Getting older = thinking more about safety?
 

I am noticing that as I'm getting older I am thinking more and more about safety. For example...

10 years ago? I'd never have considered putting lights on my bike for daytime riding. It's the daytime right? Drivers can see me. Now? I don't leave the home without lights.
Dark coloured jersey? Sure. Why not? Now? The brighter the better so drivers can see me.

Is this just normal progression of getting older? Realizing that I will not indeed live forever? Have others gone through a similar progression?

Yawn. https://www.bikeforums.net/fifty-plu...3-caution.html

I stopped running with scissors last year.

You don't say how old you are. I am 72, and I'm just plain more brittle than I used to be and have worse balance. My increased caution isn't a matter of greater wisdom, just different circumstances.

It's not for me, its for others.

I’m not sure it’s age as much as it’s experience.

I have had three accidents with my Toyota Corolla XRS. In all cases, I was stopped and people just hit me from behind. Once hard enough to total the car. It is my feeling that people just do not pay attention like they used to.
Not sure if it is cell phones or what.

I am getting a

• brighter rear tail
• Wear brighter shirts
• bike in areas with no cars when possible like Vietnam Veterans memorial trail at the enterprise park at Calverton
• My local bike shop said to get bright socks. He said they get attention due to the spinning. :foo:
• I also try to find areas with wide shoulders. The really narrow shoulder roads has lead to some close calls.
• I also try to ride with others if I can. At least if I get hit and knocked into a ditch someone will be there.

I never used a front light as I can see what's coming at me. And not sure how it would help safety even if it made me more visible to oncoming cars.

I was watch Netflix and it was about a guy riding around Europe. I noticed the street had two car lanes, and dedicated bike late with circular curbstones to keep cars out. I doubt that will happen here, but it probably helps with safety.

I'm getting too old to fall down. Broken bones take longer and longer to heal the older you get. A broken bone for a 70 year old is much worse than for a 20 year old.

Distracted drivers, cell phones, large SUVs and increased traffic, is why I take extra efforts to be visible.

Which are? (if not mentioned above)

Increased possibility of being forced off the road or hit.

I added front an rear lights a few years ago when on a sunny and clear day, I went under a long highway underpass and was almost hit. The driver stopped at a light and said they never saw me. In the early mornings there are deep shadows which it's easy not to be seen. In the winter when the sun is low in the sky it's good to have a front light when going north and a rear light when going south so the drivers can see you in the suns glare.

I guess if i was riding farm roads in the midwest I wouldn't need lights, but I live on Long Island the home of the 110# soccer mom (and dads) in a 6000# SUV who's multi tasking as they drive.

Being told "sorry I didn't see you" as i'm laying on the ground won't make me feel any better.

We definitely don't heal as well as we get older. Reaction times aren't as good either. Sort of forces a reevaluation of everything we do.

But safety is about a whole lot more than visibility or even automobiles. Car wrecks will flat out kill you, but 85% of all bike accidents are a single rider. I think knowledge and self education is key. Research bike statistics and look at the sort of things that can kill bicyclist. Also try to sort through the macho bull**** that seems to guide the thinking of so many people.

NoWhammies I am 58 years old, and I have been bike commuting seriously for 28 years. Every year it seems I become more cautious and proactive. I also drive more cautiously, too.

While I don't think that it is because I am getting older, I think that for me, it's things I've picked up along the way.

On my recumbent, I had to use mirrors to see what was behind me. There was no easy way to turn around and see traffic. And being much lower to the ground than my upright bikes, I installed red LED flashers.
I got to used to having mirrors, I now never leave my house on my uprights without a mirror attached to my helmet. I feel so much more confident on the roads when I can see and track a car behind me. And all of my uprights now have LEDs flashing I as ride.
And if I decide to ride on roads, I always switch to a brighter colored jersey.

Riding with RUSA sponsored events, night time riding requires certain gear as well. And now I wear this gear any time I ride in low light situations.

Maybe you just got more experience, not only with yourself but also with other people.

I run front and rear LED blinkers every ride, and I started using a bar-end mirror (SprinTech) a few years ago - took the bike out for a spin a while back after a rebuild to finalize the position of the shifters, so no tape, mirror, etc - felt naked without the mirror. I also don’t bomb descents like I used to

Was always careful on the road bike, so not much change there. But I am more careful these days on the mtn.bike-guess age and not riding off-road often has done that.

I think it's pretty common to realize your own mortality as you get older.

you ride your bike all over Manila?

+1 I"m 3 years behind you, but I've done enough crashes that I know I will land on an old injury and have to put put with another year or more of cut up foam to sleep on. No thanks.

i ride country roads here in east central Illinois and I now use head and taillights. I’m almost 62 and definitely don’t heal as fast as I did in my younger days. Folks around here are pretty friendly and respectful. They’re used to seeing us ride on a regular basis. I’m extra careful during planting and harvesting times. To quote Mr Miyagi “squished like grape”.

No just watching society collapsing into authoritarianism..

I haven't been in a accident in 50 years, it will happen one day, but I don't obsess about it. Yes, take precautions but ride within the rules and you should be ok.