Bicycles

3127 readers

19 users here now

Welcome to [email protected]

A place to share our love of all things with two wheels and pedals. This is an inclusive, non-judgemental community. All types of cyclists are accepted here; whether you're a commuter, a roadie, a MTB enthusiast, a fixie freak, a crusty xbiking hoarder, in the middle of an epic across-the-world bicycle tour, or any other type of cyclist!

Community Rules

No bigotry - including racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, or xenophobia.
Be respectful. Everyone should feel welcome here.
No porn.
No ads / spamming.
Ride bikes

Other cycling-related communities

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

108

The influence of a bicycle commuter's appearance on drivers’ overtaking proximities: an on-road test of bicyclist stereotypes, high-visibility clothing and safety aids in the United Kingdom (researchportal.bath.ac.uk)

submitted 10 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

39 comments fedilink hide all child comments

The only outfit associated with a significant change in mean passing proximities was the **police/video-recording jacket. **

Notably, whilst some outfits seemed to discourage motorists from passing within 1 metre of the rider, approximately 1-2% of overtakes came within 50 cm no matter what outfit was worn. This suggests there is little riders can do, by altering their appearance, to prevent the very closest overtakes

This is quite discouraging, but it seems to ring true in my experience. I've had quite a few drivers, who have come close to hitting me (even while walking at a crosswalk), claim that they "didn't see me" while I wore high-viz everything and had lights to further improve visibility.

How do we, as cyclists, even deal with “driver blindness”?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 6 points 10 months ago

And plenty of roads where the sidewalks are more dangerous than the road

Yup. It's often said that the sidewalk is the most dangerous place for a cyclist to be (for them and everyone else). I've been saying that for years in the Reddit e-scooter community after far too many people post their crash videos while riding on sidewalks.

The only time I'll use a sidewalk are in areas that you'll never see pedestrians in. Typically, these are industrial zones where big rigs have destroyed the road. Very low risk to be on the sidewalk here, but about as safe as you can be in a horribly dangerous area.