Beware the Bicycle Lane

Reid said:
Hey, Bruce, we are all good persons here. Sanford, too. I am not a good speaker: WSVN an hour after the other station's broadcast phoned and begged to come to the house.

the other local TV interview
https://wsvn.com/news/local/bicyclist-hit-by-car-in-coconut-grove-has-message-for-motorists/

Pardon what I said. We know I could have prevented the accident by NOT overtaking on the right, "undertaking" as some people correctly call it, at any time, ever.

When I compromise that rule of survival in the future, it will be at my own, knowing, risk. And if I don't write about my next accident afterward, you will understand why: I'd rather write about my insignificant mortality, by which to forewarn others, now.
Click to expand...

Reid-I get the same feeling on this forum for sure. Everyone is great, down to earth, have good etiquette and are willing to help each other with issues associated with ebikes and their little quirks. Kudos to everyone and thanks in advance for all your help!
 
Chocolatehauler said:
This comment will probably not set well, but I am hoping it might save someone from the same experience.
I have been riding bikes and motorcycles since High school and one lesson I have learned is what is called defensive driving.
As I watched this video the first thing I saw was the speed difference between the bike and cars. As a motorcyclist I pay attention to this especially in town were other drivers are already on over load making there way through traffic.
On my cycle it was easy to zip pass them.
So here is my point, if I am moving faster than those around me. I am more likely to be missed in a mirror check because when or if he saw me I was two cars back and not a problem. After that he is checking other things preparing to make his turn change lanes etc. Assuming that someone sees me a bike or cycle moving faster than expected is just well, not driving defensively.
Finally I am not saying the car driver is innocent. But as cyclists we often have to see a situation coming or pay the
price. To cars and trucks we are just another bug on the windshield, never saw it coming.
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Very well said as I’m a motorbike rider and a bicycle rider.
 
This is in no way a judgement on the OP. One thing I’ve learned in ~50k miles of cycling is not to put yourself next to, or just behind, a vehicle if it can turn right. Either speed up, slow down or take the traffic lane. If traffic was going <30mph the safest place to be in that situation would be out in the traffic lane. But then you’d probably have to deal with cars honking at you even if you weren’t slowing them down.
 
Honestly I think there is a strong limitation to what can be accomplished by educating motorists or even cyclists.

My own suspicion is that the vast majority of motorists, including the most careless, will go their entire driving lives without hitting a cyclist. Yet my experience as a cyclist is that cyclist/motor vehicle accidents are distressingly common and often go unreported.

I think the Dutch are on the right track -- in a motor vehicle/bicycle accident the motor vehicle operator is automatically assumed to be at least fifty percent at fault and if a motor vehicle operator is found substantially at fault in a motor vehicle/bicycle accident they (the motor vehicle operator) lose their license. I'd like to see similar model legislation in the states.

... maybe something along the lines of: In an accident involving a bicycle and a motor vehicle, the motor vehicle operator is presumed to be at fault unless it can be shown that the cyclist was extraordinarily reckless: e.g. the cyclist was intoxicated, the bicycle was not street legal, or the cyclist was otherwise operating the bicycle in an extremely reckless fashion. The burden of proof for showing that the cyclist was extraordinarily reckless should be on the motor vehicle operator.

And it isn't just cyclists. In a lot of places at a lot of times pedestrians are "invisible" (meaning that motorists aren't watching for them) as well.
 
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Mr. Coffee said:
Honestly I think there is a strong limitation to what can be accomplished by educating motorists or even cyclists.

My own suspicion is that the vast majority of motorists, including the most careless, will go their entire driving lives without hitting a cyclist. Yet my experience as a cyclist is that cyclist/motor vehicle accidents are distressingly common and often go unreported.

I think the Dutch are on the right track -- in a motor vehicle/bicycle accident the motor vehicle operator is automatically assumed to be at least fifty percent at fault and if a motor vehicle operator is found substantially at fault in a motor vehicle/bicycle accident they (the motor vehicle operator) lose their license. I'd like to see similar model legislation in the states.

... maybe something along the lines of: In an accident involving a bicycle and a motor vehicle, the motor vehicle operator is presumed to be at fault unless it can be shown that the cyclist was extraordinarily reckless: e.g. the cyclist was intoxicated, the bicycle was not street legal, or the cyclist was otherwise operating the bicycle in an extremely reckless fashion. The burden of proof for showing that the cyclist was extraordinarily reckless should be on the motor vehicle operator.

And it isn't just cyclists. In a lot of places at a lot of times pedestrians are "invisible" (meaning that motorists aren't watching for them) as well.
Click to expand...

Mr Coffee,
You wrote..." Honestly I think there is a strong limitation to what can be accomplished by educating motorists or even cyclists. I completely agree...

My opinion. When many folks are driving, the actual operating of the vehicle is 'secondary' ( consciously and emotionally ) to the other higher level of consciousness activities going on while operating the vehicle. Those activities include, but are not limited to texting, talking on the phone which anyone who's honest will admit, removes almost all situational awareness while carrying on the conversation.

Texting...As has been proven, texting while driving is the equal to or greater the drinking 4 beers driving. Texting is addictive . How addictive?
We had a major Texting traffic 'bust in my area recently. The 'guilty' drivers when stopped were lined up. The officer approached one of the stopped cars. The person in the car had to finish their text as the Officer addressed her...No joke......Another distracted driver 'problem' I just learned about....

Those fancy new touch LCD screens that control every function of the vehicle...My son just bought a new Volvo XC60 SUV and he said if he wants to change the heat/AC, Radio, etc etc he must take his eyes off the road and polk around the LCD screen. There are no simple switches.

I could go on and on, but I'm sure you get my drift. The actual driving aka operating the vehicle is just one more thing to do while moving. All we can do is ride defensively. My guess, most drivers have no idea what a bike lane is, don't care or are so distracted they never 'see it' Just my two cents.

John from CT
 
Reid,

I am sorry for not being clear. I never wanted to imply that education efforts would not be worthwhile.

What I was trying to get to, poorly, was that this is a multifaceted problem and that a multifaceted approach would likely yield better results. Widespread education efforts plus increased liability risks for motorists plus the risk of losing their license plus widespread adoption of dash cams by cyclists would probably save far more lives than any one of the preceding done by themselves.
 
I’ve been following this thread and I’m glad you’re ok @Reid

Even though a horn probably couldn’t have helped as the driver cut his turn so quickly, I found it’s easy to setup a horn on the Juiced Bike if you feel like a little project.

The headlight output on the Juiced Bike should be 48v. I had the company ebiketechnologies.de make a 2-pin Higo splitter and wired in two 24v Hella car horns in series. It’s controlled by a cheap handlebar horn switch.

It’s crazy loud and only cost like $35 in parts.
 
John from Connecticut said:
Mr Coffee,
You wrote..." Honestly I think there is a strong limitation to what can be accomplished by educating motorists or even cyclists. I completely agree...

My opinion. When many folks are driving, the actual operating of the vehicle is 'secondary' ( consciously and emotionally ) to the other higher level of consciousness activities going on while operating the vehicle. Those activities include, but are not limited to texting, talking on the phone which anyone who's honest will admit, removes almost all situational awareness while carrying on the conversation.

Texting...As has been proven, texting while driving is the equal to or greater the drinking 4 beers driving. Texting is addictive . How addictive?
We had a major Texting traffic 'bust in my area recently. The 'guilty' drivers when stopped were lined up. The officer approached one of the stopped cars. The person in the car had to finish their text as the Officer addressed her...No joke......Another distracted driver 'problem' I just learned about....

Those fancy new touch LCD screens that control every function of the vehicle...My son just bought a new Volvo XC60 SUV and he said if he wants to change the heat/AC, Radio, etc etc he must take his eyes off the road and polk around the LCD screen. There are no simple switches.

I could go on and on, but I'm sure you get my drift. The actual driving aka operating the vehicle is just one more thing to do while moving. All we can do is ride defensively. My guess, most drivers have no idea what a bike lane is, don't care or are so distracted they never 'see it' Just my two cents.

John from CT
Click to expand...

Sometimes I am astounded by the amount of driving and texting that goes on while on the highway systems. All you have to do is glance over your shoulder during rush hour traffic conditions and see how operating a motor vehicle has now become secondary with all of the electronic devices being used while at the wheel. I believe Einstein's theories were not too far off:

"Albert Einstein is said to have predicted: 'I fear the day technology will surpass our human interaction. ... complex multi-tasking of a cell phone user walking along a busy street. reading useless information on their phones, passing said information on to their electronic friends most of whom they have never seen-The world will have a generation of idiots"...
 
Unless I make eye contact, I just assume drivers, other cyclists, pedestrians, dog walkers, etc., do not see or hear me. Education and awareness is great, but I cannot depend on others to do things "by-the-book" or be fully conscious of their surroundings. The only one who can protect me is me.
 
I always knew that it was a montage. My jajajaaj says it, in the video he speaks in Italian and it's very funny
 
So does anyone have 2 way bike lanes where they live? They recently went into a large urban park along my bike route and put in a bike lane with the reflective barriers to separate cyclists from traffic. But the odd thing about this that I've never seen is they made it a 2 way bike lane and the lanes are separated by a yellow broken line. So 1 lane each direction with indication that passing is allowed. The width of a single lane is barely wider than my wide mtb handle bars so its a tight fit indeed. The other side of the road has a painted shoulder but no bike lane. It seems they could have put the usual 1 way bike lanes on opposite sides of the road flowing with traffic.

My first experience with a rider coming the other direction came Thursday. I was alone in the bike lane so cruising about 23 mph. Guy crosses from other side of the road (a danger if you ask me) and entered the 2 way coming in my direction so I braked and slowed. I'm not sure what my speed was but pretty sure he yelled at me as we passed each other. I can't say for sure what he said because we passed quickly and wind noise etc but I think he might have said "too fast!". If I had to guess I'd say I had slowed to 17 mph or so (I was focused us not clipping each other so I wasn't watching my Intuvia). Not sure I like the 2 way bike lane concept. Little margin for error. Its gonna slow my commute or force me to ride in traffic with less room than I had before they put the bike lane there. Anyone else have them?
 
They put one in Honolulu along King Street. I rode it once and didn't feel safe because of the narrow width for each direction of travel as you stated. Personally, I prefer a bike lane on each side of the road.
 
ebikemom said:
I’m so glad you are okay! May I ask what your speed was and about how fast traffic was?
Click to expand...
I was going 23 mph and undertaking that car and the video pretty much shows he was going slower, then suddenly braked and without signaling, hooked me. It was his fault but it was my lesson that I could have prevented being his victim by not undertaking him, bike lane or no bike lane. Am sort of anti-shared-bike lane, in result. Bike lanes like that one, particularly when they are not painted bright green or blue, are especially disregarded by careless drivers.

Have a nice thick scar on my right knee today to remind me when I rub it that reality hurts.

These lanes are terribly dangerous and there is zero public education to the effect that they must NOT be casually used, like you see @17 seconds: there within the reportage of my own crash goes another future victim!
 
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A related question for the peanut gallery:

You are riding on a busy four-lane road with a fairly high speed limit, at least 35mph and possibly much higher. You need to turn left at an intersection. Do you "take the lane" and cross two lanes of fast traffic to get in the left turn pocket or do you take the crosswalks around the outside? How do variations in traffic and the speed limit change your calculations?
 
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