Thank Goodness for Helmets -revised

[jobob]

Was there a stop sign?

Nevermind, I saw from your original thread that it was a four-way stop.

I am riding up 1st street, get into the left part of the lane, signal that I'm going to turn left. I see on my left, a car, NOT moving and decide to make my turn without stopping (this is the disadvantage of clipless pedals).

So if I understand correctly, you blew through a stopsign at a four-way stop while there was another car stopped at the intersection because it was too inconvenient for you to clip out?!?

C'mon, Nancy, you know better than that!

I do feel bad that you suffered injuries, and I am deeply glad that the outcome wasn't worse.

But to be perfectly honest, you better put your helmet back on because I want to slap you upside the head!!!

But instead I'll send to a virtual hug, and get well soon wishes.

But don't blow any more stopsigns, y'hear???

[Biciclista]

I am so glad that you are doing okay, but i have to ask a question too.
were you on the left side of the right lane?

[Bike Goddess]

JoBob-
Of course, if I had my wits about me that day, I would have yielded to her even if that meant stopping. I turn on that corner a lot as it is a main street for me to get out of town so the scenario is pretty familiar to me.

Yes beat me over the head. My little pea brain could use a little sense knocked into it from time to time!

(I'll try to do better next time.)

Bicicista-This was a two lane street and I had moved over to the center of the street to make my turn.

[jobob]

Of course, if I had my wits about me that day, I would have yielded to her even if that meant stopping.

Maybe I'm not interpreting your remark correctly, but from that comment I get the distinct impression that you consider stopping at a stop sign to be "optional". I really hope I'm mistaken here.

[Grog]

I'm a little disturbed by that, or maybe I'm not understanding correctly.

But the great thing about my clipless pedals is that I can unclip from them, and stop if needed (unless I can track stand, which is not often).

If there are no cars at an intersection, on my bike, I will slow down significantly but, most of the time, not stop entirely. However, if there is a car even just approaching, even slowly, I'll slow down to a point where I'm nearly stopped, and make sure that everyone's priority is respected the same way as when I'm driving a car, which often means that I will stop entirely and make eye contact with the driver, making it clear that I recognize that it's their turn.

As a cyclist, I fight hard to show that I am a vehicle that belongs to the road, and my main way to do that is to show that I behave like a good vehicle driver. It's a small gesture but I like to think it goes a long way over time.

[maillotpois]

I do exactly what Grog does - if no cars, I will slow, make completely sure, and go on. If there's a car anywhere, I will trackstand, clip out, whatever it takes to come to a stop and make sure everyone's on the same page. Eye contact with the driver is good. A wave to them if they wave you through - the key is being sure you have been seen.

(Not to mention the fact that it REALLY irks me as a cyclist when I see riders blow through stop signs/lights - I think it is a TERRIBLE example for our sport and causes a lot of completely unnecessary driver-anger toward us. )

Maybe you should loosen your pedal tension so clipping out isn't a big deal?

I'm glad it sounds like you'll make a good recovery, and I hope this has been a good lesson. It certainly could have been a lot worse. (And I have to say I am impressed from your earlier post at how you are clearly taking FULL responsibility for what happened. A lot of people - even if at fault - would still try to shrug off the blame.)

[spindizzy]

Bike Goddess-

It takes a lot of guts to admit to everyone on TE that you did something wrong. Thank you for being so brave. It would be so much easier to pretend that the car driver was at fault.

Lesson learned for all of us. And I'm really happy that you're ok.