I always know there's someone behind the wheel of every car on the road; and they're all idiots trying to kill me. :frown2:I once read a study on how when people are in their cars, they view all other vehicles as non-human (basically, they forget that there are people behind each and every other vehicle on the road). I would imagine that would be harder to attain with cyclists, as you can actually see the human form. Perhaps it is not this phenomenon occurring in the context of bikes, but rather the fact that people feel safe in their steel cocoons and are willing to be pushy to get where they're going faster. Who knows...
Moral of the story I would say is stay alert always.
Looks like I should invest in some high visibility gear then. It makes sense that it would decrease the number of incidents, as in many of the close calls I've experienced, it's as if the driver has just looked straight through me without even noticing me. I would say this is largely in part due to the high number of distractions drivers face/subject themselves to.I noticed that I got cut off far more when I was riding without a high viz vest. I've been wearing one constantly while riding for about two years now and the number of incidents like has been significantly lower.
That makes great sense as well. It's just a little more intimidating dealing with danger at 60+ mph speeds; you have less room for error.BTW highways are much safer for us than normal roads. That's because there are no intersections and everybody is going into the same direction, eliminating our number 1 enemy: The left turning car at an intersection.
I don't agree. There are unexpected situations when it's required for your safety to open up some distance, and sometimes that means accelerating. Slowing is not the only option, and can put you closer to a bad situation.Should someone be in a position where speed in excess (over the speed limit) is "required" in order to rectify the situation, they placed themselves in an unsafe position to begin with. If this so happened to be the fast lane on the interstate, then they made the choice to be bottled in with those who exceed enforced speed limits and must deal with the choices of being in those situations.
If someone is doing 45 on an interstate, by all means pass them. But if they're doing the speed limit, and not behaving erratically, and you wish to pass anyway simply because "no one" behind you both will be doing the speed limit and that makes you uncomfortable, that is not a justification for excess speed to "rectify" a potentially hazardous situation, and said individual should simply use other tools at their disposal to remain out of harms way.
Forethought and anticipation is better than hindsight and improvisation.
And there you're saying the same thing as cbrlocal. Go with the flow and don't constantly overtake by going faster than the already speeding traffic.jkv357;651241[B said:]In those situations, moving with the traffic flow -[/B] even if it's significantly over the limit - is safer than being consistently overtaken.
And here you're saying the same thing again. Go with the flow and avoid getting in bad positions. That doesn't require to be constantly faster than anyone else. I don't know about roads on the American continent, I've been at the US west coast in 2001 but wasn't really paying attention to traffic as I didn't drive myself there, but why are you toast when going slower than the speed limit on a multilane motorway? Over here semi trucks have a speed limit of 80km/h (~50mph) even on the speed limit free sections of the Autobahn and they don't get rear ended constantly when they overtake each other and have to go to the faster lane. In Germany you're supposed to drive on the right lane when not overtaking, you can stay on the center lane if you overtake trucks every now and then and you should only be on the fast left lane when you're really overtaking someone. This is known as the Rechtsfahrgebot (something like obligation to drive on the right hand side of the road). I can cruise behind a truck a 50mph on a Autobahn all day long if I want to. Hell, I can't even go faster than the traffic on the speed limit free parts on my 250 and still don't have a problem ....why is that so different in the US?I lived in the Chicago Metro area for many years, and if you were doing the speed limit on major highways you were roadkill. I would routinely cruise at whatever speed put me in a opening with minimal overtaking and passing.
1. You don't want to ride behind a truck in the US. Your view ahead is completely blocked, you risk the sudden appearance of debris coming out from under the truck, and there's the risk of blown tires or retreads hitting you. If you leave more following distance, someone will squeeze in ahead of you. You will find yourself dropping back steadily, eventually hemmed in on all sides by traffic with no escape route.I can cruise behind a truck a 50mph on a Autobahn all day long if I want to. Hell, I can't even go faster than the traffic on the speed limit free parts on my 250 and still don't have a problem ....why is that so different in the US?
OTI choose to avoid evil instead of picking between the lesser of two. >