driving around who are still intoxicated from the night before. …at least in the city.
5 Likes
Yes. I usually use the Share Location feature in iOS’s Messages. But I have also used that of my Wahoo head unit. Highly recommended. My wife sometimes tells me that she noticed when that blue dot started or stopped moving.
1 Like
I think most of us have our share of incidents, which range from the merely annoying all the way through to the genuinely terrifying. Thankfully, the latter are rare, especially if you take sensible precautions (and there are many good ones listed earlier in the thread).
Like someone said, unless you’re fortunate enough to live somewhere very remote, interactions with motorists are kind of the price of admission. All we can do is learn to live with it, take our own precautions and continually lobby the relevant authorities for better road layouts, driver education and police enforcement.
Some people ultimately decide the game isn’t worth the candle; my fiancee, previously a triathlete, now rides fairly rarely, and even then mainly off road, after a few consecutive near misses (and one minor accident, though in fairness she was partly at fault) on the road. Her confidence is gone and in her own words is ‘too on edge to enjoy it’.
For that reason, I have tried to let most on road incidents go, now. If it’s not serious enough to report to the police, I simply ride on; I don’t gesture, get involved in shouting matches, and try very hard not even to fume privately. I know that advice doesn’t reduce the likelihood of drivers being idiots, but it does reduce the likelihood of it badly spoiling what is something we all do for fun, at the end of the day.
3 Likes
For that reason, I have tried to let most on road incidents go, now. If it’s not serious enough to report to the police, I simply ride on; I don’t gesture, get involved in shouting matches, and try very hard not even to fume privately. I know that advice doesn’t reduce the likelihood of drivers being idiots, but it does reduce the likelihood of it badly spoiling what is something we all do for fun, at the end of the day.
A-frakking-men
In the end, if you’re not hurt, or dead, there’s not much you can really do that will change the driver’s behaviour. But there are a lot of things that you can do that will make your own day miserable (like being pissed for the rest of the day at said driver). That person is not worth wasting so much energy on. They shouldn’t hold that much power over you. You have better things to use your energy on.
Being a motorcyclist as well, i’m all about that accident avoidance and the mindset that i’m the one who’s responsible for my own safety, while taking in consideration that everyone on the road is nuts and distracted as i’m not the only one with a busy life or who gets bad days. I watch some of Dandanthefireman video analysis of accidents and he keeps talking about how you can sometimes predict certain patterns when riding in traffic. It’s almost like chess, trying to guess what moves people will do or what will trigger certain possible moves and how to counter them.
Alright i got carried away here but you get the point.
2 Likes
My friend’s sister is an ER doc. She sees a motorcycle accident victim come through every single day.
That guy’s clearly not a safe rider. He will take himself out sooner than later, perhaps permanently.
I’d still worry more about cars.
1 Like
Me too. Much more relaxing although I do miss the occasional all out sprint trying to chase down a stupid driver and the shocked look on their faces those few times I caught up to them …
In my calmer state I have realized that most of the time the issue is the driver did not see me, not that they were intentionally trying to kill me. Sure, they should have seen me but the fact is they did not and I now take full responsibility for being seen through use of lights and lane positioning and am mindful of times and places where visibility is an issue.
And while I have not totally reformed, I am trying really hard to not do stupid cyclist sh*t like blow through stop signs at full speed or needlessly block traffic or otherwise freak out car drivers. The good karma comes back to you at least a little.
4 Likes
Situations like this happen from time to time and they will shake you up. I’ve found myself getting a free ride on the bonnet of a car before so I’m no stranger to not being seen despite wearing fluorescent clothing. Glad to hear you weren’t hurt. Here are my thoughts on your questions:
I agree with the others about telling wife/family.
To overcome really close calls I find somewhere safe to stop a bit further on for a couple of minutes. I take some deep breaths, have something to eat and drink and let what just happened sink in. I do this so that I can mentally reset and when I set off again, give my full attention to focussing on riding and not brooding over the near miss. I also like to analyse the situation and consider what I could do in the future to decrease the chances of it happening again.
The suggestions from others sound spot on to me. There aren’t many hobbies that can scratch the same itches as cycling does so I’d say the risk is worth the price of admission.
4 Likes
Oh no! Thank you for sharing and glad you are ok.
I also had a similar close call with a motorcycle last summer. I was taking a right turn, I signaled, I had right of way, and this guy left turned and almost hit me. Luckily we both veered a little to avoid hitting one another, but he still proceeded to curse me out for not “knowing how to ride correctly” -_-
As far as calming down, I just kept riding but stayed steady and slow for a while to focus on my breathing - I also say a small prayer every time I head out for protection and safety. It took me a few weeks to not tense up every time a car passed me. We take a risk every time we go out on the road and ride, and talking to your family to let them know that close calls are possible, but you do everything you can to ensure safety.
Best of luck in the mental recovery from something like this.
1 Like
We don’t know much about this particular motorcyclist. What we do know is that he didn’t see the cyclist coming. That seems pretty clear.
Motorists often don’t see motorcyclists coming. It’s a smaller, faster moving footprint. The eyes are not always reliable. People are also distracted and doing a hundred other things in their cars.
The best we can do as cyclists is defensive riding. For example, don’t sprint through a green light without looking both ways. If you get creamed by a red light runner, it won’t matter one bit that you had the right-a-way.
4 Likes
Like some others, I prefer to cycle at 7 am, on Saturdays/Sundays. Makes a huge difference. When I cycle during the week and I can’t make it mid morning or mid afternoon, I’ll by definition use the trainer instead. And indeed - always assume car drivers are about to make a stupid mistake.
2 Likes
Ride early. Assume nobody sees you. Flash more lumens than Watts. Profusely thank drivers who make any sort of effort not to run you over. Ignore those who don’t. Wave with a smile when they honk you. Always assume the worst and prepare for it.
A real-life example, a couple of weeks ago. 5 of us riding, we’re relaxing on a very small countryside road, no cars in view, riding 2-wide. A driveway entrance on the right, a lady standing on the driveway, a car driving slowly by the driveway - my brain immediately said “he’s looking for the house, she’s waiting for him, he just drove right past it. And the next move will be… turn in a driveway without looking, back out without looking, and go back to the driveway.” Guess what - he turned left into a driveway a bit ahead of us, and backed right out to turn around. I had instinctively slowed down, giving loads of room to this solitary car on a deserted road. He almost clipped two of my ride mates backing out.
3 Likes
Ride like nobody can see you, and if they can see you, they’re out to kill you
Sadly, this is probably the best piece of advice I got when it comes to road cycling.
Glad you escaped physically unscathed.
1 Like