Bicycle Safety – A Two-Way Street

To a large extent, bicyclists are at the mercy of cars and other vehicles around them. An errant turn without looking, a change in lanes without checking for bikers, and plain old negligence – all of these driver errors contribute to thousands of bicycle accidents every year.

While most approaching the topic of bicyclist safety focus their questions on irresponsible drivers, bicycle safety is a two-way street.

The largest bicycle complaint from most drivers is that bicyclists simply do not follow traffic laws. To some extent, at least, this is a fair point. For example, many bicyclists run stop signs.

Not all bicyclists do this, and not all bicyclists run stop signs all the time. However, it does happen often. While it is a driver’s responsibility to treat bicycles as equally-valid road vehicles, it is also incumbent upon bicyclists to respect the rules of the road,

Even if you have only ever run stop signs when there is, literally, no one in sight, you are technically breaking the law. If you get too used to doing so, you might find yourself running a stop sign at a time when a car is approaching.

Other bicycle safety tips are:

• Always wear a helmet.
• Wear reflective clothing, or, at the least, do not wear dark clothing if you are going to be biking at night.
• Utilize a light, or lights, on your bike if biking in the dark.
• Use proper hand signals to notify drivers around you that you are turning right or left.

Bicycle safety is a two-way street. Driver recognition has a lot of room to grow before the roads are completely safe for bicyclists. However, bikers can do a lot to protect themselves and should take the opportunity to do so whenever possible.