Don't be the Invisible Cyclist
Mon, November 30, 2020 
So often a car will turn or pull out in front of cyclist causing serious injury, then claim, “I didn’t see him.” Or "He came out of nowhere." The cyclist might ask, “Am I invisible? I was there to be seen.”
It is not a case of the cyclist being invisible, but one of the position of the cyclist and other vehicles on the road giving the illusion that he is not there.
Take the common scenario in the top picture. A cyclist is following the red SUV that has just overtaken him. The driver of the SUV wants to make a right turn, and is indicating so with his turn signal.
The red SUV is slowing to less than the cyclist’s speed, so the cyclist moves over to the left to go around the red vehicle. He figures he can do this safely as he can hear no other cars immediately behind him.
This lack of traffic behind him is actually the cyclist’s downfall, because at this moment the blue car is emerging from this same side road, about to make a left turn to go in the opposite direction to the cyclist.
The driver of the blue car waits until he is sure the red SUV is turning, and then makes his move. He does not see the cyclist because he is hidden behind the red vehicle. For the same reason the cyclist can’t see the blue car either.
The driver of the blue car gets the illusion that there is nothing behind the red SUV, all he sees is a gap in traffic and an opportunity to pull out. The red SUV turns, the driver of the blue car takes one last look to his right to make sure the far lane he is pulling into is still clear.
At this crucial moment the driver is looking away from the cyclist as he pulls out, and the unfortunate bike rider runs smack into the side of the blue vehicle.
How to avoid this situation.
1.) Be aware of cars waiting in side roads and driveways ready to turn onto the road you are on.
2.) In this scenario, don’t be in a hurry to get around the turning vehicle. Had the cyclist slowed and stayed the right, he would have seen the blue car, even if the driver had not seen him. Also when the car pulled out the cyclist would have more of a chance to go behind the vehicle to avoid a collision.
3.) Listen for cars immediately behind you, if there is traffic behind this is your safety buffer and people will not pull out if they see other cars approaching
Statistics show that this next scenario, more than any other, is the most common cause of serious injury or death to both cyclists and motor-cyclists.
The cyclist is riding to the right of the lane and is going straight. The red SUV has just passed him and is also going straight.
The blue car is stopped with his turn signal on waiting to turn left into the side road. As in the first scenario, the driver of the blue car can’t see the cyclist because he is behind the red SUV, and also the cyclist cannot see the blue car for the same reason.
It is possible the driver of the blue car has been sitting waiting to turn for some time, and the cyclists has been partially hidden from his view by a steady stream of traffic. Now all the driver sees is a gap in traffic behind the red SUV.
The red SUV passes and the driver of the blue car steps on the gas to turn quickly. It is a small gap in traffic and his only thought is that he must get across before the next car arrives. He is no longer looking down the road otherwise he might still see the cyclist, he is now looking at the side road in the direction he is headed.
The cyclist is either hit broadside by the front of the car, maybe run over, or he runs smack into its side of the vehicle. Even if the driver sees the cyclist at the last moment, car driver and cyclist both have only a split second to act.
The car driver either panics, brakes hard and ends up as a stationary object in the cyclist's direct path, or he underestimates the cyclist's speed and tries the beat him through the intersection. Often a collision is unavoidable the moment the vehicle making the left turn has started the move.
How to avoid this situation.
1.) Think ahead. As I have just mentioned, the blue car has probably been waiting to turn for some time before the cyclist arrives. The cyclist could have made a mental note some 200 yards before he arrived at the point of a potential collision.
2.) If it is safe to do so, take the lane. Signal and move over to the left so you are visible to the driver of the car waiting to turn. Had the cyclist done this, chances are the red SUV would not have passed him, but would have still been behind him. The blue car would have had to wait for both the cyclist and the SUV to pass before turning.
Also, if the cyclist moves to the left, nearer the center of the lane, should the blue car turn, the cyclist has more opportunity to simply steer a course behind the vehicle.
3.) Again, listen for cars behind you, they are your safety buffer. If there are none and there is any doubt that the turning driver has seen you, be ready to make a panic stop.
If the car driver has not seen the cyclist, an accident can still be avoided if the cyclist is aware ahead of time, what could happen. Otherwise, given the cyclist's speed, the reaction time, and the distance it takes to stop on a bicycle..... Well, you get the picture.
In these scenarios I have used an SUV as an example of a vehicle blocking the view of a turning driver. More often than not the vehicle you are following is a large commercial box van, truck, or bus, making the situation even worse.
The onus is of course on the driver of the vehicle entering or turning from a highway, but as it is the cyclist has the most to lose in such a situation, it behooves him or her to ride defensively at all times.
Don’t be a victim. Always think ahead and look for potential hazards. Remember it is not that you are actually invisible, it is more an illusion that the cyclist is not there, brought on by years of conditioning and not being aware of bicycles.
Multiple times, every day for years a driver waits for a gap in traffic to make a left turn. When he sees it he goes for it, always without mishap. Then one day there is a cyclist in that gap.
Don’t let it be you, don't be the Invisible Cyclist
Watch this YouTube video. See this very same collision happen when a white truck turns in front of a motorcyclist. Look for the dark blue car waiting to turn left in the opposite direction, possibly blocking the view of the oncoming motorcyclist.
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Reader Comments (6)
Dave, I know this is one of your favorite topics, as safety should be. Having been in several accidents during my 50 something years of riding, I have become some what of an expert on driving defensively. I also take risks, as everyone does. Triggered risk events happen less frequently now.
I also apply those defensive sensors to my 4 wheel driving. Assume can have a greater impact than emotional feelings!
Useful thanks Dave.
Incidentally, when I click on the link to your blogs in my RSS feeder, I get an error. (I notice your most recent couple of blog posts only have a few comments. Maybe other people are getting an error too. Not certain though.)
Stephen McAteer,
Can you explain in simple terms what that is and how I can fix it?
Dave
Dave - the problem seems to have fixed itself. Not sure what was going on.
An RSS Feed Reader is a bit of software that automatically notifies me when you have posted a new blog. It saves having to keep going to your actual blog site to check for updates. They're quite popular.
You can use one to follow as many blogs as you like.
Handy.
Cheers.
Obeying the rules of the road also helps. The only time that I have had an accident involving me driving a car and a bicycle was while pulling out of a parking lot at the college of Charleston on a one way road. I pulled upt to the road, looked left to make sure no one was coming and pulled out. Moments later I heard a clinking sound and looked in my rear view mirror to see a bicycle on it's side near where I had puled out.
What had happened is that while I was looking left, someone was riding their cycle the wrong direction on a sidewalk. They ran into my car and fell over onto the sidewalk. When I pulled out, my tire caught this person's keys up causing the clinking sound. The cyclist went with me to campus police to report the incident and they were cited. I know this is rarely the case, but it horrified me at the time that I might have unknowingly hit someone.
I believe your second scenario explains how I was hit by a car thirty years ago. I was in the right lane, traveling at the same speed as the red car in a visually crowded urban environment, and was not expecting a car turning left (it was into a driveway). The driver stated that she believed she had the right of way to turn left once one car had passed her. My recent commute goes past many commercial driveways, and I have seen countless close calls due to drivers looking one way while moving another, pulling into the bike lane before looking, or right-hooking the cyclist, even after they've seen the cyclist. The driveways seem even worse than intersections.
It seems that the best approach in scenario 2 would be to be way behind the car, or very close to it. The trouble with the latter strategy is that if the car being used as a shield makes an unexpected turn, there's not enough time to react.
I recently went to pass a car that had signaled a right turn and was in the right lane. As I passed her in the left lane, she abruptly made an illegal U-turn. I was alert and lucky enough to dodge her. She'd spotted a desirable parking space on the other side of the road. I asked her if her parking spot was worth my life. Apparently it was, since she said the near-collision was my fault.