it finally happened on my bike commute...

[Terrestrial]

Cruising down my normal route in the bike lane I've ridden a hundred times, nice crisp Friday morning, in a great mood....in the starbucks driveway a lady on her cell phone is waiting to pull out.  got my blinding blinky light going nuts on the front of my bike.  she looks RIGHT AT ME (I thought)...she's waiting...ah good she sees me...right?   WRONG.  Either that or she was rude/evil/ignorant/mindless while blabbing on her phone drinking her latte.

Pulls right out in front of me.  I slam on brakes.  This is the worst part...if she would have committed to it and kept going I still had enough time/distance to slow enough to miss her and have it just be a mild annoyance.  But as she's blocking the full bike lane, THEN she decides she sees me and panics and stops.  I managed to stop quick enough not to hit her car but couldn't get my cleat out fast enough and toppled over in very embarrasing fashion at 0 MPH.  First time i have ever done that though I'm sure it happens to most people with clipless at least once.  She didn't even roll down the window to ask if I was okay haha...just zoomed off. 

A little scuff on my leg but otherwise I'm fine, it was just annoying.  But to add insult to injury I was on my NICE bike (bike seems ok) and had just put on beautiful brand new carbon clipless pedals (war wound on side but functionally still ok)

All you fellow bike commuters....stay safe.  This lady apparently dressed up as a Car Clown for Halloween.

[GuitarStv]

That really sucks.  Sorry to hear it.  I've come to the conclusion that in this type of scenario it's probably best for you to reduce speed but still hit the car . . .

- less likelihood of braking in the front too hard and going over the bars
- dent/scratches in vehicle may act as future deterrent to driving like a dick around bikes
- you're officially in an accident, which means if she zooms off you can report her for running from the scene

[Timmmy]

I've hit or been hit 4 (I think) times.  Thank god no major injuries.  I agree with GuitarStv, don't jeopardize your own safety (flip bike/swerve in to traffic) to avoid damage to an idiots car. 

You can contact your local PD for clarification but causing you to crash and injure yourself might still constitute an accident of some sort.  Imagine she pulls out in front of a car and causes that car to slam on the brakes and get rear-ended.  She would be at fault.  Or maybe a better example would be pulling in front of a motorcycle and causing the motorcyclist to panic stop and lay the bike down to avoid a collision.  Still at fault.

In the future, you should make a note of her plate number and vehicle info.

Glad you are OK. 

[EastCoastMike]

I'm glad you're OK too.

I got hit on Monday, so I can sympathize.  No damage to me or the bike other than scrapes and bruises.  Pretty scary though.

[zinnie]

Sorry that happened; sounds scary and I'm glad you were able to get away without an injury!

This almost happens to me all of the time. It is my least favorite thing about biking...

[rocketpj]

My sister had a similar situation a couple years ago when passing the parking lot of an 'elite' private school in the rich part of town (on her way to work on the campus).  The person actually got out of her car and starting screaming at my sister that it was a '$65000 car' and watch where the f*&%$ you are going etc. etc. 

Bottom line - getting behind the wheel makes people dumb and thoughtless.

[FreeWheel]

Happy ending. Good job.

When ever I'm about to cross in front of a driver pulling out, I always move out into the center of the lane. This makes me more relevant to them than someone near the curb or in a bike lane. It also gives me more buffer to avoid a crash.

If an overtaking car prevents me from doing this, then that's ok, this car becomes my blocker. The driver pulling out is much less likely to do so into a car.

I find using a mirror very helpful for this.

[Eric]

This lady apparently dressed up as a Car Clown for Halloween.

Ha!  Good one!

Glad you made it out not too much worse for wear. 

[cpa cat]

Either that or she was rude/evil/ignorant/mindless while blabbing on her phone drinking her latte.

Honestly, I wish they'd make cell phones completely illegal to use while operating a motor vehicle. People are over confident in their ability to focus on driving while talking on the phone. They think that because their eyes are free, their mind is free.

I used to have an hour long highway commute and I saw this every day on my commute. I guess people don't like wasting an hour, so they'd talk on the phone.

And I can almost hear their logic: It's basically just driving in a straight line at a constant speed, so no problem, right?

Three problems that they have:
1. Driving in a straight line.
2. Maintaining a constant speed.
3. Situational awareness for lane changes.

But since their mind is 80% occupied by the phone, they don't realize that they fail at all three!

And I can hear them argue, "I've never been in an accident while talking on the phone!"

There are two reasons for this:

1. Your fellow motorists think you're drunk and/or insane and drive defensively around you, to the best of their abilities.
2. You are, in fact, oblivious, to the near-misses you've had, up to and including, running people off the road while mindlessly changing lanes.

[domustachesgrowinhouston]

Good job being ready for it.  This is really common on motorcycles.  The motorcycle creates a gap between cars, so the person wanting to turn out, though they're looking straight at you, don't see you - instead they see the gap between the cars and so they have a tendency to pull out in front of you.  Even though you were in a bike line, it was probably the same, she was looking right at you but what she was seeing was the cars.

[skyrefuge]

Glad to see you laugh to tell about it.

Also, yeah, the one-time 0mph fall in clipless pedals seems pretty universal. It always happens when a stop is unexpected or somehow distracting, so you can take heart that at least your distraction was a lot more valid than most! (mine was in my parents' driveway, I think I was squealing to a stop to goose my dad or something dumb like that).

[NeighborGuy]

Yikes. Glad you're safe.

I was biking along last summer when a car passed me on the left, then immediately cut me off to turn into a side street--then slammed on the brakes halfway into the turn for no apparent reason. Almost exactly horizontal across my path. I'm not saying that she was trying to make me t-bone right into her car, but she couldn't have done a better job of it if she were trying.

Luckily I had good brakes and a healthy enough level of paranoia to see things like that coming.

[EastCoastMike]

Either that or she was rude/evil/ignorant/mindless while blabbing on her phone drinking her latte.

Honestly, I wish they'd make cell phones completely illegal to use while operating a motor vehicle. People are over confident in their ability to focus on driving while talking on the phone. They think that because their eyes are free, their mind is free.

I used to have an hour long highway commute and I saw this every day on my commute. I guess people don't like wasting an hour, so they'd talk on the phone.

And I can almost hear their logic: It's basically just driving in a straight line at a constant speed, so no problem, right?

Three problems that they have:
1. Driving in a straight line.
2. Maintaining a constant speed.
3. Situational awareness for lane changes.

But since their mind is 80% occupied by the phone, they don't realize that they fail at all three!

And I can hear them argue, "I've never been in an accident while talking on the phone!"

There are two reasons for this:

1. Your fellow motorists think you're drunk and/or insane and drive defensively around you, to the best of their abilities.
2. You are, in fact, oblivious, to the near-misses you've had, up to and including, running people off the road while mindlessly changing lanes.

LOL back when I drove, I used to drive from DC to Manassas every evening during rush hour on I-66, which is one of the most god-forsaken stretches of highway ever conceived.  Anyway, I used to spend the majority of my trip texting. Come to a complete stop.  Read a text.  Glance up.  Release pressure on the brake and scoot up five foot.  Respond to text.  Repeat.

Manassas is about 38 miles from work.  The commute routinely took 2.5 hours in the evening and almost 2 hours in the morning.  Four years of that cured me of any urge to get behind the wheel and drive ANYWHERE anymore.

[agent_clone]

Either that or she was rude/evil/ignorant/mindless while blabbing on her phone drinking her latte.

Honestly, I wish they'd make cell phones completely illegal to use while operating a motor vehicle. People are over confident in their ability to focus on driving while talking on the phone. They think that because their eyes are free, their mind is free.

In Australia it is illegal to touch your phone while the engine is turned on and you are operating the vehicle (i.e. the person driving can't touch the phone, passengers can).  It doesn't prevent people from doing so.  You can use bluetooth phone hookups in the car to answer your phone though.

[GuitarStv]

I strongly believe that all vehicles should have a short range cell jammer that engages when the ignition goes on.  Jamming is easy to do and cheap.  I bet this would save many more lives than airbags.

[johnintaiwan]

Had a very similar situation happen to me a few weeks ago, though I managed to unclip. They guy looked at me and sped off. But I caught him about 1km down the road stuck at a red light. Stood in front of his car and yelled at him for a good minute or two. I think he was pretty embarrassed as everyone was watching a white guy cussing him out in chinese. Maybe it will get him to pay better attention next time (not likely) but it did make me feel better. And I think i may have set a new personal record for speed while I was trying to catch him.

[Terrestrial]

Thanks for the well wishes, thankfully it all turned out okay.  I will say, aside from a scary few, 98% of the drivers in my town are pretty conscientious towards bikes so thankfully this is a rare occurrence.  I know it's not as good everywhere.

[wtjbatman]

I don't really bike a lot, but I've had similar experiences while riding a motorcycle. It seems like they are looking right at you, but in reality it turns out they are looking through you. Boom, they pull out in front of you. Riding my motorcycle made me hyper-aware of other drivers and I was constantly thinking of ways to avoid accidents or get myself out of dangerous situations.

[beaster]

Living and biking in toronto I sadly learned that the hand whack on the car is oftentimes called for. Be careful, meatballs don't bounce!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Gerard]

Bottom line - getting behind the wheel makes people dumb and thoughtless.

Reminded me of this, which I haven't seen in years but clearly made an impression at the time:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hk-c5jlk48s

[aneel]

I call myself the happiest biker in town because I wave at EVERY car that I'm crossing.  Living in Mass means I have to ride infront of a lot of inpatient people at stop signs.  I always wave at them which inevitably forces them to give me a nor or eye contact or something, if they don't I slow down until they do.
Ride like your invisible, because we're not invincible.

[Bob W]

Sadly, the reason I rarely bike or ride a motorcycle.   Don't feel bad though.  My brother-in-law walks every morning and has been hit by two people on cell phones.    He walks in the dark with light on him.   One of the drivers even went of the road into the lawn to hit him.

[Timmmy]

I call myself the happiest biker in town because I wave at EVERY car that I'm crossing.  Living in Mass means I have to ride infront of a lot of inpatient people at stop signs.  I always wave at them which inevitably forces them to give me a nor or eye contact or something, if they don't I slow down until they do.
Ride like your invisible, because we're not invincible.

Years ago I adopted the philosophy while riding my motorcycle of "Ride like they are all secretly trying to kill you".  It's a bit extreme but it's kept me alive through 50K+ miles on a motorcycle and unknown thousands on a bicycle.