[SDCBC] FW: BE CAREFUL OUT THERE: News Metro -- KPBS radio hostseriously injured on bike

[James Hotchkiss]

I know what I am about to say will be unpopular but.

 

I have been commuting that exact stretch of Montezuma for 4 years, 5 days a
week.  What I do. and it is met with anger from other cyclists. is ride on
the wrong side of the street when coming up Montezuma.  I take the cycling
bridge over the Fairmont/Mission Gorge onramp and stay on the sidewalk until
I am starting up Montezuma.  The bike lane on the north side never has to
merge with oncoming traffic and I can see who is coming.  

 

I have had cyclists coming down the hill curse at me as I am coming up.  But
I am alive.

 

I cross over to the south (proper) side of Montezuma with the light at
Collwood.

 

It is a dangerous ride and not one I love.  But I haven't found a better
alternative.

 

Let the scolding ensue,

 

JimH

 

-----Original Message-----
From: sdcbc-bounces at bikesandiego.org [mailto:sdcbc-bounces at bikesandiego.org]
On Behalf Of Serge Issakov
Sent: Monday, April 16, 2007 8:10 PM
To: Gene Carman
Cc: Sdcbc
Subject: Re: [SDCBC] FW: BE CAREFUL OUT THERE: News Metro -- KPBS radio
hostseriously injured on bike

 

As long as I'm outside of a bike lane (more on that below), I don't think
I've ever had to wait for more than 3 or 4 cars to pass by me before a
driver would acknowledge my request to merge left and slow down for me, and
almost always that's accomplished by simply looking back for a second or
two.  In those relatively rare instances when that doesn't work right away,
then I add a hand signal (but still look back).  Yes, there will sometimes
be a jerk or two who will ignore me and accelerate, but the trick is to
start the negotiation early, not wait until the point where I have to merge
now.

I'm still having a hard time understanding the particular issue at this
intersection.  I know it's uphill and the traffic is fast, but we're talking
about merging from the curbside bike lane across half of a very wide traffic
lane, right?   This is not a merge across 2 or 3 lanes as is sometimes
required to make a left turn.  Looking at the google
<http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=Montezuma+Road+at+Collwood+Boulevar
d,+San+Diego,+CA&sll=32.841796,-117.269474&sspn=0.007698,0.009828&layer=&ie=
UTF8&z=19&ll=32.77007,-117.08601&spn=0.001926,0.002457&t=h&om=1>  map, I
suspect I would start looking back before I got to the part where the bike
lane stripe turned from solid to dashed, and would probably move out of the
bike lane by the time it was dashed, if not sooner.  For some reason it is
much harder to get a driver's attention and willingness to let me merge if
I'm in a bike lane.  Anyway, once I'm out of the bike lane and coaxed
someone to yield to me, it couldn't take more than a second or two to get
across far enough (10 feet or so) to where the right turners could pass me
on the right, there is plenty of room for through traffic to pass me on the
left, and I'd be headed straight for the mouth of the bike lane to the left
of the right only lane.  I'm sure exactly where I would merge across would
vary each time based on traffic conditions, but I'm pretty sure I would
usually start considering a merge very early, and most of the time would be
"out there" before I got to the "mouth" of the bike lane.

Is that what others have tried with poor results?  Or is there some reason
that I missed to not do this?

Serge

P.S.
All of the above assumes there is no blinding sun ahead.  That's a factor
that can turn me into a pedestrian very quickly.




On 4/16/07, Gene Carman <gcarman at san.rr.com> wrote:


I signal long before I turn and I signal again as I start my turn.  Up until
7 years ago I rode that intersection daily.  (I have since moved and now
have other "favorite" intersections.)

The real problem is exactly as is pointed out in the second paragraph
below...  drivers are too busy doing everything but driving, and are in too
much of a hurry to drive properly.  Perhaps, due to this unfortunate
incident, motorists can be reminded to "Share the Road" daily on the radio.






At 05:43 PM 4/16/2007, Jack Bochsler wrote:



Sadly, I have learned the same approach that you have - turn
as you signal.  My experience is that signalling the turn is
generally followed immediately by the cars accelerating to close
the gap I carefully and patiently selected. I am frequently startled
to find my hand empty - one would think it was holding a checkered
flag.  This is particularly prevalent in crossing freeway onramps.



 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.bikesandiego.org/pipermail/sdcbc/attachments/20070416/d20ecee2/attachment-0001.html