Jay: I'm sorry to hear about your near misses. I've had my share and they leave a "sour taste in your mouth" -- a kind of lingering depressed or dark feeling that is -- in my case at least -- even stronger than the inevitable lingering residual fear.
Were these occasions at night? I try to err on the egregious, excessive side of night-time illumination and use copious reflective gear, front and rear, as well as top-quality front and rear lights, always duplicate systems; thus 2 rear red lights and a second battery headlight in addition to the dyno light that I turn on at least at busy intersections. IME, cars treat you with more respect at night if so illuminated than during the day. Funny, though: during 56 years and more of riding in traffic -- I started shorlty after my 11th birthday in Indian urban traffic after my father bought me my first "adult" bike, a 28" wheel, rod-braked roadster -- I learned that riding somewhat "aggressively" incurred fewer near misses than riding timidly. Examples: in the bike lane adjacent to busy auto lanes, ride mid-lane and not too the right; riding close to the curb sees more drivers committing that cardinal sin of skimming the right edge of their traffic lane. Ride mid-lane or even flirt with the left edge of the bike lane and more cars swing left when they pass. Stopping at stop signs or traffic lights: pull out to middle of right lane -- even if there is a bike lane -- before stopping or, on greens, when going straight; this noticeably reduces near right hooks from cars behind me. When going straight through an intersection, for oncoming cars going straight through the intersection or slowing to turn left: even more aggressively, pull out to the middle of your lane or even move to the left of your lane, look the driver in the eye -- even "glare" at the driver (that's purely physiological, not psychological) -- and stand as if to speed up. It sounds foolish, but after starting to do this I've had fewer near left hooks. I emphasize again that I learned to do all of that *out of growing caution* and after multiple near misses. And of course, ride with complete 360* attention to what is around you; rather as you learn to be more cautious (or at least, I do) when riding a fixed gear around corners than when riding a freewheel; a sort of permanent caution. I have to say that the potentially most serious near miss, for me, was my own fault: Riding in the bike lane along a 4-lane, I failed to be sufficiently cautious when making a left turn across 2 auto traffic lanes and turned before the left-turn cutout to find myself stopped in the righthand side of the left traffic lane with cars barreling down on me from behind at 50 mph. I was *damned* lucky not to be hit! I quickly pulled my bike onto the median as passing drivers very rightly cussed me out. I always start my rides with a brief prayer; for non-believers, at least recognize and commit yourself to the undeniable source of universal existential equilibrium, according to the fundamental Buddhist (and perfectly obvious) axiom of "Actions and concordant reactions." (Garth! Are you listening?) All this strictly FWIW. I realize fully that my riding environment and my riding style are not those of everyone. May we all ride safely in 2023! On Wed, Dec 28, 2022 at 12:58 PM Jay LePree <jaymlep...@gmail.com> wrote: > Hi all: > I live in car-centric, crowded, northeastern NJ. I joined a gym two towns > over and ride my bike to the gym, about 3.5 miles each way. I take the > least busiest streets possible, but unfortunately, I need to ride through a > semi-busy, though traffic-lit intersection. > > In my last 12 trips to the gym, I have had two near misses which could > have been hits if I did not ride like Kent Peterson had described. "Treat > cars like big animals with poor eyesight that can't see you. In one case, > at night, although I have a Schmidt Edelux II, a huge reflective ankle > bracelet on my basket, wear a reflective vest and have reflective ankle > bands, I had a car nearly make a left turn into me while I was crossing the > intersection. The car was going straight through, and without signalling, > decided to turn left at the last minute. I stopped in time to prevent "the > left cross". Not less than 5 days later, in clear, bright daylight, I had > a car pass me on the right and then proceed to turn right in front of me. > (I think this is called the right hook?). Again, applying Kent's approach > to riding, I was able to stop in time. > > I am thankful my skills were sufficent to prevent contact, but now I am > skittish. Given the legalized weed and the propensity for peope to drink > around this time of year, I am finding excuses not to ride to the gym, even > in daylight. I think it is the back-to-back nature of these incidents that > has me most unnerved. > > How have all of you got your groove back on? > > Kind regards, > Jay LePree > Demarest, NJ > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "RBW Owners Bunch" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/c931832a-3509-4b4a-9b26-ca86087d1f11n%40googlegroups.com > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/c931832a-3509-4b4a-9b26-ca86087d1f11n%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Patrick Moore Alburquerque, Nuevo Mexico, Etats Unis d'Amerique, Orbis Terrarum -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. 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