Do bicycles have targets painted on them or are we invisible

Your mistake was trying not to hit the truck. I would have slowed down and turned to the center of the road to try to brush side to side. Have the police begun looking for the hit and run driver? Oh wait there was no HIT. Do they consider it not worth the while of the police to find the person who fled the scene of YOUR accident?

FL? Hmm yeah likely considered not worth their resources.

Lessss said:

Your mistake was trying not to hit the truck. I would have slowed down and turned to the center of the road to try to brush side to side. Have the police begun looking for the hit and run driver? Oh wait there was no HIT. Do they consider it not worth the while of the police to find the person who fled the scene of YOUR accident?

FL? Hmm yeah likely considered not worth their resources.

Click to expand...

Unless he got a partial plate which I doubt, good luck looking for a white pick up.

You don't have to be riding a bike to get hit. I almost got clipped walking thru a parking lot last week. The b**** was driving an oversize SUV, one hand on the steering wheel and the other holding a cell phone to her ear!!!!

Really sorry about your accident. Hope you make a fast recovery. Maybe it's time for a Critical Mass event? Anyone attend them?

http://criticalmass.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_rides

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7-MxK8AvHI

http://critical-mass.info/howto/

First, I hope you recover soon and that the pieces on your bike that are not POS, are in working condition.

Second, thank you George, I had never heard of crital mass used in the context of bikes, only neutron stars. Seems like a real good way to put cagers in their place.

Third, I hope the fool in the dirty white truck gets what they deserve...

Critical Mass is really fun! I've participated in two Critical Mass rides (Boston, June and July 2010). I'd have gone to August's CM ride too but I'm down in Louisiana cleaning up after BP...

Critical Mass can be very polarizing, pissing people (and cops) off royally: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUkiyBVytRQ

Here's what I missed by not riding CM Boston in August: http://www.boston.com/yourtown/cambridge/articles/2010/09/01/critical_mass_rider_says_officer_pushed_him_off_bike/

Notice from the comments that there are a lot of bike-hating people chiming in. Easy to criticize cycling from inside 2 tons of sound insulated, air conditioned, supercharged steel.

I ride a standard bike. I get bullied, yelled at and even spat at just for exercising my right to ride on the road. Now I ride with a helmet camera, it records 1080p quality which is necessary if you want to read license plates. Next time I get assaulted while riding, I'm filing a complaint with a pic of the car, the plate, and the perp.

But back to CM - very relaxing and fun, I recommend it to anyone.

Get well soon Floont, we need more people like us on the streets.

Sorry about your accident. I've been riding street 31 years with over 300k miles on motorcycles. I've had a few minor accidents and many, many serious close calls. The bottom line about traffic safety is that unless you pose a threat, the average driver could care less about something smaller and insignificant to their personal preservation.

Besides extremely defensive riding - air horns are a favorite deterrent of mine - the big truck sounding ones. Lay on those when some dipshit ignores you and all but the most whacked-out drivers get really concerned that they're just about to meet a HUGE truck. LOL... Jokes on them though - just an itty bitty motorcycle that would do them no harm. But, the message was delivered LOUD & CLEAR.

Might not have mattered with your deal but I do suggest MSF rider training programs for educating oneself with the tools to stay alive on the streets. Sometimes, there's absolutely nothing you can do but with training a person can learn about things that can better protect yourself regardless if other motorists' respect us or not.

On the upside - there's actually quite a few advantages being a small, quick vehicle with excellent range of views. Unfortunately, there's also one major disadvantage - direct confrontation. Small shit loses that match every time it happens.

PS - we, as a group of small vehicle operators gotta get front/rear drive camera recorders working too. If I buy the farm I want some evidence to track the bastards down and hopefully get some justice and closure for my loved ones. i think the motorcycle community would embrace some type of drive cam too. Could be a profitable product?

'hope you heal quickly and don't let this experience discourage you from something you enjoy doing. All the best to you!

Floont, you looked in pretty rough shape in that photo. Glad to hear that you're recovering well and the injuries weren't worse. I had a spill similar to your's once - a driver pulled out from a parking lot in front of me without looking to his left. I slammed the brakes and flew over handle bars.

I totally agree with your advice. In fact, I'd take it a step further and assume/expect the most risky driver/pedestrian/cyclist behavior. I ride like everyone's out to kill me so I'm always slowing down, preparing to stop when I see/expect a vehicle coming perpendicular to me. That sense of paranoia has the added effect of heightening my senses and just feels great - like I'm much more tuned into things.

Anyway, hope you get better soon buddy!

I totally agree, I assume no one sees me. Unless I see eye contact, I try to keep myself in a position where I can stop in time.

I hope you get better soon. I did a header over the bars years and years ago. I was pedaling full out, my foot slipped off the pedal and stuck in the front spokes. My older brother said he turned around in time to see me go airborne. I was 13 at the time and my neck is still tilted off to the side from that little spill.

My condolences.
Never been in a bike accident, but i certainly sympathize.

Get better soon! I hate seeing anyone banged up like that, makes me think more and more about riding with my full face MX helmet even on a pedal bike.

+1 on the MSF (Motorcycle Safety Foundation) courses! I have taken at least 3 over the years, and the information still applies to use of all 2 wheeled vehicles.

I have not had the misfortune of a major accident on a bicycle, and worst I got on a motorcycle was my own fault going too fast in a corner on a race track, but I'd have to say we DO have a bullseye on us to some, what really kills me is someone the other day was heckling our BICYCLE SAFETY CAMP!?! at a park of all places.

This was with kids 3rd to 7th grade, and the guy heckling them was recently the victim of a car vs bicycle accident, so go figure, sometimes you just have to realize there isn't a rhyme or reason to some of the cagers, but one thing that helped me a lot was watching the way a car's wheel was turned at a stop just as much as making eye contact with a driver to anticipate their next move.

Another neat trick is for avoiding hitting critters, aim for their rear! Even if they double back, you have a good chance of missing them. :lol:

Glad your healing up and hope you will be back on the road again soon!

Ewwwwww! Facial road rash. Man that's truly hard core! So hard core I don't know whether to sympathize or give you two thumbs up.

But actually, I do sympathize a lot. It's just that the pic is so awesome I'm just plain proud of ya. So glad you didn't do anything that can't heal. I hope it heals fast, but right now, I bet it hurts just as good as a second degree burn. So is that pic gonna be your new avatar?

Too bad you didn't know the guy or know where the truck lives. Give that dude a critical mass of thumps after you and your bud's put a bag over his eyes!

As for targets or invisible, it's pretty much one or the other all the time. I get less left and right crossers, and guys crossing from a stop sign now that I habitually wear bright yellow t shirts. But it does nothing for the guy who thinks it's funny to pull out into your path!

I'm so lucky my route is the way it is. When I get the stop sign a--hole it's a one way street so I can swerve and shout at the guy through his window. but a guy turning left from the stop sign is nearly impossible to swerve around. Nevertheless, consider any guy at a stop sign or light to be an imminent threat of crossing you, and plan your dodge so you have more time to react.

Re cameras, I heard a frightening thing on the radio on NPR the other morning. Apparently in some states, filming a cop doing his job is interpreted by judges as a federal offence? Equivilant to a wiretap, or recording without permission? The report talked about some motorcyclists with helmet cams getting charged after making the film public, like on you tube. It seems the line they crossed was posting the film of the cop. So when you do film a good one, you might think twice about you tubing it. Use it in court though of course, if your lawyer says you won't go down for it.

Gotta love the government wanting to stop you from filming .... pretty typical these days I'm afraid.

I am glad that I wasn't on my bike yesterday when a jerk on his crotch rocket blew past right after the car in front of him when it was the rest of our turn at the 4-Way stop.

I don't think it was intentional, but I think it's easy to do if your distracted thinking about something else, however if he had done that and I wasn't paying attention, it would have been another smashed motorbike and he would have got the worst of it being T-Boned by my parent's Saturn Vue.

I'm going to get some of those DX mini camcorders soon as I can budget them in in a few months, I'd love to have them for my trip to Montana, but at this rate I'm already going to be leaving on Oct. 1st instead of middle of this month.

I think the real answer on the whole "are we targets or invisible" question is yes to both! Ride like no one will stop and like DM says, always have a planned escape route if you can.

LI-ghtcycle said:

...Ride like no one will stop and like DM says, always have a planned escape route if you can.

Click to expand...

This is the best advice here.

Fa

Attach a Paintball gun to your handlebars wired up to auto fire if you have to pull your brakes quickly and hard. Spray the crap out of anyone that that causes you to trigger it.

We are not invisible but it is our obligation to make ourselves more visible.
Road position makes a lot of difference. You have to be where they're looking.
They're generally not looking for anything bigger than their heads so bright colours help attract attention.
Body language and "the eye" helps take command of many traffic situations.
In a similar situation I'd have communicated, "don't you dare pull out" by thinking it, looking severe to reinforce it, move left and stand up on the pedals. Standing on the pedals makes you larger and looks like you're "hurrying to get out of their way" as well as letting them know you're coming through.

If they don't see you then there's not much left you can do but have your escape route planned.

Heal whole.

Painful looking faceplant - you have my sympathy. Last time that was done to me, I was unconscious for a week, so didn't feel it too badly. Great presence of mind to pull out the phone, though.

Could you do a safety analysis for us?

What safety gear were you wearing? Helmet? What type? Gloves?

What do you think that equipment did for you?

What injuries could you have been spared had you worn different gear? Full face helmet? Body armour? ....

Its always tempting to go with comfort over safety for me, but your crash show how quickly a stupid driver can mess you up.

Floont said:

Well, here is where I get brow-beaten about my safety habits and I deserve it.

Click to expand...

Me thinks, perhaps, you have been beaten enough already.

~googling full face helmets as we speak~

Were you wearing a Helmet?

Oops, I guess I only read the first page

get well...and get a fullface

I was thinking that this helmet would protect my face better than the traditional bike helmets:

Floont said:

I was thinking that this helmet would protect my face better than the traditional bike helmets:

Click to expand...

You can joke around all you want. But what happened to you is no JOKE, you should know that more than anyone.

Most cyclists do not want to wear a full face Helmet, and many do not want to wear a typical bicycle or any type of Helmet even if it is mandated by local law. But it is wise to wear a Helmet non the less. Here is a very lightweight and well vented full face that someone else put up on here. They are not cheap at about $120, but neither is facial surgery or dental implants :wink: