Pedestrians not looking

Get well soon!

Such a bummer, my friend broke his wrist this summer when he couldn’t clip out in time (mostly because a bus cut him off.. shocker). He was off the bike for 6 weeks during the summer. On a good note, he is completely back to normal and has no side effects at all, so hang in there and don’t rush anything, 6 weeks will feel like nothing next year especially if you heal properly. As for pedestrians…. Ugh, I’m always amazed that they will wait for cars to pass and then step right out in front of me, I just have to keep thinking WWDD!

Another thing that seems to be happening to me a lot lately is pedestrians seeing me and walking out anyway. I’m thinking that either they don’t realize how fast I’m actually going or they think that it’s their right to do so, that bikes have to yield to pedestrians no matter what. Last week I swerved to avoid hitting a guy who stepped into the road mid-block, no crosswalk, and he yelled at me “Pedestrian!” WTH? He was the one jaywalking and I get yelled at.

At the corner of M Street and NJ Ave, SE there were so many pedestrian injuries/deaths that either the BID or the city implemented crossing guards (for lack of a better term) during rush hour for the DOT employees and stadium visitors. I thought it was weird that there were traffic guards with whistles at a four way intersection with lights until someone explained there was a serious accident every six months because peds were jaywalking.

Glad the accident wasn’t worse but as someone recently recovered from a broken finger (a bike accident too though no peds were involved) I feel your pain!

@jabberwocky 32394 wrote:

I think a lot of pedestrians get used to being able to hear cars coming

I was used to this as a cyclist too; that all changed when hybrid cars came around.

@arlrider 32398 wrote:

I was used to this as a cyclist too; that all changed when hybrid cars came around.

As a hybrid driver, I can say it hasn’t changed enough. I get a lot of “oh, I didn’t hear you”s when peds jump out in front of me.

On a bike, I’ve become so skiddish (“conservative”), that I slow down/say something if there’s any possibility of a pedestrian jumping in front of me. It has significantly slowed me down.

@jabberwocky 32394 wrote:

I think a lot of pedestrians get used to being able to hear cars coming, and since they’re in their own little world (lost in thought, texting, whatever) if they don’t hear anything they assume its safe to just step out without looking.

Yeah, I think we rely on our ears more than we realize to judge oncoming traffic.

I almost got run over by a motorcycle last week. Quietest motorcycle I’ve ever (not) heard. I had stopped at the intersection (trail and road, i was on the trail on my bike) to let cars pass, they all went, looked right no one coming, looked left no one coming, started across the road and did not hear–at all– the motorcycle coming from the right and didn’t see him until we almost hit each other. I’m still wondering if I just didn’t “see” him because my brain was thinking “car, not motorcycle” or if he was going so fast he really wasn’t there yet when I looked (in which case, WAY too fast). And I can’t for the life of me figure out how I couldn’t *hear* a motorcycle that was practically on top of me, but I absolutely did not, and if I had, the whole situation would have been avoided.

My only bad accident was when a pedestrian stepped out from between parked cars immediately in front of my riding partner. My partner did an emergency stop, but I ended up clipping his rear wheel and going over the handlebars, at least that’s what I was told. I woke up in the emergency room about 90 minutes later with a concussion and some road rash. The interesting thing was that the pedestrian stored our bikes for us until my riding partner could pick them up the next day. Oh yeah, I got a new bike and helmet out of it (that I paid for), and I think we did manage to not hit the pedestrian.

I try to be aware of everything around me when I’m riding, walking, or driving, but there are times when things just happen. I’m quick to use my bell (or voice) when I have even the remotest sense that someone may step out in front of me. I get mixed reactions.