While safety on the road should be the concern of everyone, cyclists have some lessons they can learn to make commuting safer on their end by learning how to ride defensively. Motorists would also benefit from reading this as to avoid some of the common mistakes made behind the wheel. Most of these mistakes are fairly common and potentially lethal to even the safest cyclist on the road.
(photo credit Copyright ©1998-2008 by Michael Bluejay)
This page shows you real ways you can get hit and real ways to avoid them. This is a far cry from normal bicycle safety guides, which usually tell you little more than to wear your helmet and to follow the law. But consider this for a moment: Wearing a helmet will do absolutely nothing to prevent you from getting hit by a car. Sure, helmets might help you if you get hit, but your #1 goal should be to avoid getting hit in the first place. Plenty of cyclists are killed by cars even though they were wearing helmets. Ironically, if they had ridden without helmets, yet followed the advice on this page, they might still be alive today. Don’t fall for the myth that wearing a helmet is the first and last word in biking safety. In truth, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. It’s better to not get hit. That’s what real bicycle safety is about.
