So, I broke down the other day and installed my old halogen headlamp on my road bike (only when commuting to work)... I have to admit, it looks funny on my nice road bike. And I had to get creative with the mounting bracket because of the tapered handlebars. But, I can certainly tell the difference in how drivers react when they see me compared to when I didn't have a headlamp. Especially in the morning since there's not as much daylight. I can tell that drivers generally give me more space before pulling out in front of me than they did before. Also, my headlamp is just about the same height as most side view mirrors, so when I'm cruising by cars parked on the side of the road near the "door zone" the light shines in the side view mirrors letting drivers know I'm there.
The headlamp bracket stays on the bike all the time now, but I can slip the actual lamp off very easily when not commuting to work.
Showing posts with label Bike Safety. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bike Safety. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Friday, July 18, 2008
A Near Miss
A few weeks ago I started taking a new route home that takes twice as long to get home, but appears to be twice as safe. I'm starting to wonder what really makes a safe route safe. The reason I chose this particular route is because it actually has a dedicated bike "lane", as opposed to some streets that are just labeled bike "path". So, for 90% of the ride home, I'm on an actual bike path using this new route and there are significantly fewer cars on the road. The problem is that it seems that when the traffic thins out, everyone gets relaxed and starts letting their guard down. There are a lot fewer traffic lights, so people have a tendency to pick up speed on the road, including myself. Which, is partly why I think I almost had an accident on Wednesday. I don't have a cyclometer on this bike so I don't know for sure how fast I was cruising, but I'd say I was doing at least 25 mph (35 mph speed limit). There were no cars on my side of the street nor on the other side at the time of this near miss. So lets cut to the chase. As I cruised down the street I see out of my peripheral a moving mass that caught my attention. There was a car with a woman driver cutting across the street. See diagram below:
You like that drawing, don't you... Anyway, she was already 1/4 through the street when I decided I needed to take evasive action in order to avoid T-boning her. I started yelling as I hit the brakes and my rear tire locked up and started to scrub across the pavement as I struggled to avert a potential disaster. Luckily for me she maintained a constant speed so I was able to adjust myself accordingly, but she made it all the way across the street without even flinching or, as far as I can tell, even noticing that I was there.
Hypothesis:
There were a few different factors that contributed to this scenario.
1) I was traveling faster than the average commuting cyclist. Why should this matter you say? Well, from a psychological standpoint, its my belief that humans accustom themselves to recognizing patterns. For instance, traffic in this area of town generally cruises at 35 mph to 40 mph, most cyclists cruise around at 20 mph at the most, pedestrians generally walk at around 4-5 mph. So, I didn't fit into the normal pattern and therefore the person didn't take notice.
2) Color of clothing. It's my assumption that I didn't have enough flashy colored material on that day. I'm sure that if I had worn more vibrant colors I would have been more noticeable.
3) Head in the cloud syndrome. The lady simply didn't pay enough attention.
So, two of these items are in my control. I am going to purchase some cheap T-shirts with very bright colors and I'm going to monitor my speed a little more closely. Luckily, I was maintaining a speed that allowed me to take corrective action in this situation. But, I think I'll slow it down even more in order to allow myself to make these adjustments in a shorter distance.
Hopefully, this little bit of information will help you be aware of potential dangers and give some insight on what to do to avoid this type of accident. I was fortunate that the timing worked out the way it did. If I had arrived at that intersection a little earlier, she may have seen me and hit the brakes, or she would have continued and T-boned me. That's a bad scenario.
Remember this formula:
Bike T-Bone Car = Bad
Car T-Bone Bike = Very Bad
You like that drawing, don't you... Anyway, she was already 1/4 through the street when I decided I needed to take evasive action in order to avoid T-boning her. I started yelling as I hit the brakes and my rear tire locked up and started to scrub across the pavement as I struggled to avert a potential disaster. Luckily for me she maintained a constant speed so I was able to adjust myself accordingly, but she made it all the way across the street without even flinching or, as far as I can tell, even noticing that I was there.
Hypothesis:
There were a few different factors that contributed to this scenario.
1) I was traveling faster than the average commuting cyclist. Why should this matter you say? Well, from a psychological standpoint, its my belief that humans accustom themselves to recognizing patterns. For instance, traffic in this area of town generally cruises at 35 mph to 40 mph, most cyclists cruise around at 20 mph at the most, pedestrians generally walk at around 4-5 mph. So, I didn't fit into the normal pattern and therefore the person didn't take notice.
2) Color of clothing. It's my assumption that I didn't have enough flashy colored material on that day. I'm sure that if I had worn more vibrant colors I would have been more noticeable.
3) Head in the cloud syndrome. The lady simply didn't pay enough attention.
So, two of these items are in my control. I am going to purchase some cheap T-shirts with very bright colors and I'm going to monitor my speed a little more closely. Luckily, I was maintaining a speed that allowed me to take corrective action in this situation. But, I think I'll slow it down even more in order to allow myself to make these adjustments in a shorter distance.
Hopefully, this little bit of information will help you be aware of potential dangers and give some insight on what to do to avoid this type of accident. I was fortunate that the timing worked out the way it did. If I had arrived at that intersection a little earlier, she may have seen me and hit the brakes, or she would have continued and T-boned me. That's a bad scenario.
Remember this formula:
Bike T-Bone Car = Bad
Car T-Bone Bike = Very Bad
Friday, July 11, 2008
Bike Safety Take Center Stage
I have to tell you, I'm getting very paranoid lately about bike safety, and apparently for good reason. There are two articles which I will share that have cropped recently in local news that heightens my awareness for bike safety and overall focus on defensive riding on my commute.
The first, is a man who was riding his beach cruiser (purportedly on the wrong side of the road), but that's just the word on the street. As he was riding down the street a car pulled out of a side road / drive way and hit the cyclist. The cyclist was not wearing a helmet and suffered major trauma to the head. I can't stress enough the importance of protecting your head. He passed away last Friday.
You can read the article here.
The second issue concerns a group of riders that got into a road rage incident with a motorist. Apparently, the two cyclists were on a 4th of July ride and on a descent near Brentwood. The roads can be a little hairy and quite steep in that area. As they were descending, they heard a car horn blazing away. The guys got in single file as they suspected this was the beef with the motorist. Some words were exchanged between the two as the car passed, then the car pulls in front of the two while they are still clipping a long downhill and the auto driver slams on the car brakes causing the two riders to slam into the back of the car. Both bikers were injured pretty badly. The driver of the car turned out to be a medical Dr; a surgeon no less. And after the accident, instead of helping the two cyclists, he continues to verbally batter them and never offered assistance. He was arrested at the scene and was freed on $30K bail.
You can read more about it here and here.
The first, is a man who was riding his beach cruiser (purportedly on the wrong side of the road), but that's just the word on the street. As he was riding down the street a car pulled out of a side road / drive way and hit the cyclist. The cyclist was not wearing a helmet and suffered major trauma to the head. I can't stress enough the importance of protecting your head. He passed away last Friday.
You can read the article here.
The second issue concerns a group of riders that got into a road rage incident with a motorist. Apparently, the two cyclists were on a 4th of July ride and on a descent near Brentwood. The roads can be a little hairy and quite steep in that area. As they were descending, they heard a car horn blazing away. The guys got in single file as they suspected this was the beef with the motorist. Some words were exchanged between the two as the car passed, then the car pulls in front of the two while they are still clipping a long downhill and the auto driver slams on the car brakes causing the two riders to slam into the back of the car. Both bikers were injured pretty badly. The driver of the car turned out to be a medical Dr; a surgeon no less. And after the accident, instead of helping the two cyclists, he continues to verbally batter them and never offered assistance. He was arrested at the scene and was freed on $30K bail.
You can read more about it here and here.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Bike Safety - Commuting in the City
Biking is a lot of fun. It's a great way to socialize, exercise and just enjoy being outdoors. But, biking in the city with traffic can be quite stressful if you're new to it or if it's been a while since you've been out in it. This is good. If you're stressed out about riding along with traffic this usually means your senses are heightened and you are more aware than you would be otherwise. However, you can still ride with traffic and be well aware of potential risks that may lie ahead as well as enjoy the ride. When I first started commuting via bike to work, I was a nervous wreck. Those who know me are probably laughing right now, because they know what I'm talking about.
On my first few rides to work and back home it didn't take long for me to recognize situations that pose greater risks than others. Now, I'm not going to list them all here, that'd be reinventing the wheel. There are tons of sites out there where people outline the top ten bike commuting safety tips, how to avoid bike accidents tips, and you name it. My personal favorite is the site titled "Bicycle Safety: How to Not Get Hit by Cars. This particular article is good because the author actually took the steps to draw out diagrams of where to be and where not to be relative to other cars. This is important because it's one of the primary factors that helped me avoid two potentially dangerous accidents throughout the last couple of weeks.
One of the biggest points I'd like to highlight in this post is that you should never allow yourself to be beside a car when approaching an intersection. See collision type #3 and #4 in the link I've provided. All the points listed are equally important, especially the point about staying clear of the path of opening car doors from cars that are parked on the side of the road. Uber dangerous... I'd also like to mention again that you should get in the habit of riding with a helmet on. I see a lot of people riding around the city with no helmet on and that's just not smart. Even if you're just going a couple blocks down the street, you're still at risk. Don't worry about the cool factor. There's nothing cool about getting a concussion or worse because you didn't want to wear a helmet.
So, if you plan on riding your bike to work or simply ride your bike in the city, take a look through the link I've provided before you do. You'll be glad you did.
Also, ride in SINGLE FILE when you're riding with a group on a busy street.
On my first few rides to work and back home it didn't take long for me to recognize situations that pose greater risks than others. Now, I'm not going to list them all here, that'd be reinventing the wheel. There are tons of sites out there where people outline the top ten bike commuting safety tips, how to avoid bike accidents tips, and you name it. My personal favorite is the site titled "Bicycle Safety: How to Not Get Hit by Cars. This particular article is good because the author actually took the steps to draw out diagrams of where to be and where not to be relative to other cars. This is important because it's one of the primary factors that helped me avoid two potentially dangerous accidents throughout the last couple of weeks.
One of the biggest points I'd like to highlight in this post is that you should never allow yourself to be beside a car when approaching an intersection. See collision type #3 and #4 in the link I've provided. All the points listed are equally important, especially the point about staying clear of the path of opening car doors from cars that are parked on the side of the road. Uber dangerous... I'd also like to mention again that you should get in the habit of riding with a helmet on. I see a lot of people riding around the city with no helmet on and that's just not smart. Even if you're just going a couple blocks down the street, you're still at risk. Don't worry about the cool factor. There's nothing cool about getting a concussion or worse because you didn't want to wear a helmet.
So, if you plan on riding your bike to work or simply ride your bike in the city, take a look through the link I've provided before you do. You'll be glad you did.
Also, ride in SINGLE FILE when you're riding with a group on a busy street.
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