Intersection Common Sense

[Cookiey_Man]

I was riding on the internet and found this interesting piece of information . I found it at Master Strategy Group (http://www.msgroup.org) website.
One Rule That Will Keep You Alive On City Streets
By James R. Davis

Of all the things that we learn being out on the streets with our bikes, one stands out as the all time life-saver in my book.
If you can avoid it, never enter an intersection without another vehicle on your right side.

(It should be noted that this advice assumes you ride in a country where people drive on the right side of the road.)

If you have to slow down in order to let a vehicle catch up with you on the right side, or if you have to increase speed a little so that you catch up with another vehicle, having one on your right side is as safe as it gets for entering an intersection.

Obviously this also means that if you are stopped at a traffic light and it turns green, you enter the intersection when the vehicle on your right does - no jack rabbit jumps if you want to live.

Too tame? Could be, but this rider likes it that way. In fact, I'd rather that the vehicle on my right was a bus or even an 18-wheeler.

By the way, it is safer that the vehicle be on your right than on the left. The closer you can be to the center of the intersection when you go thru it, the more air there is (on average) between you and somebody that comes at you from either side. This is just another way of saying that if you have to enter the intersection by yourself, do it in the left most lane.

For those interested, here is an article on the How and Why of Counter-Steering (http://www.msgroup.org/TIP048.html) also written by James R. Davis.

Rock on! :banadanc

[dabronco]

Yup! Ain't NOBODY gonna pull out in front of that big ol' UPS truck!

[jerseyjeff]

Yup! Ain't NOBODY gonna pull out in front of that big ol' UPS truck!

you must not ride in new jersey.they will look straight at the ups truck and :censor pull out on him.



i hit 100 post :banana :banana :banana :clap :clap :clap

[daesdaemar]

sounds like a good point for increasing safety...

[Alasportster]

I agree, it's good to have someone to "block" for you - although I don't know if it would be better to be on the outside or inside lane - if you're on the outside, and can go through with another vehicle, the car turning left would have to hit the car/truck to get you, but if you were in the left lane, the driver might lose sight of you against the "slab" of the bigger vevicle and use up the left lane getting ready to turn.

Of course, being in the right lane makes you more vulnerable to a vehicle turning right into your lane from your right. No perfect solution.

One thing I've noticed is that IF you can look at the driver getting ready to turn and make eye contact (yes, it IS possible, not always, but sometimes), he/she is much less likely to turn left into your path. There is something about that eye contact that establishes a "human" attribute to the situation and keeps people from doing that dumb s**t.

Of course, if you're on a crotch rocket, doing 115, and have a black face shield on a full coverage, none of this applies......

[skratch]

i dunno... i kinda like having somebody on my left instead of the right. if someone runs a red light, i think you are more apt to get run over by someone coming from your left as opposed to your right. you know, that look left first, then right, then left again thingie.

but i do agree that not entering an intersection alone gives you an added safety edge.

and we all know that we can use whatever advantages we can get :)

[midnitewolf]

Yep ,
Unless your turning right the left lane is
the best lane to ride in .