Near miss with a garbage truck

[TraderJane]

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. 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.

[Tuckervill]

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

Glad you're okay.

Karen

[Grog]

Please, please, please:

don't hug the curb.

Glad you're okay.

[sgtiger]

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

[TraderJane]

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.

[Grog]

Just curious, what is wrong with hugging the curb?

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!