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I bike 3-4 times a week, but nearly ran over a cyclist myself a week ago. It was a stop with a right turn only onto a one way street with fairly fast (45 MPH)
by valuearb 7y ago
I bike 3-4 times a week, but nearly ran over a cyclist myself a week ago.
It was a stop with a right turn only onto a one way street with fairly fast (45 MPH) traffic. A large hedge abutted the sign, making it hard to see more than ten feet of sidewalk.
I looked right as I was pulling up to stop, sidewalk clear. I look left and see it’s clear for just enough to get into tragic. I don’t complete my stop, I’m doing less than 5 MPH and decide to punch it and I hear a scream just as a woman on a bike enters my vision passing right in front of me. She yells at me that she had right of way.
I try to tell her that riding 15 MPH on the sidewalk against traffic requires defensive riding skills. Right of way or not she shouldn’t have ridden in front of me when I was clearly looking the other direction. But before I can finish, another biker going with traffic on the road tells me she’s right and to shut up.
And I do, because I am embarrassed that I did California stop and that contributed to nearly running her over. I was also in the wrong. But people California stop all day long and as a biker I always assume they might.
- veggieburglar 7y agoYou were technically in the wrong considering that California stops are never actually legal, but it is extremely reckless to ride at 15mph on the sidewalk, especially if you’re barreling through intersections AND “salmoning” aka riding against the flow of traffic. If you’re going to ride a bike on the sidewalk you should act like a pedestrian, for everyone’s safety. If there is a bike lane/acceptable shoulder, you should be riding on that.