Posted by: Endurimil
Posted by: syncro
Sorry to hear about you getting hit Andrew, hopefully things get sorted out and ICBC and the driver take proper responsibility.
In terms of cycling safety, something I've read in regards to motorcycling safety that applies to cyclists as well is that part of the reason drivers often don't "see" motorcycles (or pedestrians and cyclists) is that human eyes are better suited to seeing things along the horizontal than the vertical. And as cyclists we are basically a thin vertical stick in the field of view of other road users. Another phenomenon is something called inattentive blindness, where most other road users aren't actively looking for cyclists as they are looking for other cars because care represent a danger and cyclists don't. Physiologically we also have optical blindspots . Finally, cyclists can also appear as just a brief blur in other road users field of vision so we don't really register in the brains of drivers, something called motion blindness. All of these factors combined together mean cyclists are not only harder to see but harder for drivers to actually recognize. There's lots of research on how much information our brains don't register because there is so much coming in. The basketball gorilla video is a good example of that.
https://road.cc/content/news/235330-new-research-finds-many-drivers-really-dont-see-cyclists-or-motorbikers-video
Two things I've done to help combat this include running lights at all times and running dual lights spaced apart horizontally. For front lights this is easy to do with lights near either end of the bars (one is a strobe/flasher). For the rear I've cut down an old handle bar, mounted it to the rack and run the flashing out of sequence so they alternate flashing left and right. The horizontal spacing isn't huge, but it definitely helps to create a visual of something wider that what a single cyclist would typically represent. One other thing that's noted to help is a white helmet, as motorcycle studies have shown that white helmets are more visible and more readily register in a driver's field of vision.
Whatever we do though, riding a bicycle in traffic definitely carries an increased level of risk and for that to change drivers need to change their behaviour and mentality when they are behind the wheel.
Maybe. bear with me as am a wee bit fed up lately.
One can talk all the various talking points you want but it still avoids one simple fact. You are operating a vehicle that can kill and maim incredible easily. You can if you fucking desire willfully decide to use that vehicle to threaten, intimidate, scare, maim, hit, or kill with it. And reality is our society has deemed it is acceptable for this to happen. There is zero level of a driver being held responsible for what they willfully do with their vehicle while 100% of responsiblity is on those that they maim and kill.
Reality is you can put all the blinky lights you want and paint 500km of white paint for bike lanes. It means absolutely fuck all when no one gives a shit about dead/maimed cyclists and pedestrians.
Everything else is bullshit and is always comes to avoiding holding drivers to the same level of responsibility is we do Canadian gun owners.
And yeah...am pretty bitter, tired, and fed up with the bullshit.
Yeah, I ride almost entirely gravel and back alleyways home from work. It adds significant time but I'm well aware that cyclists never win - against cars or the system. If you're riding a bike, your death is not a crime.
I had just exited an alley and was parked at a red light, right foot down, waiting to cross the street a block from my apartment. I had been sitting for about a minute and the light was about to turn green (the advanced walk had already clicked over). Despite my bright getup and multiple ultra-bright blinky lights, the motorist drove straight into the back of me.
I've asked the RCMP to pull phone records as I can't think of any other way she would have missed my disco-display. We'll see if anything comes with it.
The reason I take the lane at the said intersection is that I had a close call with a driver turning right - that is, right in front of me - previously. The fact is there's not a safer street to cross than the one I was on.
I was unlucky in getting smoked - if only I'd left work a minute later - but also lucky in that I'm only out some discomfort and a rear wheel build/rim. But it could have been a lot worse.
.
But, I'm not taking one fucking ounce of responsibility here beyond all the precautions I already take for my safety. I was 100% not at fault and obeying the motor vehicle act, I was fully lit up and wearing bright clothing. My lights are even offset as one is on my bike and one is on my pack offset to the left.
White helmet? Seriously? That's right up there with Mayor Little's suggestion that commuters should protect themselves by wearing body armour. If my life is down to the colour of helmet I'm wearing then the colour of helmet I'm wearing is not the problem.
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