[Closed] What more can I do? – Car v’s bike content

Gun.

Explode on impact?

Not much you can do about drivers not looking, if anything a flasher or 2 red and white on the side they come at you from might catch their eye if nothing else, that and ride further out into the lane so you have a bit more time and line of sight into the slip road

Quick answer is 'avoid those spots, and a bright always-on flasher light on the bars'.  You seem to have the lights covered tho.

Used to commute through those towns regularly, aeons ago (Stourbridge to Blackheath) And it was a bit bonkers in the rush hrs.  I found that I was happier to set off half an hour earlier, put an extra 3-4 miles in by taking some back-routes.

Glad you weren't seriously hurt but (as you seem now aware) that's not a reliable predictor that this will always be the case.  I got dragged around an island by a careless/dangerous (delete as applicable) driver in a flat-loader once.  Not pretty, but I lived to tell the tale and avoided that island ever after.

OP, where's the 'blackspot' that you mention?

Only real answer is to slow down and be ready to stop - you have to ride defensively, even if you have right of way. Which is unfair, wrong, and all of those things, but having right on your side doesn't help if you're under a car.

@Malvern Rider the cars have pulled out of (niche local knowledge ahoy):

Road by The Gate at Colley Gate

Road between Park Lane and the Lights by Tanhouse

Road just after Lye Football Club, opposite the Land Rover dealer

Road at the top of Lye High Street, used to be a pub on the corner

For what it's worth I asked my wife look at me on a bike from a drivers perspective and her view was I look like a Christmas Tree, she's of the view that SMIDSY is not reasonable given my attire and kit.

Plenty of canals around there, use them as much as possible. Like Malvern rider says, leave earlier and take a slightly longer (but safer) route.

Change route.

I had a couple of incidents on the cyclepath next the the A316 near Richmond and came to the conclusion that it's a) poorly designed and b) full of drivers not paying attention. So, I go a different way now.

Four times then I'd be changing the route. Although the range of times and locations does suggest you've just been really unlucky - like it's not one junction with a weird line of sight, or very early morning driving bellends etc.

Change route or slow down. you only live once no point being killed getting to work

jimdubleyou I ride that cycle path to work a few days a week and agree it’s lethal if you are trying to ride fast. I wish they would make it priority for cyclists given most cars stop to turn left anyway and thenblock the cycle path. Wouldn’t be like this in Holland

Bright helmet light (eg joystick). You can direct it at drivers waiting to pull out. It's annoying for the driver but at least they see you.

I think you know the real answer.

You don't want this to be read out at the inquest.

I'm not (just) being an arse - I've done 100 road miles in the last week.  All kinds of road, all times of day & night.  Including riding to town and back this morning in snow.  But when that sort of thing happens 4 times...

OP you are not doing anything wrong.  You can't do anything else to make motorists notice you.

As above, only answer is to stop riding there, for you own sake!

You've already got the lights, reflectors and clothing pretty much amped to the max so not much more you can do there. Personally I'd change the route even if it added a bit more on. My direct commuting route to work used to be 15 miles, my quiet towpath route was closer to 20 but crucially only took about 10 minutes more due to the it being a mostly clear run.

Bright helmet light (eg joystick). You can direct it at drivers waiting to pull out. It’s annoying for the driver but at least they see you.

I wouldnt suggest dazzling drivers.  It's illegal.  A bright helmet-light on the road is not safe for any number of reasons/possible outcomes.

OP, where are you heading from-to (roughly)?

Lunge your a brave man going round coley gate , I go a extra 5 miles out my way so I can use the mainline canal to Smethwick instead of the roads due to a few close misses over the last few years

Taking an alternative route is a pragmatic response, and it's a perfectly reasonable choice, but it has two issues: firstly it may not actually improve matters for yourself because other routes often have similar issues or introduce others, and secondly it slightly worsens things for everyone including yourself, because it just adds to the hegemony of bikes being hounded from the road.

The semi-pragmatic option would be to be extra cautious and to fit a camera and start sending this stuff to the police. None of the junctions you mention are blackspots in the DfT data, so you've no chance of persuading the local authority that the infrastructure is inherently dangerous, and it seems entirely justifiable to at least consider that anyone failing to see you could be hauled up for at least careless driving. Problem is, looking at the map, I think you're under West Mercia rather than WMP, so you're up against it a bit there. (But the more people trying to pull WMerc up to WMids' standard the better…)

To be honest, you're going to completely unreasonable measures to try to be seen, but—no surprises—it just doesn't work if someone isn't looking. So I'd say no, there's no more you can do in terms of conspicuity. Your choice is avoidance (if possible) or trying to effect some form of change. Both are justifiable choices.

As is the gun 😉

Route is from Lye/Stourbridge to central Brum.

I'd love to use the canals but can't think of an even vaguely logical route. I suspect the answer might be to go through Pedmore and pop out at the very top of Colley Gate. Not an option I was hoping for but it may be the sensible on.

I have a bright helmet mounted light that I use to 'paint' any drivers/cars approaching from the side/sideroads. Couldn't care less if it's illegal - its saved me a few times.

The other issue you have to consider is that drivers HAVE seen you but just think **** em they're on a bike

I started road biking a year ago, not commuting just for fun, I learned very quickly that if you suffer a near miss you’ll most likely find it happens again and again in the same spots. Much as I shouldn’t have to as I’ve done nothing wrong I modify what I do in these places, if I’d been knocked off 4 times on that stretch of road I’d either avoid it, slow right down or ride on the pavement.

Can you go into more detail as to exactly what is happening, and how it happened?

Did you realise they were going to pull out too late? Did you consider moving over to middle of the road Could you see them looking at you? What's behind you (i.e. are you camouflaged to a driver?)

Not saying you did anything wrong, just trying to work it out. Something is happening and it's not good. There must be a reason.

I don't even feel safe driving through Lye and Colley Gate.

I suspect nothing you do will make a blind bit of difference.

Can you not go Quarry Bonk/Old Hill way? Or is that a bit climby?

Your wife will be able to see you because she is looking at you.

Your eyes and brain work in a way many don't understand.  I didn't when I started looking good at advanced motorbiking.

Have a read of the document linked and hopefully you might understand and able adjust your riding not because of the car drivers but because of how the mind and body works its very enlightening.

Could you be more primary? I'm convinced some drivers see the space to the right of cyclists as a gap in the traffic and pull into it without considering that the cyclist will hit them whilst they're pulling out. If the traffic slows down (enough that cars in side roads would be pulling out into gaps in it) I get over to the RHS as it makes you visible to oncoming cars turning right, as well as giving you options if someone does pull out.

I wouldnt suggest dazzling drivers.  It’s illegal.  A bright helmet-light on the road is not safe for any number of reasons/possible outcomes.

While blinding drivers with a laser pointer is illegal, as would deliberately dazzling them with a bazillion lumens, I don't think a joystick is in itself illegal. AFAIK the law says you have to have BS/EC marked lights at night but doesn't prohibit going above and beyond that (unlike German rules). And it does say (for cars) that you can flash to make other road users aware that you are there.

I have my helmet light on it's lowest setting, it doesn't need to be bright, just being able to 'flash'  cars by turning a spot on them does the job even if they're already creeping forwards.

I have a friend who is a physically great cyclist. But a nightmare to ride with. He seems to have been born without any innate 6th sense or at the very least a naive lack of empathy that other people are bound to **** up from time to time and to be ready for it. The sort of person who when riding towards one of those artificual road narrowings with a car coming the other way can't tell that they are going to get there at the same time or at a really busy junction cutting up the side of stationary traffic a driver might not see you and turn right in front of you or pedalling at full bore towards a roundabout when you think its clear sods laws says a driver joining the road a junction ahead might come barralling out. It's not that he has some sort of pro cycling rights agenda, he just does not seem to have any been born with the survival skill. In a car if he is driving I have to try and go to sleep. Whilst I try to react to the brake lights of the car two or three ahead on a motorway somehow it does not register to him that it is time to take action until the car in front takes action.

He bullseyed a windscreen of a car that turned right in front of him. The driver was at fault and he got a 4 figure payout. But of our group it was always going to be him.

Having a sixth sense of potentially dangerous road spots and easing back just a touch to improve your chance to react and increase your options might be considered by the cycling nazis as giving in but to me it's just common sense. I do it in the car too.

Could that be you too OP?

If you have done everything reasonable you need to decide if the risk reward-ratio is right for you?

It does not matter if you were right, or in the right if you are dead etc.

Helmet mounted lite and make sure you're looking into their eyes. Camera too

Did you report any of the 4 incidents you mentioned?

Come to think of it, does anyone collate (cyclist) accident information so as to highlight high incident areas? And perhaps look into ways to reduce the figures by means of traffic calming, bike lanes etc etc?

Get one properly bright light. Wear a bright helmet. Be ready to stop anyway.

A bit of experience might help, you could try some training too.

None of these are to say it's your fault, it's not but you can be right all day and still get just as hurt!

Route change. Once a month is a very high incidence. Or ride as if you are expecting to be hit and prepare to stop accordingly. I do this at every mini-roundabout after my accident. I just expect cars coming towards me not to stop if I'm turning right. It has since saved me on more than one occasion.

They won't see a helmet light because they are not looking,. At all.

Don’t wear pink?

bright lights

Wear red? Yellow?

Fit photon torpedoes and shields.

Know the roads well, and as stu said, I don’t feel safe driving along there in my car during commute times. Could you get the train to Galton Bridge then ride long the canal?

It sounds like you are very visible already, I don't think adding more lights or anything like that is going to help because clearly the issue is that the drivers that hit you didn't look.

It's very easy to spot cyclists if you are looking, even the ones dressed in dark clothes with no hi-viz or lights, because people are not invisible or transparent, making yourself visible is great, but it only works when people are looking.

So...since clearly a proportion of drivers on your route aren't looking properly the only options left to you are to either not be there when they pull out, or for you to be the one looking and planning for them being idiots.

I'm not suggesting you're riding dangerously or anything, but that if you don't want to simply take an alternative route then you might have to start riding differently, slowing down, more anticipation, different positioning etc. With the ultimate goal being that people don't pull out on you and hit you, they might still pull out on you but because you'll already have clocked what they're going to do and mitigated/avoided for them it hopefully wont result in another collision.

I have been knocked off a few times over the last couple of decades, and every single time although it was 'unavoidable' by the time it was happening, I did see the situation unfolding, if I had been anticipating better I might have been able to avoid it. I'm not victim blaming, and it's certainly not fair that this kind of thing is necessary, but even if it helps you not get knocked off a 5th time it might just be worth it...

Hope you're not too banged up and that you heal fast, try not to let it knock your confidence either.

Google suggests this

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Most of it's been said already - I have a camera, I make sure is running on my black spots - but I know them, so I'm more careful - one is a massive bus/cycle lane, small junction just before a roundabout. 'Oh 10 seconds ago I overtook a cyclist, but I've completely forgotten that now, so I'll stop and let this car out of the junction' goes the brain of the moron, time and time again.

Fact is, I have stopped going the short route, because the traffic is horrible (Portsdown Hill, for those who know it (they're nodding, sagely)) and started taking the little country roads. It's amazing how many quite roads there are round here and it's made my commute much more enjoyable. (I know! what's wrong with me? I have a CAMERA, I'm supposed to be looking for trouble, not actively avoiding it! )

But yeah, OP go the best way home, as has been said, it doesn't matter how much you make yourself visible, if morons ain't looking they ain't gonna see ya. Be safe.

Being flippant but remove all the lights and wear black.... As these are the cyclists all car drivers see, mention and complain about....

difficult to add anything to all the advice above ... Hope you heal fast and get a solution..

Riding bikes on the road is not safe. 🙁

Go in the car and then ride off road when you get home.

Go in the car

Yeah, give up and just become traffic 🙄

A few things I could suggest

As i think others have said could you ride further out into the road?.  My primary position which I use 75% of the time in town is in line with the driver of a car or even a bit further right.  Also cover the brakes at all times, disc brakes and wide sticky tyres and also at EVERY junction with a car in it waiting to come out I watch the top of the wheel - that gives you the first indication they are moving.  Helmet light to shine at the car driver in the side road is also a good idea IMO

Just in addition to my first post OP - I've been commuting for years, mainly urban/suburban roads. Had a couple of collisions of varying severity, but you can avoid most of them with road positioning/foresight.

I'd say it's a rare commute where someone doesn't do something stupid around you, but if you take the car from time to time you'll see that most of this is due to people being people, nothing to do with what vehicle you're in. I've even done the odd really stupid thing from time to time.

Obviously good brakes are a must. fatter tyres make little difference unless the road surface is really poor, any high end tyre has plenty of grip, except when you hit a diesel spill or muddy patch in the wet, or of course ice.

I use a torch (a Phixton a100 as it happens) on the handlebars pointing at the road just in front of my wheel. Set on strobe and with the zoom set right it makes a round patch of bright flashing light 5 feet across, it makes you look bigger and is very hard to miss.

The other thing with wearing a helmet light and getting into the habit of 'painting' / illuminating approaching side on drivers is that you've spotted THEM first, if they still pull out at least by that point you should be covering brakes or have weighed the options.

If speeds are 30mph high and you have traffic approaching from all angles then bail out, take the pavement. It's not your fault the infrastructure isn't safe enough.

Another thing I do after watching the top of the front wheel is as soon as I see the slightest movement of the wheel I scream as loud as I can at the car driver - this has worked on a few occasions as they look up, see you and stop again

Riding bikes on the road is not safe. 🙁

Go in the car and then ride off road when you get home

It's not riding bikes on the road that's dangerous, it's not paying attention whilst conveying your vehicle (of whatever type) that's dangerous

Thanks for all the ideas folks.

I think i'm pretty good on road position, in areas I know there will be a challenge, I ride in the centre of the road and try to give myself somewhere to go either way. Still worth being aware of though.

Re. helmet lights, I do try and look at the people in the side roads and do have a helmet light, maybe I need a more powerful one.

Someone asked about the actual incidents, simply, me on the major road, people pulling out from the side roads, to turn right across me. Some have stopped then gone, some just gone.

I think the answer might just be as I feared that I need to change routes, which is annoying that I have to concede but for my own safety and sanity, it may be the answer. I'd love to get on the canals but not sure how without going under the Netherton Tunnel (not sure) or getting the train to Smethwick (at which point I may as well stay on the train to work).

Oh, and re. the regularity, I've ridden this route on and off for a long time with the odd incident, but the 4 on 4 months in a similar area is a tad concerning.