Driver awareness, divine intervention, and anti-lock brakes
 

Out for a ride this morning along the roads through my favorite corn fields, thinking deeply about a dear friend I have just lost. I recall seeing a car stop at a cross road about 100 yards up the road, and recall thinking about stopping, but when I got to the intersection I simply kept going without stopping. I recall looking for traffic and noting some about 200 yards to my right and one red truck to my left, and recall thinking of stopping, but for some reason I didn't stop until half way into the intersection after seeing the red truck to my left in a deep nose dive with the anti-lock brakes chirping the front tires.

Popped out of both pedals at the same time, and shrugged as I had no conscious clue the truck was there. The look on the driver's face was one of anger and terror. Thankfully he was aware of what was going on, as clearly I was not. There I was standing in the middle of his lane, looking at the truck coming to a sudden stop, and feeling this force, or hand, or something between the front of the truck and myself. I felt safe for some reason.

Thankfully the driver was aware, the Lord was watching, and someone invented anti-lock brakes.

I was traveling in the bike lane of a very busy 5-lane street, passing through an intersection on the green light, when an idiot woman standing on the sidewalk at the crosswalk suddenly shoved a baby carriage into the bike lane right in front of me. A split second earlier I had glanced at my helmet mirror, so I knew the motor lane on my left was clear, enabling me to swerve into it to avoid the baby carriage.

People that stupid should not be allowed to reproduce.:mad:

Back on the original post, I'm reminded of several times in the last year when I wasn't paying close enough attention. Once, I nearly struck a jogger who was crossing the sidewalk against traffic at an intersection. I only looked to my left and nearly struck him as I started out.

The other time, I hit my head on an overhanging branch and swerved into a telephone pole that prevented me from falling into oncoming traffic. I certainly would have been killed.

Be safe, everyone.

Quick question: Did you blow through a stop sign?

Hopefully , recognizing past errors helps us to avoid them in the future. I think we can all confess to being human and doing something that defies logic. The trick is to get better at not doing these things in the future! Joe joesvintageroadbikes.wordpress

Yes, I blew the stop sign, however it was unintentional. As I posted, I was inattentive as I was buried in my thoughts. Scared me back to reality really quick!

Yeah. Years ago I was doing a charity ride. Some people a little ways in front of me made a left but didn't say clear. The line of sight was obscured by tall corn. I had a total brain fart and made the left without stopping at the stop sign. The people behind me were shocked that I managed to not get hit by the pickup truck that had the right of way. Frankly, so was I. I could see the driver was pissed, and rightly so. I made a "My bad" gesture. I've never made that stupid move since.

Glad you lived to tell the tale.

It's really possible to be paying full attention to the road ahead of you and get hit by the overhanging branch. The only time I've ever very clearly been saved from serious injury by a helmet was when wearing one converted what would likely have been a stunning and gashing blow to the forehead into a glancing strike off the helmet. Trying to figure out after the fact what I had done wrong, I realized that there was probably no way I would have seen it without already knowing it was there. It was around the bend on the right side of the state road I was riding on, midway through a curve in a road with a speed limit high enough that there was no way I would consider taking the lane in that situation because cars whipping around that curve wouldn't see me until it was too late to slow or stop. From where it was relative to me on the bike seat, it was a bit above eye level, not somewhere someone usually scans for obstacles floating in space. Finally, behind it was a bunch of trees, so nothing about it made it stand out from the background.

I decided after that this was an underappreciated function of helmet wearing.

"I decided after that this was an underappreciated function of helmet wearing."

Back in the day of the Bell hibachi helmets, I learned this same lesson while mountain biking. Whacked my head really good on a low hanging branch. Never went off road again without head protection. Never whacked my head again after that, too.

This was the first time it ever happened to me on road, and have now realized just how many state roads in my area actually pass through forests and large tree stands very close to the edge of the road.

Being the "devil's advocate" (pun fully intended), our community would have hung the driver in effigy had he been driving distracted.... In all honesty, you owe dinner and your life to a truck operator who was paying attention this time... not mid-eastern tribal mythology....

curious reaction tho, meaning getting off the bike & standing in the lane. I'd think you'd rather start pedaling faster to get out of his way?

I had a weird stop once. was riding a paved bike trail, came to a road crossing. the crossing light wasn't with me, the cars had a green. but 1 car stopped. normally I would not proceed but rather wave them on with another thank you wave. I think I remember trying that but they still didn't move. so I started across but another car coming from behind him just went around him at the same time I was in the lane(s). that car stopped, I stopped, then I rolled my bike backwards awkwardly. I should have known better

"curious reaction tho, meaning getting off the bike & standing in the lane. I'd think you'd rather start pedaling faster to get out of his way?"

Remember there are cars coming from the opposite direction. Speeds on that road are posted at 55, most drivers are around 60. The alternative would have been a sure hit so I hit the binders super hard and popped out of both pedals simultaneously to keep from falling over.

It was a weird incident all the way around.

thanks to your cat-like reflexes :thumb: but that sounds like a good emergency move I shud experiment with

IMO, just your LUCKY MOMENT with a DRIVER PAYING ATTENTION !!!

Divine intervention, :foo: , for some very good friends of mine guess it was divine intervention coffee break time. :(

As the title of the post displays, DRIVER ATTENTION gets first credit. As the body of the post clearly notes, DRIVER ATTENTION is given due credit at least twice.

I've had my share of brain farts, moments of inattention and weird confluences that could have turned out a lot worse.

Earlier this year I was konked in the head by a railroad crossing arm that dropped unexpectedly quickly. I was tailgunner on a casual group ride. The group got split at the rail crossing and I called out to the slower riders that we were stopping at the crossing. The train was still several hundred yards away and moving very slowly, so I took a quick look around for vehicle traffic and other cyclists as I was backing away from the crossing. Crossing arm bonked my noggin. Fortunately the helmet deflected it, no harm to my head or helmet. MIPS does what it claims -- harness stayed in place while the hard shell pivoted around it.

A few weeks ago I stopped at a stop sign intersection that is always tricky, partly due to visual obstructions, partly due to the speed of crossing traffic. Looked clear in every direction so I went ahead. After I was in the right lane I looked over my shoulder before moving left and there was a car right up my butt. This all happened within a couple of seconds. I had no idea how that car got there but I'm absolutely certain I'd looked and it was clear.

Later I checked my helmet camera to figure out what happened. The car was in a parking lot across the street -- 5 lanes, including the middle turn lane. After I had checked every direction and moved into the right lane, simultaneously that car zipped very quickly across five lanes into my lane and right up my butt. Fortunately the driver braked in time.

I'm reluctant to blame that driver. I'll take some responsibility for not noticing it across the street in the parking lot. I'd only looked for traffic already in the streets in all directions.

Thank you for sharing! Miracles happen!

A distracted driver operating a vehicle that, at minimum, is typically 3000lbs doesn't even begin to compare to a cyclist, which is usually going to be 300lbs maximum.

Then add the speed differential and the fact the cyclist's body is completely exposed and there's really not much of an argument to be made.

Okay, confession time (I'm fairly embarrassed to admit this)...one time many years ago I was going under an overpass. There was a row of three lights. One in front of the overpass, one behind and another a half block beyond the overpass. I looked up and saw the first row of lights were green and assumed they were all green. In my defense the second row of lights were partially hidden on the other side of the overpass. I was going at a pretty good pace maybe 23 mph and heard "Stop!" To this day I'm not sure if someone yelled that from the street or it was in my head. Anyways the second row of lights were red. I had a half second to decide to lay my bike down or get splattered in the front of the car. I did a controlled crash and my front tire put a big dent in their door. The car owners and their insurance company were pretty nice about it. Wound up costing me $500 to repair the door. Small price for a lesson learned...pay attention, don't assume!!!

Bikecrate, that is a scary situation to be in. Have not been on the bike since this happened last week. Just not feeling like my situational awareness is where it should be. Need to weed out the preoccupation with my thoughts before I hit the road again. As it is October tomorrow, the ride time is limited for the rest of the year and until spring, so I am good with it.

that might be a good thread of caution "cycling confessions, aka mistakes I survived but will never make again"

When the head is ready, the branch will appear...

Glad you were okay. This is so scary, because I have lost attentiveness a few times over the years and found myself in harm's way, but not quite so close.