Omni-Awareness - Lisa describes as "basically having eyes in every pore of your body". It is developing your ability to see, sense and feel what's happening all around you. Lisa feels (and I agree) that keeping your omni-awareness turned on is the most critical aspect of staying safe while bicycling.
Ride Like You're Invisible - Bob offered this tip and it's so crazy simple. What if you conduct yourself on a bicycle as though you are invisible? Instead of expecting motorists to see and avoid you on your bicycle, you expect that they will *not* see you and you act accordingly. In practice, this might look like:
You sense a vehicle approaching from behind, and you assume they do not see you, so you check your rear view mirror or look back and are prepared to move off the road.
Thankfully, most often, you are able to visually confirm that the motorist does in fact see you. They've either moved left to allow 3+ feet of space to safely overtake you or they've slowed to wait for an opportunity to safely overtake you.Applying the Ride Like You're Invisible tip has the potential to prevent many many motorist / cyclist accidents.
Here's an example of a cyclist counting on drivers seeing him and avoiding him, as motorists are required to do by law ... but one motorist does not see him:
Let me be very clear here - bicyclists are legally allowed to occupy an entire lane on roads where bicycles are permitted.
However, bicyclists are the smallest and most vulnerable road users, and if we ride with the assumption that everyone sees and will avoid us, we are literally gambling with our lives.
On a road like the one depicted in the above video, even if you noticed in your rear-view mirror a car speeding toward you with its driver looking down toward their lap, what could you do? There's no space to your right, only a concrete wall. Maybe you could abandon your bike and dive over the wall? Personally, I would choose another route. My need to feel in control of my safety would not be met by bicycling across Fahy Bridge.
Continuous "Car Back". Joe shared this gem that clearly and easily improves the safety of bicyclists.
When bicyclists ride in groups, and one or more of them perceives a car approaching from behind they loudly say "Car Back" and all riders in the group quickly move into single file as close to the right side edge of the road as is safe. This creates the conditions for the motorist to safely and easily pass the cyclists. Well, what if bicyclists always rode as though there was a "car back"? Imagine if for a few moments a cyclist's omni-awareness faltered, and/or a motorist actually did *not* see them, but ... the cyclist had the habit of riding in Continuous Car Back position. That habit may very well save their life.
When bicyclists ride in groups, and one or more of them perceives a car approaching from behind they loudly say "Car Back" and all riders in the group quickly move into single file as close to the right side edge of the road as is safe. This creates the conditions for the motorist to safely and easily pass the cyclists. Well, what if bicyclists always rode as though there was a "car back"? Imagine if for a few moments a cyclist's omni-awareness faltered, and/or a motorist actually did *not* see them, but ... the cyclist had the habit of riding in Continuous Car Back position. That habit may very well save their life.
So get out an ride lots and lots, while trying to apply these tips in combination with Light up the *DAY* with a PDW Radbot 1000 &/or Planet Bike Superflash Turbo [Bike Month v12#1]!
I'm really thankful to Lisa, Bob and Joe. I've been an avid cyclist for a long time, but their reminding me of these tips immediately helped me to feel more in control of my safety than ever.
Thank you! Let's Ride :)
For your consideration: The League of American Bicyclists have statistics that show that of all crashes that occur involving bicycles, 3% are 'overtaking' or 'rear-ending', and 2 out of those 3% happen at night. And there is this curious relationship that happens, that you can try yourself, where the closer you ride to the curb, the closer cars that pass you will come to you, and the further you ride from the curb or the edge line, the more space passing cars will give you. Just be predictable about it, and accept that the occasional honk happens because you are being seen, which is far preferable to the alternative.
ReplyDeleteI'd be interested in seeing the details on those LAB statistics, because they do not coincide with my experience.
ReplyDeleteIf you are able to post links to those studies / statistics as a comment to this thread that would be great.
Recently, within 200 miles of my home two cyclists have been fatally struck from behind and a third, also struck from behind, is bed ridden, non-functional and severely brain damaged.
I personally have been struck by cars three times, twice from behind and once from the side.
I also, from personal experience, have noticed that cars give more room when overtaking me when I have high visibility lighting running - both during the day and at night.
I have not shared your experience of "if I ride closer to the edge line, then cars drive closer to me when they overtake me."
I do alertly and carefully "take the lane" when "encouraging motorists overtaking me by riding far-right" would endanger me and the overtaking motorist.
I am concerned about LAB and other organizations broadly encouraging "vehicular" cycling. Riding in or near the middle of the lane on a road where the speed limit is 15-25mph may makes sense and increase safety - sometimes. Riding in or near the middle of the lane on roads where the speed limit is 35-65mph (where cars routinely travel 45-75mph), in my opinion, tips the situation to being too dangerous for me personally.
Either way, assuming motor vehicles see you as a cyclist, is a gamble. Confirming that you're seen with either frequent rearward glances or a rear-view mirror, and being prepared to get off the road if what you see doesn't look good ... those habits / practices unquestionably have the potential to save cyclist lives.