I came across an interesting account of a collision that happened two weeks ago in downtown Portland.
Kate Gawf was riding her bike south on SW NW Broadway and noticed the aftermath of a bike-on-bike collision at Couch Street. Here’s how Ms. Gawf explains what happened (based on talking with onlookers, emphasis mine):
“One [bike] was zooming along Broadway, as one does, Broadway being a main arterial. The other apparently tried to dart across Broadway at a gap in the cars, but neglected to wait for a gap in the bikes.”
I have experienced this myself. I tend to focus primarily on motor vehicle traffic when I think about crossing a street. But the different speeds of bikes — and their smaller visual (and audible) footprints — can sometimes throw off my judgment.
Here’s how Gawf explains it:
“You’re waiting and waiting, you’re focusing on the cars, you finally get your chance, and your gap is filled with bikes. By the time the slow-mo bikes go by, you’ve got another wave of cars to wait for.”
(Photo © J. Maus)
Gawf says the problem is particularly acute when she’s trying to cross streets that have heavily used bike lanes and high car volumes (like when she’s crossing N. Vancouver or Williams from Thompson).
I have found that over the years of riding in traffic, I’m able to predict car behavior and traffic flow very well, but I have not yet fully adjusted my judgment for bike traffic (most likely because it has never really existed until recently).
As we’ve seen with “The Awareness Test” video, it’s hard to see what you’re not looking for, but with Portland’s streets becoming more and more multi-modal, we’ve got to adjust accordingly.
Thanks for reading.
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I was hit by a bike just yesterday.
Your comment about the predictability of car traffic being different from that of bike traffic was exemplified for me yesterday when I as rear-ended by a bike on NW Broadway at Couch.
As is common, there were a number of cars backed up on NW Broadway waiting for the light at W Burnside. As is also common, the backed-up cars left a gap for westbound cars trying to cross Broadway at Couch. Having had a near-miss or two there with cars darting across Broadway, I am very wary of the gaps between stopped cars at intersections.
Sure enough, despite having slowed as I approached that gap yesterday, a car started through just as I approached. I hit my brakes to stop (as did the motorist), but the cyclist behind me was too close and not paying attention. He ran into me. It was at low speed, so nothing was harmed and no-one went down. Nevertheless, it was my first bike-bike collision.
So, it\’s a good idea to leave some space between you and the rider in front of you…
Sometimes I catch myself listening for cross traffic more than looking for it. And cyclists often take me by surprise when passing me.
Just this morning I was riding through Ladds and looked up to find that a guy in lycra on a racing bike had silently appeared about a foot to my left. If I had lost my line for a second for whatever reason we both would have had to think fast to stay up.
I shouldn\’t have assumed nobody was there, and he probably should have given some kind of audible warning.
It is funny having to learn all new riding skills…
This might be slightly off-topic, but I had two near misses and a minor incident with pedestrians on Monday.
One pedestrian just decided to jaywalk in front of me, so I had to go around her. The next pedestrian looked like a homeless guy, and he was walking diagonally, and even after I yelled at him twice, he still didn\’t clue in. I ended up stopped in the bike lane, between him and the curb, before he finally figured out I was there.
And then was I was entering a bike path from a street, one side of the center bollard was full of a man walking his dog, and on the other, two clueless teenagers were standing in the way.
Was it a full moon, or something?
every interesection on SW Broadway has a TRAFFIC LIGHT…
sounds like this didn\’t \”just happen\”…one of these bikers ran a red light or otherwise wasn\’t paying attention to basic traffic rules.
it\’ll happen more often as more riders choose to blatantly blow stop signs and red lights in the name of \”time\”…
Broadway and Couch…
All sorts of crazy things happen at the intersection. I\’ve almost been hit when a car stopped on Broadway decided it didn\’t want to wait for the Burnside light, so it whipped over into the bike lane without looking to turn right on Couch. There were no cars behind this guy either. He had a full, clear view of me in his mirrors. No mirror check, no signal, no response to me yelling next to him as he almost right hooks me.
Last week I stopped on Broadway to let a pedestrian cross at Couch. As I started moving again, a car also wanting to cross thought I was waiting for him or something and tried to push his way through the intersection. As if, because I had waited for a pedestrian, I no longer had the right of way to continue on in the bike lane. (It was the gesturing from the driver that made me think that more than anything else.)
Elly-
bike racers know how to handle bikes and ride close to people…very close.
and race bikes don\’t have bells on them.
ride in a straight line and everything will be fine.
every interesection on SW Broadway has a TRAFFIC LIGHT…
Too bad we\’re talking about NW Broadway, specifically Broadway and Couch which most assuredly does NOT have a traffic light.
Bike racers need to keep it on the track and quit showing off!
Now we\’re getting a little appetizer of the traffic hell we\’ll be forced to endure once the Bike Nazis(tm) completely take over Portland. All those bike-on-bike and bike-on-ped accidents will leave thousands of elbows abraded.
Seriously, I love that this is news. Every time someone whines about Random Cyclist Stereotype X riding the wrong way on a one-way street or blowing through stop signs or passing too quickly on the Hawthorne bridge I think \”what, you\’d be safer if that clueless jerk were in a CAR?\”
nate: You are correct, but give the commenter some slack. Jonathan\’s article incorrectly says \”SW Broadway\”.
bahueh,
not everyone is a bike racer. All experienced riders hold a line as is appropriate in traffic. I still don\’t want an experienced racer zipping up a foot or two to my side with no warning. Thanks for keeping the non racers in mind.
Too bad we\’re talking about NW Broadway, specifically Broadway and Couch which most assuredly does NOT have a traffic light.
Too bad indeed, because then bahueh could\’ve made a completely valid point about how the old \”the only person I\’m endangering by running a stop sign or red light is me\” excuse is a crock.
bahueh,
That\’s good advice – if you\’re in a a bike race :). Bike races are controlled environments that limit unexpected obstacles that might cause one to have to swerve. City streets are a whole other story, even in quiet Ladd\’s Addition.
Davis is the safer cross street for NW Broadway due to the light but Couch is more direct between the Pearl and the waterfront bike path. Every morning that I bike, I choose between the two. I wish the connections between Old Town and the waterfront were better for cyclists — wider (to accommodate multiple modes) and better positioning of signaling. My heart goes out to those cyclists — that really sucks.
This is a pet peeve of mine- I\’m a bike commuter, not a racer- I never signed up for the peloton.
I always ride in a straight line…. except for where there\’s a giant pothole, or a jagged piece of metal in the lane, or a pedestrian jumping out to hail a cab, etc, etc.
I\’ve often been startled by someone passing really close really fast without any warning and I always worry that if I had taken that moment to swerve around a 6\” deep hole we\’d both end up under a bus. How hard is it to say \”on your left?\” or even \”Hello?\” Is there some unwritten \”coolness\” rule that prohibits announcing your presence?
Funnily enough, I never have this problem in December when it\’s the hard core commuters.
\”bike racers know how to handle bikes and ride close to people…very close.\”
i\’m so sick of arguments like this. just because you can ride fast, doesn\’t mean you should. just because you can ride close to someone, doesn\’t mean you should. just because you can pass someone, doesn\’t mean you should. just because you can ride faster than someone else, doesn\’t mean you should. and just because someone\’s riding in plain clothes, doesn\’t mean they couldn\’t easily track you or out-sprint you.
this holier than thou riding style is pretty much the only thing that detracts from the pleasure of my commute. i have a slightly different philosophy: commuters, with bells and lights, in plain clothes, know how to commute…so please let us do so without treating us like members of the peloton.
This whole article is a bit ironic in an odd way.
\”I tend to focus primarily on motor vehicle traffic when I think about crossing a street. But the different speeds of bikes — and their smaller visual (and audible) footprints — can sometimes throw off my judgment.\”
Thats the inside of a drivers head, and it\’s scary that it\’s still true on a bike where we\’re less isolated from what\’s going on around us. We are hard to see but we often forget just how much when we\’re riding.
I\’ve had bike-bike near misses but they\’ve generally been:
1) the idiot riding the wrong way
2) the idiot riding in the dark with no lights
3) some breed of super idiot doing both at once like the guy that almost hit me head-on on salmon recently.
While this intersection doesn\’t have a light, it\’s not uncontrolled. There is a two-way stop there. That doesn\’t necessarily mean that the cyclist who didn\’t yield the right of way ran the sign, but I\’d be curious to hear the story.
Nate..only know what the article states…and it said SW Broadway..
David..you should put all that energy into racing…
I was going to respond to bahueh but now I can just say, \”what david (14) said.\”
bike racers know how to handle bikes and ride close to people…very close.
and race bikes don\’t have bells on them.
ride in a straight line and everything will be fine.
no one wants to be surprised by a close pass on the street or the trail, passing distance should be a minimum of 3\’ unless you\’re actually in a real race.
I am continually startled and annoyed by the racers and the poseurs passing too close without bells on the Esplanade/Springwater.
This is what I\’ve got to say about it:
Hey racer boy – pass safely: slow down, leave three feet of clearance, get a bell and learn how to use it!
I\’ll be the guy in front of you deliberately weaving so that you slow down and keep your distance.
Good points David #14…since the weather has gotten better it does seem that most of more unpleasant commute moments have come from bikes, not cars.
I\’m starting to prefer the rainy winter commutes because it lacks most of the \”never-stop-novices\” and the fair weather racers.
I love seeing more bikes out there, but the riders who are like aggressive Hummer drivers with two wheels make the roads less safe (and less fun) for everybody.
I\’ve had several near misses by other cyclists…
Typically spandex clad, skinny wheels, headphones, and totally self absorbed.
As much as you may hate it… Put a Goddammned BELL on your bike. You don\’t like giving warnings when you train? Ask yourself this: How well will you train when your leg is broken? What will your all important race time be after you heal?
As a \”bike racer\”, amongst other things, I feel confident saying that very few of us would behave in the manner bahueh described. A race is for racing, streets are for all. Not that you can\’t go fast on the streets, but you pick your times.
Yeah, all hail the uber-skilled, bell-free racers. Like the guy who chopped me yesterday on Interstate so he could catch up with his two racer buddies heading up to PIR.
There are close passes and there are chops. That was a chop.
Anyway. I had a near miss with a ped along waterfront park the other day. It was VERY crowded, so I was riding pretty slow, heading north toward the steel bridge, when a woman walked blindly (perpendicular to the flow of traffic) into the path of a southbound cyclist. She (the ped) then immediately realized that she was about to get hit, and instead of jumping back out of the way, she high stepped it right into my path, all the while still looking at the southbound cyclist. I hollered out, nailed the brakes and swerved. I still can\’t figure out how I missed her.
She was pretty horrified at herself when all was said and done.
Rubber side down. Take your turn at stop signs.
bahueh #19,
You should put all of that boundless diplomatic skill to use at the next BikePortland social hour.
That collision happened 20 feet in front of me:
http://bikeportland.org/2008/05/23/oregonian-green-reporter-too-scared-to-saddle-up/#comment-844858
It should be noted that it wasn\’t just bike on bike, it was bike on bike while a pedestrian was crossing the street. I talked to the police officer afterwards, (they investigated, it took them about an hour to get around to taking statements,) and he wasn\’t sure who was actually at fault: The person on Couch had a stop sign, and therefor should yield to the traffic on Broadway. But you have to yield to pedestrians in unsignaled intersections, and the rider on Broadway should have done that, (although they couldn\’t see that there was one,) so the rider on Couch could have logically made the assumption that the bicycles on Broadway would have, and then gone…
Jonathan could probably pull up the police report to see what it says: It happened on May 22nd at about 10am.
Ultimately, if they made the bicycle lane on Broadway wider, it would also be safer, (not just from this sort of thing, but from doors and being able to avoid double parked cars/right turns/etc.)
My race bike has a bell. Threading the needle around commuters on surface streets is not cool.
As my own sick little revenge, On occasion I get some joy when I\’m *not* on the fast bike and am instead riding with the forty pound boy sitting on the tank-like Xtracycle. If a roadie passes me in a disrespectful way I catch up and blaze past the \”speedy\” roadie while me and the boy ring our bells. I\’m less successful at this little game when the road points uphill. ;^)
There\’s an advert by New Belgium Brewing that captures the essence of this. A guy in casual and stylish street clothes sans helmet passes a full on road racer on his carbon wonderbike while riding his 50\’s balloon cruiser uphill. It\’s brill.
We all need to be safe and courteous to each other if this whole \”biking is for everyone\” idea is going to work.
Bells on bikes only work if A) nobody steals yours while your bike is parked outside, and B) if people don\’t have earbuds in and their music cranked so high they can\’t hear you ring the bell or yell at them.
Take off the headphones, wear a helmet, get some lights, and start acting like the traffic we keep demanding people treat us as. We can\’t be our own demise!
In a really WEIRD, sublimely morbid way, I should think this would be quite the NICE problem to have, especially for the personal injury attorneys.
I\’ve only been hit by cyclists in plain clothes, like the guy last week wearing the \”I share the road\” bumper sticker on his helmet. Ironic. I wasn\’t interested in sharing that closely.
It\’s a good thing I don\’t wear my lycra when I commute, I do not want to be accused of showing off on my morning commute. Although my race bike does have a bell.
Look for this t-shirt, coming to a Hawthorne rush-hour commute soon:
\”Can\’t slow down? Why you so weak?\”
My biggest obstacle recently has been parked cars and utility poles… I\’m only 166cm tall and use drop bars, so sometimes it\’s hard to see traffic over a parked car. It\’s especially bad if a car is parked too close to an intersection. But then I feel awkward getting too far into the lane because I could get hooked by a motorist.
And on a positive note, my experience is that almost without exception, when I\’ve had close calls at intersections, it\’s ended with a smile, a sheepish grin, and a wave (all fingers extended). Something about NOT being incased in steel that keeps it on a more human level.
Drive, I\’m RIDE, defensively.
This slogan was the heart of a safe driving campaign when I was a kid. It was the core of our driver\’s training course in high school. Somehow, in the last 3 decades, it has gotten lost.
Defensively means looking around to anticipate what could happen and leaving adequate space and time to respond.
Following the next vehicle, car or bike, too closely is the opposite of driving defensively.
When you hear that bell that just keeps ring-ring-ringing and then you see that guy on the Trek Portland slowing down and gliding by at lest three feet to your left, you\’ll know that you have just been passed by the one and only \”a\” to the muthafunkin \”O.\”
But seriously, I feel like I\’m the only dork who uses the bell – what gives? It\’s pretty handy for averting collisions, you know.
I\’ve got a big fat one installed right at my fingertips.
And I don\’t just use it when passing, but when approaching intersections, when I see pedestrians, especially kids, who have their back to me, and if I think there\’s even a remote chance the guy/gal in her/his car/truck can hear it.
No one on a bike or on foot will ever be able to say they didn\’t know I was there…at least no one who isn\’t wearing headphones!
Perhaps more importantly, re #26, when is the next Bikeportland social hour?
It\’s not surprising that this article came up. I\’ve been thinking about requesting a \”cycling etiquette\” post now that we\’re technically in the warm season.
During my afternoon commute between downtown and north portland I find myself cursing under my breath at more cyclists than vehicles. With plenty of exceptions (I\’m sure), cyclists tend to be behavioral wild cards. Instead of following basic traffic rules, i.e. pass on the left, yield the right of way at least to other cyclists, allow proper following distance, etc. a lot of cyclists seem to be in some kindof commuting free-for-all, or maybe there\’s a commuting race going on that I\’m not aware of. I\’m not a proponent of stopping at every stop sign, and following all traffic laws by the book, but most of those laws are there for a reason- and a little more caution when breaking them, would keep everybody involved safer. Though mistakes happen, regardless of whether you\’re in a vehicle or riding a bike- if your carelessness injures me, you\’re still paying my medical bills.
Solution? Post a sign on bike: CRAZY DRUNK DRIVR ON BOARD. Problem SOLVED.
I\’m more vocal than most at reminding road users of their rights and responsibilities. This varies from reprimanding drivers that run stop signs to telling pedestrians that yes, it is okay to use that crosswalk in front of me, and in fact that\’s why I stopped. I try to smile and give the \”thanks\” wave when people do the right thing.
But I have had zero success when talking to bicyclists. Even though I stopped the practice of running 4-way stops a long time ago, I can remember the holier-than-thou rationale that we cyclists sometimes use to justify taking the right-of-way from cars when we don\’t legally have it. But in recent years, in the spring when bicyclists double like bunnies over the previous year, making an illegal move can snub another cyclist as easily as it can a car. It\’s rude regardless of who the victim is, but with a cyclist they can look you in the eye as you wrong them, and then there\’s no justifying or denying your guilt.
At least, it feels that way to me. But the other cyclists I\’ve been cut off seem to have hearts of coal, or are too embarrassed to say they’re sorry! Even equipped with a front strobe and a bell on an otherwise dark and silent night, I was cut off by a biker at the 4-way stop at 34th and Lincoln a few days ago while riding my girlfriend home from work. \”You have a stop sign,\” I reminded him, as he rode in front of me after I had stopped, looked, and entered the intersection. \”Uhhhh, right,\” he replied. As in, \”I\’m way too cool for stop signs, and my time is more important than yours.\”
If any of you out there still think like him, be warned. Eventually, I won\’t be able to stop for you in time, and when a crash results, you\’ll be liable. And you\’ll be paying my insurance bills, plus a little bit on top for my pain and suffering. So either start saving your money, get some bike insurance, or STOP BREAKING THE LAW.
k, it seems you and I were thinking alike, and writing simultaneously.
funny how everyone here jumps on me personally…when I don\’t do the things described, I only provide justification…thanks for assuming however. I was simply saying some racer folks do..some don\’t…
and I also did NOT describe any sort of behavior…talk about jumping to conclusions. I simply told someone that it happens and to ride in a straight line (totally unreasonable, I know!).
this \”us\” vs \”them\” argument..how ironic.
doesn\’t appear as though either of those bikes in the collision described approve was a race bike….now does it? I for one at tired of morons blowing through stop signs right into me or cutting me off by running stop signs(happens in SE 3-4 times a week).
Stacy, you\’re a wise woman. Funny how everyone here jumps on the \”lycra clad\” guys for simply being faster than they are…when its actually the morons running stop signs without helmets with headphones on who are the problem with legitimacy and safety.
Tonyt, I have no interest in being diplomatic for idiots running stop signs and/or putting my health/safety in danger simply because they can\’t handle riding a bike in a straight line or in safe manner…I\’ll say it here just as I\’d say it at any \”social hour\”.
Eliot, #38, your approach and delivery is all WRONG. Try speaking softly and impersonate Santa.
Well bahueh, that\’s because you implied that it\’s safe to pass someone \”very close[ly]\” because the passer knows how to \”handle bikes.\” But that doesn\’t account for the other person\’s (the passee\’s) skill, so it\’s still not safe regardless.
It\’s not a race, where skill and risks are assumed. It\’s the public roadway, where (for better or worse) the lowest practicable skill level must be safely accommodated. And it\’s your duty to exercise due care given those circumstances.
And, just so you know, my Trek Portland didn\’t come with a bell – I put one on it. My road bike didn\’t come with a bell, either, but I put one on that too. And my mountain bike didn\’t come with a bell, but, yep, I put one on.
What a lot of anger over what is, when you think about it, a GOOD problem (\”too much bike traffic\”).
This is like complaining about how heavy your wallet is.
Anyone can wear whatever crazy clothes they want, and ride as fast as they dare, on whatever bike they care to ride; and everyone should ride courteously, give good passing width with a pleasant warning, and obey the laws of the road. These are not mutually exclusive propositions.
Our diversity of speeds and abilities is a fact of life, the way to deal with it is through tolerance and courtesy in equal measure.
Oh, and if you come to the bikeportland social hour, I\’ll buy you a beer.
Today I rode home from PCC-SY to NE PDX and probably a dozen cyclists passed me. Only one announced his presence on my left. WHY????
Recently read a police report from another bike on bike crash at that same intersection. Motor vehicle traffic on Broadway had stopped to allow a pedestrian and and a person riding a bicycle to cross, but another person on a bicycle heading southbound in the bike lane neglected to stop and hit the crossing bicycle.
Love a.O\’s bells. I use one too and was worried that people might take offense when I ring before overtaking pedestrians, but the only responses I\’ve gotten are people thanking me for the warning.
Not bike on bike, but poor signals.
Today I saw a bicycle rider signal a RIGHT turn with her RIGHT right hand.
Somethings look so wrong, even when you know what they are trying to do.
I like to go fast. It\’s not because I want to get to my destination faster, it\’s because riding hard and fast is fun, and because it\’s good exercise.
I have a bell, but it\’s unfortunately not easily accessible from my usual hand position on the brake hoods. (any tips?) I usually yell if I can\’t reach the bell, and I definitely yell if I\’m passing on the right. I don\’t pull out my measuring tape when passing, but I try to leave a comfortable distance.
Regarding stop signs, I really think that stop signs are generally bad traffic control devices for bikes, and I wish the law worshipers would chill out. Why the hell does someone sitting on their porch care if I ride through a stop sign after checking for cross-traffic, or if a group of riders passes a stop sign as a group instead of each yielding separately?
The only near misses with other bikes I\’ve had are with people who blow through stop signs and/or zoom out of side streets without looking (and yeah, there was a crazy wrong-way rider with no lights). Most of these, I think, would probably fit into the category of \”fair weather cyclists\”, lack of awareness and experience combined (as well as lack of lights, etc). Being hyper-aware with maybe a good portion if intuition, too, lets you predict their behavior, just like their auto equivalents, and you can time yourself to get just close enough without danger of colliding, enough to say \”Hey, that was a stop sign\” while ringing your bell. Hurray for fellow bell-users.
On the other hand, very few peds even look up at all at the sound of a bell (and mine is a loud one) while in the process of crossing in front of you last minute, mid-block, without looking. (Now if they are at a corner, no-problem, I\’ll completely stop for them.) In about 30 recent cases, only one such jaywalking person, a young Asian woman if demographics mean anything, actually heard and acknowledged my bell, stopped and apologized and said she wasn\’t looking.
The ones I really don\’t understand are the motorists who do the stop, look right at you so you think they see you, hesitate a moment and then pull out right in front of you anyway. It\’s like they\’re doing a token stop on automatic pilot instead of really looking and seeing what\’s there.