I started biking to work.
I’m getting a helmet camera and carrying a gun from here on…
Day 1: Lady walking her pit bullish dog and it got away from her and started to chase me - crossing traffic
Day 2: Car honking behind me in a two lane (4-lanes, two both ways)
Day 3: Guy turning left ignored my right of way - then the lady in her car behind him gave me dirty looks (as she had her phone on her ear)
Congrats on getting out on your bike. It’s a warzone out there. You have to be really proactive and assume you are invisible to most drivers and that they will do the most dangerous thing you can imagine. Your danger level is probably elevated compared to me since you seem to be be in a place where drivers are actively hostile to your presence. Good luck!
I congratulate you on the achievement of finding a healthy way to commute.
I question your sanity for trying to bicycle in traffic. There are waaaaaaaaay too many idiot drivers out there to gamble your personal safety.
Yeah. I feel pretty safe in my city. There are quite a few cyclists so people look out more, and the bike lane situation is decent here. Having ridden around other parts of the midwest, it can be terrifying. Nobody is paying attention, there aren’t bike lanes or shoulders, and it seems many people assume cars automatically have the right of way.
Remember to aim for the chest.
I am going to the city gov site to ask that there be a bike lane and signs. If I can complain on the internets about it then I can also do something about it.
Kenosha, I felt safe - lots of 4-laners and people were generous. Nashville, no way. LYH looks safe (30 MPH, 4-lane, stop and go lights, sidewalks)
Get those bright as blinking led lights for front and back, and have them on during the day.
Ride in the middle of the lane. Drivers hate it, but it means you get adequate space.
In my very limited experience with commuting, bike-lanes were a mixed-bag. They give you right-of-way but people run over you anyway. Same for right turns, left turns, driveways, and parked cars.
I generally felt safest on back-streets, and streets where I could go faster than the traffic, and didn’t have to count as much on other people following the rules.
What I found from decades of cycling to work is that motorists making right turns are as dangerous as the ones making left turns.
I have become increasingly defensive as I have gotten older and I now go out of my way to seek out bike lanes to avoid traffic on my recreational rides. My adult son had a life-changing crash two years ago from a motorist making an illegal left turn so that has added to my caution.
The risk of cycling to work can not be fully mitigated but that bike ride can be the best part of the work day!
I walk to work. Don’t even need shoes for that walk. Bed to desk in just 20-30 seconds.
You should just be like the cyclists I see on my way to work (on heavily trafficked, but no more than 40 mph roads). Ride down the middle of the lane, on the wrong side of the road, swerving back and forth, and get pissed at the cars that are coming at you. Although, to be fair, the drivers aren’t much better, but they generally stay on the correct side of the yellow line.
Definately (sic).
Post recordings of your grievances. Especially the coal-rollers.
(For the ignorant: some trucks (and others, I guess), tune their engines so as to create billowing dark exhaust unto others when accelerating, for the sheer joy of it and to the consternation of the others. One kid did it to a group of cyclists, not seeing another group of cyclists ahead of him, ran some of them off the road. It’s Texas, so, obvious lawbreaking might be smiled upon.)
I got a toot and a wave from a guy when I went from in traffic to the sidewalk cause I knew a group of cars were behind me and I would have caused a small backup. There is a t in the road and a stop light at the t. When I ride on the one side I don’t have to pay attention to the stoplight.
I bought a GoPro last night (cross post to my other thread). I already reeled in 4 people who should be shamed.
I actually want to post my video - its ~ 18 minutes. There might have been a spot where I was in the wrong and should have yielded. I’ll have to figure that out. Also, make a compilation of the people I snap at.
I made a clip: https://i.imgur.com/EwYgDjp.mp4
Do I have the right-of-way?
I am not sure I understand this. If you are biking in traffic lanes, you must obey traffic signals. Is my understanding wrong?
I believe in some states there are slightly different rules for cyclists. Some states allow the Idaho stop, for instance.
I feel anxious enough in my car with other vehicles driving on or over the line. No way would I be comfortable on a bike. Hubby just got an e-bike and I asked if he’d ride it to work. Between the 2 lane roads, dark in the am, and traffic in the pm, he said no. He likes riding around the lake though, where there is usually a bike lane and drivers are more likely to expect bikes.
It looks like I cannot bike on the sidewalk. I am checking it out.
Nope, I can, unless a special ordinance.
Bikes are allowed on the road - just cannot impede traffic. This tells me bikes get a piece of the lane. And I’d say I get the entire lane if there is another one to the left.
All from virginiadot.org
Is it illegal to ride a bike on the sidewalk in Virginia?
Bicycles may be ridden on sidewalks unless prohibited by local ordinance or traffic control devices. While on sidewalks and shared use paths, bicyclists must always yield the right of way to pedestrians and give an audible signal before passing a pedestrian. Dec 13, 2021
HOWEVER: Sec. 10-41. - Riding on sidewalks.
No person shall ride a bicycle or moped upon any sidewalk or cross a roadway on a crosswalk , whether paved or unpaved, in any district. (Code 1959, § 5.1-14; Ord. No. O-00-008, 01-11-00, eff. 01-01-00)
Is a bicycle considered a vehicle in Virginia?
Bicycling with traffic
In Virginia bicycles are vehicles . Bicyclists and motor vehicle drivers share mutual rights and responsibilities as users of public roads .
This is a common law, but I don’t think it’s a good law to always obey. Sometimes the sidewalk is clear and the road is not.
If you feel uncomfortable about breaking it, one suggestion I have is just hopping off your bike, and walking it across the intersection. Sometimes, IMO, pedestrians are safer than bicycles and you can be a pedestrian whenever you want.