Look before you leap...

I had the car today because I had a lunchtime errand and agreed to do the Smith's grocery shopping, therefore justifying taking Old Belchfire to work. On the way home, I was driving up to the Conoco Hill intersection. A cyclist in the bike lane was slow and wobbly on the ascent. I wondered, given he was riding right on the line between the bike lane and right travel lane, if he was going to change lanes. So I slowed.

Without looking, he veered directly in front of my car. I'm glad it was me he veered in front of since I was sorta expecting it. Thankfully, he did not veer in front of a dualie that was accelerating.

I mentioned "look before you leap" as I passed on his right since at that point he was in the center lane preparing for a left turn. I think cyclists need to learn the "over the shoulder scan" technique we teach in Traffic Skills 101. It both allows the cyclist to see what is approaching behind him and telegraphs to following motorists that the cyclist is changing lanes. Here is a Mass Bike video showing how its done.

Positioning for turns

• Before a turn: turn and look back at traffic (turn your head) and scan, signal, negotiate, and when you verify it is safe,  move into the lane that leads to your destination. (Practice this maneuver in a safe place such as a parking lot or soccer field because if not done correctly, you might veer when you turn your head and upper body, inadvertently pulling on the handlebars.)
• If you feel like you are wobbling or veering too much while turning and looking, try doing the head turn while out of the saddle and accelerating, which may tend to stabilize your steering by freeing up your upper body a little. I suggested this to a cyclist who was uncomfortable with the seated version of the maneuver, and he said it actually worked.
• Ride in the right third or middle of the lane, as lane width dictates
• To traverse multiple lanes in busy and faster traffic, move one lane at a time, scanning and signaling each move

Traffic Skills is better than Traffic Kills...

Steve Magas: Why "Share the Road" Stinks

If you read nothing else on cyclist's rights, read this essay.

From Steve's essay:

"...“Sharing” is not a concept mandated by law, but is an altruistic concept that relies upon the goodwill of the Share-or to give up a little bit of that which he owns to the Share-ee.  No law says that the motorist owns the road and the cyclist may borrow it sometimes, IF the motorist feels like sharing.  Yet, motorists frequently act like my two year old son did almost 20 years ago – he got in the face of the proposed “Share-ee” and said, “MINE!”...But this is not the law.  Rather, the law is that a PERSON wishing to use the public roads has the right to CHOOSE the vehicle on, or in, which to travel. A bicycle and a car and a truck and a bus and an Amish buggy and a large piece of farm equipment are equally valid, legitimate and lawful choices as vehicles. When it comes to the right to be on the roadway, a person who chooses to ride a bicycle on the roadway has exactly and precisely the same quantity or bundle of rights as one who chooses to operate a car..."

Support Diane Albert for League Board...and by the way...

Diane Albert, now a practicing attorney in Albuquerque and President of the Bicycle Coalition of New Mexico, is on the ballot for the upcoming League of American Bicyclists Board elections. I strongly urge you to vote for her if you are a League member (consider joining if you are not). Diane started Los Alamos Bikes and was a strong advocate for decent cycling when she was a LANL scientist here and a County Councillor; her work as a Councillor was key to the passage of the 2005 Bicycle Transportation System for Los Alamos County, which was the legislative basis for our new bike lanes on Diamond Drive. Her work at BCNM has resulted in pressure being put on the NM DoT from the Governor to cease lip-paving of shoulders, and she has worked successfully on establishing a statewide Bike Ed program.

By the way, I'm attempting a write-in to be on the ballot since my application to run was rejected by the League. This in no way takes away from Diane's candidacy or my enthusiastic endorsement of her. That information can be found here.

Phase IV: Removing the construction barrels

Phase IV, looking south. High School at left,  Med Center straight ahead. LANL over horizon.

Woo-hoo. I noted on Thursday that much of the final pavement was being put down in front of Mezgers and across from the High School, meaning Phase IV of the Diamond Drive rebuilt is just about finished. So Phase I, II, III, and IV now are largely history and cyclists, walkers, and bus riders no longer have to feel like they are in the back of the Great Transportation Bus.

Yesterday was taken up with running errands down in White Rock and off the Hill so my bike was sitting at home when I drove back to town to see that the new striping was in place. I put the small Olympus C765 in the rack trunk and rode back to town to shoot some pics. Sorry to George Glass and his friends who escaped being photographed.  They were riding on the other side of the road just as I got off my bike and unpacked the camera.

The bike lanes look as advertised except they seem a tad narrow where they were fudged under the H.S. flyover (i.e., pedestrian overpass), which was done without moving the flyover. Moving the flyover would, I think, have required a total rebuild to ADA requirements. But even there I think they look at least four feet wide--I will ride back with a tape measure and at any rate, no one will have to hold their breath riding under the ped bridges.

Bike lane looking north under H.S. flyover

Cyclists and motorists must be really careful in this section. Most of the Diamond bike lanes are in areas with few side streets and other turning and crossing points. The newest section, Phase IV of the project, are in a very busy area of town. Motorists and cyclists must be CAREFUL to avoid the usual turning and crossing hazards typical to these installations, i.e., a cyclist overtaking slower traffic on the right in the blind spot of a motorist who is about to make a right turn, and a motorist overtaking a cyclist and then braking to turn right. Both these common scenerios result in the cyclist hitting or being hit by the side of the car. Read my long winded discussion here or view the relevant video here on the Mass Bike site.

Be careful out there. These nifty new bike lanes don't take the place of active personal safety and smart riding. If anything, they require a higher degree of vigilance! If you want a tutorial, contact yours truly, Neale Pickett, or Amy Pickett.

Keep the rubber side down. And oh, yeah. I got bored with the old blog design and changed it. Unfortunately, it looks like once you get rid of the old format, you can't go back.

Callous disregard...

She thought she hit an animal... Check out what her car looked like here.

From the LA Times story:

"...Pettigrew was riding her bike southbound, just south of Campus Way in Largo, when a 2005 Cadillac Escalade, also headed south, struck her, said Greg Shipley, spokesman for the Maryland State Police.

The SUV did not stop. A severely injured Pettigrew was taken to Prince George's Hospital Center. While police were at the scene of the accident, the SUV driver, Christy R. Littleford, 41, of Upper Marlboro, called Prince George's County Police to report that she had struck something.

Littleford told police she assumed she had hit an animal but when she arrived home found a bicycle lodged under her vehicle, Shipley said..."

Please be careful out there. Follow the story here.

Biker down...

Got a call from Carol Clark this morning. Apparently there was a bicyclist-motorist collision on Bathtub Row this morning. Biker hospitalized, but not critical. See more here.