flangehead

I appreciate the opportunity to learn from others’ incidents in this forum, and offer my recent near-miss in that spirit.

My incident reinforced my faith that some drivers, who I can’t control, will not respect my life and I must drive defensively. My risk is increased when I’m coming off of downtime.

The setup: Due to hurricane aftermath, I’ve been working from home for the last two months. On my first return commute, I selected a longer, lower traffic route. A long stretch of this is a four lane with center turn lane, 40 mph-posted stroad that is marked with sharrows and is a designated bike route. The incident occurred before dawn. I have 3 headlights (one on helmet), reflective vest, ankle reflectors, and numerous red LED on my panniers and helmet. I am conspicuous in the dark. In 12 years of utility cycling I have been hit once. My rate of altercations (aggressive behavior) with motor vehicle operators is about once every three months.

The diagram attached shows my recollection of the situation just before the traffic light turned green. My route continues directly south. I arrived at a red light with about 2-4 vehicles in front of me at the position marked “A”. I saw at least 2 vehicles behind me and many vehicles in the center lane. My experience is that platoons of vehicles are dangerous, so I turned right and did a U-turn, stopping at position “B” to wait for the group of cars to pass.

That’s when I acted with poor judgment.

When I looked back from position “B”, there were no vehicles in the right lane and at least 8-10 in the center lane. My “car brain” took over and said, “OK, you have very open lane, make a right turn on red”.

I remember as I pulled out seeing one of the headlights in the center lane move out a bit, but I was already in motion. As I pulled into the center of the right hand lane, in the sharrow position “C”, I was just barely clipped on my shoulder by the mirror of a large pickup (Ford F-350 or equivalent). Another ˝ inch and I would have been knocked down.

There is no excuse for what the driver did. They did not signal a lane change. I was clearly visible and had the right-of-way. However, the consequences of another ˝ inch would have been very bad for my family and me, and just a scratch on the truck.

I can’t explain why I didn’t wait for the group in the center lane to pass. I know from experience that I am rusty after downtime, and I was taking actions to be more cautious (route selection, decision to let the group pass when light was red). I know from experience that drivers will pass on the right and will change lanes without signaling. I just took the wrong decision.

I must drive defensively and I cannot depend on drivers to avoid me. Also, I must be particularly cautious when coming off of commuting downtime.

52telecaster

this wasn't your fault. i try my best to be safe and avoid traffic too but there is only so much you can do. i wish i could offer great advice. i just keep commuting.

salcedo

Did the driver stop? Did he/she say anything?

Colnago Mixte

Playing devil's advocate there, OP, what would be your visceral reaction if you saw a car pull a similar U-turn in order to cut in line and not have to wait for a red light? Just asking.

esther-L

The driver was wrong, violating your right of way, and not signaling lane change.

I do that maneuver sometimes to release motor traffic that's behind me. When there's a traffic signal at that locations, I make a right on green, not a right on red. Right on green means that the only motorists behind me are drivers who turned onto this stroad, like I did.

flangehead

The driver did not stop. They may not have been aware they clipped me.

To be clear, I did not filter forward; when the light turned green I followed the cars in front of me and then made my first right turn. This is a long light and it was at least 30 seconds before I was in the "B" position. The southbound light was still green when I looked left and saw an empty right lane.

However, I take your point in the following sense: It is likely that the long line in the center lane, and empty right lane, were the result of drivers moving to the center lane to avoid being behind a cyclist. When I removed myself, it opened up the right lane. So it wasn't "fair" for me to resume using it. Though it does not excuse in any way nearly knocking me flat, I agree that I should have waited either for clearance in both lanes or the next green light eastbound.

vol

I like this kind of posts to share actual situations one encountered.

In my opinion, it's better to stay the course than dodging the platoons of vehicles only to reappear to them unexpectedly. They were already aware of you (supposedly) if you stay the course, esp. since you had so many lights on you. If I was so concerned about the platoons of vehicles nearby and made that U-turn, I would not defeat the purpose of that U-turn by rejoining the traffic before those vehicles have passed.

RubeRad

Technically, I think your right-turn-then-U-turn maneuver would be illegal ("avoiding a traffic signal"), although well-intentioned (letting car traffic through instead of holding them up).

But I wouldn't think the offending pickup noticed or would care that you did that, and it's I think much more likely they simply didn't 'see' you, despite all your lights.

Legally, if you had been injured, I don't think it would be hard to prove that the driver was at fault.

But as it seems you already know, that's no consolation if the worst case had happened, so in the future I would wait for the entire cohort to pass before moving on from B.

Personally, I would have just waited at A; stopped all the way to the right with my tires touching the curb, and let right-turning drivers pass.

That center-turn-lane -- which way is it allowed to turn? Straight and right? Straight and left? If that lane is NOT allowed to turn right, then (depending on traffic) I would position myself at the red light on the lane line between right and center lanes. If the center lane MAY turn right, then I would filter up and position myself in the crosswalk in the middle of the center lane, and on the green light ride forward and either to the right, or taking the lane according to the sharrows.

BobbyG

I have nothing to add to what has already been posted in response...I just wanted to say I'm glad the incident wasn't worse, and to thank you for sharing...I also believe non-rant accounts ofincidents help other bike more safely.

flangehead

The center lane is straight only and the right lane is straight or right. Left lane is left turn only on a green arrow.

Also, I don't get out of the way because I slow them down. I get out of the way of platoons for my safety, if I can do it in a reasonably practical way and without significant delay. A buncha cars tailgating each other is a dangerous thing...

I had a repeat pass at this intersection this morning. I was in essentially the identical situation, except it was after dawn. This time from "A" I dismounted and walked the sidewalk to the pedestrian crossing and hit the beg button. When the southbound green came on I crossed in the crosswalk and walked behind one car at my "B" position. That car didn't go until the light turned green eastbound. I made about one-half mile down the road, to the point that I turn off into a neighborhood, before the next gaggle of southbound vehicles got to me.

Worked great; reduced my chance of conflicts significantly.