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You've only ever come close to hitting a bicyclist once -- perhaps that's due to your attention to driving? I both drive and bicycle, and as a careful driver,

You've only ever come close to hitting a bicyclist once -- perhaps that's due to your attention to driving? I both drive and bicycle, and as a careful driver, I've never had a risky incident with a bicycle. However, I have been hit by a cars twice while riding my bicycle, both in cases where the inattentive driver engaged in illegal behavior. One of the incidents sent me to the emergency room. Observing automobile drivers over the years, I wouldn't hesitate to say that most people are barely qualified to operate a Segway, much less pilot a 4+ thousand pound automobile at 30+ miles per hour on a mixed-used road. Lastly, your invective is misplaced. After writing three sentences on how bicycles are nothing like cars, you call them morons for not rigidly following the exact same rules as automobiles.

ubernostrum 17y ago
So, mostly I've done all right as a driver, because I have a simple rule: if I come to an intersection with a stop sign or a light, and there's a bicycle coming up which will cross the intersection perpendicular to me, I throw away everything I know about right of way and stop until the bike crosses. Doesn't matter if the light's red to the bike. Doesn't matter if it's a stop sign and I got there first. I stop and wait, because the cyclist is an unpredictable factor and the only thing to do is wait until the bike is gone. That said, I've had two incidents. One involved an actual collision; I was coming out of a parking lot, and stopped waiting for a break in traffic to pull out into the street, and suddenly heard a strange noise. A cyclist coming through the lot had simply ridden straight into the side of my (motionless) car. He brushed himself off, got back on his bike, waved at me and went on. The second miraculously did not involve a collision. One morning I was heading home from running some errands, and was driving along a road that serves as a partial bypass for a highway that goes through town. There's one lane of traffic in each direction and the speed limit is 65 miles per hour. I came up over the crest of a small hill, and suddenly saw a cyclist, pedaling along in the lane in front of me, and slammed the brakes to slow down and keep from running him over. He took no notice of me, and kept on pedaling with me behind him (speedometer said he was doing about 15mph). To this day I believe that he and I were both incredibly lucky: he was lucky in that I was able to see him and react in time. I was lucky in that I didn't hit him, and that nobody else coming up behind slammed into me. Doing 45 under the limit on a road with blind spots is not a safe practice. The massive irony of that one, by the way, is that a paved bike lane runs parallel to that bypass, and I live in a town which takes pride in maintaining a healthy network of quality bike paths. On the occasions when I've talked to cyclists about why they still use the roads, they've been unanimous in their opinion that they don't like the paths because they have to be shared with foot traffic which just gets in their way and slows them down.
- demallien 17y ago
  Your first incident reminds me of a similar story that I experienced, as the cyclist. I'm going own a hill at about 60km/hr, and a car pulls out directly in front of me from a side street - presumably to see round another car illegally parked on the corner. trouble is, he didn't see me coming from the other direction. Note that I have right of way at this intersection. I had no time to stop/avoid, so I smack into the side of the car, level with the front wheels. The whole bike rotated around the front wheel, with me still on it, so that my head smashed into the bonnet, leaving a nice old dent, before my bike and I rolled off the other side ofthe bonnet and ont the curb. Naturally, I was concussed, and not terribly sure about who I was at this point of time, but I do remember the guy yelling at me for about 2 minutes, before jumping back in his car and storming off. He also made the comment about it being my fault that I hit a stationary car...
  - jrockway 17y ago
    Did this motorist get into any trouble for this?
    - demallien 17y ago
      No, I was having trouble remembering my name, let alone noting down license plates. And it was in a suburban street, so there was nobody else around... I do remember the walk to the hospital - the front forks of my bike had been bent back far enough that the front wheel's back edge was behnd the bike's frame, ie you couldn't put the wheel straight. So I had to hold the bike vertical, rolling only on the back wheel, whilst trying to walk 5km in cleats, whilst concussed. I don't recommend the experience.
- jrockway 17y ago
  A one-lane road, in a town, with a speed limit of 65 miles an hour? That is the only problem here. (They don't even let you drive that fast on the 9-lane expressways in Chicago!) The massive irony of that one, by the way, is that a paved bike lane runs parallel to that bypass, and I live in a town which takes pride in maintaining a healthy network of quality bike paths. This doesn't mean much. There are many more accidents where a motorist turns across a bike path without looking than there are where a motorist hits a bicycle from behind. Playing the numbers, you're safer on the road than on the bike path. That is why "experienced cyclists" avoid them. Your case is very, very rare, and the solution is to bring the speed limit on that section of road down to 25. Then everyone is safe.

ubernostrum 17y ago

So, mostly I've done all right as a driver, because I have a simple rule: if I come to an intersection with a stop sign or a light, and there's a bicycle coming up which will cross the intersection perpendicular to me, I throw away everything I know about right of way and stop until the bike crosses. Doesn't matter if the light's red to the bike. Doesn't matter if it's a stop sign and I got there first. I stop and wait, because the cyclist is an unpredictable factor and the only thing to do is wait until the bike is gone. That said, I've had two incidents. One involved an actual collision; I was coming out of a parking lot, and stopped waiting for a break in traffic to pull out into the street, and suddenly heard a strange noise. A cyclist coming through the lot had simply ridden straight into the side of my (motionless) car. He brushed himself off, got back on his bike, waved at me and went on. The second miraculously did not involve a collision. One morning I was heading home from running some errands, and was driving along a road that serves as a partial bypass for a highway that goes through town. There's one lane of traffic in each direction and the speed limit is 65 miles per hour. I came up over the crest of a small hill, and suddenly saw a cyclist, pedaling along in the lane in front of me, and slammed the brakes to slow down and keep from running him over. He took no notice of me, and kept on pedaling with me behind him (speedometer said he was doing about 15mph). To this day I believe that he and I were both incredibly lucky: he was lucky in that I was able to see him and react in time. I was lucky in that I didn't hit him, and that nobody else coming up behind slammed into me. Doing 45 under the limit on a road with blind spots is not a safe practice. The massive irony of that one, by the way, is that a paved bike lane runs parallel to that bypass, and I live in a town which takes pride in maintaining a healthy network of quality bike paths. On the occasions when I've talked to cyclists about why they still use the roads, they've been unanimous in their opinion that they don't like the paths because they have to be shared with foot traffic which just gets in their way and slows them down.

demallien 17y ago
Your first incident reminds me of a similar story that I experienced, as the cyclist. I'm going own a hill at about 60km/hr, and a car pulls out directly in front of me from a side street - presumably to see round another car illegally parked on the corner. trouble is, he didn't see me coming from the other direction. Note that I have right of way at this intersection. I had no time to stop/avoid, so I smack into the side of the car, level with the front wheels. The whole bike rotated around the front wheel, with me still on it, so that my head smashed into the bonnet, leaving a nice old dent, before my bike and I rolled off the other side ofthe bonnet and ont the curb. Naturally, I was concussed, and not terribly sure about who I was at this point of time, but I do remember the guy yelling at me for about 2 minutes, before jumping back in his car and storming off. He also made the comment about it being my fault that I hit a stationary car...
- jrockway 17y ago
  Did this motorist get into any trouble for this?
  - demallien 17y ago
    No, I was having trouble remembering my name, let alone noting down license plates. And it was in a suburban street, so there was nobody else around... I do remember the walk to the hospital - the front forks of my bike had been bent back far enough that the front wheel's back edge was behnd the bike's frame, ie you couldn't put the wheel straight. So I had to hold the bike vertical, rolling only on the back wheel, whilst trying to walk 5km in cleats, whilst concussed. I don't recommend the experience.
jrockway 17y ago
A one-lane road, in a town, with a speed limit of 65 miles an hour? That is the only problem here. (They don't even let you drive that fast on the 9-lane expressways in Chicago!) The massive irony of that one, by the way, is that a paved bike lane runs parallel to that bypass, and I live in a town which takes pride in maintaining a healthy network of quality bike paths. This doesn't mean much. There are many more accidents where a motorist turns across a bike path without looking than there are where a motorist hits a bicycle from behind. Playing the numbers, you're safer on the road than on the bike path. That is why "experienced cyclists" avoid them. Your case is very, very rare, and the solution is to bring the speed limit on that section of road down to 25. Then everyone is safe.