Today an inattentive driver started to pull out across the street I was riding, clearly oblivious to my presence in the travel lane. Had she hit me I expect her comment to the police would have been, “He just came out of nowhere.”
Cool as it would be to apparate Harry-Potter-style, I generally rely on my bike for the full trip to work. In so doing, to be safe, I always make sure to be visible, predictable, alert and assertive as sensibly laid out by our League of American Bicyclists adult cycling education curriculum.
In this case, my bright shirt and lane position did not command the driver’s attention. Maybe she was hunting for a pen, maybe she was fiddling with the radio, eating a sausage biscuit, or updating her Facebook status. I couldn’t tell.
But I could yell. Being alert, I was watching as she pulled into the street. Your bike may not have a super-loud horn, and a bell is too quiet for most drivers to hear, but just about anyone can make themselves heard (and then more likely seen) with one or two assertive Heys.
And so I did, she stopped her course and a collision was avoided. Unbelievably to me, she was furious at me for her mistake. I wonder what her Facebook post said after that…
The episode once again reminded me of how valuable a good Hey is — keep one with you at all times and use it. It could save your life.
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When using your voice does not work making what some people call an instant or emergency turn to where the vehicle was before it pulled out can also save your tail end from being a hood ornament.
True, Richard. Quick/instant turns, instant stops, rock dodges are some of the avoidance skills we teach in our classes. Always better if you don’t have to use an avoidance maneuver, but good skills to have just in case.
I lived in Provo Utah in the early eighties. One morning on my way to meet some friends, for a ride up rock canyon, a young lady helped me practice avoiding starts from stops and right and left hooks. She darn near hit me several times in less than two miles. Wanting to know why I was so popular I followed her. She decided to head home. She pulled into student housing and ran into her apartment. I could hear her excited voice talking to a man. The man opened the door and says he called the police. I said good tell them I am waiting. A short while later a city cop pulls up and says she did not mean to cut you off. I said all five times. He looked with a blank stare for a moment. He asks me to wait. He calls in on his two way then says I believe you but wanted to add your incident to the others that have happened. He then told me there has been a large increase in bike car accidents in the last few days. He said they just confirmed what is likely the cause of the problem. A DJ at a popular radio station was enraged at something somebody did on a bicycle and was coaching his listeners on how to force bicyclists off the road. Go figure: My wife came home from classes and told me that they were called out of class and into the Marriott center for a special assembly on you guessed it. On how to not force bicyclists off the road.
You do need to be careful on how you alert people to your presence. I was riding the tandem with the wife on the back and the three children in a cart one afternoon and signaled for a left toward the grocery store. Seeing that the coed in the car at the intersection was preoccupied I sang my favorite verse. Wake up little Susy. She went ape and did the childish language thing. I have a proper reply for that when the wife is not there to give me a thrashing.