Bike Gainesville

How to Be a Vehicle

In order to be safe on the road, a cyclist has to be attentive and assertive.  Being attentive includes using your ears to understand what is going on behind you, looking into the eyes of drivers to discern their intentions, and using your voice, bell, horn, and body to communicate with other roadway users.  Being assertive means "owning" or "taking" the space that you need, negotiating with traffic as an equal, and using your position and body language to help automobiles understand your right to be on the road.  "I am cyclist, hear me ROAR!!!" isn't just about arrogance, or making people feel bad because they are in cars, it is about safety and survival, and getting where you want to go FAST!  

Vehicular Cycling is not just a physical practice, but a state of mind.  The roadway is no place to be timid or passive.  We realize that this will be difficult for some people, but you don't need "mad skills" or high speeds to practice vehicular cycling.  The bottom line is that many automobile drivers will only respect you and give you space if you assert yourself!

Best practices include:

1.  Always travel in the same direction as traffic.  Some cyclists like to "see" the cars coming towards them.  It makes them feel "safe."  BALONEY!!!  The reality is that, if you are riding against traffic, you are much more likely to get hit by a car, since they have little or no time to react to you.  Plus, you can't really get around town driving in the opposite direction of traffic signs, lights, and lanes.  Nevermind that it is illegal to ride against traffic in all fifty glorious states of our union.

2.  Stay in a position from which you can "negotiate" with traffic.  If you are riding next to the gutter, you won't be able to make safe turns or lane changes.  If you are turning right and stay too close to the curb, cars will try to pass you during the turn, which is very dangerous.  Sometimes, you even need to ride outside the designated bicycle lane to negotiate, especially when making left turns or merging into lanes.  Bike lanes are generic (and welcome) solutions to complex problems.  Never "negotiate" from near the curb, or from a stopped position where drivers have no time to react.   

3.  Obey all traffic signs and lights, and use the appropriate turn and stopping signals.  Running lights and stop signs is not only dangerous, but it makes drivers disrespect us.  A disrespectful driver is more likely to create danger for the next cyclist they see.  Since driver's can't hear us or read our minds, signaling is the only means we have to communicate them.  There are many ways to signal, but the best is to put your left arm at a right angle, hand pointing up, for a right turn; left arm straight, hand pointing left for a left turn; left arm at a right angle, hand pointing down for a stop or yield.  Some cyclists use their right arm pointing right for a right turn, but motorists cannot see this as clearly sometimes.
 
4.  Stay outside of the "Door Zone."  You should always assume that a parked or stopped car will open its doors.  If you can't stay out of the door zone because another car is unwilling to negotiate with you from a driving lane, slow down in anticipation of contact.  If you have a bell or horn, you can alert the stationary driver to this danger.  Unlike car horns, bicycle bells are unoffensive.  You shouldn't be shy about using yours.   

5.  Use a bell or horn.  I prefer bells (with few or no plastic parts, get a loud one!), because they are universally understood as bicycle sounds.  Horns can cause alarm and excitement, and they sound to some people like children's toys.  A bell is also less offensive.  They are essential if you ride in pedestrian-rich areas.  Once you use one, you'll never ride without it again.

6.  Position yourself as a vehicle would when turning left.  Sit between vehicles in the left turn lane, not to the right of them, and never pass them in this lane.  Advanced riders may create an imaginary bike lane in the left turn lane, allowing drivers to safely pass them while turning, but this is not recommended.  It sandwiches the cyclist between left-turning vehicles in the turn lane, and forward-moving vehicles in the through-lane. 

7.  Ignore designated rules, laws, and bicycle lanes when it is dangerous to obey them.  This doesn't mean you get to disobey the law so you can get somewhere faster, or to correct a situation you put yourself into willingly.  It does mean using your common sense.  No decent police officer or judge will fault you for using you common sense when the alternative is injury or death.     

8.  If the roadway is narrow, use a good portion of the traffic lane unless traffic is likely to be impeded.  If the lane is wide, this usually isn't necessary.  I find that recreational and competitive cyclists naturally use this practice when training on backroads.  You'll never see us riding in the gutter.  We want cars to "pass" us, not graze by with millimeters to spare!        

9.  When making right turns, negotiate with traffic and take control of the lane.  The point is to keep cars from crowding you into the curb.  If a service vehicle, garbage truck, or transport truck is too high up off the ground to see you, then sit behind them and wait for them to turn.

10.  Always use your arms, body, and eyes to communicate, especially when negotiating lane changes and turns.  Never merge or change lanes without actually looking back at the vehicles behind you.  Practice looking behind you in a clear parking lot or field, so you can learn how to do it while riding a straight line.  Never tap or knock on cars or their windows to communicate.  This inevitably scares the driver and causes them to turn towards you.

11.  Always use blinking lights at dusk, dawn, and night.  Blinking lights are universally recognized as bicycle lights.  Officers in many towns now ticket aggressively on this issue, and for good reason.  Riding in the dark, even with lights, is always going to be more dangerous than riding in the daytime.  Be double aware.

12.  Three Feet Please!.  Thirteen states now have laws requiring drivers to allow three feet of clearance when overtaking a cyclist.  You also are allowed three feet of clearance from the curb.  This adds up to six feet, or a great portion of any lane.  The laws are designed to support vehicular cycling, and you should be using this space.  If you don't use it, the cars will take it away.


Dangerous Games

Responsible Vehicular Cycling is often about what you don't do.  Half of bicycle-automobile accidents occur because the cyclist was at fault.  First and foremost, don't act like a pedestrian.  Even at slow speeds (7 to 12 m.p.h.), a bicycle is much more like an automobile than someone walking or running.  Other basics include:

1.  Avoid sidewalks and crosswalks.  Sidewalks are for pedestrians, not bicycles.  Most bicycle-pedestrian accidents happen on the sidewalk.  If you must ride on the sidewalk for a short period of time, do so at extremely slow speed (or walk your bike), and use your bell and voice to indicate your presence. 

2.  Avoid "cheating" or "bee-lining."  The shortest distance between you and your destination might not be the roadway, but you should still use it.  Cutting across unmarked spaces, yards, or sidewalks puts you and others at risk.  Stick to your appropriate lanes, don't cut from one corner of an intersection to the other, and never cross a street between two curbs.  Use the intersections like the vehicle you are!

3.  Don't make pedestrians get out of your way.  Even when they are breaking the law, you should always yield the right of way to pedestrians.  People often use their walking time to engage in distracting behavior, like reading, eating, talking on cell phones, or listening to music.  Never assume a pedestrian is aware of you unless you make eye contact.

4.  Skitching, or "ski-hitching" to vehicles is extremely dangerous.  This involves grabbing onto a vehicle and hitching a ride.  Don't do it.

5.  Stop signs are not "yield" signs.  In some states, bicycles are allowed to treat them as such, but not in most.  While it is not required to put a foot down, like motorcycles, you should be at or near a full stop when you reach a stop sign. 

6.  Don't fight with cars or drivers.  People are easily angered when they are driving, because it is very stressful.  Don't bang on their car, curse at them, or start a fight.  You won't win.  Cars are bigger than bikes.  True vehicular cycling will eliminate your fear of traffic and prevent you from being angry at cars.  Remember what Yoda says.  Fear leads to anger.  Anger leads to hate.  Hate leads to the dark side. 

7.  Leave your cellphone, ipod, and hands-free devices in your backpack.  Not only is it illegal to use these devices while cycling in most states, it is dangerous.  Just giving up a portion of hearing in one ear eliminates a valuable tool you have in determining what is going on around you vis-a-vis pedestrians and traffic.


Some Finer Points, Or, How to Be an Even Better Vehicular Cyclist

1.  Wearing a helmet has social consequences.  If you don't do it for yourself and the ones you love, do it for the kids who think you are cool when you fly by their parent's car at 25 m.p.h.  If we make wearing a helmet seem cool, the kids will do it!

2.  Keep your equipment tuned and clean, especially tires.  If during an incident the officer notices your brakes don't work or your tires are dry-rotted and blown, guess who gets the ticket!

3.  Learn to let dogs be dogs.  Dogs have adapted over millenia to protect territory and to scare away intruders.  You will not change their behavior by yelling at them, accelerating, or hurting them.  Just hold your line and be happy if they are barking.  Barking means they probably won't bite you.  If they aren't barking, just chasing, get ready for a bite.  Unleashed or unfenced dogs should be reported.    

4.  If someone is intoxicated or driving dangerously, it is your duty to report it.  If they hit a cyclist or pedestrian later, there will be a record of their behavior.  Be a good citizen.

5.  The safety and etiquette of group riding is an entirely different can of worms.  We will try to create a training-ride specific document like this one for performance riders.

6.  Riding at even moderate speeds on mixed-use trails (pedestrians and horses) can be extremely dangerous.  This is no place to practice sprinting or high-speed cornering.


A Word About Fashion, Or, How to Be a Safe Scenester

It is lately fashionable to engage in what is perceived to be "bicycle messenger-like" behavior.  Personally, I thought Kevin Bacon's Quicksilver to be the low point of an otherwise impressive career.  But with the international popularity of "Alley Katz" races (no lights, no rules, no helmets) and brakeless fixed-gear bikes on the rise, a word needs to be said before you consider that "fixie" conversion.  If you don't know what I'm talking about, you aren't missing a thing.  If you are already among the initiated, just please be safe and hear what "Dad" has to say: 

1.  Freewheeled and coaster-brake bikes are easier to control than fixed-gear bikes.  If they weren't, then professional criterium (cornering) racers would be on fixed-bear bikes.  They aren't.  Fixed-gear bikes make cornering difficult, as the pedal hits the ground uncontrollably during fast turns.

2.  You can't stop nearly as fast on a fixed-gear bike.  Some people like to argue otherwise.  Having raced with the elite field (as a scrub) on the velodrome and commuted in town for years on a "fixie," I can tell you these bikes don't stop fast at all.  The physics just don't support it.  Stopping fast on a brakeless (or even brake-ed) fixie is brutal on your knees as well.  You can really hurt yourself.

3.  Drivers don't respect cyclists without brakes or who break the rules.  And that makes it dangerous for the rest of us.  You can still have fun on a bike with brakes.  We "uncool" people pass cars and take hard corners every day we commute, all within the boundaries of the law.

4.  By the way, bike messengers use geared bikes and brakes.  They are faster, safer, and handle better in corners and over irregular surfaces.  Did we mention that not having brakes on a bicycle is illegal?  It is!


Sources

Most of this essay is taken from personal experience and consultation with fellow commuters, but I owe the outline of the essay to a very fine Wikipedia entry on Vehicular Cycling.  The philosophy of the piece is driven by the work of Mr. John Forester, champion of commuters the world over.  His Effective Cycling is a must-read for any instructor or advocate.


About the Author

James Thompson began racing bicycles competitively at the age of 12, in 1983.  He began commuting in 1978.  He has taught numerous courses on vehicular cycling and bicycle repair to adults and children.  James is a founding member of Querencia Community Bike Shop in Denton, Texas.  He served as domestique (worker bee rider) for the University of Florida Cycling Team during four S.E.C. (Southeast Conference) Championship seasons on the Men's A & B squads.  He holds two national team bronze medals (team pursuit and team overall) in collegiate track cycling.  He currently works at Chain Reaction Bicycles in Gainesville, FL and operates a small consulting business, J-Tex Consulting, which helps small businesses and political organizations build infrastructure and train staff.