Interesting Information

[7rider]

How any guy can slap on a wig and think he'll pass for a woman on a bike to see how cars react to a woman cyclist is just mind-blowing.
When riding alone, I too, wear team jerseys and try my best to look androgynous (I have short hair, too). And there is no part of me that could ever be described as "petite" - except perhaps my bra size! Yes, and I thank my mother for passing on my football player body shape. Good Polish stock.
Yet while wearing team colors, helmet, and dark glasses, I've had mere nodding aquaintances talk to me in the elevator at work and say "Hey, I saw you on the bike this morning." So much for travelling in disguise!
So, if I can't pass for a guy...I bet money he can't pass for a woman.

[light_sabe_r]

In Brisbane the bus drivers wave! I think it's cool! Of course this particular bus driver does look like santa.

Ever think that trucks and buses pass closer because they're significantly wider and take up almost all the left hand lane?? (Sorry, RIGHT in the states)

They shouldn't have been included in the analysis, or if they were in his article it would have been better if the above was mentioned. or even some data from hos Automobile Club, or the government suggesting just how wide trucks and busses are thereby strengthening his data that trucks pass too close.

I get spooked in my car when a truck over takes me because of how close they pass.

As for the unhelmeted thing, I'm guessing they're more afraid of hitting an unhelmeted rider because they're more likely to die in a crash and put them in jail for life. O_O

[Geonz]

The guy makes a whole lot of assumptions in the inhterpretation of that study... such as taht the difference in proximity translates into differences in collisions.

Most accidents are, simply, not caused by vehicles passing bikes at all... and even fewer from passing them too closely. Our most recent (too recent - about a week ago) fatality was from a phone impaired driver who simply swerved and struck the guy. I can't help but wonder if he'd have been safer out in the road instead of on the shoulder... because she might just have known he was there at all.

But hey, let's *all* don wigs :-)

[DebW]

I passed the link from that study

http://www.bath.ac.uk/news/articles/...ing110906.html

on to the MBTA (local transit agency) after getting passed by a bus a mite too close this morning. I told them exactly where and when buses are passing me too close, so they could track down the driver if they want. And I encouraged them to educate their drivers regarding proper passing distance and speed. We'll see if anything changes.

[Pachyderm]

Just thought I'd post a quick note to say that there was a similar experiment in England a while ago.

An experienced touring cyclist went out in his normal gear: no helmet; ordinary clothes etc. Then he went out again in helmet, luminous jacket and all the safety gear, and found that vehicles gave him a lot less room when overtaking, pulled out in front of him and generally gave him much less respect. He took it to be because other road users took him to be "safe" and so didn't have to worry about being respectful.

He then went out in the cycling policeman's uniform. He had no trouble then!

[Geonz]

http://www.helmets.org/walkerstudy.htm has an interesting analysis of that study, which notes some of the same issues I thought of, primarily the whole assumption that helmets are "the factor" - and also that 3 inches closer actually means more likely to be hit.
Our recent fatality was riding off the road on the shoulder, if my information is correct, and a phone-impaired driver swerved enough to take him out. So, most traffic was passing with all kinds of distance, but partially *because* that distance was enough to put him out of the "attention range," he's gone.
That article points out also that the roads are *very* different in the UK.

[LisaB]

Wow -- looks like I'm a day late to this party. Helmets do not "improve safety." This seems to be the basis for the guy's argument, and, as most daily-riding cyclists know, all helmets do is protect your head. There are ancillary effects (getting called a dork, having a place to mount your light, etc.), but helmets only do one thing: protect your head. Helmets don't improve safety. These things do:
• Being an aware and experienced rider
• Riding on a low-risk facility
• Riding with aware and experienced facility co-users
• Communicating with your facility co-users with your voice, bell or horn
• Signaling to traffic and obeying traffic laws while behaving in a predictable fashion (i.e. "like a car").

Wearing a helmet just reduces your chances of severe insult to the organ you keep in your skull -- NOTHING MORE. Further, the connection of "bicyclists who wear helmets are more likely to be hit by a motor vehicle" and "I really doubt if it’s necessary to wear a helmet while riding my bike to work on the bike trail" when cars are a factor in the former and are not in the latter... okay, soooo not gonna go there.

The study is spurious at best (the results are observed, not causal). YMMV.

[DebW]

I passed the link from that study

http://www.bath.ac.uk/news/articles/...ing110906.html

on to the MBTA (local transit agency) after getting passed by a bus a mite too close this morning. I told them exactly where and when buses are passing me too close, so they could track down the driver if they want. And I encouraged them to educate their drivers regarding proper passing distance and speed. We'll see if anything changes.

I just received the following letter regarding my complaint to the MBTA about their bus operators:

Dear Ms. W,

Thank you for your letter about bus operators driving dangerously when
passing cyclists. We appreciate hearing from you and we are very sorry
for the operators' behavior. There is no excuse for it.

The type of behavior you describe goes against all our operators'
training.

Operators driving in this manner will face discipline. If this happens
in the future, please provide us with the date, location, bus route,
direction traveled, location and, if possible, the four-digit vehicle
number. The vehicle number is visibly located on the outside of the bus
on the front, back and side and also inside the bus. With this
information we will identify, interview and re-instruct individual
operators.

Again, we extend our apologies. Thank you again for writing.

MBTA Feedback

[Denise223]

Hey Deb:

That's awesome -- I'm really happy that the MBTA responded to you. What you did will help all cyclists!

Thanks for letting us know.

Peace & Love,

Denise

[Lise]

Nice, Deb! Thanks for posting that.

I'd heard about the study on the radio, but somehow missed this thread. It's good to see a full discussion. As LisaB. said, "The study is spurious at best (the results are observed, not causal)."

I give cyclists as much room as I can, period. I give extra room to non-helmet wearers, because I assume that they're stupid as it is. Given that they're stupid and don't value their own brains, I presume that they may make other stupid decisions. As I don't want to end up in an ER or court room with them, I cut them a wide bearth. The dingbats who ride, oblivious, with their ipods in and helmets dangling from the handlebars are a particular annoyance to me. But they're not as likely to be daredevils like the roadies with no helmets. Oblivious, however, is very dangerous on Chicago streets. The other night I spotted a guy in dark clothes, on a bike with no lights, coming toward me the wrong way down a one way street. Of course, on his head he sported only a baseball cap. There was no one behind me, so I just crawled to a stop in my car and let him pass me, going the wrong way. He stared at me as if *I'd* lost my mind. But I wasn't going to keep driving straight at him when I had no idea what bone-headed move he might make. At least I had headlights and bright red tail lights, and if someone were coming behind me, I could start creeping forward again until he passed.