[PREV - BICYCLES] [TOP]
BIKE_SAFELY
April 2, 2001
Rev: July 23, 2007
Motorists that are actively hostile toward
cyclists are actually very rare, so the
primary problem in bike safety boils down
to making sure that they see you.
So you need to ride where they're going
to see you, not where they want you to be.
In the absence of a bike lane, you typically need
to ride a little out in traffic, further to the
left than feels right at first.
Typically, you feel very nervous about the powerful
machinery behind you, but you need to remember that
rear-end collisions on a bike are very unusual.
The way that you really get nailed is by
(a) people opening the doors of
parked cars in your path,
knocking you out into traffic
(this is called "getting
doored", or "winning the door
prize").
(b) people making turns
in front of you.
That car on your left that
you've been cruising next to
may do a sudden right;
On-coming traffic often
gets hyper about making a
left in a gap between the
vehicles...
And of course: cross traffic
making rights or lefts into
your lane.
The solution to every one of
these problems is just to stay Everyone when first hearing this
out to the left, out of reach thinks that it's wrong: you must be
of the doors of parked cars, able to just watch for people who are
and in the area that everyone's going to swing their doors open.
watching.
It doesn't work. Head rests and
Taking the entire lane is not tinted rear windows obscure
out the question. Legally that's people sitting in cars; the
what you're supposed to do if oblique angle of view guarantees
it's required for safety, and total reflection off the side
that's what we're talking about windows -- it's physically
here. impossible to see through them
even if they're not tinted.
And if you do get pressured over
into the door zone for some And best of all: the drivers hide
reason, *slow down*. You may from you. Nearly every single
need to stop suddenly. person before getting out of a
parked car hunches over and
And don't *stay* in the door starts rummaging around for stuff
zone. Even riding ilegally on the floor and passenger seat.
on the sidewalk is preferable
(but see the notes below They then swing their doors
about the problems with open suddenly, often before
sidewalk riding). they even straighten up, let
alone before they consider
Lights are important: there looking behind them.
are a lot of cheap flashing
lights available that you can
see a mile away at night.
High visibility gear would probably
help, but in my experience isn't
really necessary: I generally ride in
whatever I'd normally wear. But
since this is usually dark colors, I
double up on lights: two behind, and
two in front. This also helps cover
equipment problems (dead batteries,
and so on).
Yeah, wear a helmet. While
I agree they're probably
overrated, there's a chance The anti-helmet riders claim that
that they may keep a there's a peculiar phenomena:
moderate accident from car drivers give you more space if
turning into a major injury. you don't have a helmet on.
Though you need to realize
that in a really serious Possibly they worry more about
crash, they're not going to your safety? Or possibly you
do much for you. register to them as something
more like a human being?
In any case, there
And if you do get hurt, are other solutions:
if don't have that ride further to the
helmet, you can guarantee left so they take you
that everyone (including seriously as traffic;
the police, the local and consider tricking
press, and the opposing out your bike to make
lawyers) will all claim it more visible:
that this shows that Probably your
you're obviously crazy friends and o Insane decor like glitzy
and irresponsible. family will handle bar tassels.
say this, too.
o Rear basket(s) to make
So wear a helmet. you're bike look wider
(some drivers seem to
But remember, the real think the bike is only as
defense is to avoid the wide as your rear tire).
collision.
The trouble with this
is that it would also
make your bike a target
for vandalism when it's
locked up unattended.
Sad but true: stick your
head above the crowd and
someone will try to hammer Particularly if they
it down. can do it anonymously,
without sticking their
own heads up.
Lately I've been working on
something I call the Theory of
Erratic Steering. If the car
traffic is buzzing too close to
you, try jerking your steering
wheel toward the moving cars.
If you keep making little feints
out into traffic, they'll think
you're a complete lunatic and
stay further away from you.
Random notes:
Watch out for trolley tracks
embedded in the street: if you
have to cross one, try to do it at
right angles. If you try to ride
on one while you're moving in a
direction nearly parallel to them, Advanced technique to work on:
it could easily catch your wheels the "bunny hop". Some riders
and take you down. Careful with can jump side ways with their
street gratings, too. bikes, picking it up on their
clips.
By the way: about lock up
procedures. I personally carry
three bike locks: a U-lock, a
heavy cable, and a light cable.
There are two ideas here:
(1) most bike thieves only carry
the tools they need to break
one type of lock. If you
use two different ones,
they'll probably leave you
alone.
(2) the "quick-release"
philosophy is fundamentally
screwed up. Pop your front
wheel off and lock it up
with the back? *Great* way
to let everyone know your
bike is going to be
unattended for hours. It's
also a huge waste of time.
And what if you make a
mistake when you're putting
it back on? Don't forget to
re-attach that brake
cable. Make sure you get
that wheel tight, don't want
it popping off in traffic,
do you?
Don't forget you need to
worry about your seat
getting stolen also, Also, that
*especially* if it's got third cable Myself, I make sure
a silly quick-release lever lock is skinny that the helmets I
on it. That's what I use enough to buy have a port
the third lock for: it holds thread through wide enough to fit
the seat on, even when I my helmet, so my cable lock through.
need the heavy cable lock I can lock it
for something else. to the bike. But some helmets
aren't designed to
take the wear, so
so over time the
plastic shell
starts chipping
where I thread the
You know you shouldn't ride up lock through.
on the sidewalk, right? So
don't ride on the sidewalk. But
if you *do* ride on the
sidewalk: *go slow*. If you're And *don't* go shooting off the
in pedestrian territory, go sidewalk into a cross-walk: you
at pedestrian speeds. may take a car driver making a
turn by surprise. That's one
way that cyclists get themselves
That incidentally, sums up killed.
my opinion on the always
controversial question of
how to handle red lights
and stop signs:
If you do slide
through a red or
a stop, do it A bike going the speed
slow enough that of a pedestrian can get away
it's no worse with acting like a pedestrian,
than jay-walking. but if you're going at
vehicular speed, you better
act like a vehicle.
A lot of cyclists like to
talk about "the Idaho
rules": treat reds as
stops and stops as yields. (This is the law
for bikes in Idaho.)
That works, too. In practice, IDAHO_RULES
it's not all that different:
don't just blow through
intersections and count on
the cross-traffic to know
that cyclists are gonzo crazy.
===
Some maneuvers I use:
At the light, you pass the line of
stopped cars on their right -- take it
easy on the speed, you're probably in
the door zone -- then you pause at the
cross walk (letting peds through), then
you move out *into* the cross walk, and
get way over to the far left side of
the lane, in front of the stopped cars.
This is so that:
(a) the cars behind Many cyclists don't
you see you bother worrying about
(b) right-turning the right-turners: they
cars can get by. just sit tight over on
the right side, and if
A tad obnoxious, that bugs cars that
perhaps, but it's want to make a right,
reasonably effective. tough.
It's significantly less Can't say I blame them
obnoxious if you can much: really the car
slip through a gap in drivers don't want you
the cross-traffic and to be *anywhere*:
cross against the
light. The drivers This will not, Don't be on the
behind you are less however, right, don't be
likely to feel like prevent them on the left,
you're holding them from grumbling don't take the
up. about those lane, don't ride
crazy cyclists. on the sidewalk.
A variation: some of the cars
are signaling right turns, so
you do a zig-zag between the
stopped cars to get to the left
side of the traffic without
cutting off the right-turners.
Another maneuver, which may be an
example of being too polite:
Personally, when I start moving,
I often veer to the right of the By the way: on average,
intersection to let the first car in urban traffic cars
behind me get by if it wants to. aren't really faster
then bikes, they just
But then you've got to look accelerate faster and (Hence,
over your shoulder, and edge spend more time waiting bike
back to the left quickly to: at the next light. messengers.)
(a) keep out of the door zone;
(b) keep the second car from Usually, I'm not *really*
running you off the road. doing them any favors
in letting them pass
This is a tricky one. me, I'm just making them
I don't know that I'd feel better.
recommend it.
--------
[NEXT - CYCLING_AROUND]