Missed connection

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Originally Posted by KWL

I'm beginning to doubt the safety of protected bike lanes at intersections. I'm sure if I had been taking the travel lane here the van driver would have seen me and waited to make the turn. I doubt they expected to find someone moving toward them at 18mph from the curb area. I was "both feet in" and locked the wheels. The driver had a surprised look.

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If I am moving along, alone in the bike lane--that is, no adjoining traffic moving with me--and I suspect a vehicle is going to turn left in front of me, I move into the middle of the travel lane for this very reason. That's where they are looking, not in the bike lane. If there is adjoining traffic, then they are protecting me from the left turner; no worries. I like having cars moving with me through intersections because of the protection from left turners that they provide.

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Originally Posted by Steve O

If I am moving along, alone in the bike lane--that is, no adjoining traffic moving with me--and I suspect a vehicle is going to turn left in front of me, I move into the middle of the travel lane for this very reason. That's where they are looking, not in the bike lane. If there is adjoining traffic, then they are protecting me from the left turner; no worries. I like having cars moving with me through intersections because of the protection from left turners that they provide.

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That is assuming that the traffic moving with you doesn't suddenly turn to the right.

Same experience here; bright flashing lights don't stop left hooks, left lane, right lane, or bike lane.

In DC, traffic turning left often just bullies across the intersection, oncoming traffic, right turning traffic, and pedestrians in the crosswalk be damned, so I try to not take the left hooks personally.

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Originally Posted by bentbike33

I have a German-made dynamo-powered headlight with an automatic daytime running light mode that I just leave on all the time. It was insufficient to prevent a near left-hook on Eads St. yesterday on what seemed to me to be a very quiet Sunday morning.

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Same here- a high-end Busch+Muller setup. It *is* quite visible, but if that other driver has his eyes *off* the road...even the "blindy" strobes will not get attention.

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Originally Posted by KWL

I'm beginning to doubt the safety of protected bike lanes at intersections. I'm sure if I had been taking the travel lane here the van driver would have seen me and waited to make the turn. I doubt they expected to find someone moving toward them at 18mph from the curb area. I was "both feet in" and locked the wheels. The driver had a surprised look.

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ideally a PBL would have seperate bike signalling, and bikes would proceed when traffic in the general lanes has a no turn signal. I don't expect ArlCo will be doing that on Eads any time soon, esp with relatively light usage of the PBLs (viscious circle, anyone?) (and I note that DDOT is finally taking steps to fix M Street at New Hampshire, only after someone was killed) Whether left turns by motor vehicles in disregard of bikes proceeding through is more common when the bikes are in a PBL, vs in a general travel lane, I don't think there is any data on that, and I can't argue with anyone's anecdotes. I will say that when I proceed on the Eads PBLs I assume (unless I am spacing out) that someone may be doing something crazy at every intersection, and look and proceed accordingly.

Works great. Saved my life many times. Still it's a bike light that is an under powered strobe (front and rear). It's not going to blind anyone in broad daylight on a sunny day. Where the trail intersects with the road, it does stop traffic so crossing is safe. It's one of the best pieces of tech I've seen in 50 years of cycling. Everyone should get strobe lighting for daytime riding.

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Originally Posted by VikingMariner

It's not going to blind anyone in broad daylight on a sunny day.

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Maybe, but that won't stop the bitching.

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Originally Posted by mstone

Maybe, but that won't stop the bitching.

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The only bitching I've read on this site--and heard in person--is directed at cyciists who have asked others not to use blinking settings on two-way trails or to turn down their high-beams for approaching cyclists.

I am quite sure that there have been some very rude requests made of blinkers and high-beamers, but I've never made them or heard them. I do worry that such rudeness, real or perceived, is deployed to dismiss even polite requests.

(This past week, I averted my eyes but said nothing when a cyclist approached me with a bright, flashing light around 1 pm on the W and OD in Sterling. That cyclist screamed something in my ear when we passed.)

I became sensitized to the light problem when I was younger and others complained about my light, and not always in a genteel manner. I realized that a cyclist passing the other way can hardly be expected to communicate such a message without sounding a bit gruff (there's only time for a few audible words). I generally don't even try to make a verbal request, but I have sympathy for those who do.

As I've aged, I've noticed my sensitivity increases and that very bright lights, especially blinking ones, pointed at eye level at close distance (even in daylight) on a two-way trail lead me to slow considerably and fix my eyes on the edge of the trail away from rider. I don't understand how using a light in such circumstances makes anyone safer. Nor do I understand why such an observation exposes its maker to verbal abuse (and it has).

I do understand the need for bright lights and blinking ones when riding in traffic. They help ensure that cyclists be noticed. When cyclists are on a two-way trail without cars, there is less danger that a cyclist is not noticed and oncoming bike traffic is much closer. I think--though I'm not sure--people's tolerance for direct lights and for rapidly blinking one varies greatly. I am fairly confident it declines with age, so that if you're a young cyclist, you're probably not a good judge of how it might affect an older one. If someone says it bothers them, I hope others can accept that as likely to be the case.

So thanks to those who do dim, lower, and/or switch to steady mode. And to those who choose not to, please understand you'll likely to continue to hear requests.

Yeah, I chalk this up to things people really shouldn't do, but do and moaning about it ain't gonna stop them. I do think it's really inconsiderate to run front flashers on trails, period.

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Originally Posted by viennabiker

The only bitching I've read on this site--and heard in person--is directed at cyciists who have asked others not to use blinking settings on two-way trails or to turn down their high-beams for approaching cyclists.

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