How Not To Get Hit By Cars-Part I - LT Tyler Hickman

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Over the coming weeks, we will re-offer some advice about bicycle safety, which is a big concern this time of year. Instead of the usual safety resources, we’re turning to bicyclesafe.com, which focuses on real ways that cyclists get hit and how to avoid that fate. Its premise is very interesting. While you should wear a helmet, wearing one will not save you from getting hit. Your real job is not getting hit in the first place. Each week, we’ll summarize one or more of bicyclesafe.com’s accident types and advice. This week, it’s the Right Cross, where a car is pulling out of a side street, parking lot or driveway on the right. The bike is either in front of the car and car hits it, or the cars pulls in front of the bike and the bike runs into the car. Here’s what you can do. 1. If you're riding at night, use a front headlight, which is required by law anyway. Even for daytime riding, a bright white light that has a flashing mode can make you more visible to motorists who might otherwise Right Cross you. Look for the new LED headlights which last ten times as long on a set of batteries as old-style lights. Helmet- or head-mounted lights are even better, because you can look directly at the driver to make sure he/she sees your light. 2. Get a loud horn and use it whenever you see a car approaching (or waiting) ahead of you and to the right. If you don't have a horn, yell out to the driver. You may feel weird honking or yelling, but better to be embarrassed than hit. 3. If you can't make eye contact with the driver, especially at night, slow down so much that you can come to a complete stop quickly. This approach is very inconvenient, but it beats body-on-metal contact. 4. We’re all used to riding close to the curb, because we worried about being hit from behind. But a car entering from the right is not looking in the bike lane or the area closest to the curb. The driver is looking in the driving lane for other cars. The farther left you are, even into the lane, the more likely the driver will see you. There's another benefit, too. If the motorist doesn't see you and starts pulling out, you may be able to go even farther left, or may be able to speed up and get out of the way before impact. In short, being a little left in a Right Cross situation gives you some options. If you stay all the way to the right and the car pulls out, your only “option” may be to run right into the driver's side door. There's an obvious tradeoff. Riding to the far right makes you less visible to the motorists ahead of you at intersections, but riding to the left exposes you to the cars behind you. Your actual lane position will vary depending on street width, traffic volume and speed, how close they pass you and how far you are from the next intersection. On fast roadways with few cross streets, you can ride farther to the right and on slow roads with many cross streets, you can ride farther left. NEXT TIME: The Door Prize and the Red Light of Death Truck Lieutenant Tyler Hickman is a Bethany Beach native and joined the BBVFC in 2000. He lives in Bethany Beach, has a degree in construction management from DelTech and works in contractor sales at 84 Lumber. His grandfather, Jack, is past chief engineer and life member, his father, Chad, is past fire chief and life member and his younger brother, Travis, is also a member. He can be reached at [email protected].