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Admittedly from the part of the world where they all ride on the wrong side of the road, but very useful advice even if your commute only includes several 100m on the road:
And I concur that the helmet or not argument matters not a bit compared to avoiding dopey drivers in the first place.
My favorite bit of advice is "Assume you are invisible"
This is going to go well 😉
With advice including re think using music players, wear bright coloured clothing etc.
I totally agree with it though. Simply refers back to the first rule that dead is dead no matter how right or within the law you were.
Agreed. While I'd argue that riding assertively matters a lot, what I also tell my son is that we need to assume at least 1 in 100 people drives like a nut or is actually insane - and one needs to be riding as if several of these will go by during each journey.
I really think riding assertively is well up there in importance. Things like taking the primary position when going through narrow stretches / traffic islands and overtaking on the outside of slower traffic. Often this will appear dangerous to the uninitiated, and I'm sure some drivers think I'm being antisocial but a) they're wrong and b) self preservation is more important.
How do you assert yourself to someone texting instead of looking through the windscreen?
Of course you can't but it's naive to think that accidents are due to only one factor. They're almost always due to coincidental occurrence of multiple factors. You're always at risk (in whatever you do), it's just a question of managing that risk.
Riding 3 feet out from the kerb puts you in direct line of the texters momentary glances at the road, and also means any traffic in front will slow down or pull out to go around you, giving a clue that there is an obstruction.
Riding close to the left, traffic may just rock on past with no brake lights, indicators or change noticeable change in road position. When this happens you don't necessarily notice a cyclist until the van/lorry in front passes them, leaving you no time as a driver to plan a safe pass. Or no chance of seeing them if texting and glancing at the road!
Riding primary makes a massive difference, but I also glance behind every couple seconds for the texters. Eye contact is also important. I've still got a lot tI learn but these things helped.
All pretty much common sense ideas really, the sort of stuff that's kept me accident free on the roads for my entire life,but sadly, common sense isn't actually that common anymore. I imagine this thread will degenerate into an argument shortly, as we generally appear to be fixated on the Shoulds & shouldn'ts of road use (and everything else for that matter),and happily ignore the wills & won'ts that do the damage.