Thank Goodness for Helmets -revised

[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.

[Aggie_Ama]

BG- Thank you for admitting you made a mistake, take the flaming and preach about the goodness of helmets.

On my commute there is one four way stop sign. Usually I unclip because other cars are coming. Sometimes I do a very modest track stand, sometimes I slow and if the car in the lane with me is the only one at the intersection I roll through slowly with them. The cars all doing rolling stops at this intersection, so I don't always unclip I just read the situation.

Usually it is a stop (90%) because I want to set the best example, cyclists are really fighting for respect in our town and I know I am an ambassador whether I want the duty or not.

The road home has 3 stop lights at 3 way intersections, I would not be crossing traffic if I just continued on in the shoulder but I always stop at the lights. Other cyclists blow on by and it frustrates me, I understand it is safe but it isn't legal! It erasing all good I am trying to accomplish. Sorry off the soapbox.