Bicycles Stack Exchange
Bicycles Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [safety]

Riding safely, safety equipment, and safe places to ride.

If you want to ask about how to ride safely or safety equipment, please use this tag. You might also want to use it for questions that touch on issues of safety, such as bike lanes or driver education.

523 questions
25
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9 answers

Wrong way on a bike lane?

Is it OK to ride the opposite way on a designated bike lane? I'm in Louisville, Kentucky, USA. The reason I ask is because most of the lanes near me are only on one side of the road. The picture below is an example of the type of lane. The law…
npsantini
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22
votes
13 answers

How can I look unsafe to a car driver but be safe

This research seems to show car drivers give you more space if they think you are more likely to do something unpredictable. It claims that where a cycle helmet often results in drivers giving you less space. So how I make a driver think I am not a…
Ian
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22
votes
4 answers

How to pass another bicycle in a bike lane

I bike to and from work in New York City, and I have noticed that while I stay very far to the right in the bike lane (literally on the line that marks the right most boundary of the bike lane), maybe about 70% of the cyclists who pass me do so on…
mgoldwasser
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20
votes
5 answers

Is it acceptable to cycle towards the centre of the lane on blind corners?

Some context: I live near a very congested main road, and everyone goes through the villages whenever it is blocked. If I am cycling, I have a continuous stream of cars passing me, even if they can't see the road ahead. So to prevent them overtaking…
Tim
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18
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11 answers

How (un)safe is it to ride barefoot?

Sometimes I use bike for a week long trip camping along, doing maybe 200km per day riding on asphalt road. In the end, my feet have bad smell, which is not super strange or concerning, but it does seem a bit unhygienical to do so, especially if I…
user43913
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15
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7 answers

What hand signals are there for communicating with others when cycling in a group?

Recently I took a hit from behind. Fortunately it was just my friend's bike rather than one of those large-boxes-for-one-person. I was partly to blame because I failed to indicate that we were slowing down. (However, as I understand the Highway…
ʍǝɥʇɐɯ
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13
votes
6 answers

Can I jump from small heights on my bicycle?

I have recently bought a Merida Matts 40-D bicycle. I didn't buy it for extreme sports, rather for a recreational cycling, etc, but as I'm only 22 years old, it's too tempting to jump down from small stairs when riding through the city. Let's say…
Frantisek
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12
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3 answers

How close to the kerb should I cycle?

I'm new here, and also pretty new to cycling as my main form of travel. Note that I'm from the UK, so we drive on the left. I always ride on the lane closest to the kerb. On one of my journeys I have to go over a dual carriageway, and I noticed that…
mrnovice
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9
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1 answer

For road riding, are mountain bikes safer than road bikes?

My son (age 15) and I have ridden a couple of thousand miles in the past few years--road riding. We like mountain climbs and descents. He was on a comfort bike until a month ago, when he acquired his big brother's road bike--an older Cannondale…
Randy
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8
votes
7 answers

Are there any major outstanding recalls of bicycle parts?

Sometimes bike companies don't get things right. Are there any major recalls people should know about? Where can people find information on recalls? There is one answer which has places to find information on recalls (for a given country). Other…
Batman
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8
votes
6 answers

Should the laws be amended to allow cyclists to run red lights?

Ignoring the question of whether or not cyclists should or should not break the law by running red lights, should the law be changed such that cyclists are somehow exempt from stopping and waiting? For example, the Idaho Stop Law provides that…
Stephen Touset
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7
votes
1 answer

How does the risk of a cyclist colliding with a vehicle vary with the speed difference?

In a recent answer I asserted Statistics show that the probability of a collision rises rapidly after the speed difference between two road users exceeds 20 kph (12 mph). So choose paths without vehicle traffic, or roads with lower speed…
andy256
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7
votes
5 answers

Grabbing the attention of the person ahead of you while bicycling

Normally you let the bicyclist/walker/jogger ahead of you know that you are about to pass them by shouting "passing" or even by just ringing the bell on your bike. This is done as a courtesy since many people do get scared/shocked if someone just…
Dronehinge
6
votes
6 answers

Can I run a red light at a T junction?

I was wondering if I was on a bike could I run a red light if it is impossible for me to get hit by a car? (Unless the car drives into the bike lane). I made a quick picture on paint to try and show what I mean. EDIT: I live in Washington and here…
Anthony Hoang
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6
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2 answers

Are there any post 2013 studies available that focus on the use of bike lights during the day to prevent collisions with cars?

My cousin was recently killed when hit by a car from behind as he was cycling his road bike in the countryside in broad daylight. The accident occurred on a sunny day as he entered a shaded area of tree's. I am now looking at raising awareness of…
Chloe
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