Monday, January 24, 2011

How to Avoid Traffic Accidents

In this discussion, I am not going to try to deal with three causes of accidents: 1) deficient bike-handling skills, 2) risky behavior and stunts, and 3) risk-taking in competition. One can avoid the first through practice on back roads and parking lots while the latter two are voluntary behaviors anyway. Nor am I going to deal with bike path accidents because, in my opinion, mixing pedestrians, dogs on leashes, roller bladders, and incompetent bike riders on a narrow path with short sight distances and tight curves is a sure recipe for injury.

As I already discussed in "How to Ride in Traffic" and will therefore just point out here, there are five general ways to avoid traffic accidents: 1) obey the traffic laws, 2) keep alert (watch for the other's guy's mistakes), 3) be visible, 4) take the least traveled way, and 5) keep the bike in good repair. Behaving in this fashion will keep cycling very safe. Not behaving in this fashion increases the opportunity for collisions.

There are three important characteristics of motor vehicle-bike collisions that put the cyclist at a great disadvantage: 1) the motor vehicle is big, 2) heavy, and 3) usually moving fast. However, there are also two other characteristics that give the cyclist the advantage: 1) the bicycle permits better sensory awareness and 2) faster turning ability.