I literally had someone honk at me while I was crossing the street on foot, at a crosswalk where they had a red light and I had the right of way. Some drivers just assume you are supposed to get out of their way regardless of the law.
On the bike I stop (or at least California stop) and check at every crossroads, I move to the side off the road for awhile to let cars pass if they are behind me, walk the bike across any larger intersections using the crosswalk. make every effort to be seen and polite, oh so polite.
But a fucking crosswalk, while the light is red for cars, who doesn’t know how that works? You shouldn’t drive if you don’t know at least the basic rules.
Rule #1 for cyclists, if they didn’t look you in the eyes, they didn’t see you.
As somebody that rode a motorcycle for years: you can make eye contact and still be unseen.
Motorists are taught to make sure it is safe before proceeding, other cars and trucks are a threat, cyclists and pedestrians are not a threat to a motorist in a vehicle. It’s like the invisible gorilla video, sometimes when concentrating on one thing, can’t see another no matter how obvious it is.
I’ve noticed a few intersections around me have put up “Yield to bicycles when turning right” signs.
Sad that a basic fundamental rule of driving needs its own dedicated sign. It’d be like having a sign that says “Proceed on green”.
We’ve started putting NO RIGHT ON RED signs at intersections, and motorists are still running over pedestrians!
You can’t design away stupidity. The danger is people behind the wheel of these aerodynamic tanks.
You can’t design away all stupidity, but you can absolutely design away a lot of it. For starters, red lights are red lights. You should never be turning on a red light. Drivers who are used to turning right on red are more likely to do it even when it’s not allowed.
Further to that, you can improve safety by:
- Keeping turn radii very low, so drivers have to slow down to take a sharp right angle turn, instead of smooth higher speed curves.
- Keep pedestrians safe by giving them a lead time: let them start crossing at intersections with lights a few seconds before cars are given a green light to start turning, so they are well into the intersection and clearly visible before drivers start
- Where major roads cross less major roads, use a wombat crossing: cars must drive up as though over a speed bump to the pedestrian’s level, instead of pedestrians walking down onto road level, forcing drivers to slow down like when they go over a speed bump, while visually indicating that pedestrians clearly have priority
- Combine the above with having the crossing set back from the road a little so cars have completed their right angle turn and are looking straight ahead at pedestrians before they cross their path
I appreciate the reply. I really didn’t mean that you can’t design away ALL stupidity, as there are clearly infrastructure and road designs all over the world that force motorists to drive in a way that causes less harm.
But my thoughts are that if you have to design infrastructure to “be safe”, rather than have drivers drive safely, then we really should re-evaluate whether these vehicles should be allowed at all. I’ve seen multiple cases of motorists driving over concrete barriers designed to keep cyclists safe. It’s nice that they didn’t kill anyone, but the fact that it even happened is highly worrisome!
Same with speed. Yes, you can design all sorts of things to physically slow drivers down. But the fact that someone would choose to drive 2 or 3x the speed limit is the real problem, not that the roads physically allow them to.
We, as a society, have to change a driver’s behaviour and attitudes.
Pester your acquaintances and loved ones into learning the Dutch Reach!
Uh… That link stays blue.
/s
sexy
They really need to change the title to “look and don’t care”
Drivers take insane risks to not have to sit behind a bicycle.
I often get passed right before a bend where it’s impossible to see what’s coming, leaving barely any room to maneuver.
Even when they see a car coming, many still attempt (and often fail) to pass me.
At crossings, they simply not care and keep driving, even if you have right of way.
It’s not that they don’t see you, they just expect you to not take a risk against a car.
The local heart sugery unit in the hospital really needs to encourage the surgeons to start turning up in plenty of time before the start of their shift.
It’s crazy how many of them out on the streets are cutting it so fine that they can’t follow along for a little while until it is safe to overtake.
I think you’ve completely misread their comment here
