The Dreaded Left-Hand turn

We had a near miss recently in the Stark County Bike Club that was a bit scary. A couple on a tandem were in the process of making a left-hand turn when they were simultaneously passed by a van on their left-hand side. They almost got broad sided while making the turn, but fortunately, the driver reacted and ran off the road to avoid the tandem. The result was that the van lost control, ran through the ditch and finished their wild ride by hitting a pole.

I've heard of this type of incident before. Most notably was the death of a Stark County rider while riding near Springfield, Ohio in the Calvin's challenge event. In that case, the rider was broad-sided and killed. I didn't see either incident so I can't speak to whether or not the rider could have prevented the incident by doing something differently. What is clear is that in both cases, the driver did not see or understand the left-hand turn signal.

On one of the AABTS routes, there is a busy road where we make a left-hand turn in a somewhat similar road (Southbound on Pontiac Trail making a left on Six Mile Road). Here's what I've done in those situations.

1) Try to predict when the car is going to catch up with me. If the car will catch up to me before I'm ready to turn, I keep the bike to the right so that they can pass.

2) Make the signal a couple of times in advance of the turn. I try to confirm that the driver sees the signal and will slow down for me.

3) Signal and move to the far left hand side of the lane. I pretty much ride on the yellow line and have my signalling hand cross the double-yellow line. This makes it uncomfortable for the driver to pass me on the left. If anything, they might cheat and pass me on the right, which is fine with me.

4) If there's too many cars going around me as I approach the turn, and I'm uncomfortable trying to get over to the left, I'll just pull over to the right at the intersection, stop the bike, and turn into a pedestrian trying to cross the street. It's not worth risking an accident just because I'm exercising my right to be on the road.

After Further Review...

I had arthroscopic surgery on my left ankle a few years ago to remove some loose cartilage. Everything had been fine since then until late last year, when I was subject to spells of extreme pain that was preventing me from putting my weight on the ankle.

MRI revealed that, well, there's missing cartilage on top of the ankle bone, and there is some deterioration in the ankle bone. Doctors told me that I must've done something to injure the weak spot, but other than biking, which really doesn't bother my ankle, I haven't done anything that traumatic to my ankle in the past year....except for that incident that broke my toe....hmmm....

The toe was so painful that I probably didn't notice how hard I came down on my ankle when my foot slammed to the ground. Anyway, this means more surgery, a cast, six weeks or so on crutches, and quite a bit of time off the bike.

Brrrrr.

I was spoiled by the December weather that was in the high 30's and even peaked into the low 50's at times. Since about the first weekend of January, Michigan has been hit with ice storms, then extreme cold, then snow, then some more extreme cold and so on.

So, seeing a relatively clean road surface, and temperatures that seemed survivable to me, I started out this morning in 19 degree weather. After 40 miles, my sweaty hands got really cold, my legs were shot from 6 weeks off the bike, and my toes were numb. The forecast doesn't look promising with another batch of snow coming tomorrow, so I'll take what I can get when I can get it.

Share the Road

Folks around Ann Arbor have decided to come up with a new "Share the Road" campaign for Ann Arbor. I think the basic problem is that Ann Arbor has a new non-motorized transportation plan that will make commuting via bicycle a reality in a town that can't really handle a lot of cars due to bad traffic design, and limited parking.

So the basic problem with this is that in Michigan, the motorists don't really like dodging all these bicycles on the road. The basic complaints from motorists about bicycles are:

1) They run stop signs & traffic lights - this is the part where we say that a bicycle is a vehicle when it suits them to be a vehicle, and a pedestrian when it suits them to do that.

2) Bicycles slow cars down. Without a designated bicycle lane, there's little room to get around the bike, which causes some motorist heartburn. Some folks in cars have no clue how to safely maneuver around a slow moving vehicle.


Bike complaints about motorists are usually:

1) Cars don't look out for bikes, so there's a lot of near misses because of cars pulling out in front of bikes.

2) Passing too close

3) Harrassment or honking.


Those cyclists who ride between cars and run red lights and stop signs usually tick off the motorists, who then take their frustration out on me, even though I tend to behave on the road. I also know that motorists don't have a clue as to what the laws are that pertain to bicycles. I had a guy in Waterloo township explain to me that anything left of the white line was space for the car and anything to the right of that line is space for bicycles, even though the only thing right of the white line out there is high weeds and a ditch.

My problem with "Share the Road" is that it is largely associated with asking motorists to grant some space and patience to the bicycles, and is driven by the bike-riding folks. What Ann Arbor needs is a campaign that targets bicycles to play by the rules, and educate motorists as to what to expect from bicycles.