 |
| Just some of my bike lights that I use every morning |
On one of the roads that cross the main street and taxi was coming towards me to turn on to the main road. Even though I have 3 front lights, 2 on the back, and I am wearing a light blue jacket, he didn't seem me, and nearly hit me! Thank goodness he didn't. It turns out I know who he was and knew who I was. He turned up on to the main street and apologized and was glad that he didn't hit me.
It makes me wonder what I could do to make things safer... I thought all day at work of putting my Scotchlite reflective tape all over the bike and spokes, or maybe wearing my reflective vest. But I do have an adbundance of lights on my bikes, so I don't know. I've seen people who've put more lights on their bike when touring, and putting scotchlite tape on their spokes, pedals, fenders, etc.. But is that overkill, and will it help prevent accidents from happening? Or should I just keep on taking the risk that I will get hit one day? At least I am using lights and wear a helmet. I see so many around wearing dark cloths, with no lights on their bike!
It seems incidents like this happen more these days. Just last week someone ran the 4-way stop, but I was smart to not go too far out in the intersection as I was suspicious of her intentions. I'm sure I'm not the only one having things like this happen to them once in a while...
You're definitely not the only one. I too think about how much is too much and while I am well lit, I don't go too much further. In some situations nothing is going to save you other than your own alertness and riding savvy. Lights and reflective stuff aid not only in keeping us safe in general, but also in giving us enough unharmed time to get really good at predicting dangerous stuff in time to react.
ReplyDeleteI feel like that didn't make any sense. Did that make sense?
The really scary thing about this incident though is that I DIDN'T notice it until it was about to happen. Just saw this car coming up to the corner while I was passing by...like normal...cars usually stop before turning making sure that the road that they are turning into is free of vehicles/bikes/pedestrians. I suppose that even if I had walked to work, there still would have been that risk of being hit that morning.
ReplyDeleteI always look before I cross, but this car came after I started crossing. I think that people are half asleep at that time (before 6 am) and one has to be extra careful. Or he was chatting on his handsfree ear device and NOT paying attention!