Here are some tips I’ve put together from years of safe & comfortable riding in LA traffic. With the power of electric bikes, John Forester’s notion of “vehicular cycling” is actually possible. I borrow my basic rules on bike safety from the world of motorcycling, in which collisions are considered intolerable. Their number one rule: ride like you’re invisible.
Beat the cars off the line at stoplights. Establish your lane position well ahead, and the following driver will have an easier time coordinating their pass. Give drivers what they crave: certainty and order.
Cross large intersections abreast of a car traveling in the same direction, keeping him in between you and the traffic waiting in the left turn lane. Let this car shield you from the all-too-common SMIDSY left-turn (Sorry mate, I didn’t see you).
If a car is creeping out of a side street looking for a hole to turn, never assume he sees you just because he seems to be looking in your direction. Drivers often point their eyes at one spot and their attention at another. This is not a minor collision: avoid it completely by slowing and crossing his path at minimum speed.
If you’re riding in heavy traffic on a bad road, try to be the very last one through the yellow light. You’ll get a minute or two of the road to yourself. I call this technique “pinching it off” (crudely). Never ever run reds since a perpendicular driver could be timing himself to hit the fresh green at full speed.
Don’t accept direction or signals from drivers (or from anyone). Waves, gestures, and “all-clear” signs are well-meaning, but your eyes are the only ones you can trust with your life.
Use lights in the day, if you have them. Some drivers are good at seeing bicyclists, and some are not. Almost no drivers can spot bicyclists with the sun in their eyes so be aware of where the sun is.
Don’t outride your vision. If you don’t know what’s happening ahead of you, slow down until you do. This is the fundamental rule of safe motorcycling and it applies just as well to bike riding.
Try to arrive at 4-way stops in a way that makes your position in the order obvious. That is, arrive clearly ahead of or clearly behind the driver. Otherwise drivers are prone to waving you through, which you might not have wanted.
Have some good rules of your own? Send them my way!
