Cyclists and Motorcycle riders are most often killed by the oncoming left turn. It's one of the most dangerous scenarios for a rider as you cannot react until it's nearly too late. If you see a driver doing something stupid (like speed past you with the right turn blinker on) you can slow down and allow them to make a right turn and avoid a collision.<p>A car slowing to make a left on the other hand looks like a driver acting properly. Slowly to a stop... waiting for cars to pass.... waiting for yo... and then the driver jerks the wheel and speeds across attempting to beat the next oncoming car. Turns out you're trapped halfway across the intersection with a 3000 lb vehicle crossing your T.<p>Or worse yet they just assume you're going to yield to them because you're on a bike. In that case, no amount of visibility will change the fact the other driver hasn't ridden a bicycle in 30 years and has forgotten the rules of the road.<p>Riding a motorcycle creates another issue in that drivers have trouble immediately identifying something small oncoming at twice the speed limit (relative). You end up with a dead rider and a driver confused because they saw the motorcycle, but their subconscious driving habits were not trained to deal with it properly. I think that is called beta reaction? e.g. absentmindedly braking when you see a red light without consciously connecting the red light with stopping.<p><i>6. In the multiple vehicle accidents, the driver of the other vehicle violated the motorcycle right-of-way and caused the accident in two-thirds of those accidents.</i><p><i>7. The failure of motorists to detect and recognize motorcycles in traffic is the predominating cause of motorcycle accidents. The driver of the other vehicle involved in collision with the motorcycle did not see the motorcycle before the collision, or did not see the motorcycle until too late to avoid the collision.</i><p><i>8. Deliberate hostile action by a motorist against a motorcycle rider is a rare accident cause. The most frequent accident configuration is the motorcycle proceeding straight then the automobile makes a left turn in front of the oncoming motorcycle.</i><p>source: <a href="http://www.motorcycle-accidents.com/pages/stats.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.motorcycle-accidents.com/pages/stats.html</a><p>PDF of Study: <a href="http://isddc.dot.gov/OLPFiles/NHTSA/013695.pdf" rel="nofollow">http://isddc.dot.gov/OLPFiles/NHTSA/013695.pdf</a>
What a coincidence, I was hit by a car while commuting in to London on my bike today and ended up in A&E via an ambulance. The first thing I did was upload the data to connect.garmin.com to see the vitals during and after the event.
I've ridden my bike along that area (route 20) in the past and it's, unfortunately, quite dangerous due to poor road design and poor drivers. Mostly it's a two-lane road which barely has room for a biker and car to be side-by-side with. It's very very busy with lots of traffic and traffic lights. I'm glad the author seems to be OK.<p>--------------------<p>Whenever I ride, I assume every driver is an idiot. That means they run red lights, speed, don't pay attention b/c of being on a cell phone, etc... Actually that sums up a lot of Massachusetts drivers. ;)<p>There needs to be some sort of proactive movement in-and-around Boston to increase bicycle safety. Ideally, under cover police on bikes, handing out tickets and pulling licenses whenever they see a motorist doing something dangerous. Make this very visible and public. If cyclists wear cameras on their helmet, hand the video to police to track down bad drivers who cut them off or do other things that are illegal.<p>Bikes and cars have equal right-of-way on the roads. Most people in this state don't honor that law. It's an attitude problem that has to change.<p>Of course cyclists must obey laws too. Riding on the wrong side of the road, not obeying road laws, not using hand singles to turn, are all recipes for disaster.<p>One of the best pieces of advice I've read for cyclists is to always ride predictable. That lessons your chance of being hit by a car.<p>Definately a problem that needs to be solved.
FWIW Endomondo allows others to track your ride in the free version. They can also send you messages: eg They type in the webapp "Keep going! Go faster", and your phone cuts the music out and does text->speech of 'Message from <user>: keep going! go faster' It's quite cool :)<p><a href="http://www.endomondo.com/login" rel="nofollow">http://www.endomondo.com/login</a>
The issue of attitude [be it a car driver or a bike rider] is a separate one. It is easy solvable by using AK-47.<p>The another thing is the issue of mental automaticity of driving, of monitoring of the road situation.
For example, i frequently notice that driving behind a motorcycle on highway i automatically keep
right distance ... to the car in front of the motorcycle.<p>It is important for the bicyclists to be as noticeable as possible. And to look bigger - i'd paint the whole bicycles itself, including wheels, into extremely noticeable bright colors, may be some blinking in the daylight texture, and would make them fluorescent at night, so that the "automatically driving part of the brain" would pay them more attention.
Every single cyclist that I've met here in Boston, except for one, has gotten into an accident. This city is a horrible place to bike or drive in (but a wonderful place to walk in).
Nearly the same thing happened to me back in May (hit by an oncoming left turn, ambulance ride, broken bone, etc., and just a few miles away from the OA's accident) and my phone got the whole thing.<p>The recording is an interesting souvenir. I was in a strange mood for the first few days (suddenly confined to my apartment with very limited mobility) and got a kick out of showing the recorded track to anyone that came to visit, watching their horrified reactions to "Here's where I got hit, and over there is where I landed..." Thanks to a little Python script I'd written a while back, I had the track colored according to speed, and that made it even more "fun" to look at.<p>It's weird to think that stuff like that -- and with that level of detail -- will be around for future generations to look at.
This reminds me of when I worked at a start-up outside of Boston. I'd ride my bike all the time and I got into the riders click in the city. The funny thing was, people didn't measure how long they'd been riding in Boston in time; they measured it in how many times they'd been hit. Boston drivers are the absolute worst I've ever seen. If you go on a road trip to New Hampshire, you'll notice the difference as soon as you cross the boarder.
I read through this and didnt see it mentioned, so here goes. The single most effective thing I do to avoid mishaps at intersections is to look at the driver of the car. Make eye contact and you know they see you. If you can't catch their eye then be extra careful.