mdcoram

Maybe a half mile into a ride the other day a passenger side mirror ever so slightly grazed my left arm doing about 40 mph. No injuries at all but for the rest of the ride I grimaced in fear each time I heard a car approaching. Not sure I want to ride on the street again. Any safety tips or techniques out there that could help?

Velo Vol 

Not really. If there's a pattern of close calls in a particular area, maybe you can avoid it. But, unless you stop riding on the road, there's always a chance of encountering a bad driver.

eduskator

I can tell you, if a car would pass me by that close, and I'd be able to catch it up at a stop or a red light, I would break his mirror, and have no remorse. Some areas needs to be avoided as much as possible... Not sure if it's your case or not. My advice: Get yourself a camera & record your rides. Send it to the police if/when such incidents occur.

Where I live, we have a regulation of 1.5 meters (5ft) between cyclists and drivers, and almost nobody respects it. Law enforcement does not really check that unfortunately. They're too busy doing radar in speeding traps or checking for drivers using their cellphones. Guess it pays more!

katsup

Were you in a bike lane? If not, were you taking the full lane to force cars to change lanes behind you?

For me, the worst passes are when I don't take the full lane when I should. I usually correct this as soon as I notice.

mdcoram

I was riding on the shoulder. I don't like riding in the street along with traffic though I can see how that may actually be safer.

katsup

I don't like it either, but if you give a car space, they will take it, even if it is too close. I try avoid routes where I have to take the lane, but sometimes they are unavoidable.

Glad you are OK.

Clipped_in

Me too! I know how unnerving that can be. I don't have any easy answers, but it does support an argument for establishing a larger presence on the road (and providing sympathetic witnesses) by riding with others if you possibly can.

Again, glad you are okay!

shelbyfv

Yet again? This one is still on the first page. https://www.bikeforums.net/general-c...ding-road.html Here's another on first page of A&S https://www.bikeforums.net/advocacy-...ing-roads.html

Notso_fastLane

I would highly recommend a good rear view mirror (in this case, a good one is one that works for you, all modern bike mirrors are pretty good quality).

A camera with rear view (and front if you can afford it) isn't a bad idea (Cycliqs are good, but pricey). You may be able to submit footage to your local police and ask them to have a chat with the driver if it happens again. If they won't, you can always submit it to the https://closecalldatabase.com/ for potential future use.

MoAlpha

Sorry that happened. It must have been terrifying. All I can offer is a reminder that all rolls of the dice are independent events and your risk hasn’t changed as a result of this one. Ultimately, everyone’s got to do what feels right.

TiHabanero

About 35 years ago I was hit by a car that was doing 40mph. Rearended. I was in the traffic lane, but the lady didn't look before changing lanes to pass a slower moving vehicle. Three years ago I had a very close call when a driver passed out at the wheel coming home from a pain treatment. His truck pulled up alongside me and then swerved into my path forcing me to push off the bed of the truck to avoid complete catastrophe.

Talk about gun shy. Have not ridden that section of road since then, and never rode the same road that I was on when hit 35 years ago. Some lessons are well learned.

Amt0571

Once, I kicked a car door, leaving a dent after the driver followed me at scaringly close distance with the car over the bike lane for more than 100m. I fully approve of your method.

When someone passes me in a dangerous manner, if it's in urban areas I usually pass in front of them at the next red light and suddenly, my urge to ride in the shoulder at high speed dissapears. Not that I advise doing this.

What I really advise doing is taking the whole lane when you don't want anyone to pass. I only ride on the right part of the lane or the shoulder when I can be passed safely. Otherwise I take the whole lane and make sure nobody will be able to pass me unless he puts the whole car on the incoming lane.

Sometimes there's an idiot that brakes a bit late or gets too close, but I found this less common than people passing too close with no visibility. When people get too close to me I also tend to slow down dramatically for unknown reasons.

bpcyclist

^^^^ This. Never be afraid to take the lane.

firebird854

Do not incite people driving a multi-ton weapon.

eduskator

You should have stopped him to tell him ''how much'' you loved him, if you understand what I mean If driver gets a good scare, he won't do it again. I might sound aggressive / violent, but when it comes to my own safety, I don't really care about the other things. Survival instinct I guess.

Of course, might not always work, especially if you are that 5'4'' cyclist weighting 140lbs, but at my size, I like to make myself heard.

eduskator

Notso_fastLane

To put my advice in some context, I have been hit 6 times, 3 of which were hit and runs. I've 'dodged' a few by monitoring my rear view mirror. I'm pretty sure they were not paying attention, and a couple were for sure on their cell phones and drifting into the bike lane.

It's not a panacea (nothing is), but anything to improve your odds. And although the camera(s) might not save you from being hit, they will definitely help to find/prosecute the driver.

colnago62

We just had road rage incident between two drivers that ended in a fatality. Be carful when it comes to retaliation.

firebird854

I've been hit by a car and crashed numerous times, breaking bones, dislocating a shoulder, destroying my bike, etc.

First, I absolutely love cycling soooo much and really don't intend on giving it up. However, I completely understand where you are coming from and I want to point out what I have changed and learned to make it a better, and safer, experience.

1. I treat every driver like they are a complete idiot. If I'm cycling down the road and see a car at an intersection waiting to turn or go straight while I have the right of way I immediately start signaling with my hands that I intend to go straight or turn, if I see that they notice me, and nod, or something to that effect, I will continue. If they don't acknowledge my signals or I genuinely can't tell if they see me I start braking, even if I have the right of way and carefully watch to see if they start moving (without seeing me). Even if I have the right of way, I will absolutely yield to a large vehicle that doesn't see me, I won't get angry at them, as we're human, and no one really has 100% focus 100% of the time, that's life.

Had I started cycling with this philosophy I probably wouldn't have gotten hit because a person turned into me while I was careening down a hill, I would have carefully watched them, saw that they didn't see me and start slowing down. Not speeding up to try and make the slowly closing gap between them and the curb (I vividly recall not making that gap, then waking up in a haze 30 feet from the impact... not a great day).

2. Ride with others. Large fast A rides can be quite dangerous with everyone trying to make lights, barely stopping at stop signs, riding 4 abreast, and exhausting themselves to the point of hysteria on every hill; BUT small training rides, maybe just you and your best friend make you a much easier to see and gives me far more confidence around vehicles.

3. Know the roads. First and foremost, I do not ride in the city, if I do, it will be on a dedicated bike path away from traffic. I will do whatever I can to get on my lonely country roads with large shoulders and smooth tarmac. I also LOVEoutrageously long rides, like 150mi+ and I meticulously plan them around high traffic areas.

I use google's traffic feature, set it to "typical traffic" and plan my route on where the traffic will be when I will probably arrive in a particular location:


Whenever I set up a route I make sure I'm not on state high-ways, they are always bad news—if I'm going to be on any road (even a lonely country one) for a long period of time I use google maps to ensure they have a nice shoulder.

Now, I've read your posts before and it sounds like you predominantly ride in an urban city area with iffy traffic and pretty dangerous bike lanes. If I were in the same situation, I would probably change my road biking habits and do the following:

1. I would invest heavily in indoor biking, I'm already a big-time zwifter, but if I were stuck in the city and couldn't move, I would get a very very nice direct-drive smart trainer, perhaps even one of the new stationary bikes like the Wahoo bike. I would setup a gaming computer connected to a large screen (or projector) and Zwift a lot. I would also use Rouvey and Trainerroad to mix it up. This is what I would do throughout the weekdays when I normally only have opportunities to bike between the 1-2hr range.

2. On weekends, or whenever I have time for much longer bike rides (50mi plus) I would load my bike into my car, drive out to a destination, and ride a route that I meticulously setup to give me the best possible experience. Even though I live near plenty of nice country roads, I already happily drive hundreds of miles away, if I have time, to make an adventure out of some new roads.

Just my thoughts, hopefully, you can enjoy yourself soon!

Cypress

I was almost shot in high school. After that whole mess, I kept going back to school because I understand that the majority of days I spent at school, I was not shot at. I see the road the same way... The majority of drivers leave me alone, so i won't let one jerk ruin my hobby.

I do my best to be "invisible" to traffic. I know that may not sit well with a lot of guys, but being hyper "in the lane" and causing traffic to get antsy in their pantsy over you isn't helping the tension between drivers and cyclists. I'd rather ride as far to the right as is safe and make it look like I'm "trying" to be as out of the way as is possible. Cyclists are THE most-hated road user by a significant margin, so I do my best to be "humble" on the roads. I wave and smile when a driver throws me a bone, even if that bone goes against right of way or endangers other drivers. Can't look a gift horse in the mouth, even if the gift is dangerous and sucks.

That being said, the day Glock releases a cycling kit, I'll be the first to buy it.

noodle soup

+1

I've been road cycling for 40 years(with 100k miles in the last 8 years alone). In 2014 I was struck by a truck(13 broken bones, punctured/collapsed lung, torn intestines) and spent nearly 6 weeks in the hospital). The day that my doctors gave me the green light to ride again, I rode home from his office.

One really bad experience isn't going to change the way I feel about road cycling.

rumrunn6

got a location? a pic of the roadway? if they don't touch you that's one thing, if they touch you that's another thing. get a description? report it to your local police dept?

Cypress

I've been in unexpected contact with plenty of cars as well, one requiring my right knee to go under the knife a few times. I figure it's just an unfortunate part of the sport. Additionally, I've been on multiple cycling teams throughout the 24 years I've been racing (yikes) and the most-common mechanism of injury to any of my teammates was mountain biking. Seems like 1-2 times a year someone ends up on the operating table because of knobby-tire shenanigans. It's maybe once every 5+ years that someone has a run-in with a car that sends them to the ER, so I am anecdotally safer on the pavement.

It's disheartening to hear drivers talk about cyclists. I was at a birthday party for my wife's co-worker last weekend, and the birthday girl (drunkenly) told me "Every time I see a biker on the road, I want to run them over and kill them." 4 other people were standing there listening to this and looked at me like they were expecting me to deck her. The only thing I could muster up was a weird look on my face and "you want to murder me for riding a bicycle? Isn't that a bit...extreme?" She started going on about the usual "you guys block traffic and blah blah blah" before her husband changed the subject.

Additional side note: If I catch people talking about hitting cyclists on social media, I screenshot what they are saying and then tell them that if they ever DO hit a cyclist, even if by accident, I now have proof for the courts that it was premeditated, which may change the charge from manslaughter to first-degree murder. It usually changes their tune quickly.

RJM

Idiots in motor vehicles are the reason I only ride on country gravel roads or mountain bike now. A couple of years back I had several incidents with drivers (and a couple on group rides where the group was trying to keep some strava average speed goal and totally riding unsafe, but that's another story) and I bailed on road biking. I'm still having fun riding, but it's mostly solo or with a very limited number of people.

TheDudeIsHere

So you had some guy on your wheel for 100 yards and that was enough to kick his door and leave a dent?

I've had drivers follow me for some distance before and it was because they were making a right turn and/or they didn't want to cut me off or take a chance of taking me down trying to race me to the intersection.

So you kicked the door, left a dent and the driver drove away with a smile and you Scott free? That driver must have been a very sweet person because if it were me, I'd wait at the next stop for the cyclist to arrive then I'd kick in his spokes. Let him call the police, he'll answer for the damage to my door!

I don't advise kicking and denting doors!