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Comment by polote | Hacker News Reader

That's not riding a bike which is dangerous it is riding in the same zones as cars as the article points out. May people say we shouldn't trust anyone to carry guns, but we allow anyone to drive a car, that's at least as much dangerous.

All the examples of the articles are good, but there are two many to learn and remember. I follow one and only one rule when I ride my bike. Assume you can get killed at every time and do not trust anything.

Sometime I see people wanting to turn left, raising their left hand and then turning without never looking backward to check if the following car is not trying to pass them. These people are crazy and want to die. Always look backward before doing anything else or if a car is approaching.

Many people assume that as a bike rider they have rights and as a result they should be respected by cars, and end up in dangerous situations because of that. Do not trust anything if you want to stay alive

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If I had the power to, I would downvote you because you are blaming the victim, being smug about it, even abusive.

If you are riding your bike in the city and the streets are congested enough, there will always be a car close behind you. As there are cars ahead of you, to the right of you and on the street to the left that you would have to look out for. There are limits to how defensively you can ride, and at the end you have to rely on that the driver behind you is required by law to heed to any vehicle that has signalled that it will be turning left.

I have myself been in exactly that situation, almost run over by some idiot who sped up left of me because there had appeared a gap on my left as I entered an intersection. That driver belongs in prison.

Just because they ought to doesn't mean they actually do. The GP is basically advocating the bicycle version of defensive driving, why do you find this "abusive"?

It's delusional to think that laws written by humans can beat the laws of physics. Whether 2 ton vehicle hits you on a bike intentionally or not doesn't change much that you will get hurt and maybe die. No matter how much the written laws favor the bikes.

I don't read that comment as blaming or smug, and certainly not abusive.

I ride my bike in city traffic and that's exactly the attitude I adopt: every one of these car drivers is going to kill me, and it's my responsibility to do whatever I can to prevent that. Laws and courtesy are great, but physics has no mercy.

The fact that most of the time we can rely on each other to pay attention, drive well, stop at stop signs, etc. is really wonderful, it's a daily affirmation that, despite all the rhetoric, we actually do care about each other.

But consider that more USA-ians have died in car collisions than in all the wars we've fought. Mixed car and bike (and pedestrian) traffic is insane. I call it the "mayhem lottery", but it's an imperfect metaphor: you don't have to buy a ticket to play, just be anywhere near the street. (Even indoors! People routinely drive off the road and into buildings!)

Anyhow, yes, of course bad drivers should have their licenses revoked (or even go to prison? Seems extreme to me but then again some of these drivers are downright homicidal, eh?) But it behooves you as a bike rider to defend yourself if you're going to run with the multi-ton high-speed metal. It's just common sense, eh?

> Many people assume that as a bike rider they have rights and as a result they should be respected by cars.

While I am not a bike rider, I am a proponent of defensive driving, which has the same principle: the laws of physics don't really care who has right-of-way.

> While I am not a bike rider, I am a proponent of defensive driving, which has the same principle: the laws of physics don't really care who has right-of-way.

Yeah. The graveyards have plenty of drivers/riders who had right-of-way.

>Always look backward before doing anything else or if a car is approaching.

Better yet, get a rear-view mirror that attaches to your helmet or handlebars so you don't have to turn your full head around. It's been a huge improvement for me since I've gotten it and when I ride shared bikes without mirrors I really notice how much I've come to rely on them.

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