Cyclists cause 10% of car-bike accidents

[Eden]

OK then - hands in the air those of us who have been hit by cars.....

I haven't said much about it here, but my hand is up. MMQFC - anyone else?

OK - how many of us caused our own accidents - hmmmm is that crickets I hear.....

I personally was hit by a driver (uninsured of course) who failed to yield when making a left hand turn across traffic. I was going straight through a green light, the driver was facing me, was not paying enough attention and turned. Indeed I was paying attention and did take as much action as I could, but in the end I was already in the intersection and could not avoid any incident at all. I was lucky to have not been severely injured. Had I been unconscious the accident surely would have been blamed on me. Even as it was she was "sure" that I must have been on the sidewalk and crossed against the "don't walk" - which was completely bogus of course and not only was I able to tell my own story there were several witnesses - if you see a car coming at you do scream at them..... not only will it hopefully get their attention, it makes everyone else around look too...

Most cyclists - even those who may not act like perfect little angels in traffic (and face it, neither do drivers - I see more of them running stop signs and red lights and speeding than I do cyclists) understand their own vulnerabilities. Even, perhaps especially, the non law abiding ones are very aware of their surroundings. That's not to say I'm excusing bad behavior - the rules of the road are there for a reason and having everyone be predictable is a good thing. It also gives motorists an excuse to take out their frustrations on us, which is never a good thing, but I don't believe it is a major cause of accidents.

Most of the severe accidents - at very least the ones that make the news around here are entirely not the fault of the cyclist - they are mostly drunken drivers, doorings or left or right hooks. Even one several years ago now, that I know of that is questionable cannot be entirely blamed on the cyclist - the road markings led the cyclist into danger - he was following a right hand bike lane that went up to an intersection when he was run over by a concrete truck making a right hand turn. Yes, he should have been watching for traffic crossing his lane, but he was also fairly unfamiliar with the area - having just come here to attend college. The bike lane offered a very false sense of security. The driver bears some responsibility there too - he did turn across a traffic lane without being sure it was clear, but I'm willing to give him some lee way as I know the area and I know how quickly a cyclist can appear (it is one block from a corner).

In any case of the 10 or so serious or fatal accidents I know about recently only one was clearly a non-law abiding cyclist. There was one case of a cyclist running a stop and being hit. The other 9 were caused by the motorist, which certainly seems to bear out the Toronto doctor's study.