One principle of staying safe as a cyclist, or as any sort of road user, is to keep your eyes and brain engaged. Last week, I was cycling along in Aberdeen, Washington. Suddenly, a lady ran a stop sign (there was no stop sign for me) without slowing and cut me off. Momentarily forgetting it wasn't a teachable moment, I yelled out the obvious as she zoomed by: "Hey, you just ran a stop sign!"
A few blocks later, another lady came up to her stop sign and I was able to proceed without any danger of impact. I waved at this second lady. The situations coming up to the intersection were pretty much identical in both situations. As the title says...
It was a fairly low stress reminder why you do not ride on autopilot. It is also a reminder of how cycling is fun and safe if you simply pay attention. I'd probably have been going ten MPH faster had I been motoring and avoiding the first collision might have been much more dramatic.
A few blocks later, another lady came up to her stop sign and I was able to proceed without any danger of impact. I waved at this second lady. The situations coming up to the intersection were pretty much identical in both situations. As the title says...
It was a fairly low stress reminder why you do not ride on autopilot. It is also a reminder of how cycling is fun and safe if you simply pay attention. I'd probably have been going ten MPH faster had I been motoring and avoiding the first collision might have been much more dramatic.
2 comments:
Read the title on my blog and thought you were talking about the Senate hearings.
Practicing mindfulness helps a lot.
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