Are you afraid?

[The Hitch]

Yes it was in London, I was coming out of Regents Park and about to head past Lords when wham!

.

Regents park, thats right next to my uni. Every day i see lots of cyclists around there and feel its a good place to cycle, but i feel it might be false security.

And admitedly the pavements here are quite small and busy. Obviously you cant go fast but its still all right.
But i still feel a lot safer cycling on them when i can. Im wary of cops though cos they stopped me once on an unused pavement and told me id have to pay a £30 fine, but my shamefull pleading got me out of it eventually.

The thing about ridiing the bike in the city etc is that its just another risk profile. There are more car deaths than cycling deaths in Austalia per year - should I not drive then? I get solace form that logic but I know it would be hollow if I were killed.

But there are far far far more cars out there which is probably why there are more car deaths. Here there arent even many cyclists but a lot of cycling deaths.

 

[Martin318is]

London isn't a great place to do anything - especially ride a bike.
Even with the congestion charge, traffic in the City is a nightmare. I think part of the problem for cyclists is the lack of a grid structure in the roads.

Because all the roads bend at least once, even though you are far on the left of the road, the fact the cars are not driving in a straight line means you are at risk of being hit at the apex of every bend.

Parks or out in the villages is the only way to ride around London (and then in the villages areas your new problem is the narrow lanes and tall hedges. - You cant be seen and then when the car gets there you have nowhere to run)

 

[auscyclefan94]

I notice the danger of city riding more now that I am in my late 30s and have 2 children. When I was in my early 20s I think I was a lot more unbreakable. It also helped that I was selfish and didnt care whether I would leave anyone behind. The same was true from my main hobby at the time which was rockclimbing. I used to split my time between climbing and crit/track racing.

I used to love the feeling cornering at extreme speed and of diving off a mountain peak on my bike and trying to stay above 90kph for as long as possible.

I have known 4 cycling victims in recent years. 3 are dead and the other in a wheelchair. However I have met thousands of cyclists...

My father died when I was nearly 3 years old and I grew up without him. These days, particularly on mountain descents, I have moments when I suddenly see the family coping without me. It is amazingly sobering and enough to make me reconsider what I am doing. I stopped climbing seriously about 5 years ago. These days I race the bike and thats my main focus.

The thing about ridiing the bike in the city etc is that its just another risk profile. There are more car deaths than cycling deaths in Austalia per year - should I not drive then? I get solace form that logic but I know it would be hollow if I were killed.

There are more heart attack deaths than cycling deaths each year - at least cycling will help me hopefully not be one of these (and please lets not have that discussion about ALL deaths ultimately being heart attacks....)

Thanks for sharing your story, I have read and heard from a few people on here who don't descend that hard anymore because of the risks.

 

[Nick777]

I seem to see a cyclist on the deck every 6 weeks or so. I saw one yesterday being loaded into an ambulance near Patterson River (Nepean Highway).
I am a pretty cautious rider, but as my GF says - 'It's the other idiots I am afraid of'...I tell my GF I love her before every ride..

When I am out there, I don't ever think I am going to get hit, but have had a few close calls. I had a guy speed past me today in a 4WD, only to brake quickly & turn into a side street right in front of me. I reckon most cyclists have experienced that sort of thing. Frustrating...

 

[Martin318is]

I am a pretty cautious rider, but as my GF says - 'It's the other idiots I am afraid of'...I tell my GF I love her before every ride..

I say the same thing. I think that the most dangerous thing on the Beach road down through Frankston circuit (Melbourne on the bay for the non Aussies) is that it is so heavily frequented by the moron element of cycling. These are the guys that mean the slow riders on the left are being passed by the faster riders on the right who in turn are being passed by the even faster bunch on THEIR right - and then you get that idiot that thinks they should swerve in front of a car to pass everybody else.

The one time I was sent to hospital was a crash in Swanston St (20m from where that woman was killed 6 years later). A cyclist suddenly came to a dead stop when he was blocking the only piece of road betwee a delivery truck and the tram line. In avoiding the tool, I dropped my front wheel into the tram line and was thrown up and sideways into the side of the truck tray. Broken arm and ribs and stuffed up knee - no cars in sight though....

In another thread I talked about attending the scene of a bike v bike head on on the suspended path under the Monash Freeway. A rider heading west was hit hard by an idiot that tried to pass 20 riders in the other direction. They hit hard enough to smash their helmets against each other and his front brake arm was bent back onto his head tube by the force. All he wanted to do taht day was cruise down to Beach road and instead he went to hospital with a fractured cheek and compound arm fracture. (for that matter my 3 hour ride became 10mins of riding and 1hr of looking after the vicitms at the scene and helping the Ambo's when they arrived.

These days I always watch for the moron cyclist - there are more of them on the road every day

Its a mistake for anyone to think cars are always at fault - just as it is a mistake for drivers to think that all cyclists are rule breaking idiots.

So yes, I guess I AM scared on the road... when I am not racinng

 

[pollux]

The problem is that there are too many people outside who don't look after the other on the road. I was on my bike behind a car at +/- 25kph when suddenly some other car comes from the right and burns a red light so the car infront of me jumps on the break, I was to close so I couldn't react. I hit him at the back, of course his car, myself and my bike got damaged.
The the driver who burned to red light got away !

 

[the student]

i have never been hit by a car... i was very close to doing so one day... crashed myself to prevent it. My bike got messed up pretty bad by the car though. I usually just slam hard on the window... most of the times they didnt even have a clue i was there... you scare the hell out of them by doing so. A lot of people just dont care about checking their mirrors and their blind spots... its the im bigger so i will be the first to go thing all the times...

 

[Francois the Postman]

To be quite honest I have never felt this way, nor know of anyone who has. But I think it's also best to just put thoughts like that out of your mind, in reality if you worry a lot about something, it won't prevent you from getting an accident

Back "home" in the NL I would happily put on blindfolds and peddle about. On the wrong side of the road. Cars and bikes have pretty much perfected the merry dance of sharing the same road space. Drivers even anticipate the almost anarchist way bikes move through traffic, for obvious reasons. They are or were all bike riders who just happen to sit in a car for a bit.

Then I moved to Scotland (2 decades ago), and traffic here terrified me. All the more as I am programmed to think that cars know what they are doing, and I would instinctively cycle according to the "rules" of the Dutch dance, which assumes a competent partner at the opposite side. Which is the surest lottery ticket to hospital you can buy.

The reality was (certainly then, but it's getting better at last), bikes on the road are alien objects to car drivers here. Whenever I get to a roundabout I am never sure if the driver approaching me from another lane is even aware what the actual road rules are. Even worse, some panic when they see a cyclist, and they suddenly do daft and unpredictable things, putting yet another worrying variable into the equation.

If you head into a lane where cars can go one way, but bikes are allowed to go both, it's Russian roulette. The actual accidents I have witnessed on those streets usually involve a car driver getting out of the car and berating the cyclist on top. The actual bike lane drawn on the road and a sign at the top of the road notwithstanding.

Cars frequently cut across lanes if there are no other cars approaching. Often they don't see you, as they are programmed to spot "big vehicles" only. Sometimes they actually think they have right of way. If one of the regular cyclists here hadn't had the bike handling skills he had when another idiot cut him off turning left, I would have witnessed a fatality just one week ago.

What rules a car driver think they should follow when approaching a roundabout is anyone's guess.

Thankfully over the last 4 or five years bikes on the road are become a more regular occurrence here in town and on the country lanes, and I do feel a heck of a lot safer these days. But every time I take to the road, I cycle with "a head" that assumes that the ones in the car have no idea what they are doing, and I keep myself very safe on the road by giving cars no space for silly behaviour. If I judge there is no space to overtake me, I take a position that makes it impossible. I never assume I will get my right of way.

It doesn't help that (functional) cycle paths and lanes are next to non-existent up here (although that too is slowly changing), and where they do exists they have often been designed by people who evidently have never sat on a bike ever, and who just looked at manuals without understanding what they read.

And that there is often exactly one road to get you from A to B in Scotland, meaning you will share the road with all the traffic, including the fastest, dangerous, and most impatient drivers around.

Conditions have been improving rapidly though. Although they will never get anywhere near the Dutch cycling nirvana.

As an aside, biggest city thrill on the bike has been to take a 3/4 turn around the Arc the Triomphe, during rush hour. There is something utterly glorious being in the middle of a 12 lane car carousel "out in the open". I made it very clear where I was and where I was going, and my "confidence" and clear flagging seemed to put cars at ease too. Amazingly, it all worked flawlessly. Not one horn beeped, not one car that make me feel even vaguely unsafe. Not sure if I would do it again. But as an experience, it was superb.

And my partner yelling behind me "it's not a bloody cycle path, it's a bloody blue line!" Never heard the end of it

 

[Finbouy]

I've been nerfed off twice by cars, once on a roundabout near my home by a neighbour, I fell hard breaking my collarbone. The second time was in the lanes and I slipped on some horse sh*te at the wrong time and on the wrong corner just to be nerfed onto the bonet of a car, all be it very slowly, I suffered a busted ego.

Other than that I've been lucky. I ride hard through the lanes where I live, these lanes are only one car width wide and full of tractors and farm vehicles. So, I ride with care, with my ears open and my eyes on stalks, and a firm grip of the brakes "just in case". But only one small incident in years of riding in these lanes makes me happy to ride hard there..

I have fallen off many times I may add, but these have been where my enthusiasm has exceeded my ability as a bike rider..

 

[on3m@n@rmy]

...Is anyone else scared like this?

No, but I avoid city traffic as much as possible and tend to ride suburban, or rural country roads where traffic is much lighter. I never ride in busy downtown city traffic. When I do ride roads with lots of traffic, you know... lots of side entries from parking lots, cars parked along curbs... my attention is hightened. So I feel more tense in those situations. Sounds like you have no choice but to ride the heavy city traffic most of the time, and I don't blame you for being scared at least some of the time. If it were me and I didn't HAVE to ride where you do, I wouldn't. To get my cycling fix I'd get myself a car bike rack, drive out to some less traveled area, and do routes from starting points like that. My local area is growing and I've already had thoughts of having to do that sometime in the future. My local cycling clubbers often do that. Anyway, take care and BE SAFE. YOU are more important than the cycling, to you AND your future kids.

 

[RedheadDane]

I'm not afraid I'm just slightly cautious. I always use helmet and have lights on (I have a set of those nifty magnetic lights!) If it's dark and I'm riding on smaller roads (the bigger ones have biking lanes) I wear a reflection-west and at some time last year I realized that people couldn't see me from behind because of my school-back so I bought a pair of nifty smiley-reflexes to put on it.

 

[Finbouy]

Reading more in this thread has made me think about your experiances, it's also made think think of one specific point I do now..
Use lights, a rear light.
Thats not just in the dark, but if it's a particularly grey day, I'll put on the rear light, but leave the front one off.
Now I've seen many mates do this over the most recent years, something I've always steared clear of until now.
And I don;t really know why I'm using it either, does it really make a huge amount of differance?

 

[Slo & Old]

I was hit once about 5 years ago and sustained some broken ribs, a hematoma on my arm and some minor internal injuries. I was hit by an underage, uninsured, unlicensed driver. Scared me a bit but I figured it was just bad luck and got back on the bike without much of a second thought. After reading this thread, I am starting to wonder. You guys are scaring the @$#t out of me! I am 51 years old and cannot sustain very many more hard hits! Your collective views on the narcissistic attitudes of drivers are quite enlightening.

 

[philcrisp]

your new problem is the narrow lanes and tall hedges. - You cant be seen and then when the car gets there you have nowhere to run)

It's all like that around here. You are at least in a driver's field of vision rather than off to one side. Driver also can't get anywhere in a hurry which makes them slightly more patient.

 

[veganrob]

I am a bit more cautious as I have been hit twice this year. Once cracked ribs and taco'd rear wheel after being t'boned. Second time, another rear wheel gone. Both times drivers not paying attention. I do ride a lot in the city, Indy, because I commute to/from work and just for getting around. But it hurts more to be hitting the pavement now as I get older.

 

[Martin318is]

It's all like that around here. You are at least in a driver's field of vision rather than off to one side. Driver also can't get anywhere in a hurry which makes them slightly more patient.

true - except when the car is coming the other way around a bend. I was nearly taken out twisce that way in 2007.

 

[Martin318is]

Another experience from riding in the UK (but not the UK's fault I should add) is that a friend was riding down a reasonably steep road that is the start of his daily morning training ride and as he passed over the bumps where the road had been repaired his steerer tube snapped.

Collarbone and smashed shoulder. Was off the bike for months and off work for about a week. Only lucky that he wore a helmet as otherwise it would have been a lot worse. Also lucky because it was around 6am and he was left lying on the road in the dark until he was able to drag himself to the grass. Could have been pretty nasty.

(In a similar incident I was thinking the other day of some TV I saw of the Herald Sun Tour in Australia about 5 years ago. As the bunch was coming down a big open downhill an asian rider's handlebar snapped. He sat up and tried to steer with the stem and got himself out to the side of the bunch before it all went wrong and he got spat down the road)

These two things make me think a LOT when I descend. Particularly on my 11 year old carbon frame

 

[stainlessguy1]

Urge all to find thread for recent accident in italy

8 riders on training ride killed in Italy .
Morrocan man without a license and high on pot .... head on collision , nothing left of the bikes .
see film footage and pics . Horrible

 

[flicker]

Always make eye contact with drivers, follow traffic laws, be courteous and share the road. Use your sixth sense and your common sense, be aware.
Never ride above your ability, when you go around a curve at 40 know that if when you go down centrifical force could put you under an oncoming car(fatal) never ride faster than you are willing to crash. Avoid opening car doors and do not try to beat a train accross a crossing. Wear bright clothing, light and reflectorize your bike. If you ride enough and have good enough hearing you will know by the sound how close cars are to you. Trucks and cars always win. Follow these commandments and you will enjoy a safe and pleasurable cycling experience.

 

[Darryl Webster]

After almost two decades of the bike Ive found myself far more concious of my mortality and definantly take more care. I still ride "defensively" by positioning myself around a meter into the carriegway as have since a kid of 8 years with the Cycle Touring Club but make a lot more effort to be aware of whats behind and get very anxious on busy roads which I avoid more than ever.
However I only wear a helmet if the roads are slippy , very busy or im going off road and lights at dusk. I very , very rarely ride in the dark.
Its not death that botheres me ..its the getting there thats the bummer.

Ps Big Thumbs up re eye contact..If ya aint made eye contact be bloody careful. Number one excuse of drivers " I dint see you"..
eye contact sais they did.

 

[euanli]

Eye contact means jack ****. Drivers have an amazing ability to look at you and still not recognise you are there because you aren't a big metal box.

The amount of times where I've had right of way while travelling 20mph+ made eye contact and the driver has gone anyway almost resulting in a messy incident.

How do you make eye contact with something behind you?

1. If you can't see the driver they can't see you.
2. If you can see the driver they aren't looking for you

Those are my rules concerning drivers.

 

[stainlessguy1]

After almost two decades of the bike Ive found myself far more concious of my mortality and definantly take more care. I still ride "defensively" by positioning myself around a meter into the carriegway as have since a kid of 8 years with the Cycle Touring Club but make a lot more effort to be aware of whats behind and get very anxious on busy roads which I avoid more than ever.
However I only wear a helmet if the roads are slippy , very busy or im going off road and lights at dusk. I very , very rarely ride in the dark.
Its not death that botheres me ..its the getting there thats the bummer.

Ps Big Thumbs up re eye contact..If ya aint made eye contact be bloody careful. Number one excuse of drivers " I dint see you"..
eye contact sais they did.

problem is ,, tinted windows .... we can no mo see da man tru da tint mahn

 

[AngusW]

Two years ago I was biking home from work and was stopped by a red light. While I was waiting, a large truck came to stop at the lights behind me. The light changes to green and I'm off pretty fast so it's a while before the truck goes past me. Once past me, he slows right down, so I pass him on the inside of the lane and as I do, he sounds his horn. I reply by waving in an inflammatory, sarcastic kind of a way (no one finger salutes, mind you) and he passes me again, only to slow down again and the same process is repeated (we exhcange our respective greetings as before). He then passes me a third time only to stop at the next sets of lights, which are red. As I approach (I'm about to turn left and have a green light), he's out of his cab and walking towards me and I'm thinking "oh, ****" and looking to see if he's carrying a baseball bat or about to hit me.

Without bothering with any pleasantries (time is money, after all) he tells me he's sick of ****s like me being on the road and holding him up (bear in mind it's a four lane highway and there was virtually no other traffic around at the time, so he could have got past me without any trouble) and why wasn't I using the cycle lane? The cycle lane in question is on the other side of the road, is basically a footpath and is crossed by the driveways of multiple businesses. The road, on the other hand, is not a designated motorway, and therefore perfectly legal to use. I'm already ****ed off with this idiot and his antics so rather than presenting a reasoned argument to the cretin I immediately tell him that he's the **** (even though I hate that word). Our short exchange achieves nothing and he's back in his truck in time to catch the next green light.

Aside from feeling ****ed off that I didn't say what I really thought of him and why, I realised that that ***hole of a truck driver already had it in for me before he'd passed me the first time. And his attitude is not uncommon in this country (New Zealand). Even the mainstream media here are talking about a "war" between motorists and cyclists. And the idiots are not only the motorists.

To answer the OP's questions, no. I don't think about the danger. I make myself as visible as possible, I signal, keep aware of things around me and try to start work as early as possible to avoid the traffic (6:30am this morning on the orange bike in my avatar). And I don't take risks on the downhills. The alternative is walking or taking the bus, neither of which appeals to me.

 

[stainlessguy1]

Two years ago I was biking home from work and was stopped by a red light. While I was waiting, a large truck came to stop at the lights behind me. The light changes to green and I'm off pretty fast so it's a while before the truck goes past me. Once past me, he slows right down, so I pass him on the inside of the lane and as I do, he sounds his horn. I reply by waving in an inflammatory, sarcastic kind of a way (no one finger salutes, mind you) and he passes me again, only to slow down again and the same process is repeated (we exhcange our respective greetings as before). He then passes me a third time only to stop at the next sets of lights, which are red. As I approach (I'm about to turn left and have a green light), he's out of his cab and walking towards me and I'm thinking "oh, ****" and looking to see if he's carrying a baseball bat or about to hit me.

Without bothering with any pleasantries (time is money, after all) he tells me he's sick of ****s like me being on the road and holding him up (bear in mind it's a four lane highway and there was virtually no other traffic around at the time, so he could have got past me without any trouble) and why wasn't I using the cycle lane? The cycle lane in question is on the other side of the road, is basically a footpath and is crossed by the driveways of multiple businesses. The road, on the other hand, is not a designated motorway, and therefore perfectly legal to use. I'm already ****ed off with this idiot and his antics so rather than presenting a reasoned argument to the cretin I immediately tell him that he's the **** (even though I hate that word). Our short exchange achieves nothing and he's back in his truck in time to catch the next green light.

Aside from feeling ****ed off that I didn't say what I really thought of him and why, I realised that that ***hole of a truck driver already had it in for me before he'd passed me the first time. And his attitude is not uncommon in this country (New Zealand). Even the mainstream media here are talking about a "war" between motorists and cyclists. And the idiots are not only the motorists.

To answer the OP's questions, no. I don't think about the danger. I make myself as visible as possible, I signal, keep aware of things around me and try to start work as early as possible to avoid the traffic (6:30am this morning on the orange bike in my avatar). And I don't take risks on the downhills. The alternative is walking or taking the bus, neither of which appeals to me.

Sir , this problem is world wide .
All countries , especially major automobile countries and anywhere the Bike is considered transportation for poor people only > This is the very problem that the bicycle has fought from the very first automobile and along with it the attitude of the people .

Here is something you can do as an observation . It is something i was told as a junior and something that was discovered by a reporter over 60 years ago .... now imagine traffic then ,, but it still holds true today .

You are riding along on a regular country road , and a car comes up from behind you , he is still a long way off. There is also a car coming from the other direction as the oncomming car .
WEll guess what 99 % of the time the bicycle , the passing car and the oncomming car all meet at the same time . So they all are side by each as they pass and pass by . Even though the entire road is empty . Like Clockwork .
It is an observation that is timeless ....... food for thought . This thought will lead to other observations and will answer many questions for you .

 

[bridgeman]

The list of things to beware of is daunting, and when seen on paper makes one wonder why do we do this. 30 years ago, when I started, was a way better time to be cycling, especially here in the SF bay area. Now, times are different.

I decided a while ago to support my kids sporting endevours in things other than cycling, even though I used to imagine riding and training with them.

You must have a good sixth sense on the bike. Now I could be killed tomorrow, but I do have one and it goes very deep. I can hear laterally where a car is behind me most of the time. But you don't want to talk about these abilities to much as it is like talking about good fortune with tire longevity.

There is one dumb **** trait that car divers exhibit that ****es me off to no end, and it's when you are coming up to a side street and inevitably, drivers will always approach this intersection looking to their right, and then without stopping for the stop sign, proceed to drive through without looking to their left! Often times they do this while looking at cell phones, only to look up while running the stop sign to see they are about to hit me as I'm going by. After all these years I see them coming, and always assume that they are going to **** up.

After all these years I love seeing my friends out on the road. I am constantly waving and giving out smiles. It's like everyone is saying; yep, we are still out here, and isn't this just the best!

Take care y'all.