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.