Near miss with a garbage truck

Sooooo I'm toodling around my neighborhood circa 1:30pm. I'm hugging the curb in the right lane as a garbage truck passes me with a big whoosh only to come to a screeching halt about 75 ft ahead of me to pick up some cans. It was one of those fancy trucks with a forklift on the side, so no garbageman hanging onto the back. A car is coming from behind me in the other lane, so I cross the intersection and stop about 15 ft behind the truck to wait for the car. I am looking over my left shoulder waiting for the car to pass, at a speed slower than cold molasses I might add, and meanwhile the garbage truck in front of me is backing up but strangely, the regulation reverse beeper isn't sounding, so I don't know that the garbage truck is getting closer to me until I feel the heat from the exhaust on my shins. :eek: I did a weird hobble-hop maneuver to at least get myself out of the way of the truck before hitting on the side of it with my hand and yelling at the driver. I see his face in the side mirror and he looks stunned to see me, like "wtf? Where did that cyclist come from?" HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE?! The guy had to have seen me. He had passed me not more than a minute before and I was wearing my "please don't hit me" yellow jersey, which is so bright it's probably visible from outer space. Fortunately no injuries sustained and lesson learned.

Wow, that's scary. What the heck was he backing up for?

Glad you're okay.

Karen

Please, please, please:

don't hug the curb.

Glad you're okay.

Glad you're okay, TraderJane. The first lesson in cycling is never assume someone saw you. There are too many people lost in their own little world while driving.

Welcome to TE BTW! I hope to be seeing you around for a long, long time; so please stay safe.

Soo

I haven't a clue why the garbage truck needed to backup. Definite note to self: don't stare in any one particular direction, always look around every couple of seconds, and never assume that a car notices me.

Just curious, what is wrong with hugging the curb?

I'm riding the bike path now, it's so beautiful and most cyclists are nice enough to shout, "on your left!" before zooming past me. I accept my fate as the slow toothpick, for now. Another six months and I will be passing some cyclists too and not just pedestrians. Lol. :D

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Originally Posted by TraderJane

Just curious, what is wrong with hugging the curb?

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Basically it makes you invisible. You are out of drivers' sight, or at least out of their range of "attentive vision." (Not that drivers are already paying a whole lot of attention, but that's a different problem.) They might happen to look in your direction but you're not any more relevant to them than a pedestrian on the sidewalk. Also, if you're already hugging the curb and a car buzzes by you, you have nowhere to go. In fact, I find that drivers give me about as much room on my left as I am taking on my right. So I generally ride about 3 or 4 feet away from the curb or parked cars (to stay out of the door zone). Being hit from behind is extremely rare.

http://bicyclesafe.com/ is a very good web site for basic cycling safety. A lot of that is counterintuitive but much safer than what our intuition tricks us into doing.

Good luck and we look forward to hearing more (happier) adventures!

Garbage trucks frequently back up in suburban/exurban areas, usually three or four times in a block. That's especially true in areas where customers use the big rolling bins rather than regular trash cans. They also usually work both sides of the street at the same time, so they'll be zig-zagging from side to side. A child in our town was very seriously injured by a garbage truck a few years ago. Definitely be careful around them!

But yeah, their backup beeper should have been sounding, and I'd contact the company about it, and if you were inside city limits where the city has a contract with a private hauler, contact the city as well.


ETA:
Besides what others have mentioned, hugging the curb means you have to move a long way into the path of traffic to avoid obstructions. That makes you doubly invisible and doubly dangerous. Garbage trucks are obviously a special case, but the normal things you'll encounter are potholes and debris. You want to be riding far enough from the curb that (1) you're not constantly dodging that stuff and (2) when something is in your path, you have enough room to go around it to the inside rather than swerving into the path of traffic.

Garbage trucks are not a special case if the street has on-street parking. Stay a car's width from the curb all the time - not just when you're passing parked cars - again, so that you're not constantly swerving in and out of traffic. And obviously be sure to watch those parked cars carefully and avoid getting "doored" - whenever someone is inside one of the cars, give them a door's width of room.

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Originally Posted by OakLeaf

Garbage trucks are not a special case if the street has on-street parking. Stay a car's width from the curb all the time - not just when you're passing parked cars - again, so that you're not constantly swerving in and out of traffic.

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Sorry to add on to this, I don't want to pick on you TraderJane and I have no idea if you do this, but Oakleaf's message made me think about this. I write it for everyone's attention as part of the general Crazy Drivers thread. :)

I often see cyclists riding along parked cars (in the door zone) and then if there are a few spaces without a car parked, they will move to the right and then to the left again as they approach a parked car and have to get back into traffic.

This is VERY dangerous. Every time a cyclist goes in-between parked cars like that, she becomes invisible to cars coming from behind and to cars coming in the other direction. (On narrow streets that's relevant.) When she goes back into the travel lane (because of parked cars), it comes as a surprise to drivers coming from behind.

I know that cyclists who do that think that it's safer for them, because they feel like they are getting a respite from traffic momentarily. But it's really a dangerous strategy because cars are traveling faster than we are and thus need ample advance notice of our presence.

On a very narrow street, I will sometimes go between parked cars to let a car that is otherwise stuck behind me go by. But I only do it when I am sure that I have been seen and when there is no other option.

Cycle safe and enjoy!

Also be very careful when riding alongside garbage trucks and other large vehicles. If they are turning right, the driver might not see you next to them. There was a tragic accident in DC last year involving a cyclist and a turning garbage truck.

I'm glad everything turned out okay for you.

Our garbage trucks don't back up, except maybe on the occasional dead end street. We don't have those lifts, just a couple of guys working both sides of the street. I still can't picture it, but that's okay.

Karen

Yeah, take the lane. OWN it. When I commute into work there are a couple of streets on my route that don't have bike lanes. They are two lanes in each direction, so I just take the right lane and own it. I don't give the cars a chance to try to squeeze by me, they have to get in the other lane.
So far so good. Drivers don't seem to mind either, they just move over and pass me.

I didn't take the lane at first, because it seemed like those who posted directions to do so were saying "it's my right, so I'm asserting myself!" and I'm 'way more interested in safety, and it *seems* like the right thign to do.

Don't hug the curb. It's not as safe. Drivers will see you *far* less often. They will have that WTF look more often; yea, you'd *think* they would be more annoyed if you're out, say, where their right tire would be... but I find that when I get buzzed by cars or whoever... it's almost always when I've drifted to the right.

There's an "arc of attention" that you want to be in . They really can, and do, completely fail to see you. http://viscog.beckman.illinois.edu/flashmovie/15.php (our local U is where lots of research about this has been done and a friend of mine was one of the guinea pigs;) )

All that said... I tend to hop onto the sidewalk and walk until I'm out of range of garbage trucks in process.

... and then you have the odd nutso bus driver who, even though you've taken not only the lane but the entire road, (which is so narrow that it's dangerous for a car to pass, let alone a bus) and are moving at a brisk 30 kph, will 1. honk at your elbow 2. drive up on the sidewalk to pass you...

I kid you not, happened to me last winter. Some drivers just will do anything to pass. Keep your eyes open, stay visible and safe.

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Originally Posted by lph

... and then you have the odd nutso bus driver who, even though you've taken not only the lane but the entire road, (which is so narrow that it's dangerous for a car to pass, let alone a bus) and are moving at a brisk 30 kph, will 1. honk at your elbow 2. drive up on the sidewalk to pass you...

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Yeah, I also had a bus driver pass me ON THE RIGHT on a downhill (I was going about 51 kph), pushing me into the opposing lane of traffic (which was momentarily empty, thankfully). It was also a double bus, which created quite the draft.

If you can take note of the bus # or licence plate or something, it's worth calling your transit authority. "My" bus driver's supervisor was happy to "educate" the faulty driver.

Why is it always bus drivers who do that? Goodness. I've had similar experiences of bus drivers thinking they own the road and laws don't apply to them.

Good for you Grog for calling the bus service. I often remember to call for cars and other various vehicles, but bus drivers, I doesn't even occur to me that I could actually do something.

And yes, do not hug the curb. It depends on the street, but I often like to be lined up with where the right car tire would be, at the minimum. Drivers here in Grand Forks, North Dakota can be pretty hostile to riders, so if you have similar experiences don't let it get you down. Just keep on riding. Eventually they'll get it. (right?)

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Originally Posted by Jewell

Why is it always bus drivers who do that? Goodness. I've had similar experiences of bus drivers thinking they own the road and laws don't apply to them.

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Actually, I should have added that bus drivers in Vancouver are otherwise quite courteous. I have had only this incident in four years of riding the streets. In Montreal it would be a weekly problem.

Another reason to take the lane? I like to have an "out"--somewhere to go when the cars try to pass to closely. This is my determination on whether to ride the shoulder--do I have room to bail, if a car gets to close. Believe it or not, "taking the lane" alleviated my fear of riding on the roads. To get the hang of it, I bought one of those bright orange flags that stick out the left side of your back wheel. Cars won't risk scratching their paint..........

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Originally Posted by cunninghamair

one of those bright orange flags that stick out the left side of your back wheel

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WHERE oh where did you find such a thing?! I keep swearing I'm going to take one of those recumbent flags and mount it sideways. I haven't seen one that's actually meant to mount that way!

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Originally Posted by cunninghamair

To get the hang of it, I bought one of those bright orange flags that stick out the left side of your back wheel. Cars won't risk scratching their paint..........

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I've recently thought about getting one of those flags attached to my bike, but putting a key on the end. "Do you feel lucky, punk? Wanna pass me too close? Your car will get keyed if you do, punk."
We just passed the 3 ft. law here and nobody seems to know it (duh-it's not been very publicly announced and only the cyclists seem to know about it). I thought a sideways flag would be sure to make them aware of the 3 feet. That or a yardstick taped to my bike. :p