Almost Taken-out Today by Mercedes SUV
 

Was descending a mile long hill but keeping my speed down to 25 MPH because the roads were wet. To my horror, coming from the opposite direction was a white SUV with turn signal on starting to cross right in front of me and then stops mid-lane giving me no options. Don’t if she didn’t see me in my bright orange-red jacket or what. I am full on the brakes knowing there is no way I can stop fast enough not to impact her. At the last second she came to her senses and gunned it forward. Just missed her by a second. Shouted a few choice words, but she was still accelerating up her long driveway. Hope she dropped her mobile phone in her latte.

Wow! Lucky escape. A lot of drivers are just inattentive. Too many distractions these days. I hope that was a wake-up call for her.

Kudos to you for cycling safely in those conditions. I learned that lesson as well in my years of cycling in Issaquah, on Cougar Mt. Wet conditions there can be extremely slick in the moss and organic debris. I left before the Mercedes SUVs and even Starbucks came along, decades before there were smartphones.

"Smart" phones and dumb users. I commute nearly daily and overall humanity hasn't given me hope on any given day. Just the opposite :(

I wasn't there, but 25mph on a wet downhill road that has the potential for crossing vehicle traffic doesn't sound that safe to me.

In my "environmental studies," I have found the cohort driving that particular make & style are in the bottom quartile of driving skill relative to socio-economic status. That's as diplomatic a phrasing as I can produce.

Many drivers underestimate how fast some of the road bikes can travel.

Recently, I was biking at about 20mph in the neighborhood taking advantage of empty streets and perfect visibility, and could see in a distance (~100m) lady preparing to back into the driveway, she looked at me with flashing front light and neon bright shirt, hesitated, and obviously assessed that there was enough time for her maneuver, and she moved the car across the road blocking the passage. However, in a few seconds I was close enough that I had to break, no emergency, but surprise. I am pretty sure she would have waited if only she realized that I was coming so fast.

OP should go buy a lottery ticket! they're on a roll! :-)

hills are a vice with consequences. I've ridden down too many too fast & had 2nd thoughts afterwards. why are they so darn fun? good for the OP for feathering his speed. but yeah, one must consider how one will take the impact. who of us actually has cat-like reflexes & the 9-lives to match? can we vault over the vehicle? is that even safer?

I've read from some on here that have had vehicle impacts. can't remember any that were at 25mph & had good outcomes

This^^^.

People see an approaching bike and all too often the autopilot in their heads automatically register "bike, someone pootling along at 10 mph". And then in a seeming instant you're on top of them. I run a flashing front light in the forlorn hope it helps.

As far as Mercedes drivers, an old friend was once hit in East Hampton NY, one of the wealthiest zip codes in the country, by an unemployed, uninsured, unlicensed and, as we must say now, "undocumented" gentleman who may have had a bit to drink that fine morn. My friends lament was "It was the only car within 100 yards that wasn't a Mercedes".

Daytime running lights. I was a daily, year-round commuter, and although I had a full compliment of lights for commuting at night (see avatar photo), based on what I had read on bikeforums, a couple of years ago I started using my flashing head and tail-lights during the day, as well as my front and rear helmet flashers. I have noticed a big difference in being noticed by cars. My forward helmet flasher is a simple, inexpensive Schwinn Intensa 100-lumen. Just $20 for a set (The rear is not bright enough to be useful to me). Link below.

That headlight is more than bright enough to be noticed but not as bright as a "real" headlight. Still, I see it lighting up stop signs during the day.

And as a backup attention-getter I have my Airzound Airhorn which on three of my bikes I can operate with without removing my hand from the bars on three of my bikes (two with a pinkie, one with a thumb). On my new bull-horn bar folder I have to shift my hand. Almost everything on the folder is a compromise, and yet...I'm diggin' it!

Glad you're okay. I have plenty of hills here in Colorado Springs, and I don't think 25 mph is necessarily too fast on a wet downhill. The fact that you slowed, shows you were exercising some prudence.

And even if you were as visible and loud as an emergency vehicle, that's still no guarantee the driver would have noticed you as is sadly the case so many times these days.

I'm not second guessing you or anybody else, I'm just sharing what works for me.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Schwinn-I...E&gclsrc=aw.ds

Is it better to be taken out by a Mercedes SUV vs Ford, Dodge, GM, Toyota, Nissan, etc, or will it feel the same either way. Actually given a preference I’d prefer the F150.
Tim

Daytime, I run a 250 lumen white flasher in front and a 300 lumen red one in back. That's what it takes IME. Those lights are way cheap compared to the possible cost of not having them. OTOH I remember well when motorcycle riders complained about either having to wear a helmet or running their lamps in daytime.

From an insurance perspective and her being at fault, I’ll stick with the Merc. Have nothing against F150s - great trucks.

The road is very rural with very few driveways so felt pretty safe at 25. I usually take it at 30+ In the nicer months. That said, going down a hill at 15 and broadsiding a deer can be lethal. Last summer when cruising down a 1/2 mile hill a deer crossed 50’ right in front of me and really was startling. You just never know if or when, but life to me is a non-stop game of calculated risks or likelihood of occurrences. Being a chicken at heart, I don’t push the odds but also don’t live in a state of constant fear and apprehension either.

i also rock a blinking front light at all times on all rides-including mups. will never know how many
incidents/accidents i've avoided and it doesn't give me clearance to ride faster in questionable
situations/conditions but it can't hurt. visibility is huge as is (previously mentioned) speed.
used to do a ton of riding in an area noted for oodles of elderly drivers that seemingly had bigger
issues judging speed vs visibility. so many slow, drawn-out left hooks, right hooks and t-bone situations.
this was 15 years ago. increased reliance on cell phones and in-vehicle distracting electronics haven't helped
since then.

I-like -to-bike- said it the best!

rsbob: well, you felt pretty safe at 25 UNTIL YOU PROBABLY THOUGH THAT YOU MIGHT BE A STATISTIC.


I don't know if yall are old enough to remember the national US public ad campaign from circa 1967 throughout the end of the SiXTIES called "WATCH OUT FOR THE OTHER GUY". It was a PRINT, RADIO SPOT, and TELEVISION AD campaign aimed at trying to reduce automobile accidents by essentially instructing the public that The Other Guy is NOT ALWAYS GONNA DRIVE SAFELY or FOLLOW PROPER TRAFFIC RULES, meaning that YOU ALWAYS MUST BE ON GUARD because IF YOU ASSUME THAT EVERYTHING IS ALWAYS GONNA BE FLAWLESS & PERFECT, you're likely gonna put yourself in such a situation where you could be killed...
This is essentially what you have done with being unable to STOP your bicycle on said road because you are NOT ANTICIPATING that the probability of encountering such a clueless dumbass driving an SUV. YES, YOU ARE COMPLETELY IN-THE-RIGHT & NOT-AT-FAULT AT ALL, COMING DOWN THAT ROAD, BUT WHAT THE HELL GOOD IS THAT WHEN YOU END UP DEAD OR SEVERELY INJURED BECAUSE YOU COLLIDED WITH A TURNING IN PROGRESS SUV!!!
Use your frikken head man, and tightly control your speed to a slow-enough speed that you can better stop IF & WHEN SOME DUMBASS DOES TURN LEFT ACROSS & INFRONT OF YOU. It is gonna happen again. People are not perfect. Many drivers simply don't even think that they will ever encounter a bicycle rider so they mentally don't ever think about them in the same way they recognize motor-cycle riders! Yeah, you can say all that you want that you do have the legal right to ride as you did down the road and that is certainly true but as you have seen most vehicle drivers are not very attentive and most are severely distracted and simply do not pay attention to anything as small as a rider on a bicycle. Those are the sad facts. Ask any motorcyclist and they will tell you that you must always WATCH OUT FOR THE OTHER GUY and further assume that they are an irrational, unpredictable dumbass that drives like Mr. Magoo.
Your life depends on it. Be careful on the routes and streets & the traffic situation at that time of the morning, day, afternoon, evening that you choose to ride them.
Twenty-five mph in wet conditions heading downhill could be treacherous if you were to encounter a pothole or some road debris or somebody's fallen-off tailpipe or muffler If you get in a situation where you lose control or skid, slide out into the path of a moving vehicle, going either in your direction or with a vehicle going the opposite direction, the probabilty that you will be fatally injured is extremely high. Physics: 30 pound bike & 180 pound rider vs a 3000+ pound automobile is NOT SOMETHING YOU WANT TO "EXPERIMENT WITH" AS THE CRASH TEST DUMMY ON A BICYCLE.
*****Ride Defensively and Smart!! Never Assume that the Automobile Driver will drive perfectly!!
Be well. Ride On but most importantly be smart and consider where, when, and how , at the appropriate speed.
The mindset of the majority of vehicle drivers WILL NOT CHANGE SIGNIFICANTLY no matter how great the push-effort to instruct/inform "share the road" , etc.
Sure, you or your estate would have the potential for , with the right attorney, a significant settlement, should a castastrophic injury event occur while riding properly obeying traffic laws and being injured as a direct result of negligence and motor vehicle driver error. No amount of compensation can make up for losing you --OR-- for you becoming disabled. No joke, you should consider changing your own way of thinking on this subject because the dumbass distracted motor vehicle drivers are not going away. They will be there today, tomorrow, and the next day..........every day 24/7..... and that is not likely to change during your grandchildren's lifetimes.
If that scares the S#l! outta you on some routes & days, well it should and it probably should convince you to change your route and/or to decide to take the car and drive to work in wet or extreme weather on certain such days, etc.
.

On the Mercedes vs Ford pickup insurance topic, I was taken down by a stray Chihuahua in a Phoenix barrio a few years ago. I briefly considered contacting law enforcement, tracking down the dog's owner (and the dog itself, which was probably mortally injured), and possibly trying to get compensation for possible injuries. Then I looked around the neighborhood and realized there is no money here. And lots of stray Chihuahuas, as most of the locals were probably from the nearby state of Chihuahua. So I limped away and dealt with my own recovery.

I didn't like myself for realizing if this had been an off-leash designer poodle in a nice neighborhood, I probably would have initiated legal proceedings. I know cycling is not for the risk-averse, and I try to be ready to accept the consequences of the risks I take. (I also think there's more risk in not cycling.)

I kept riding though the barrio to get to the non-profit bike shop where I was volunteering, but I rode slower and more carefully.

I’ve seen 2 near misses between SUVs and ambulances with the lights and sirens going in the last couple months. Full daylight, turning at intersections. That gives me a hint as to my visibility on a bike. Don’t get killed out there.

I experienced something similar recently. Stopped at a light (in my car) that turned green, but I could hear sirens approaching rapidly, so I stayed put. The idiot behind me was blowing his horn and gesturing wildly for me to go. I honestly thought he was going to drive around me, until he saw the fire engine scream through the intersection, full lights, sirens, and that air horn.

When drivers aren't paying attention, everything is invisible to them.

I do have a blinking light on both ends of the bike, which is even more important during the limited daylight and heavy shadowed period we just entered. Unfortunately when people are not paying attention, there is no amount of bright clothing or flashing that will be effective. And another poster stated that some drivers cannot conceive of a bike going faster than what they might ride - maybe 5 MPH. - so their experience dictates that no one could possibly go that fast and they act accordingly.

The other day while driving my SUV (beige) with daytime running lights, I was starting to round a corner where there is also a turn lane coming from the opposite direction. A guy in his pickup illegally pulled right in front of me, not yielding, forcing me to slam on the brakes. All I got from his was a “Sorry man”. He was clearly in the wrong and may have been intoxicated. One can never plan enough for irrational actions but being defensive certainly helps.

Have to say that being a cyclist has made me a more aware and defensive driver. I am quite sure it is the same for a number of you as well.

Maybe we could do a poll?

In the deer situation, what you want to do if you have the space, is to lock up the rear wheel, turn the front to the left slightly and lay the bike down, left hand on the bar top. Go under the deer, wheels first. I've done that twice, once on a motorcycle with a donkey, and once on a bike with a car. The car was stopped as in the OP. In both cases, I escaped essentially uninjured and finished my ride. It's totally rad to ride with blood on your sock. In both cases I was moving pretty fast. maybe 50 on the moto, 30 on the bike. The donkey was amazingly OK, slight limp. The car driver thought I was going to eat him alive.

You were going to fast for the existing conditions. When on the highway I need to be able to stop and so my speed depends on the traffic and my sight distance, and the condition of the road, whether it is covered with sand or water, whether it is smooth or bumpy as hell as that affects my ability to brake and stop the bike.

When I sold a four wheel drive station wagon and bought a sports coupe it took awhile to adjust to having so many motorists turn in front of me when I had the right of way. Even drivers in Volkswagen beatles would turn in front of my small car. When sailing on SF bay I quickly learned that many sailors believed the large sailboat had the right of way.

The worst part is that the motorist is usually the one that gets to talk to the police officer and so the reports nearly always show that the bicyclist was at fault.

You remind me of this classic video from my daily commuting days - I was on dry pavement going 25+ mph, I really worked the brakes hard ... lifting off the rear wheel. Had the car not stopped, I would have collided with their door.

WARNING: I use many of George Carlin's 7 words you can't say on TV

A lot to remember in a panic situ but it is definitely good to know it works. Will try to remember it. Thanks. Don’t think I will practice though.