Bikes and Right-Turning Cars
Safety for Cyclists: Staying Safe When Cars Are Turning Right
Cyclists can stay safer while riding their bicycles when they learn how to recognize and avoid the danger of right-turning motor vehicles.
Bicycles and right-turning motor vehicles don’t always get along. Whether you’re moving ahead on your bicycle or waiting at a red light, a car going in your direction may suddenly turn right, cutting you off. Also, large trucks take up a surprising amount of space when they turn right, and they can force you much farther to the right than you may think. The same may be said of large public-transit vehicles like articulated buses and streetcars, as well as garbage trucks and delivery vans. If you don’t have the space to get out of the way of these larger right-turning vehicles,, you can suddenly find yourself under their back wheels. Here are some bike safety tips to help you avoid trouble with right-turning motor vehicles.
1. Stay away from the sides of giant trucks, always and under all circumstances. Truck drivers can’t see cyclists very well, and there isn’t enough room for you to ride next to them
2. Never stand to the right of a stopped vehicle if there’s any chance it may be about to turn right. (Since people sometimes forget to signal, the only situation in which you can reasonably guess that a car won’t turn right is when that would mean they would have to go the wrong way down a busy one-way street.)
3. Watch for tuen signals whenever you approach an intersection: in front of you and behind you, and listen to the cars that are overtaking you, because you can actually hear the motor slow in preparation for a turn as they pass you, which would cut you off.
4. Make eye contact with any driver on your left as you are about to start riding again after waiting for a red light to change.
5. When you wait at stop signals, don’t rest one foot on the sidewalk. Besides the fact that it suggests that you don’t completely belong on the road, it puts you so close to the curb that you have no place you can escape to if a right-turning vehicle starts to nudge you to the right.
6. If you approach a line of vehicles that are all signaling a right turn, do not try to sneak through on their right. Instead, you should either stop and wait behind the column, or signal, move out and pass them on the left. (This maneuver can seem daunting for an inexperienced cyclist, but practice makes it seem natural, and it’s actually far safer than trying to get through on the right.)
The next article in this series will cover obstacles for cyclists, like streetcar tracks, pedestrians and taxis.
