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You’ve Got It All Backwards!
I had a most frightening experience the other day. I almost hit a bicyclist. It was by sheer luck if not some greater power that I didn’t run over this guy.
It was about 30 or 45 minutes before total darkness, with the sun already below the horizon, and I just got off the freeway. (This is the freeway exit closest to my house and one I use all the time.) At this exit, there is a traffic signal if you want to turn left and if you want to turn right, you’re sent into a right turn lane that comes to a yield sign. Regular users of the right turn lane tend to first look left to see if there’s any oncoming traffic from the left, slow down or stop if there is, but keep going if there’s no one coming. That’s what I did, but just as I turned my head to the right before going out into the street, immediately in front of me was a guy on a bike.
I’m not sure about the guy on the bike who was stopped frozen in front of me, but I know I was scared out of my wits when I noticed him at the last split-second. He had a helmet on and was pretty much dressed to ride. What made things even more disturbing was that he had an adult riding partner and a couple kids in tow right behind him. There was a whole family of people going up the wrong side of the street on a sloping hill where cars are barreling down at 45 to 50 mph, if not faster.
This experience reminded me of when I was first learning to drive, and my father telling me to always look both ways before turning into a one-way street, because according to his explanation, there always the chance that some not-too-bright person was driving the wrong way down a one-way street and you would crash into him. While my dad’s lesson may not be quite the same situation as cyclists riding on the wrong side of the street, I’m going to have to pay attention to cyclists coming from unexpected directions not just for my own sake but the folks riding on the wrong side of the street.
And yes, for those of you who are curious, I did caution him in a friendly way that he should be riding on the other side of the street. He looked at me like I was crazy.
December 17th, 2007 at 9:34 pm
While driving, I shudder at some of the not to bright things I see other cyclist doing that from a motorist’s perspective really puts these folks in danger.
The biggest thing I see are cyclists just not being lit up enough at night. Not one strip of reflective fabric on them. A single red blinky light does not count. It simply does not allow a motorist to acquire you soon enough. The sooner you can get the motorist behind you to see you the much better off you are.
The second thing I see are cyclists not commanding their lane. I saw it from behind one night while driving. Four lanes with a center turn lane. Two cars ahead of me traveling side by side one in each lane. Then the car in the right lane suddenly slows enough that I see the front end tip down. Expecting they saw an obstruction in the road I look carefully and slow. Looking I see a single red light about the size of pin head. A cyclist, barely visible even though I know he’s there now. And - riding the gutter as close as is possible. Bouncing along in the cracked pavement. Zero options and a stunned driver of a 2000# car following. Suddenly faced with the need to pass. They had a choice. Go to the left lane and pass or do a squeeze play on the cyclist. And the later of the two is what they did. If the mirror was 3 inches from the cyclist’s elbow it was only an inch. It was so harrowing that I was expecting to witness a fellow cyclist getting hit by a car.
He didn’t.
1) Be visible. Had he been visible the car could have merged left sooner.
2) Take the lane. Here, passing traffic had a whole second lane to pass on. But for this to be effective you have to be seen. See step one above.