Video of ebike collision - be safe out there!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WA974Csaus

I'm sharing this video of an accident I was involved in a bit over a year ago to hopefully help others avoid similar situations. Thankfully the driver stopped and my injuries where minor, cold temperatures meant I was wearing several layers, the road rash could have been much worse. The police refused to issue any kind of citation after the accident which was very frustrating, even after being shown the video. The officer told me this was was a civil matter, the report showed her at fault but still no citation. The bike damage, clothing damage, and medical costs were all covered by her insurance. Still, as they say, you always lose when you go up against a vehicle.

Even though she was found at fault, I realize after watching the video many times that I need to be a much more defensive rider. She had let off her brakes before the intersection and started to drift back towards the center of the lane, so my instinct at the time was to accelerate past her since her driving was erratic. I'm now much more cautious when traffic is going slower than I am. Most drivers do NOT check the bike lane before making right turns into business or at intersections, and many do not use their turn signal either. Fear the right hook, it seems to be a very common type of accident. Since the accident I've also invested in a bright headlight with a strobe option, people seem to be much more aware of my presence on the road, I'm a firm believer now that a good headlight can save your life.

I wish you all safe riding in 2019!

Glad you weren't hurt, but yeah. You really could have avoided that by being more defensive. This driver encroached on your bike lane ... twice. My first reaction when drivers don't respect lanes is to back off and give them more space, not to pass. I may eventually be compelled to pass , but I'm usually very patient about doing that. And in your case, what's to say that she stays passed even if you do pass her safely? I'm much more comfortable keeping trouble in front of me rather than behind me.

Not only was the pass ill-advised, but you sat in her blind spot for a bit first as well. That's just not a good place to be. She also either turned on her turn signal or hit her brakes. Either of those things is warning not to pass on the right - whether she had encroached on your bike lane or not ... especially at an upcoming intersection!! But the main thing for me was that you chose to pass after the second time she encroached on your lane. I'd have been hard on the brakes (or I hope I would have) at the second encroachment (10 second mark). I felt that reaction viscerally when i was watching the video.

BTW, that's a great video for showing how that kind of accident can happen. Hopefully it is instructive for others. Thanks for posting it.

lucky only minor injuries

lights and/or visibility do not make impact proof

ride as if invisible because you are

even if they see you trust no driver

stakes too high

wturber said:

Glad you weren't hurt, but yeah. You really could have avoided that by being more defensive. This driver encroached on your bike lane ... twice. My first reaction when drivers don't respect lanes is to back off and give them more space, not to pass. I may eventually be compelled to pass , but I'm usually very patient about doing that. And in your case, what's to say that she stays passed even if you do pass her safely? I'm much more comfortable keeping trouble in front of me rather than behind me.

Not only was the pass ill-advised, but you sat in her blind spot for a bit first as well. That's just not a good place to be. She also either turned on her turn signal or hit her brakes. Either of those things is warning not to pass on the right - whether she had encroached on your bike lane or not ... especially at an upcoming intersection!! But the main thing for me was that you chose to pass after the second time she encroached on your lane. I'd have been hard on the brakes (or I hope I would have) at the second encroachment (10 second mark). I felt that reaction viscerally when i was watching the video.

BTW, that's a great video for showing how that kind of accident can happen. Hopefully it is instructive for others. Thanks for posting it.

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Completely agree, I can only hope others can learn from my mistakes.

That sucks.

But you live, you learn, right? i've always known that this is a classic way to get hit. This kind of collision also happens all the time when one car is hanging out in the blind spot of another.

I always ride defensive. Even when i have the ability to out-accelerate a car. There are so few bicycles in my area, that drivers don't check their mirrors for them. Essentially i am invisible on the road. Within just 5 miles, there will be at least 3 instances where a car didn't see me and would hit me if i was not being very cautious. The chances to be killed are numerous.

Yet i still ride. The only thing that has thrown me off a bicycle in 21 years of riding is a train track that unexpectedly crossed the road at a ~3 degree angle. So you are actually very safe, if you start with the assumption that people in cars do not see you.

neptronix said:

<snip> So you are actually very safe, if you start with the assumption that people in cars do not see you.

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... and then give yourself every chance to be seen. I now wear fluorescent green or orange upper wear exclusively. At night I wear a top with big reflective stripes. I also use a flashing headlight during the day.

BTW, traffic permitting, I will sometimes pull directly behind a car that signals a right turn or looks like it is going to turn right so that they can clearly see me in their rear view mirror. Sometimes drivers will see you and then come to a stop so as to allow you to pass on the right. But I'm not going to put myself in harms way by passing that way and that can lead to a bothersome stalemate. While it isn't quite practical to do, I try to make it next to impossible for a car to hit me.

90% of the bike vs car crash videos, they either go too fast or too close. Where are you going in such a hurry that you absolutely need to overtake moving cars? Was it worth it?

Dont ride beside a vehicle like that, if you known that side road was there or not, thankfully you live to ride on.

I slipped twice already this year, ice both times. Yesterday around a corner, patch of ice. Month ago, bridge ice and braking.
Car accidents, front wheel taken off twice. Looking left turning right truck and me in crosswalk, same with a car but she was parked, looking left. Honks are common, they are saying "Hello cool guy how are you doing" so I smile instead of giving them the middle finger.

While legally she was at fault. That was entirely your fault that YOU LET HER DO IT. Good that you see that, and have learned that lesson. I had to touch metal to learn it once and for all too.

They will do that to you every time, or at least often enough, so for you to overtake her at that moment was very risky. Passing her on either side at that time would be a bad choice.

Sorry if the comment is harsh. Its mostly aimed at others who have yet to learn it. Last time I tangled with a car like that was 40 years ago. I learned to stop letting cars do shit to me, and never have touched metal since.

This is just how it is, you can't keep putting yourself in the bulls eye while you ride. You have to stop it, and ride so they cannot do shit do you, without having a plan to counter what they do, over and over, each ride.

Personally, I would have gotten behind that car and stayed there in the lane in that situation. Pass later, but on the left if she's too slow. Bike lanes are only safe if you have no intersections or driveways for them to right cross you.

Left cross is different, for that you have to turn to your left of any car that turns left into your path. This applies if you are on a bike, motorcycle, or car. Be ready to bear left when you get left crossed.

dogman dan said:

Sorry if the comment is harsh. Its mostly aimed at others who have yet to learn it. Last time I tangled with a car like that was 40 years ago. I learned to stop letting cars do shit to me, and never have touched metal since.

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I learned this lesson as a kid riding my 10 speed fast southbound on 35th avenue at the Glendale intersection. I passed a VW bug that was stopped in the right hand lane with no signal. But the driver accelerated and turned right in front of me. I think she must have realized what she was doing as she did it since she hit her brakes partway into the turn. I hit my brakes too, but still hit her door with my front wheel. That popped the chrome off of her door. No harm to me or my bike, but lesson learned.

This was obviously predictable.
Passing on the right was a risky decision. Passing on the right is always risky, even when them cars seem predictable. Good that you had learned the lesson without damage..

I would have passed her long before, on the left lane where drivers are expecting to be passed, and where plenty of room is available to escape. If the bike is not powerful enough to do that, ride her lane at safe distance.

Got clipped the same way on a moped.
Driver started swerving to the left which made sense because there was a left intersection.
But what he instead did immediately afterwards, was pull hard right into his driveway.
Of course that was after I had decided to pass the slow and seemingly erratic behaving car.
No blinkers were set at at any point.

Learned a lesson. Even driving instructors don't always set blinkers. And erratic behaviour or swerving out of your way is not a save situation.

Riding on city streets in Capitol Hill of DC is super dangerous especially on an ebike... Going up to intersections I try my best to not be near a car in the road, and if there is one, I'll check behind me and make sure nobody is riding too close and I'll ride in the road instead of the bike lane...

This is synonymous to the blurred lines with ebikes and motorcycles...where this would have likely happened to a cyclist too and not just an ebiker, if I have the power and speed...I don't use the bike lane...

Do you have a bell? I don't have audio on the video since I'm at work but it might be a good idea to have one and ding when your by cars that are also near intersections or potential areas to turn so you give them a heads up. In DC it's required to have a bell...I really only use it on pedestrians though...just an idea.

Glad your OK! You video all your rides?

A 60dB bell isn't going to work when traffic is 80dB and the drivers are enclosed in their own sound-dampening enclosure.

TilmanBaumann said:

Got clipped the same way on a moped.
Driver started swerving to the left which made sense because there was a left intersection.
But what he instead did immediately afterwards, was pull hard right into his driveway.
Of course that was after I had decided to pass the slow and seemingly erratic behaving car.
No blinkers were set at at any point.

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It is very common for drivers to drift left before turning right. In fact, it is frequent enough that it is almost a telltale sign.

russ18uk said:

A 60dB bell isn't going to work when traffic is 80dB and the drivers are enclosed in their own sound-dampening enclosure.

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Heck, pedestrians often don't hear my bell - even when I'm within 10 feet. They frequently wear headphones. Cars frequently have windows up and the radio or other audio on.

A good headlight is a very good idea, but a flashing headlight is very unwise.

An average persons brain can track 15 lights, but only 3 flashing lights. If People use flashing lights on their bike the number of accidents would greatly increase and not get lower. Car Drivers would proably not kill you but the walking children they overlook because of all those distracting flashes around them.

Flashing lights in traffic is for danger or urgent attention only. Please do not put others in significant danger by using them, especially in urban areas with lots of traffic and lots of lights.

(it's also much more difficult to judge the velocity and direction of a vehicle with a flashing light vs a constant light and constantly loooking at flashing lights during night gets people tired very soon)

Cephalotus said:

A good headlight is a very good idea, but a flashing headlight is very unwise.

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I'd be interested in seeing the study/data on this. And based just on the information you gave, I don't see how the "very unwise" claim would generally be true. In fact, in my area, considering the low density of pedestrians and cyclists, it would seem to be very wise to use flashing headlights and tail lights.

Cephalotus said:

A good headlight is a very good idea, but a flashing headlight is very unwise.

An average persons brain can track 15 lights, but only 3 flashing lights. If People use flashing lights on their bike the number of accidents would greatly increase and not get lower. Car Drivers would proably not kill you but the walking children they overlook because of all those distracting flashes around them.

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Hmm. I'm a VFR pilot and I am often in the air at night with a dozen or so aircraft - all with flashing lights. (Not to mention the airport beacon and anticollision lights on towers.) The beacon flashes at a minimum, and many aircraft now flash their landing lights for visibility as well. It doesn't seem to reduce the number of aircraft I can track.

If the flashing lights were that big a problem, I think we'd see a lot more issues around construction zones, where there are typically at least dozens of them, all flashing at different rates, plus the big signs that sequence arrows, and change text continuously across their faces to advise of conditions, dates, etc.

The problems I do see around construction tend to be from poorly setup zones and signage causing confusion, and impatient drivers unwilling to slow down in such zones, more than anything else, day or night.

I also don't see increases in problems at intersections and places with medians and long turn lanes, where there are typically several to dozens of vehicles with turn signals blinking at different rates, brightnesses, and colors, waiting to turn in various lanes. THere are greater numbers of collisons and such at intersections, but the flashing lights are unlikely to have much to do with it--it's typically impatience and inattention in general, that cause those.

wturber said:

TilmanBaumann said:

Got clipped the same way on a moped.
Driver started swerving to the left which made sense because there was a left intersection.
But what he instead did immediately afterwards, was pull hard right into his driveway.
Of course that was after I had decided to pass the slow and seemingly erratic behaving car.
No blinkers were set at at any point.

Click to expand...

It is very common for drivers to drift left before turning right. In fact, it is frequent enough that it is almost a telltale sign.

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Totally is. I have grown wiser.
I was greedy. My engine was cold and while downhill I could easily lift it in the two-stroke power band.
But the biggest problem was the fork in the road. It just made sense that be is going to take a left.
Insurance paid for my lesson.

I do it, (drift left before turning right) but not when driving a car but when driving my crane truck, I have to, as the turning radius is much greater. So do a lot of semis. But I always check both sides and behind me of course. It always kills me when I see some Corrola or Civc driver do this though, what it tells me is that they are lousy drivers and have a very poor sense of all things mechanical/no common sense. These same type drivers will not notice a big rig behind them (not use their mirror) and then slow to a snail's crawl (without signaling) while turning, like their car may roll over or something! It is for sure up to us bike riders to keep ourselfes safe, as there as a lot of total idiots out there, at least as far as their driving techniques.

craneplaneguy said:

(drift left before turning right) ...

It always kills me when I see some Corrola or Civc driver do this...

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Lots of them are cornering their small cars like it is 40ft long.

The worst here in the city that has insufficient parking, are those doing U turns. They know it is illegal, so they don’t signal, and do it quick. They make you believe they’re turning right by slowing down and moving to the extreme right of the street, then suddenly turn left across 2 lanes.

I don’t lock brakes for them anymore. I turn inside with them and stop my handlebar in their window. This has a very dissuasive effect. I don’t say a word, just looking at them like they are stupid dogs is enough to make them feel guilty.

Synon said:

.... I'm a firm believer now that a good headlight can save your life.

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don't be so sure about a bright headlight.

Three times today I was right hooked by pickup trucks that apparently failed to 'see' this trike. It was heavily overcast with rain.
Lucky for me I'm a very cautious rider and was zipping along at 10mph and recently installed rear BB7 brakes