“I essentially flew over the hood of the car and landed on the other side,” the bicyclist explained to the emergency room doctor. “We were riding in parallel and he took a sharp right turn directly in front of me.”
“I would describe that as something more than “A car turned into me,” which is what you told the medical student,” the ER doc commented dryly. The patient was fine—a few scrapes, nothing broken, just shaken. The ER doc sent him on his way.
Nothing was missed clinically on that visit; but now, many years later, it seems to me that something was overlooked: an opportunity to practice preventive medicine by letting this patient know how to avoid such accidents in the first place.
This is a timely topic. More people are biking than ever, which is a great thing, both for our collective personal health and the health of the planet; but accidents remain a stubborn problem. While the number of accidents overall has decreased, the number of fatal accidents is increasing. For that reason, I thought it would be worthwhile to share a number of ways to avoid colliding with a car if you like to travel by bicycle.
It is interesting that many websites devoted to cycling focus on wearing helmets and how unpredictable drivers are. In contrast, I found this article, “How Not to Get Hit by Cars—Important Lessons in Bicycle Safety” published by the Norwell Police Department to be very useful, with practical strategies on how to avoid the ten most predictable accidents. The accident my friend experienced is called “The Right Hook.” But they describe many other common bicycle-car entanglements and how to avoid them.
Some of these suggestions may be well known to seasoned cyclists; but many were new to me and go far beyond just wearing a helmet, which is pretty much all that I was taught in terms of defensive bicycling. If you don’t have time to read the Norwell Police Department brochure—I have pulled together here a summary of the main strategies they mention to help prevent accidents.
- Don’t ride the wrong way in the bike lane. Although this is tempting—you can see the cars coming towards you and you won’t get clipped—it leads to the 4th most common cause of accidents—see “The Wrong Way Wreck,” when a car makes a turn from a side street right into you. According to Bicyclesafe.com, “Studies have shown that riding the wrong way was three times as dangerous as riding in the right direction—and seven times” more dangerous for kids. The reason is that the physics work against you, since the relative speed of the car will be twice as fast as if you were biking in the correct direction. Also — disobeying traffic regulations could earn you a ticket. Just saying.
- Don’t ride on the sidewalk: the third most common cause of accidents, according to this report. Riding on the sidewalk might intuitively seem more safe, but crossing between sidewalks can be pretty dangerous, unless it is a special sidewalk that is really long and free of driveways and people—like a dedicated bike path.
- Ride further left. A lot of riders keep close to the curb because they are worried about being hit from behind or clipped from the side; but taking up more of the lane (if there isn’t a clearly demarcated bike lane) is safer, according to this publication, because it makes you easier to see; if you can’t keep up with traffic, you will want to choose a slower road—this isn’t a safe road to be traveling on anyway; and when traveling next to parked cars, ride far enough to the left that you won’t run into a car door that gets opened unexpectedly in front of you—the second most common cause of accidents.
- Get a headlight: this can help prevent the most common cause of accidents: the “Right Cross.” You are biking down the street, and a car is pulling out of a side street: either the car runs into you or you run into the car. The key here is visibility: a headlight really helps. It’s required for night-time biking, but even for a daytime ride a bright white light that can flash makes you more visible.
- Wear a helmet—well of course, wear a helmet. A very bright graduate student at the U. Of Wisconsin who regularly wore a helmet forgot it one day—but that was the day she was hit while biking, and suffered irreversible brain trauma. And don’t just have it sitting fashionably on your or your child’s head, straps flapping, as seems to be the “look:” I saw one cyclist do this, and the helmet flew up in the air with him when he hit a bump—clearly it would have done no good at all had he landed on his head.
- Make eye contact with the driver next to you if you are turning or moving into traffic; and if they aren’t looking at you, try waving or using a loud horn (Air Zound is a good one) to get a driver’s attention. Strongly consider acquiring a horn or bell. Many countries require them, but the US does not.
- Slow down: if you can’t make eye contact, slow down before an intersection or turn.
- Never stop in a car’s blind spot at a stop light; stop a little ahead of the car next to you, or behind (out of the blind spot);
- Wear something bright, even during the day. A yellow or orange vest. A reflective leg band.
- Don’t pass on the right; this leads to the sort of accident the patient described above experienced—the “Right Hook.” If the car next to you slows down, you should, too; they will eventually speed up again. And don’t ride in the car’s blind spot. Always give yourself enough time to brake in case the car next to you turns right–directly in front of you.
- Never move left without looking behind you; this can lead to your being rear-ended—an uncommon, but bad collision.
- Use a mirror—so you can look behind you; you can put it on your bike or helmet or glasses. Helps you look behind you and avoid being rear-ended.
- Get a rear light—a flashing one is great.
- Choose wide streets; slow streets; and back streets—they are safer on average for bikes. Avoid busy streets. Of course, if you are using your bike to commute, that may be easier said than done.
- Don’t hug the curb—You have more room to move over if a car approaches from behind and you are less likely to get into the “Right Cross”—the most common sort of collision (see above) when a car pulls out of a side street or driveway and doesn’t see you.
- Avoid distractions—texting on a mobile phones, listening to music or drinking a soft-drink while cycling mixes poorly with biking!
- Don’t race other cyclists unless you are on a designated course or far away from cars.
Since there are many drivers on the road and ever more distractions, I do think biking today takes more forethought and skill. The world has gotten a lot busier and defensive bicycling is now the name of the game. Fortunately, there is a lot of equipment that will help make you more visible, from reflective vests to horns; but being aware of the above strategies to keep you safe while biking is also key and, I hope, may help you bike more wisely, cautiously—and, with a little luck, avoid preventable collisions.
Disclaimer: Please note: this is by no means a comprehensive list of precautionary measures: please consult the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration website to inform your decision on whether or not to bicycle, as well as local conditions and local laws. You make the decision to bicycle at your own risk. You should consult your physician before engaging in any physical activity.
Photo credit: photo by Rai Camara, from Unsplash
