How do you protect yourself on two wheels?

Crock Rock

I got into cycling lately after being an absolute prick of a man towards our two-wheeled friends beforehand. I have seen the error of my ways and have repented. I hope all is forgiven :pac:

• I wear a high-vis (I know this is a touchy subject, but I just feel safer. I'm not trying to persuade others to do so.
• I have a light front and back which are on always, even at daylight.
• I wear a helmet.
• I'm thinking of investing in a cheap camera.

Eamonnator

Say three Our Fathers and ten Hail Marys.
Your sins are forgiven, go in peace.

tommythecat

Crock Rock wrote: »

I got into cycling lately after being an absolute prick of a man towards our two-wheeled friends beforehand. I have seen the error of my ways and have repented. I hope all is forgiven :pac:

• I wear a high-vis (I know this is a touchy subject, but I just feel safer. I'm not trying to persuade others to do so.
• I have a light front and back which are on always, even at daylight.
• I wear a helmet.
• I'm thinking of investing in a cheap camera.

Take the lane when you need to if there is not enough room to pass you safely without crossing the white line.

Always keep far enough out that the driver behind cannot say they didn’t see you. Always make them pull out to overtake you. This usually stops close passes (usually)

Leave at least 1metre between you and parked cars so you don’t get doored.

jjpep

Crock Rock wrote: »

I got into cycling lately after being an absolute prick of a man towards our two-wheeled friends beforehand. I have seen the error of my ways and have repented. I hope all is forgiven :pac:

• I wear a high-vis (I know this is a touchy subject, but I just feel safer. I'm not trying to persuade others to do so.
• I have a light front and back which are on always, even at daylight.
• I wear a helmet.
• I'm thinking of investing in a cheap camera.

More important than of the above IMHO (except lights at night maybe) is your positioning on the road. On the phone so can't link anything but if you go on YouTube and look at videos about primary position and taking the lane when needed. Also motorbike safety videos about the same as well. Same principles.

RobertFoster

Don't cycle in the gutter.
Have the confidence to take the lane when you need to.
Be predictable.
Read the road for both yourself and other roads users around you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BapFZkvQHmY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BapFZkvQHmY

ted1

Crock Rock wrote: »

I got into cycling lately after being an absolute prick of a man towards our two-wheeled friends beforehand. I have seen the error of my ways and have repented. I hope all is forgiven :pac:

• I wear a high-vis (I know this is a touchy subject, but I just feel safer. I'm not trying to persuade others to do so.
• I have a light front and back which are on always, even at daylight.
• I wear a helmet.
• I'm thinking of investing in a cheap camera.

Best protection is good lane positioning

Never go inside a bus or Hgv or even LGV. On a roundabout take the lane so you can’t get cut off.
At lights pull up and put yourself in front of the first vehicle, when the lights change then move in. This ensures the driver sees you and stops you being put in blind spots. Read the road and stick your arm out looking over your shoulder before you move out in to the road to avoid pot holes , parked cars etc

com1

https://www.google.com/search?client=ms-android-samsung&source=android-home&source=hp&ei=nf5dXO61N5TfxgOHporgBw&q=cycling+machine+gun&oq=cycling+machine+gun&gs_l=mobile-gws-wiz-hp.3..0i22i30j33i160.3190.17948..20472...0.0..0.114.1516.17j2......0....1.......5..41j46i131i275j0j46j0i131.ovtvykFS6gw#imgrc=yoX-jOsZw8cd1M:

When turning right at a T keep way out and signal intent before hand, thinking of it as taking the racing line, you might get beeps but it will stop you getting squeezed/pinched on the turn. Move back in when the road straightens out and give a thumbs up if the driver didn't beep you.

tomasrojo

Personally, I think the most important thing is to make all your frequent routes as quiet as possible. Avoid multi-lane roundabouts and slip roads as much as possible. Often you can go through housing estates, for example, where someone in a car can't.

Even if the quieter option is a bit longer, it's worth it; even if just for your mental health.

EDIT: People here are usually very obliging if anyone wants advice on the quietest route between two points.

Mint Sauce

A mini pump close at hand...

Seriously though, off top of head, cycle with confidence, and assertion, this is different from aggressively, dont allow self to be squezed against the kerb, or other street/road furniture. Read the road, position your self and indicate your intentions early. Use the advance stop lines where available, will defo give a advantage when getting away from the lights. Cycle lanes are not aways the best places to be, the most unkept part of the road. Dont take the inside of HGV or buses, they will not be able to see you.

bilbot79

Don't Garmin have a rear radar that indicates a vehicle is coming close to you without you having to look back?

Beasty

I've been recommended stabilisers....

Mint Sauce

bilbot79 wrote: »

Don't Garmin have a rear radar that indicates a vehicle is coming close to you without you having to look back?

I would rather use my own senses. Your best radar.

CramCycle

Nothing wrong with your post Crock. Do you have something that is particularly bothering you so far?
Camera won't protect you, just a way to have a witness if something does happen.

CramCycle

Beasty wrote: »

I've been recommended stabilisers....

I'm surprised your health, cycling and any other insurance hasn't insisted on it as a requirement to you getting on a bike.

Beasty

CramCycle wrote: »

I'm surprised your health, cycling and any other insurance hasn't insisted on it as a requirement to you getting on a bike.

They think anything else I might do is too risky - they can better quantify any exposure with cycling. Of course it's reflected in the premiums. Had one at 6 and a half grand to pay the other week. Worth every cent mind!!

what?

Hangover from motorbike days, lifesavers
Quick turn of the head to look at 3 to 6 o'clock position (and further back) before any change of position

Type 17

what? wrote: »

Hangover from motorbike days, lifesavers
Quick turn of the head to look at 3 to 6 o'clock position (and further back) before any change of position

Very true, and you should do it when approaching parked cars or other reasons to move right (even if you know what's behind you from a recent look-back), so that you catch the eye of the driver behind you - if they see you looking, they'll incorporate you into their thoughts, whereas if you just move right, they may not notice you until you('re both) in the pinch point. Think of it as social engineering. Hand signals work the same way - I sometimes use them when I'm in a lane that is going that way anyway.

tomasrojo

Cyclecraft by John Franklin is a pretty exhaustive look at various techniques and approaches to minimise risk. It's available on the public library system, I think.

I have a scan of an old Galway Cycling Campaign leaflet that summarises a few keys idea from it, if you want it.

ED E

tomasrojo wrote: »

Cyclecraft by John Franklin is a pretty exhaustive look at various techniques and approaches to minimise risk. It's available on the public library system, I think.

A controversial figure. He's correct in what he says, but his policies are "adversarial" in a way.

tomasrojo

He's a lot milder than John Forester, who is completely uncompromising in his hostility to cycling-specific infrastructure.

Franklin's basic premise on infrastructure is, more or less, that it's no substitute for learning to use the road, and that much(*) infrastructure in inferior to using the road. He does say, at least in his later editions of Cyclecraft, that Dutch infrastructure is well designed and suitable for use, though I can't remember the exact quote.

The book itself, or at least the two editions I have, steer largely clear of opining on infrastructure, and is more about how to use the UK road network as it currently is, rather than how he'd hope it to be. It's applicable to Irish roads as well, given the lazy adoption of a lot of UK designs here.

On the other side of the balance, he's a well-respected figure as well as a controversial one. It's possible to be both, and his advice on how to deal with British roads isn't the core of the criticism; it's that he's held to have retarded the development of Dutch-style infrastructure in the UK. Perhaps that's true; I'm no expert, and I haven't followed it closely enough to opine too vigorously. He certainly is not a fan of infrastructure, both as infrastructure currently is, and even to the notion that cyclists should be separated from motorised traffic, so the criticism is at least plausible.

(*) He might go so far as to say "most" or "nearly all", which would be going too far, I think.

Roadtoad

Don't be too proud/cocky to alight, look and wait when crossing slip roads, especially exit slips. Or take the exit slip, up to the roundabout and return to the main road via the entry slip road. (I'm particularly thinking the N7 near Dublin).
After that, Yellow, multiple lights, and clothing with high quality reflectors.

tomasrojo

The reviews here are over 70% 5-star reviews, for example:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cyclecraft-complete-enjoyable-cycling-children-ebook/dp/B00NEOVI9Q

ED E

tomasrojo wrote: »

He's a lot milder than John Forester, who is completely uncompromising in his hostility to cycling-specific infrastructure.

Ooops, think I mixed up the two John Fs :pac:

tomasrojo

Roadtoad wrote: »

Don't be too proud/cocky to alight, look and wait when crossing slip roads, especially exit slips. Or take the exit slip, up to the roundabout and return to the main road via the entry slip road. (I'm particularly thinking the N7 near Dublin).
After that, Yellow, multiple lights, and clothing with high quality reflectors.

Becoming a pedestrian briefly is the better part of valour on some roads too.

I'd favour putting reflectors on the bike over putting them on your person, as they're more fully in the cone of dipped headlights, but reflectors on clothing do add a bit of "top" to your image. If the driver is bothering to look in your direction, of course.

tomasrojo

ED E wrote: »

Ooops, think I mixed up the two John Fs :pac:

Well, the UK one is disliked by a lot of infrastructure bloggers. As I said, perhaps with some justification. But he seems to be a helpful and likeable guy. While Forester is the most prickly individual imaginable.

CrankyHaus

Any advice on dealing with two lane roadways?

I take the Finglas Rd. In each direction it has a bus lane, a driving lane and a mainly footpath mounted cycle lane of poor quality with a number of places where you are exposed to crossing traffic.

I took the bus lane for some time. Vehicles routinely squeeze past with inches to spare. If they can't pass they beep, pass on the outside lane and then swing back in with their rear ends sweeping towards me so i have to swerve to avoid them. Complaints to Dublin Bus about its drivers doing this are simply ignored.

I ended up using the cycle lane but it's less than ideal and I feel like an accident on it is only a matter of time. Is there anything I can do to safely use the bus lane?

tomasrojo

If the footpath cycle track is terrible, I use the bus lane, but I keep an eye out for buses approaching from behind and pull in to let them past. It's mostly so they can't do a punishment pass on me, as you've noted.

The old Finglas Road is appalling. I had to do a bit of work around there for a brief period. I ended up using another road. The cycle track was pretty much unusable, because, as you said, of traffic crossing it at frequent junctions.

AndrewJRenko

Take the lane, lots of over the shoulder 'livesaver' checks and

Nil Carborundum Illegitimi

homer911

Be mindful of the road conditions, both regular and occasional - position of potholes to avoid, areas of road or cycle path prone to frost, sections of road prone to flooding (avoid a soaking from passing cars). Also be mindful of greasy roads after prolonged dry spells after rain.

Ferris

AndrewJRenko wrote: »

Nil Carborundum Illegitimi

Like this....