Five Bicycling Safety Myths Dispelled

I wouldn't be fulfilling my stated purpose for this blog without discussion of bicycle safety, both from the bicyclist's viewpoint and from the viewpoint of drivers who are sharing the rode with cyclists. This entry focuses on the bicyclist and the many things that people do when riding because they think it's safe or legal when, in fact, it is unsafe or illegal (frequently both).

1. Myth: It is safer to ride on the sidewalk than on the street.
   
   Fact: A cyclist on a sidewalk is almost twice as likely to get hit by a car than one riding in the street. (source: BicyclingLife.com--see table 5; note also in table 4 how much each risk goes up when riding on the sidewalk. Also, while not stating how much more likely to get hit on the sidewalk than the street, BicycleSafe.com points out many scenarios in which the best way to avoid a certain type of accident is to not be riding on the sidewalk in the first place.)
   
   Why:  Most adult cyclists are also drivers, so I ask you to look at it from the driver's point of view for a moment; when you are pulling out of a driveway, are you expecting a bicycle on the sidewalk or are you looking for vehicle traffic out in the street? Most of us will look briefly for pedestrians on the sidewalk, but we are not expecting faster moving bicycles, so we don't look far enough up and down the sidewalk to see them. The driveway out of my building is blind on the right for any vehicle shorter than a large SUV thanks to a tall hedge. I always stop at the edge of the sidewalk and peer over and through the hedge to look for pedestrians, but I would probably not be able to see a bicycle that way--most bikes are moving too quickly for a person's eyes to focus on them quickly through gaps in the hedge. Besides, I've watched many cars come out of that driveway without even pausing at the sidewalk. A pedestrian might be able to stop instantly and/or jump back out of the way of a car at that point, but a bicycle is far less maneuverable.
   
   The other consideration here is that in many places, riding on the sidewalk is illegal. (I admit that until today I thought that was the case everywhere, but while doing my research, I discovered otherwise.) Those communities where it is not expressly illegal to ride on the sidewalk are unlikely to endorse it, either, as it can open them up to lawsuits.
   
   Legal where you are or not, riding on a sidewalk is dangerous. If you insist on doing so anyway, please follow the http://www.commutebybike.com/2008/07/09/top-5-rules-for-riding-on-the-sidewalk/ as presented by CommuteByBike.com.
2. Myth: It is safer to ride facing traffic so you can see cars coming (and they won't hit you from behind).
   
   Fact: You are nearly four times as likely to get hit by a car when riding facing traffic than when riding with traffic. (source: BicyclingLife.com--see table 4) Nearly a quarter of all car-bicycle collisions are the result of the bicycle riding against traffic. (Before arguing that this shows it's more dangerous to ride with the traffic, keep in mind that only 8% of cyclists ride against traffic, so those 8% of the cyclists are causing 25% of the accidents.)
   
   Why: Once again, I ask you to put yourself in the driver's seat of a car pulling onto a road from a driveway or side road. If you're turning right, are you looking for traffic coming from your right? If you said 'yes' then you are either a very strange person or a liar. Most people will glance to the right to make sure the road is clear before turning (but while already moving, and much too late to stop for a bicycle riding at them), but up to that point, they look to where the traffic is expected to be coming from: the left. If you're riding the wrong way down a one way street then even someone turning left isn't going to look your way since they don't expect traffic to be coming from that direction.
   
   You may think that you're okay because you are always very careful to make sure that drivers pulling onto the road see you before you cross in front of them. That's very prudent, but they are not the only danger as a result of riding the wrong direction. I witnessed a very near car-bicycle accident a couple of weeks ago in which the cyclist was riding on the left side of a two way street and the driver was traveling in the same direction on the right side of the street. How did they nearly collide? The driver waited until there was a break in oncoming traffic and made a perfectly legal left turn into a driveway. The cyclist just happened to be just about to go across that driveway at the time; there was no reason why the driver should have expected traffic coming from behind her to be an issue as she made that turn. In this case, the cyclist was barely able to go around behind the car, but many cyclists in that situation are not so lucky.
   
   Many people will ride facing traffic to avoid getting hit from behind by a car. The fact is that this is by far the least likely car-bike collision to occur (only 3.8% of collisions are of this type source: BicyclingLife.com), and when it does, it is almost always at night and the bicycle has no lights or reflectors and the rider is not wearing any reflective gear. Don't ride at night with no lights or reflective gear and you are almost certain never to be hit from behind by a car.
   
   One final thought that I confess hadn't occurred to me before today but that I found on BicycleSafe.com while doing my research. Suppose you are riding 10 mph and the traffic is moving at 30 mph. If a car hits you from behind then the speed of impact is 30 - 10 = 20 mph. If you are facing traffic, so hit a car head on, then the speed of impact is 30 + 10 = 40 mph. That's twice as fast. So even if you did get hit from behind (exceedingly unlikely though it is), you're still better off.
   
   Bicycling with traffic while following the rules of the road (see below) is, in fact, safer than many other common activities, including driving a car. A list of activities and the likelihood of an accident while participating in each is given in BicyclingLife's Modern Bicycle Myths.
3. Myth: Bicycles don't need to stop at red lights or stop signs (or are allowed to cross on "all way walk" signals).
   
   Fact: Bicycles are required to follow the same rules of the road as any motor vehicle and then some. (source: livestrong.com)
   
   Why: Bicycles are vehicles and, as such, are required to follow the rules of the road. This is not only the law, but following the rules of the road makes your behavior predictable and, therefore, safer for you and the motorists around you. As far as "all way walk" signals go; they are intended to allow pedestrians to walk across the street safely. Bicyclists are not pedestrians unless they walk their bicycle--if you walk across then you can go with a walk signal. Otherwise, you wait with the cars.
4. Myth: Bicycles must keep as far right as possible at all times when traveling on a road.
   
   Fact: Bicycles must keep right as long as it is safe to do so and doing so doesn't violate other rules of the road.
   
   Why: Requiring bicyclists to stay as far right as possible would require them to ride through all kinds of crap on the road, including broken glass, collected silt, fallen tree branches, and parked cars. Obviously, a bike must be allowed to move left to get around these obstacles.
   
   Speaking of parked cars, when passing them, a cyclist should not ride as close to them as possible. This is remarkably dangerous, as you cannot always see if someone is in one of those parked cars and may throw their door open without warning. Always maintain a safe distance from parked cars; this is generally at least 3 feet (which, incidentally, is the amount of space that cars are required to give a bicycle when passing them; but that's a topic for another day).
   
   Another reason for not staying right is following traffic laws. If I am turning left at an intersection where a left turn lane is provided, I must use said left turn lane. It is not only the legal way to do it; it is also the safest. If I'm out in the left turn lane then everyone knows I'm turning left--not even a crazy bicyclist would accidentally move into the left turn lane when planning to go straight, would they? Likewise, if there is a right turn lane and I plan to go straight, it would very dangerous for me to keep to the right of the turn lane and try to go straight through the intersection (see below). It's much safer to move out into a lane where the traffic is expected to go straight.
5. Myth: It is okay for a bicycle to pass cars on the right when they are stopped at a traffic light or stop sign.
   
   Fact: This is a good way to get yourself killed when a car suddenly pulls over or turns right.
   
   Why: One last time, I ask you to put yourself in the driver's seat. You're planning on turning right, so you're waiting for break in cross traffic (or a green light) to do so. Where is your attention? It is on the cross traffic and/or the traffic signal. It is not on the shoulder to your right. When you get a break or green light, you are going to look down the road you're turning onto and make the turn; you're still not expecting traffic to be passing you on your right at this point.
   
   This behavior is one of the scariest that I see in otherwise careful riders all the time, especially on routes that they are familiar with. They "know" the traffic pattern, so are sure that they will be safe passing this line of cars. All it takes is one car that doesn't follow the general pattern and it's all over. The only way to keep yourself safe from right-turning cars or cars pulling over to the side of the road is this: don't ever pass a car on the right. Ever.
   
   I admit that I didn't always follow this rule myself, figuring that if I had a bike lane then I was able to pass cars if they were backed up from an intersection. When I was 24. I was doing just that when one of the cars suddenly pulled into the bike lane and stopped to let a passenger out just inches in front of my wheel. I hit the back bumper hard enough to completely reshape the fork on my bike, flipped over the handlebars, and, luckily, bounced off the trunk of the car and relatively softly onto the street beside them. There were many witnesses who provided me with contact info and the driver clearly felt absolutely horrible, continually telling me that he hadn't ever seen me and he was so sorry. I believed him, but I also (at the time) felt that I had been in the right and that the accident was entirely the driver's fault. Looking back on it now, I realize that, while I may have been in the right according to the letter of the law, the accident was as much my fault as the driver's. This all happened, by the way, in the very bicycle friendly town of Eugene, OR, right next to a university campus. If it could happen in a place as bicycle aware as Eugene, especially less than a block for the University of Oregon, it could happen anywhere.
   
   The long and short of it is that a cyclist should always assume that the drivers can't see him/her and that they are going to make an unpredictable move. This may sound paranoid, but I know it has saved me from numerous serious accidents, some of which might well have killed me.

There are many more common myths out there, but these to me seem like the biggest. Please feel free to share more with me. I'll leave you with a link to BicycleSafe's excellent article on how not to get hit by cars.