Using a whistle

[OakLeaf]

slowing down, by itself, will not prevent a collision. If someone steps directly in front of you, you are going to hit either them or the person in the lane you swerve into. You aren't going to hit as hard, but you are going to hit. Slowing is good, but it is by no means the whole story.

Slowing down is preparatory to coming to a complete stop if necessary. No, you aren't going to hit anyone if you're paying attention, and riding at a safe speed for the conditions and your skills. Yes, it's a PITA having to ride at 10 mph for most of the path and 2 mph when you're approaching pedestrians who don't acknowledge you. It must be a HUGE PITA when a long stretch of path is your only way to get out of town and onto roads that you can actually ride. (BTDT and glad I don't have to now. But the short stretch of path I do sometimes ride, I think of as an interval workout. You can accelerate pretty hard from 2 mph back up to 10-15. )

Even though the rider who hit that woman in the other thread wasn't cited, it was still their fault. The rider/driver/even runner overtaking always has the responsibility to avoid whatever is in front of them. Would you want the rule to be any different if you were the one being rear-ended?

Remember that while many collisions are not the "fault" of the bicyclist, there are few that the bicyclist couldn't have avoided or prevented. (Rear-end collisions aren't completely excepted, either, since lane positioning, visibility, and appropriate choice of road can eliminate many of these.) As soon as you start thinking that collisions are inevitable, you stop trying to prevent them.


(And no, I don't believe it's that quiet in the west, but people's responses seem to indicate that drivers and pedestrians mostly behave appropriately w/r/t bicyclists... and I did say mostly, being fully aware of some recent road rage incidents)