Crashed again

[quint41]

Is there anything we, the members of TE, can do to try to lobby our states to make traveling safer for bicyclists?? Lobby for more bike lanes, for more signs warning drivers to share the road with bikes? To educate drivers?

How many TE members are there? Is there any way of telling how many of us are active in these forums??? Seems like a lot to me.

[mimitabby]

well, we can join clubs (like Cascade bike club) who ARE lobbying for safer streets and better laws; or we can write letters to the editor and to the mayor.
The more of us that do that, the better it will be.
but #1 ride DEFENSIVELY!

[mimitabby]

LPH

I am so sorry you crashed, I hope you are okay!

[divingbiker]

Wow, that's scary, lph! I think the cars coming out of driveways and cutting through lanes of stopped traffic are among the biggest dangers we face when commuting. I do a lot of yelling at people doing that.

[Geonz]

If you were on the sidewalk, you'd have driveways and cars not expecting you there, either.
The more I commute, the more I am sensitive to places like that... would another option have been to be a car, not a bus and use the car lane and wait with them?
But that's the biggest problem... "small" mistakes of inattention are big deals. Getting that concept through to auto culture is a real challenge. However, there's more sensitivity about drunk driving, right?
Personally I think I can have the biggest effect being out there riding - because the more people see bicycles, the more they expect to see them - and participating in teh planning process, and sometimes writing letters to editors, etc. However, dealing with "the general public" is very tricky because sometimes all that does is activate and solidify bad attitudes towards us and get some drivers thinking we need to be put in our place... which doesn't mean we should capitulate - the same story is true of any oppressed minority, after all... but well-timed, well-placed courage is teh order of the day. (Makes me want to go read the Power of One again )

[sbctwin]

Wow, just reading about your mishap created knots in my stomach. I go down a very steep hill on my commute home and it is plagued by people making right and left turns in front of me. I too, try to be as careful as possible, knowing that at anytime, I could be hit. Once I am down the hill, I have found, for my safety, I ride the sidewalk in this short stretch till I can get to a side road. Everyday there seems to be a new "challenge" that has presented itself. I am glad you were able to stand up after your collision and that your bike is ok.

[lph]

Ah well, I dunno.
Riding in the car lane isn't really an option there, in morning traffic the line there is several hundred metres long and it takes several light changes to get over the intersection. Staying back in line with the cars would take the patience of a saint, and kind of defeat the point of biking in the first place.

The sidewalk is narrow, goes up and down over driveways, and has a lot of pedestrians.

I know I'd be safer just riding slower, but if I really feel I have to brake down all the time just in case of a driver doing something strange I'd want to stop biking altogether. I think I'm going to have to look for an alternative route.

To add insult to injury - the only place I'm hurt is IN MY EAR! It's swollen with dark bruising. Couldn't it be someplace notcieable so I could get a little sympathy??

[RoadRaven]

Bad luck, lph, and great to see you still have a sense of humour

Road~ wishingyouanincreasinglyswollenearand muchsympathy ~Raven

[crumpincommuter]

Is there anything we, the members of TE, can do to try to lobby our states to make traveling safer for bicyclists?? Lobby for more bike lanes, for more signs warning drivers to share the road with bikes? To educate drivers?

How many TE members are there? Is there any way of telling how many of us are active in these forums??? Seems like a lot to me.

Hey Quint-- to kind of answer your question-- if you're not already associated with CCBA ( Central Connecticut Bicycle Alliance) www.wecyclect.org, then that would be a good place to offer your voice. CCBA is making headway in making CT a more biker friendly state; but every voice is needed. The site also offers links to state and federal legislation under consideration and often links to petitions to elected officials ( what better way to let them know your vote counts).. Ok I'll step down from the soap box now--- hope this helped..

[quint41]

Hey Crump! Thanks for pointing me in the right direction! I was on that site a couple of weeks ago poking around, but didn't get to the part about joining the group. I'll be adding my name to the mix today!

Hey, Iph! I hope you're mending quickly. The problem with non-bikers is that they see everything from behind the windshield. They don't ever look down at that 1" wide tire and the hard asphalt just a couple of feet below them whizzing by at 25 mph. They have never had a 1" tire hit a crack in the road, or a little piece of trap rock. They've never had a dog or turkey suddenly appear in front of them and feel fear. In short, they do not have a CLUE. They think it's all riding up and down the dead-end street on their Schwinn Stingray with cards on the spokes.

If everyone rode a bike, there would be very few of these problems. Unfortunately, even $6.00 per gallon gasoline won't force these people out of their cars and onto a bike. I'd still see 99.99% of the vehicles driving to work with one occupant. TALK ABOUT YOUR SOAPBOX!! DON'T EVEN GET ME STARTED!!!

[KnottedYet]

Am I the only one dorky enough to think that bike flags that stick up above car roof level are cool? I've seen folding ones, so you can fold it down when you're out of bad traffic.

I also really like the reflector paddles that make the bike look wider (stick out on the car side about 1 1/2 feet) so it is clear the bike vehicle as a whole is as wide as the person riding it, not just as wide as the bike itself.

I've been lucky so far in my commutes that I have been on quiet bike-laned side streets, but I am really thinking about getting a folding flag for my more urban errands and my new commute.

Does anyone know if flags actually make bikes more visible to cars?

[Duck on Wheels]

OMG lph! I just saw this post. Are you still feeling ok?
I hope so! That sounds very much like the accident my DH had a few years back. He was definitely NOT ok, what with 7 broken bones, a concussion and some internal bleeding. He did not get up and ride off on the rest of his commute. But he was lucky too and is back in the saddle now. So even he was lucky. Sounds like you were luckier. Whew!

I hope you at least got the drivers' name and number, in case you find some damage you didn't notice at the moment. The driver was definitely at fault here, and since there was an accident with possible personal injury, you were strictly speaking supposed to stay there and make a police report. All in all, the driver was incredibly lucky too!

[lph]

Your poor DH, Duck! If I'd suffered that kind of injury I'm not sure I'd be out biking again...

No, I'm fine. The driver looked about to suffer a heart attack, so I figured he'd learned his lesson. He's sure not going to do that exact stunt again.

And I think maybe it was a good thing to show him that bikers - even though they come from "nowhere"... - can be decent and friendly people. If I'd started kicking up a huge fuss he might have come out of it feeling put-upon and annoyed.

[Zen]

I haven't seen those flags in ages! I doubt they'd do much good in rural areas but probably would in urban riding.
Better than a flag would be a Blue Light Special type flashing strobe on an antenna (except not blue).