<p>shoboemom (#110) has it right. The real problem is that in most parts of the US there just aren’t safe places for people to ride bikes. On weekends, large groups of bikers ride on the Post Rd. It’s somewhat safer for them than for the individual riders, because they are more visible because of their numbers. It’s a shame that they don’t have a better place to ride. </p>
<p>It would be extremely difficult to impossible to re-design roads or add bike paths around here. </p>
<p>Sue22, those are terrible stories! I’m so glad that you weren’t badly injured. The Post Rd is bad enough for drivers, and so much worse for bikers. </p>
<p>There’s where I disagree. I’ve been that bicyclist literally thousands of times. Probably tens of thousands. And cars don’t kill me when they come around the corner. If they could “easily” have killed me, why haven’t they even ended up with close calls, even though they would generally be going considerably faster than 25 mph? I think you’re underestimating the average driver. They don’t squeal to a stop behind me, or honk. They just calmly pass me. </p>
<p>I had an incident (as a driver) a few months ago where I know I was in the wrong, but still not sure what I was supposed to do…rush hour traffic, divided highway with 2 lanes each direction AND a shoulder. Speed limit 55. I am in right lane and having to make a slight right (no stop, a “Y”) up ahead and on my right (the shoulder) is a line of cyclists moving quickly, behind me is a tractor trailor and on my left is the faster moving traffic. I am going faster than the cyclists but still have to slow a little to make my right turn, can’t slow a lot because of the tractor trailor behind. Since cyclists are on my right I assume (incorrectly) that line of cyclists are also turning right. So I rudely cut them off, fortunately no one hurt but could have been. I know it was my fault, and I wasn’t even going as fast as the speed limit, but not sure what I was to do?</p>
<p>When you can’t see what is in front of you because of hills, curves, fog, etc, you are supposed to slow down enough so that in case you happen upon a rock, Amish buggy, slow-moving vehicle, child, deer, stalled vehicle, OR a bicycle in the road, you have time to stop without hitting whatever the obstacle might be. This is driving 101. Yes many roads are designed badly and there is a shortage of dedicated bike paths and bike lanes. That doesn’t absolve drivers of the responsibility to drive safely. I bike and drive and have sympathy for all views, but really the bikes do have a right to be on the road. I am an extremely defensive careful bike rider as I don’t want to die, but I agree with CF on most points.</p>
<p>In our city, Madison, WI, until recently bike riders were routinely cited and fined for hitting car doors that were flung open in front of them as they rode. Until last year when an injured cyclist had his citation delivered to him in the hospital and there was a big uproar. Now there is a new ordinance that requires drivers to look to see if someone is coming before opening their door and THEY are the ones who will be cited if their failure to exercise due caution results in an accident. Imagine that. So progress does happen. But it’s slow.</p>
<p>To be fair, she wasn’t killed. But she will be a quadriplegic for the rest of her life, unless there are some serious breakthroughs in research in the her lifetime. With her mom’s support (and her university’s), she actually returned to college this fall. </p>
<p>I do have reservations about those low 3-wheelers that people ride without even an orange flag. They are so hard to spot on busy roads, especially with the proliferation of big trucks and SUVs. </p>
<p>And our city is chock full of college students and kids who ride at night in dark clothes with no lights or reflectors on roads with nary a streetlight, and usually sans helmet to complete the accident-waiting-to-happen. I drive at night squinting and peering for signs of motion at the edge of road, especially in areas with lots of bikes. It know they are just ignorant, but it’s so aggravating as it’s things like this that give bikers a bad rap and reinforce the tendency to blame the victim.</p>
<p>Experienced cyclists in that situation use cyclist body language to show that they’re going straight. As they approach the intersection, they move just a little bit to the left, just to make it more obvious that they are not turning and therefore turning motorists must yield to them. But straight through cyclists are not required to signal that they are going straight-- we don’t signal for going straight-- and they’re not required to make that little leftward maneuver.</p>
<p>If you were making a right turn (even a slight right) out of your lane, you were supposed to merge to the shoulder, yielding right of way to the straight-through cyclists already there. </p>
<p>If you needed to slow down to make the merge, you should slow down safely, so as not to endanger following traffic. You need to start the merge in time to execute it safely.</p>
<p>The situation you describe is a difficult one for cyclists (in that drivers are likely to cut them off). I try to avoid such intersections at rush hour. But that’s not always possible: cyclists are commuting at rush hour too.</p>
<p>We don’t have a lot of unlit cyclists in my area, fortunately, but we have some. I hope their numbers are decreasing and will decrease with the plethora of good, cheap cycle lighting now available. Bike lights used to be expensive, cumbersome and unreliable, but the new LED lights are cheap and good.</p>
<p>“I do have reservations about those low 3-wheelers that people ride without even an orange flag. They are so hard to spot on busy roads, especially with the proliferation of big trucks and SUVs.”</p>
<p>^^So agree! The guy in a racing wheel chair (like the ones used in the Boston marathon) whom I encountered on the busy road with no shoulder? Would I ever consider running on that road?!! That would be suicidal. He was more like a runner than a bicyclist. A little red flag would have been very helpful, as well as a brightly colored jersey.</p>
<p>CF, in my city the rush hour traffic downtown is handled this way: during peak rush hour traffic, all commuter busses go through one major downtown street, and no cars or bikes are supposed to be on that street. Cops do ticket the idiots who get there, no matter what their reason is (if the do not enter sign is on, it means it!). Bicyclists are usually not ticketed, but they absolutely could be (I’ve seen a bicyclist getting a ticket for riding on a sidewalk).There is a parallel street a few yards away that has bike lanes and no bus traffic. Much safer and easier for bicyclists, although a few specimens insist on going down the bus street. I know what it feels to be on a bus that has no seat belts and is full of people with heavy briefcases and bags when this bus’s driver has to slam on the brakes because a crazy kamikaze on two wheels decides to cut it off. Scary stuff and a real potential for multiple injuries. Thank goodness our drivers are very careful. If someone says they drive recklessly, try to do so in their place - you have not seen the mess on the 3rd between 3 and 6 pm!</p>
<p>Sounds like a little traffic enforcement on that street is in order, to ticket the reckless cyclists. </p>
<p>One problem I’ve seen in the past-- maybe this happens with drivers too-- is that when cops decide to crack down on bikes around here, they ticket for tickytack offenses like making a right turn without coming to a full stop (which is not remotely dangerous on a bike) and don’t go after dangerous offenders like wrong-way cyclists, red light runners and cyclists riding unlit at night. Instead of making cyclists behave better, it just makes cyclists mad.</p>
<p>Sigh… Cops are busy dealing with jaywalking potheads, aggressive panhandlers, idiot drivers, etc. Stuff does happen there quite often, sometimes serious stuff, A year or so ago a crazy dude stole a tip jar from a coffee shop and ran across the street - only to be hit by a bus that could not stop in time.</p>
<p>I went back and looked at some articles about a cyclist who was recently killed by a left turning box truck in that mess that BB was describing (am commute, though) Box truck was turing left onto the street that accesses the freeway entrances and cyclist was in left side bake lane. I was pleasantly surprised by the comments on one bicycle forum that cyclist also need to take some responsibility for downhill speeds - particularly when there are downhill bike lanes which allow for speeds much faster than the flow of traffic in the all purpose lanes. Bicycles also need to be able to slow or stop within reason which takes longer to do safely. In this case the cyclist had the right of way in her lane, of course, but I see how a fast moving bike can be “not there” then “there” for a slow turning box truck. Vehicles that make wider turns might have difficulty with the rule of shifting into the bike lane before turning. Usually they drift out first so as not to turn too sharply.</p>
<p>Unlike CF, I’ve found most drivers pretty nice. Our bike path route does cross several busy streets. We hang on the side waiting for a natural traffic break and most times drivers will stop and motion is cyclists through. We wave back and yell thank you, and everybody moves on with their day. </p>
<p>But on our bike, we don’t stop at 4 way stop signs if there is clearly no traffic around. Other than that, we just generally follow the same crossing rules as if we were driving and it seems to work. </p>
<p>The city has since revamped that lane with staggered greens for left turning vehicles and separate signals for bikes. I haven’t heard yet how it’s going.</p>
<p>I give anyone on the side of the road, pedestrian, cyclist, or just observer plenty of room. Often I’m 80% in the wrong lane, if I can do it safely with decent sight-lines. </p>
<p>It always astounds me that when I’m driving, the spatially challenged drivers have their tires on the centerline about 10-15% of the time, but when I’m getting my mail, with no opposing traffic coming, people pass my mailbox and miss me by about 2-3 feet at 35 mph. Those guys are never over the line. </p>
<p>“Instead of making cyclists behave better, it just makes cyclists mad.”</p>
<p>Yep and it goes both ways. When motorists are yelled at, sworn at and subjected to obscene hand gestures or actual car pounding for non-impact, non-injury causing “honest” mistakes of looking for but not seeing someone who is potentially dressed in a way that is camouflaging, not illuminated, or riding in a position and/or at a speed that makes them difficult to see it also is less instructional and more ire provoking.</p>
<p>I know that yelling at cars isn’t a good idea (except to attract their attention in some emergencies) but it relieves tension. And I don’t think the drivers even hear me, so there’s that. But I don’t defend the practice; as I said, it’s not a good idea.</p>
<p>They don’t have to move so their wheels are on the curb, but they should move right somewhat, putting their right wheels in the bike lane, to allow straight-through cyclists to pass them on the left.</p>