If a Motorist doesn’t see you, he can’t avoid you

Motorists look for danger in the roadway. That ‘danger’ typically comes from other motor vehicles, not from bicyclists. People tend to “see” only what they are looking for, not what is necessarily within their field of view. ‘Danger’ to a motorist appears in the form of an obstruction in their lane or from a vehicle that may oppose them in an intersection and this danger comes from predictable places. As motorists we train ourselves to be keenly aware of these places.

Studies of people on cell phones have shown that they tend to tunnel-vision down to the lane that they’re in even further narrowing their focus.

A major precept of vehicular cycling is to be visible and predictable to motorists. We wear bright colored jerseys and light ourselves up to that end, but does that really mean that we are visible? I think not. We are only visible if we are also where the motorist is looking for danger.

In a through traffic lane, the danger is an obstruction in the lane, such as a cyclist clearly planted in the lane. For instance, 2-3 feet left of the white line. An approaching motorist will see and register the cyclist as an obstruction and make a conscious decision to slow and when it’s safe, go around. By going around, the motorist makes a conscious decision to make a full or partial lane change and unconsciously gives the cyclist the three feet or more clearance that Florida State Law provides for.

A cyclist sitting on or close to the white line (we call them gutter bunnies) poses no danger to a motorist and therefore, requires no decision process. The cyclist may not even register on the motorist’s mind as something to be avoided. They’re not “in the lane,” so they can probably be passed without a lane change. The cyclist has a different perspective. “That @%&?@ just dusted me off!”

Florida law requires a cyclist to ride right or in a bicycle lane only when riding slower than the prevailing traffic. When approaching a stop sign or red traffic light, the prevailing traffic is slowing to bicycle speed. How many times have we ourselves, or seen fellow cyclists slide up to the right of and alongside motor vehicles at the intersection? This is a dangerous practice because it puts the cyclist in the driver’s blind zone and invites a right hook when the light turns green.

A better place would be directly behind the last car in the queue that you can safely snuggle in behind, in the through traffic lane. The motorists behind you will clearly see you.

As you transit the intersection in the through lane, you’ll be in plain sight to opposing cars turning left, rather than hidden from their view by cars traveling with you and to your left in the traffic lane. For motorists entering the intersection from your right and wanting to turn right on red, you will be observed more easily because you’ll right square in their ‘danger zone.’ They will give you the right of way. As you clear the intersection, you can safely move over to the right.

On a one-way road with multiple lanes in Florida, which may be assumed to be traffic lanes in one direction, with some kind of barrier to the opposing lanes (such as an island or a two-way left turn lane), bicyclists who are planning a left turn are allowed to move to the left-hand side as far as practical, of the left lane. When you do this, you’ll find that the traffic flows around you to the right, just as it did previously to the left, when you were near the right-hand side of the road. Again, this puts you in a position where motorists will observe and avoid you.

So how soon do you move? Think about what you do in your car. As you approach your left turn intersection, you ease on over to the left through lane in anticipation of turning into the left turn lane, or turning left at the intersection. The strategy on a bicycle is very much similar. But you have to look for the traffic holes.

“Urban streets, controlled by traffic lights, no matter how busy, have these traffic holes.”

Look at Figure 1. What do you see? Most Traffic Skills 101 students see a busy urban road. I see a half-empty road. Figures 2 and 3 were snapped within moments of Figure 1. Figure 2 looks forward past the stopped traffic and Figure 3 looks back. Notice that the westbound

lane in Figure 2 is pretty clear. The whole road is clear in Figure 3.

Motor vehicles move in pods from light to light. Between the pods are these stretches of empty road that can last for from 30 to 90 seconds.

It’s in these traffic holes that cyclists may safely and easily cross lanes in the road. So as you approach your intersection, when a traffic hole appears, take advantage of it. Even if it means peddling in the left lane for an extra 100-200 feet.

Traffic Skills 101 Special Edition June 12th

This Jacksonville class is specifically designed for endurance road cyclists that typically do the Bike MS, but is also well suited for road cyclists and road cyclist wannabe’s. It covers traffic law, bike equipment, becoming a more confident bicyclist by driving your bike like a motor vehicle and asserting your right to the road. You’ll learn injury prevention, crash avoidance through on-bike skills practice and do a group ride that includes optional pace line training. Student manual included! This is a League certified course.
COST: $35.00 general admission. Members of  Bike MS teams receive a special group rate of $30.00.
WHEN: Class is one day: Saturday, June 12,  2010, from 7:45 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. Registration closes Thursday, June 8th. You will receive pre-course study amtreroals and will need to set aside about four hours for pre-course preparation prior to class day.
CONTACT: Jodi Hohlstein at jodi@FBAfirstcoast.org for a registration package.

Assume the position ~ Instant stop!

Most cyclists will never need to do a panic stop for real. A few will. I personally know two people who needed to do it. Neither knew how, both went over the handlebars and to the hospital. One required extensive reconstructive surgery and has permanent injuries.

We teach the instant stop in Traffic Skills 101 and I daresay, that most who learned it there, couldn’t do it in an emergency today. That’s because it takes practice to get it right and then, an occasional refresher. And like most athletic maneuvers, the set-up has huge influence on the outcome.

So what’s the anatomy of a panic stop? The front brake on a bicycle has potentially most of the bike’s stopping power. As brakes are applied, one’s weight will normally shift forward placing more weight on the front wheel than the rear so the rear will start to lose traction sooner. The farther forward the weight transfer the more effective the front brake. In extreme cases the front wheel may even lock up and over the handle bars you go.

The technique we teach for the instant stop is to come off the saddle, raise your butt up and behind the saddle over the rear wheel and hold it there with arm strength, while applying the brakes. Front brake pressure should be up to three times rear brake pressure. By doing this, you’re putting weight directly over the rear wheel, making the rear brake more effective and limiting the front brake’s ability to force you to lose control.

If the rear tire begins to skid, release pressure slightly on the front brake. The rear tire skidding is an indicator that the front brake is becoming too effective. Releasing the non-skidding brake is an unnatural act and must be practiced.

In order to get the leg positioning to push your your butt up and behind the saddle your feet must be at the three and nine o’clock position. And they have to stay there until you are again back over the saddle, just before completing the stop. For grins, lets call this butt-aft position the IS (instant stop) position.

Cyclists who are operationally good at the instant stop will clearly have their butt behind the saddle. Cyclists who are expert, can actually lay their belly on the saddle.

When I was flying fighters, we had a saying, “You fight like you train.” In the heat of battle, what you do must be ingrained in your body, to do well. Closer to our world, if you have been riding with a clipless system for a while, I challenge you to sit down and write a detailed description of what you do when you come to a stop and dismount. Chances are, you’ll have to think about it for a few minutes before writing. That’s because when we first get the clips we pretty quickly figure out how to stop without falling, as long as we consciously go through the steps. Steven Covey calls that conscious competence. Over time, we stop thinking about it and just do it. That’s called unconscious competence.When Jodi and I recently rode with friends in Reno Nevada, the bike I was riding had standard pedals. Yet I found myself twisting my landing foot to unclip at each stop, like the foot had a mind of its own.

In the instant stop, the set-up is to get to the IS position immediately as you simultaneously begin to brake. This is crucial to successfully completing the maneuver. But that’s not the normal way most people stop. I have recently begun going to the IS position any time I begin to brake from cruising speed. Then I actually brake normally and get back on the seat as I slow towards walking speed. This way, I’m training my body for the set-up. If after I start braking I see a need to stop quicker, I’m already in position.

The idea of this is if an unexpected obstacle necessitates an instant stop, the act of reaching for the brakes will trigger an automatic body response to assume the IS position because there won’t be time to think about it. Just to act.

Occasionally, you may want to execute a full practice instant stop just to keep your skills honed. Make sure you are alone or the other riders have been warned, and there are no cars in close proximity. Also, it’s not a good idea to practice it right at an intersection or stop sign.

The closest I’ve come to executing an instant stop for real since routinely assuming the IS position was recently on a North Florida Bicycle Club ride. I was approaching the stop sign at about 15 mph on a substandard width two-lane road that “T’d” into a through road. As I began to stop, a flat bed tractor trailer turned left onto my road and its trailer ate up a huge chunk of my lane. I slowed rapidly and being already in the IS position, felt much more in control of the situation.

Initially, it takes a little more effort to go to the IS position, just like it did to unclip. After a while, just like unclipping, it will be second nature. Wouldn’t it be a good idea to add this IS to your defensive cycling skills? It can mean the difference between a disasterous panic stop or a well controlled instant stop. The trailer incident sure sold me.

Are You Confident Rider or a Gutter Bunny?

Where do you ride when there are no bicycle lanes or safe shoulders?

Riding assertively, predictably and properly positioned in the traffic lane can make the difference between being a scared gutter bunny who experiences too many near misses, and a confident rider, having fun on their bicycle with motorists giving them the respect, and the passing clearance that they have earned.

A shared lane is the narrowest traffic lane in Florida in which a bicyclist and an average sized car can share the lane side by side. It is at least fourteen feet wide. From the right hand side of the lane, the first three feet are for the cyclist and the next three feet are for the passing separation required by Florida law. The remaining eight feet are for the vehicle. These lanes are sometimes found in urban areas in lieu of also having a bicycle lane and are often called “wide curb lanes.”

We all have stories about how some driver dusted us off, passed too close and we’re quick to blame the driver. Often times, though, we bring it on ourselves by inviting the close pass.

The average modern Florida traffic lane is about twelve feet wide. Even a cyclist traveling directly over the right hand white line sticks into the lane about one foot. A car passing in the lane could give three feet clearance at the very best. Less if the rider is any further into the lane. It may feel safe to ride the line and the justification may be that the cyclist is being courteous to the motorists. But it is not safe.

A bicyclist riding in a traffic lane is normally expected to be riding 2-3 feet inside the lane so as to avoid obstacles. Add three feet passing clearance and it becomes obvious that a motorist must execute at least a partial lane change to safely pass the cyclist. A full lane change is usually needed for a ten foot wide lane.

The most dangerous place for a cyclist to ride is from about one foot to the right of the lane to about one and one-half feet into the lane. Motorists concentrate mostly on the lane they’re in, looking for obstacles. A cyclist very close to the edge of the lane or just to the right of it may not even be perceived as an obstacle and therefore, the driver may take little or no action to provide safe clearance.

When motorists see an obstacle they make a rather quick decision about how to handle it. When the obstacle is a cyclist, motorists don’t usually think specifically about the three foot rule and from the driver’s position on the left hand side of the vehicle, it’s difficult to judge three feet clearance from a cyclist anyway. The decision about clearance is unconsciously made in that split second when the driver decides whether to make a partial or full lane change, or to try to squeeze on by.

Our personal safety is dependent on forcing the motorist to make the lane change. Drivers who make the conscious decision to do at least a partial lane change unconsciously make the decision to give cyclists a good three feet of clearance. Cyclists who are properly positioned in the lane experience far fewer close passes than those who aren’t.

Most riders unaccustomed to vehicular cycling (driving your bike as if you are a motor vehicle) feel that they have a target painted on their backs and planting oneself squarely in the travel lane takes a huge leap of faith. So what are the odds and consequences of being rear ended on a bicycle?

In Traffic Skills 101 we show that statistically, about fifty percent of all bicycle crashes don’t involve motor vehicles. We cyclists hit rocks, wood, pine cones, potholes, even ourselves and down we go. Of the fifty percent of crashes involving motor vehicles, only seven percent involve being rear ended (three and one-half percent of total bicycle crashes). The preponderance of bicycle with motor vehicle crashes are crossing, turning and head-on. The likelihood of being killed or seriously injured is substantially lower in a rear end crash than any of the others because the relative speed of the motor vehicle at impact is reduced by the forward speed of the bicyclist.

And there is something worse than being directly rear ended. The mirror of a vehicle that catches the cyclist’s handlebar will knock the cyclist’s the front wheel hard right throwing the rider down to the left into the traffic lane.

The farther right of the proper in-lane position the cyclist rides, the greater the opportunity the cyclist has for encountering a crossing or turning mishap. In the shoulder, every driveway and side street becomes an intersection with essentially no stop sign. Drivers often pull into the shoulder and stop just short of the traffic lane before checking for conflicting traffic.

Cyclists in the shoulder and at the right edge of the lane are also prime candidates for a ‘right hook’ by a driver who passes them and immediately turns right in front of them. If the driver has to make a conscious effort go around a properly positioned cyclist before turning right, he will be more aware of the cyclist and if he still turns, the cyclist has somewhere to go.

So how do you get comfortable with this concept of lane positioning? Ride solo or with someone else who is willing to also try it. At first, ride a road that is lightly traveled and where it is easy for a motor vehicle to go around you. A four lane divided highway or a three lane road with a center turn lane, and with a speed limit of 35 MPH or less are excellent. Position yourself properly and start getting used to having traffic flow around you. Then start riding on more heavily traveled roads and two-lane roads where the motorists must cross into the opposing lane to pass. By the way, motorists are allowed to cross the double yellow line to go around obstacles, when it is safe to do so. The confidence will come quickly.

Now that you’re having fun and riding confidently, what happens when you go back on a group ride? Here you are, trying to ride properly positioned with five gutter bunnies hugging the white fog line. The perception to motorists is that there are five people doing it right and then there is this one jerk. If you find yourself in this position, the best thing to do is to ride in the tail-end position. That way you’ll be protecting them all, and motorists might even perceive you as the ‘instructor.’

Of course, you’ll have to be prepared for the obvious comment, “I can’t believe you have the guts to sit out there in traffic!” And you can just smile and keep on pedaling.

This article has been brought to you by the First Coasters. Check out this FBA organization focusing on Duval, St, Johns, Clay and Nassau counties.