Caution bicycle safety

[signal_line]

I just about ended up underneath an SUV on my e-bike today. I never would have imagined this could happen but it did. I just left the grocery store and was waiting for the SUV ahead of me to leave the parking lot to the street. A woman driver had pulled a little too far out and a pedestrian was walking down the sidewalk so the SUV driver decided to back up and let the person walk by. Only thing was she never looked behind her vehicle to see I was there. When I saw her start to back up I yelled at her. Nothing. So I turned to the side and started moving to get away from her. I yelled again and she kept coming towards me. I hit the throttle on the e-bike and I didn’t think I was going to escape. It looked like she was going to run over my back wheel which would have pinned my leg against the ground as the vehicle ran over the bike. It was close but I was able to get away before disaster occurred. I think the electric motor saved me by moving faster with just throttle instead of trying to peddle. She kept backing up! Finally stopped as I was right in line with her driver’s door. She looked at me like “WTH were you doing behind me?” I was irritated, lucky I kept my cool because I should have dragged her out and threw away her keys. It was a new enough vehicle there should have been a back-up warning alarm. I’m still angry. But at least I am alive and uninjured.

Moral of the story: don’t let anybody back into you. Normally when on the street without a bike lane I stay way over to one side on the vehicle in front of me while waiting at a stop light or stop sign so I can escape out the side if another vehicle flys into me from behind. But an innocent parking lot I never gave it a thought. I do now! Just still have a sick feeling in my stomach.

 

[PenguinDetectsCA]

Glad that nothing serious happened!

Ya...stories like this get me concerned for people at my school who fly on their ebike at 20+mph on the road.

Similarly, one of my baseball teamates got his leg run over by an SUV. Thankfully nothing broken, just road rash.

Thanks for the reminder to be aware and careful !

 

[ConceptualizedNetherlandr]

We share the roads with 'the others'

 

[ToddsPoint]

Any e-bike that goes over 20mph needs license plates, insurance, and operator needs drivers license. Until that happens there will continue to be injuries and fatalities.

 

[ToddsPoint]

Delete

 

[newnan man]

E bikes are everywhere here in Florida and the kids drive them like the little shits they are, fast and erratic. There have already been multiple accidents.

 

[signal_line]

I’m trying not to think about it. Saying some prayers thankful I didn’t get trapped underneath her SUV. She would have killed me if I hadn’t moved in time.

 

[PenguinDetectsCA]

E bikes are everywhere here in Florida and the kids drive them like the little shits they are, fast and erratic. There have already been multiple accidents.

Agreed, Same here in CA. I used to think it was local but I guess not.

 

[signal_line]

I love my e-bike. I just put a eBay motor on a mountain bike cost me $550 for everything except the bike, and I’ve been riding this one since 2017. Still have the same battery but I wore out the motor after about 10,000 miles, cost me $212 for a new one. Electricity costs me $0.11 to go about 25 miles. I think I spend more on tires and brake pads than on electricity. I bought a LiFePo4 battery because they have better fire safety. They are 10 pounds heavier and bulkier but they give much longer life span. Yes, you have to be careful as cars do not see you and will pull out in front of you or make a right turn and cut you off in the bike lane. A good headlight and blinking taillight are very important. I used to use a blinking headlight but I figured out some people freak out and pull right out in front of me, so kid I use solid headlight. They sell cheap ones. that run on the 48 volt bike battery.

One time a car did not see me. They were at a stop sign and a telephone pole blocked their view. I was going down a hill and they pulled out in front of me. Lucky they had collision control so their car stopped so their front bumper was right in line with my path. I had to move over about one foot to avoid them, but for a while I thought I was going over their hood through the air.

Yesterday I saw a young kid in an electric motorcycle. It was screaming fast. The ones I cringe more than anything are the electric scooters.

 

[Tesorodeoro]

As with motorcycles, bicycles (including E-Bikes) should leave extra space between themselves and a vehicle in front of them. There are numerous reasons to do this. If your going to have a motorized vehicle, it ought to have a horn. When approaching a stopped car Instead of being centered on the car in front of you, you should be on the drivers side where they can see you in their side mirror. It also gives you a get-a-way path in case a car behind you doesn’t see you. Finally a mirror so you can monitor that car coming up behind you.

 

[rickertmork]

I just about ended up underneath an SUV on my e-bike today. I never would have imagined this could happen but it did. I just left the grocery store and was waiting for the SUV ahead of me to leave the parking lot to the street. A woman driver had pulled a little too far out and a pedestrian was walking down the sidewalk so the SUV driver decided to back up and let the person walk by. Only thing was she never looked behind her vehicle to see I was there. When I saw her start to back up I yelled at her. Nothing. So I turned to the side and started moving to get away from her. I yelled again and she kept coming towards me. I hit the throttle on the e-bike and I didn’t think I was going to escape. It looked like she was going to run over my back wheel which would have pinned my leg against the ground as the vehicle ran over the bike. It was close but I was able to get away before disaster occurred. I think the electric motor saved me by moving faster with just throttle instead of trying to peddle. She kept backing up! Finally stopped as I was right in line with her driver’s door. She looked at me like “WTH were you doing behind me?” I was irritated, lucky I kept my cool because I should have dragged her out and threw away her keys. It was a new enough vehicle there should have been a back-up warning alarm. I’m still angry. But at least I am alive and uninjured.

Moral of the story: don’t let anybody back into you. Normally when on the street without a bike lane I stay way over to one side on the vehicle in front of me while waiting at a stop light or stop sign so I can escape out the side if another vehicle flys into me from behind. But an innocent parking lot I never gave it a thought. I do now! Just still have a sick feeling in my stomach.

I’m a very experienced rider. I never ride an e-bike for this reason, the extra weight and momentum causes the brakes to work like crap and the bike is not agile enough to get out of the way. That’s why i
Ride a racing bmx bike
In urban areas. I worked for jimmy Johns bike delivery with a bmx race bike with a thousand dollar wheelset . Always ride on the sidewalk even tho
It’s illegal in most places.

 

[GirlWithWolf]

Glad you made it out safely. Where I’m living you can’t even go down the street to Target without seeing at least one or two wrecks, and kids drive those things like they don’t have the sense the creator gave a mosquito.

 

[Tesorodeoro]

I was passed by a kid on an electric dirt bike. He was shirtless and had no helmet. Going about 35 in the bike lane. I thought maybe he’d catch up to the highway patrol in front of me but he saw a couple other grade school age kids on e-bikes and cut across the highway in front of me and pulled up on the sidewalk. It’s common now to see grade schoolers riding electric pocket dirt bikes on the sidewalks. Cops don’t care.

 

[signal_line]

I used ride sidewalks. Twice I had to do a front wheel stand in a crosswalk because the cars did not stop. One ran a red light, another was turning the corner and didn’t look.

Since I’m talking safety, I was driving in my car in the inside lane, I checked my side mirror, turned on my turn signal and started to move over to the outside lane. My car has a blinking yellow safety light if another car is in that other lane. I looked and the light was not blinking. I was going about the speed limit 45 mph. I started to move to the other lane and out of nowhere a car came flying by me going about 80 mph. It was so far back when I looked in the side rear view mirror my warning light had not come on yet, but since he was moving so fast he caught up to me in a matter of about one or two seconds. At the last second I saw him and swerved back into the lane I was in.

 

[Tesorodeoro]

Ya riding sidewalks is pretty dangerous. Vehicles just are not expecting bikes on the sidewalk.

 

[Trezurehunter]

Glad your ok. I would use the theory "leave yourself an out" that I learned in my UPS driver training. Stay at least 1 car length behind the vehicle in front of you so you can adjust for circumstances quickly and safely. I realize this incident was not your fault, but you have to protect yourself from the idiots out there who managed to obtain a drivers license. They are everywhere, and getting more prevalent by the day.

 

[newnan man]

35 mph on this road. Yesterday in Orlando, I was returning home to the coast.

 

[signal_line]

I had to slow down on my e-bike for a woman pushing a stroller today. She was on her cell phone and she never looked up, I don’t think she saw me.

 

[rickertmork]

what bike you are riding makes a big difference. This is my general purpose bike, frame is 26inch, chromoly steel for many reasons. I’ve upgraded every part. I put 155 mm cranks for ergonomics made of chromoly to match the frame material, and i put chromoly bmx bars on it to match the frame material. And a chromoly rigid fork. Silent onyx rear hub and schwalabe moto x tires. Absolute dream bike.

 

[newnan man]

An electric bike is just a motorcycle for sissies!