Seriously, just take the lane.

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  • August 12, 2011 at 3:08 pm #910259
    chris_s
    Participant

    Don’t learn the hard way like I did this morning on Walter Reed Dr – instead of taking the lane in the narrow bit south of Glebe, I hugged within 6″ or so of the gutter, trying to let cars pass me more easily. Well one of them did – within about 2 inches. I’m pretty sure thinking back that no actual contact was made – I think I just panicked from the surprise of it all and lost my balance – ended up laid out in the road. Thankfully nobody was coming behind him and I made it over to the sidewalk with just a scrape, a blister and a bruise.

    But seriously, your safety and mine is much more important than saving anybody the “inconvenience” of having to wait for a good opportunity to pass you safely. If there had been a car behind him I’d be in the hospital or the morgue. Expect to see me practicing some serious lane control. I just feel like an idiot for needing this freaky experience to drive it home for me.

    Also, thanks to the awesome Arlington County traffic guy who got the license plate # of the car and came back to give it to me, to the Arlington County Police officers who took my report and to the random dude in the black pickup who checked to make sure I was ok and offered me a ride home.

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  • August 12, 2011 at 3:16 pm #929199
    OneEighth
    Participant

    Very glad you came through it as well as you did. And the helpful response you got from strangers is the best part.

    August 12, 2011 at 6:16 pm #929201
    acc
    Participant

    You are absolutely right. Taking the lane feels a lot safer even if I don’t like it. I hate inspecting paint jobs on cars that glide around me unaware of their mirrors or exactly where the side of their car extends to in space. And like you, I’m sick of being concerned about inconveniencing them.Glad you are ok, thank you for posting what I’ve been thinking.

    Take the lane.

    ann

    August 12, 2011 at 7:38 pm #929205
    StopMeansStop
    Participant

    Hell yes. You paid for it, and have as much right to ride in it as anyone else.

    August 12, 2011 at 9:31 pm #929210
    KLizotte
    Participant

    Now that I’ve been biking more I now watch other bikers a lot more closely here in the city to see “how they do it.” I’ve been rather alarmed/dismayed by how easily a cyclist gets “lost” in traffic, esp on a bright sunny day, because we are so small and don’t have bright lights/shiny bits. I can now see how a driver might miss a cyclist if he or she is wearing regular colors/clothes (no fluorescent neons), at say, an intersection. This is esp true when one is heading into the sun.

    As much as I may hate it, I am now trying to wear obnoxiously bright colors when I know I’m going to be in traffic and using my blinkies even during daylight hours. I hate it because I know I look really weird when I go into stores/restaurants but it’s better than being splattered like a bug.

    So sorry this happened to you but am crossing my fingers some justice will come of the event.

    August 12, 2011 at 10:52 pm #929213
    SteveTheTech
    Participant

    Chris,

    Very glad to hear you are safe. Pride is hard a recover and Tegaderm works great on bruises. A wreck can usually be used an a teaching moment. One of the things I really like about this forum is your incident will resonate in many of our heads on a daily basis. I ride in the Landmark area of Alexandria and there is about a 12″ concrete drainage ledge that is often broken and uneven. I too feel bad slowing traffic in some cases but it just must be done sometimes.

    @KLizotte 7066 wrote:

    Now that I’ve been biking more I now watch other bikers a lot more closely here in the city to see “how they do it.” I’ve been rather alarmed/dismayed by how easily a cyclist gets “lost” in traffic, esp on a bright sunny day, because we are so small and don’t have bright lights/shiny bits.

    I was going to a cycling related event yesterday in the city and was continually impressed at the things people were doing. I typically drive into the city so I tend to be focused on automotive traffic. I saw an oddly comfortable woman riding an entry hybrid on the sidewalk at about 18th and M she almost got clipped by people leaving the parking garages. One of the guys at the event was commuting to Ballston at 8pm with no helmet or lights, with a dark colored Trek and a black kit.

    Why are people so reckless?

    August 13, 2011 at 10:20 am #929219
    acc
    Participant

    I too have started using the blinking light on my rear (of the bike frame just to be clear) with the prayer, hope, and dream that it makes me more visible.

    Take the lane,

    ann

    August 14, 2011 at 7:20 pm #929228
    StopMeansStop
    Participant

    Btw when you take the lane there is no need to give drivers an “screw you” and take the whole lane. Just take enough so you are safe.

    August 15, 2011 at 9:38 am #929232
    DCLiz
    Participant

    Either it is safe for a vehicle to pass you in the lane (i.e. it is 11′ wide) or it is not. If it is not, then “take the lane” means take the whole lane! The point is to not give cars the visual perception that they can squeeze around you; they need to pass when it is safe to do so, just as if you were a slow moving car ahead of them.

    Thanks, WABA Confident City Cycling, for teaching me this!

    August 15, 2011 at 10:08 am #929233
    houstanrojas
    Participant

    Mm so you need to beware i future

    I wish you very good luck for future rides.

    August 15, 2011 at 1:54 pm #929239
    DaveK
    Participant

    @StopMeansStop 7087 wrote:

    Btw when you take the lane there is no need to give drivers an “screw you” and take the whole lane. Just take enough so you are safe.

    You need to take the whole lane because if you try and stick just outside the gutter, drivers will think they can pass you in the same lane. This really isn’t safe and leads to cyclists getting “buzzed” by cars at a very close distance. They can wait. Take the whole lane for everyone’s safety, especially yours.

    August 17, 2011 at 4:22 pm #929320
    chris_s
    Participant

    The detective on my case just followed up with me. He spoke to the driver of the vehicle who is apparently a bicyclist himself and quite broken up over the whole situation, says he didn’t see me at all and given the curve on that stretch and the fact that I was hugging the shoulder way too tightly, I can definitely see being a possibility. Given those circumstances and the fact that I lucked out injury and damage free, I went ahead and told the detective that I’m ok with not pursuing charges. The end. :)

    August 17, 2011 at 5:41 pm #929322
    Brendan von Buckingham
    Participant

    DCLiz is absolutley right, either take the whole lane or don’t do it at all. To “kind of take the lane” only creates an ambiguous condition where you’re closer to the path of a car and the car still thinks they have room to pass.

    August 17, 2011 at 6:03 pm #929323
    KLizotte
    Participant

    @chris_s 7192 wrote:

    The detective on my case just followed up with me. He spoke to the driver of the vehicle who is apparently a bicyclist himself and quite broken up over the whole situation, says he didn’t see me at all and given the curve on that stretch and the fact that I was hugging the shoulder way too tightly, I can definitely see being a possibility. Given those circumstances and the fact that I lucked out injury and damage free, I went ahead and told the detective that I’m ok with not pursuing charges. The end. :)

    Glad to hear it all ended well. Scary to think how even a “cyclist driver” could miss one of his own though. Perhaps we should all wear placards on our backs showing naked people – that would get people’s attention! :p

    August 17, 2011 at 6:03 pm #929324
    aengblom
    Participant

    Out of curiosity, is the “take the whole lane” established as law in Virginia? This is how I ride, but I’ve had a bus and three cars zoom past me in the small remainder of my lane the past 48 hours. This is pretty crazy given that I’ve ridden six miles and that the vast majority of that distance was in bike lanes. All of the vehicles could (and did) use the lane next to me, which was empty. They were just too lazy to move all the way over.

    August 18, 2011 at 10:33 am #929338
    Brendan von Buckingham
    Participant

    It doesn’t say “take the lane” specifically but the parameters for doing so are in the section that bicycles should stay as far right as practical except in certain conditions like avoiding road hazards, lanes too narrow for a car to overtake a bike safely, preparing for a left turn, etc. There are like 12 exceptions to the stay right rule. I’d look it up for you but I think I just put salt in my first cup of coffee.

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