The other day someone at my work had a small incident and we all began sharing safety tips when biking. Here are mine:
- First of all, your security is the most important thing.
- I use physically separated bikeways whenever possible.
- Totally ignore sharrows that invite you to bike in areas where you can easily be doored.
- When I bike on the road I always bike in the middle of the lane to force drivers who want to overtake to do it following the law and giving proper clearance.
- I wear visible helmet, shirts, jackets, gloves, etc, and 2 front and 2 rear lights at night.
Glasses help avoiding eye-insect collisions. - Totally disregard the 1% of drivers who honk the horn at you and appreciate the 99% who actually follow the law and behave in a humane way.
- Don’t wear any headphones ever, do stop at red lights, make sure to yield to pedestrians in crosswalks, and specially whenever you’re riding on the sidewalk. Basically, behave like a bicycle when you’re on a bikeway, like a car when you’re on the road, and like a pedestrian when you’re on the sidewalk.
- Despite everything above, about once a year or two I have a close call with someone changing lanes while checking their phone or something similar, so I record my rides with a gopro pointing forward and another pointing backwards just in case I ever need them, plus people behave nicer when they realize they are being recorded.
- Bonus point I got from my coworkers: if you usually bike on the road don’t use a bell and use a loud horn instead.