Be careful out there people

46

When I was hit from behind in the Peterborough, UK it definitely wasn’t malicious but I have too question why the old lady was still driving. I got to a roundabout and stopped. The old lady behind stopped too. A old fashioned sports car came round the roundabout going straight (the type with large external wheels). So I naturally gave way to it. The old lady accelerated into the back off me. Fortunately I was on the heavy steel fixie so other than a piggled wheel I escaped relatively unscathed. Her first words were ‘I saw you’. She went onto explain that she was certain the sports car was signalling exiting left so I’d pull out :exploding_head:

I hear a lot of people saying they treat it like every driver is out to kill them, I couldn’t live that way myself and I think you have the right approach.

47

no…it’s dangerous here in Australia too! I’ve heard crazy stories from Singapore and Hong Kong too!

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I genuinely wonder how the odds of dying in a auto v auto car crash on the way to a gravel/mtb trailhead compare to the odds of dying while riding on the shoulder a similar distance.

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49

Oh, man, that SUCKS!!

I used to see Shawn riding around the neighborhood. Sometimes I’d see him riding with some guy that looked like he was about 5’7" & 200lbs. They made quite a sight to see.

Remember when somebody stole Shawn’s bike? I wonder what that criminal was thinking?

Anyhow…I’m super bummed to think that Shawn isn’t out there somewhere riding around anymore. I wish the best for him. So sad…

50

We stayed in Middletown in July, I opted to ride the trainer lol

Tiverton/little Compton is great. I come over from New Bedford when I’m visiting my parents. I live just north of Boston, where the riding is good, but I have major regrets not having been into cycling growing up, the region is really great for riding

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@hubcyclist July I opt to ride outdoors early in the morning - even by the beach the traffic gets nuts later in the day - Newport even worst. We have a little group at work (when Covid is not around), where we ride a 10 mile loop in the back roads of Middleown at lunch time. Summer gets dicey. I agree - riding from Tiverton all the way down to Little Compton is great as well and quiet.

If you make down this way again in the summer let me know.

52

Go gravel and never go back. Often I go 5-6 hours and do not even see a car and when I do they are going 25 instead 65 plus they usually slow done or stop.

54

Hopefully someone will correct me if I’m wrong but I think it depends on the laws were you live, some police won’t consider your personal video as evidence.

55

If it helps you to get their license plate, it served it’s purpose. (At least in case of crash).
I remember reading somewhere that the police (in the UK I think) send some police officers out on bike ( in plain cloth), who then subsequently ticketed all the drivers who behaved recklessly.

56

I commute through the centre of London multiple times a week (minimum of 12 miles each way) and it’s 50/50 inattentiveness (always mobile phone distraction) vs maliciousness (most common is drivers overtaking closely and pulling across you into the cycle lane or as close to the curb as they can to block you rolling through at traffic lights). The increase in comfort and speed of modern cars has a lot to do with the lack of attention or awareness of driving speed, being almost completely detached from the reality of moving at speed and incredibly well protected. Most of my journey is in 20mph zones with traffic lights every few hundred meters and where they can drivers will still accelerate hard up to 40 before hitting the brakes hard for the next set of lights.

57

West Midlands Police in the UK started ‘operation close pass’. I think that has spread to a few other UK counties.

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I’m quite enjoying the UK version, which (outside of the likes of Kielder forest) is back lanes, bridleways and byways. It takes some effort to find/knit together good routes, and I wouldn’t want to do it all the time, but it’s a nice change (and works very well for a 90min-2hour tempo ride, or a more leisurely z2 explore)

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In my case, there is virtually no way for me to get between my work and my girlfriends apartment where I live part time without riding on these roads. In order to avoid these roads I would have to add roughly an hour to my commute (each way), and even then I will still have to ride some questionable ones.

It isn’t vanity, I have a choice between driving, or taking those roads. I don’t want to drive for multiple reasons (mental health is one). Ironically, the last time I decided to drive to work as I felt the conditions were too dangerous to ride (high winds), that was the day I was rear ended in my car on the freeway.

From my understanding, there is a reason the Cycliq was created by Australians.

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61

https://cycliq.com/videos/best-of-2018/

This is quite scary.

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62

As this thread shows, the issue here is not uniquely American. However, as an American who has been living abroad for 7yrs and, like many others here, know cyclists killed by drivers (drivers, not vehicles, but drivers, a point to return to), I see severe cultural issues at work here.

Look at this reporting, which is typical, Former NBA center Shawn Bradley paralyzed after car strikes him during bike ride - CBS News, of this incident, emphasis added:

Former Dallas Mavericks player Shawn Bradley was left paralyzed after a biking accident in January … The accident caused a traumatic spinal cord injury

No, it was not a biking accident, a driver struck him with a vehicle. No, it was not an accident that caused his traumatic spinal cord injury, but the act of being violently struck by a driver of a vehicle.

The responsibility of drivers in the US is incredibly low, which permits these incidents to continue with little notice. The language is inculcated into the press and the police, which reinforces the problem.

It is indeed a different experience cycling on the road when you live in a country where a collision between a motor vehicle and a bicycle is assumed to be 100% the fault of the driver of the vehicle.

The laws in the US have long been designed to discriminate against anything that may impede a vehicle’s right of way, a concept baked into our culture (see also DUI laws and “defensive” purchases of SUVs/trucks). The near-complete absence of repercussions, with the rare exceptions proving the rule, results in virtually open-season on pedestrians and bicycles.

Sorry for the rant.

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63

Someone striking someone else from behind is at best willful negligence.

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What can you do?

Support your local cycling advocacy agency. Don’t have one in your area? look into starting one. We must be our own advocates. No one else will do it for us.

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The US is also an extremely car centric country for all kinds historic/political reasons. Somebody once made the joke, that if aliens would come to earth and just look at the US they would probably think that cars are the predominant life form, since cities seem to be designed for cars and not for people.

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One of the main reasons I train exclusively indoors, and ride outside for events only is safety. Hard to see how a 7’6" guy on an oversized bicycle is hit a block from his own house.Shawn on a Bike

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68

This is tragic.

It doesn’t eliminate all risk, but when I ride on the road, I’m careful to only ride at the safest times of day. Super early morning is usually the ticket. In my mind, every time a car passes you, there is always a percent chance that they will hit you. Let’s say that chance is 0.01% every time I get passed (1 in 10,000). So, if I get passed by 10 cars on a ride, then the cumulative probability of getting hit on a ride is 0.1% (1 in 1000). If I get passed by 100 cars, 1% (1 in 100), 1000 cars 10% (1 in 10).

Obviously this is an oversimplification, but you get the picture.