Almost hit by a care today

I was nearly hit by a car today. I couldn't get across the intersection fast enough during the walk light and the driver going through the intersection didn't see me and I didn't see him. I don't see how anyone walking could get across it either. The intersection doesn't have islands where you can stop between the the four lanes of traffic (two lanes going each way) and all four lanes were exremely busy.You also have to cross right/left turn lanes that angle off before the lights. I'd go to the next intersection but I'd have to ride on the street because there is no sidewalk or bike lane.
I'm thinking of calling the city and asking them if they could make the walk lights longer. I like to ride there because it has some of my favorite stores. It's beautiful ride 10 mile ride from my house and almost totally on trails.The trail actually turns into a sidewalk near the intersection. I suppose I could start taking the car again. But if anyone has advice please tell me.

My only advice would be to get off your bike and walk it across that intersection just like a pedestrian. For some odd reason, cars see you better if you are walking your bike than when you are riding it.
When I have particularly dangerous intersections to cross, I always opt to become a pedestrian for that situation. It's all about safety and survival.

Yes, do request that they change the light interval. Get a friend to make a little video of you walking across as a pedestrian, to show how short the light is.
Put it up on youtube and show it to the right people when you make your request. :)

The 3 miles of my commute on bike paths beside roads (as opposed to bike lanes on roads) are the most terrifying part of my ride. You aren't in the driver's immediate field of vision, particularly when they are turning across the bike path. Some cities even require that you walk through any intersections where a bike path crosses a road like that, to increase visibility to drivers.

But as for the lights, Denver has recently decided to lengthen a number of pedestrian crossing times downtown because people apparently walk slower now than they did when the lights were installed. They cited the rate of movement several times when that made the news here...if I have time tomorrow I'll try to see what study they looked at so you can present that as info too.

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Originally Posted by kajero

I was nearly hit by a car today. I couldn't get across the intersection fast enough during the walk light and the driver going through the intersection didn't see me and I didn't see him. I don't see how anyone walking could get across it either.

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I take it that you were riding on the cross street with the green light and it changed before you got all the way across? With wide intersections where you might not have enough time, you might wait out a full cycle of the lights so that you can start crossing right when your light turns from red to green.

Kajero, i agree with what bleeker street said. You can AND must change this. With or without a video, you need to contact the highway dept of your town and get it changed.

Even if the light interval is lengthened, always keep in mind that crossing with a bike in a crosswalk is one of the more dangerous things that you can do. It may seem counter intuitive, but riding on the sidewalk (and yes at any intersection on a bike trail or MUP) is more, not less dangerous than using the road (one study has shown it to be 4x more dangerous in fact).

Motorists are not accustomed things that move faster than a pedestrian using sidewalks and using crosswalks, so your presence may not register with them at all - and most of them are certainly not looking far enough down the sidewalk to realize that you will soon enter the crosswalk. Always, always use extra caution if you will be using a crosswalk. I don't think you necessarily have to get off and walk (unless local laws call for it, and in some areas they do....), but be *very* aware of any motorists and consider each and every one of them to be functionally blind and deaf.

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Originally Posted by Eden

I don't think you necessarily have to get off and walk (unless local laws call for it, and in some areas they do....), but be *very* aware of any motorists and consider each and every one of them to be functionally blind and deaf.

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Good advice.

Remember, the motorists are looking ahead of their car for pedestrians while slowing to make the turn. They aren't looking at what is coming behind the car. Cyclists on the sidewalk are traveling much faster and enter the "danger zone" after a motorist has looked for a person/cyclist. We are essentially in the blind spot of the driver when traveling toward an intersection on the sidewalk.

Were you riding on the sidewalk before you entered the crosswalk?

I was vacationing somewhere that had a lot of very nice looking bike paths, but 90% of the cyclists I saw were on the road. I asked the LBS about it and they said the paths were far too dangerous, motorists coming out of driveways and entrances to housing developments had all their attention on the main road they were entering and often didn't see cyclists on the paths. Car/bike collisions were common. So most of the experienced cyclists opted to ride the road instead.

And I second the advice to walk your bike when using a pedestrian crosswalk. The closest I ever came to getting hit was when I rode on a crosswalk. Now I either get off and cross as a pedestrian, or get in line with the cars and ride right in the lane. For 4 lanes of traffic plus turning lanes I would probably take the pedestrian option.

Do put in a word for getting the light lengthened. Many of our lights now have count downs so you can tell how much time is left (tho' because of the standards, technically, if you start walking across when a number is flashing, even though you *know* you have plenty of time, you are officially breaking the law). At one of our Bike/Ped Advisory Commission meetings, the dude in charge of the Timing of Lights talked to us about the assorted issues, and that because people were walking more slowly, the standards have been changed to allow more time, and that this was creating some backup issues.
Interestingly he said they were standardizing things so that all the lights behaved the same, specifically going yellow at zero. One of my lights had given me five extra seconds of green after 0... but indeed, that week, that ended.
Last month, though, I got my five seconds back. I didn't ask for it, but I figure there was a reason for it -- like somebody asked. I'm happy as long as I know.
I'm always *super* careful if I think a light is going yellow on me, especially if nobody is stopped and waiting. I will never forget reading about the rider in Richmond VA who rode through the intersection and the light changed, and a driver (in a police car) anticipated the green and accelerated, and hit her hard enough... well, the press and the public were *not* kind to the law enforcement guys when she got charged for the cleanup of her body fluids from the car since it requires Hazmat treatment. I believe she recovered.
I also utterly avoid crosswalks. Expectations are horribly ambiguous.

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Originally Posted by Geonz

I also utterly avoid crosswalks. Expectations are horribly ambiguous.

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What she said.

No advice to offer, perhaps your lanes are different to ours over here in the UK.

Anyway, just pleased you are here to tell your story.

Keep safe. :)