Types of dangers on the road leading to accedents

[EUCMania]

Let us make a list of conditions likely leading to EUC accidents and how we should handle them. Let me start by the following:

1. Bumps and potholes, especially those rocks under leaf shade or in the dark where their visibility is low.

Prevention: Watch ahead and slow down before going over them with knees bending. Use larger wheel size. Use lights mounted low such as on the EUC instead high in helmet, which give you a better and consistent indication of bumps and holes ahead. Maybe a more powerful EUC can handle it better?

 

2. Sudden change of direction of an object ( a pedestrian, especially a child, a bike) that cuts into your way.

Prevention: Slow down to no more than twice the speed of the pedestrian, slower if it is a child. Make noise before you pass them. Remember that EUC cannot brake as hard as a bike.

 

3.  Zombies,   a pedestrian walking while playing a cellphone.

Prevention: same as for 2. 

4.  Sudden stop of an object in front of you.

Prevention: Keep distance. Concentration with knee bending when you are close.

 

5.  Open-door-kill. The idiot in a parked car suddenly opens the door when you are passing.

Prevention: drive on sidewalk or keep a good distance from parked cars.

 

6.  Going into a incline or railway track in a direction < 45 degrees from it, especially when the road is wet.

 

 

Please add more, everyone. 

 

 

[Cloud]

This list is going to be 15 pages long.

I coukd go for hours enumerating these dangers but ill just add a couple of less obvious ones :

 

Store doors - sometimes people come out of them suddently as you are passing. You cant see them coming which makes it dangerous. Be more alert and increase distance to doors

Please running across sidewalk and not looking in your direction, we are used to the speeds of pedestrians, its harder to avoid running people crossing in your path.  This one is hard to prevent if they jump out from befind a corner or run out of a door in fron of you and you can see them.

Dogs on a long leash - hard to predict how they will behave. Stay on the safe side and pass them at a distance longer than the leash and slow down so as not to provoke them

 

[The Fat Unicyclist]

Don't forget dogs off a leash. We are as odd to them as we are to people. 

And I would also add, anywhere if you are wearing sunglasses - these reduce your visibility (or perhaps the definition) of the smaller objects that can off-balance you while riding. 

[Mono]

The two closest encounters I had were at sidewalk corners, once a bicycle and once a skateboard, both taking the same curve as myself however heading in the exact opposite direction.

[Cloud]

Let me add another one thats not immediately obvious but can be very dangerous and its good to keep in mind. I almost crashed a few times due to this situation.

when you are riding fast on sidewalk, and there is a car going on the street alongside you on your left slightly ahead of you and cannot see you. Now , you and the car are coming to an intersection. You want to cross and the car wants to make the right turn. You are at the intersection at the same time. Because the car did not see you and there was no other pedestrians the car dirver has seen coming up to the intersectionat , the car will just make the right turn crossing your path of travel. The car driver knows there can be noone coming up to the intersection as fast as the car did - he is used to seeing pedestrian speed. Very likely to hit you unless you realize this and slow down knowing there is no way the car driver knows there is anyone crossing. This is very real and has happened to me several times, i had a narrow escape from the potential collission

[TwixFix]

9 minutes ago, Cloud said:

Let me add another one thats not immediately obvious but can be very dangerous and its good to keep in mind. I almost crashed a few times due to this situation.

when you are riding fast on sidewalk, and there is a car going on the street alongside you on your left slightly ahead of you and cannot see you. Now , you and the car are coming to an intersection. You want to cross and the car wants to make the right turn. You are at the intersection at the same time. Because the car did not see you and there was no other pedestrians the car dirver has seen coming up to the intersectionat , the car will just make the right turn crossing your path of travel. The car driver knows there can be noone coming up to the intersection as fast as the car did - he is used to seeing pedestrian speed. Very likely to hit you unless you realize this and slow down knowing there is no way the car driver knows there is anyone crossing. This is very real and has happened to me several times, i had a narrow escape from the potential collission

Definitely this. I've almost been hit a couple of times due to this exact situation. Now I look really hard and slow way down when approaching the right turn lane.

[who_the]

6 hours ago, Cloud said:

Let me add another one thats not immediately obvious but can be very dangerous and its good to keep in mind. I almost crashed a few times due to this situation.

when you are riding fast on sidewalk, and there is a car going on the street alongside you on your left slightly ahead of you and cannot see you. Now , you and the car are coming to an intersection. You want to cross and the car wants to make the right turn. You are at the intersection at the same time. 

Yes, very dangerous. I ride a lot among vehicles in traffic here in San Francisco, and try hard to either 1) be sure I'm somewhere where the driver seems me or 2) be sure I can stop under control if a driver turns or does anything unpredictable. I've ridden a bicycle for years here in San Francisco, which can be perilous for cyclist and pedestrians. I've learned to watch a car's front tire for signs of movement or turning, out of necessity. Just like a bicycle, more so actually, riding a EUC in traffic requires constant anticipation and pretty intense concentration. It has mostly been times when my concentration is broken (looking at "scenery" of various sorts, perhaps) that I found myself having close calls (unseen bumps, other hazards).

[Chriull]

On 29.5.2016 at 3:15 AM, ECUMania said:

Let us make a list of conditions likely leading to EUC accidents and how we should handle them. Let me start by the following:

...

5.  Open-door-kill. The idiot in a parked car suddenly opens the door when you are passing.

Prevention: drive on sidewalk or keep a good distance from parked cars.

Addition to point 5:

Once i was riding on a bycicle lane with parked cars aside. One pushed a Wheel from behind a truck over the bycicle lane without looking (he was still way behind the truck, while the bike already blocked the bycicle lane...) Was, if i remember right my first real breaking/slalom experience...

Another subpoint for point 5:

"Baby Buggies": Many parents tend to use the babby buggies to test the situation behind corners, etc  - so either they want to get rid of their babies or just don't think for a second of things that could happen... 

 

13 hours ago, Niko said:

The two closest encounters I had were at sidewalk corners, once a bicycle and once a skateboard, both taking the same curve as myself however heading in the exact opposite direction.

Yep -  joggers, byciclists, walkers, smart phone addicts, zombies,etc... - noone is looking and most of them are too fast... So i mostly take corners from the "outside" to see around the corner from some distance and always drive very slowly around the corner (until i see something...)

13 hours ago, Cloud said:

...and there is a car going on the street alongside you on your left slightly ahead of you and cannot see you. Now , you and the car are coming to an intersection. You want to cross and the car wants to make the right turn. You are at the intersection at the same time. Because the car did not see you and there was no other pedestrians the car dirver has seen coming up to the intersectionat , the car will just make the right turn crossing your path of travel.

Could be number one with bike accidents in the cities?

Or number one are the "hood testers"? - if one does not see the traffic sitting within the car normaly the hood is used to test if there is someone coming... ;(

Quote

The car driver knows there can be noone coming up to the intersection as fast as the car did - he is used to seeing pedestrian speed. ...

Thats something no one involved in traffic should do: "Thinking to know that nothing will come across my way... " ;( For this for instance the "viewing technique" first in the rear mirror then side mirror and last but not least the "view over the shoulder" is teached... And if one has no chance to see something one has to stop - not think "I know there shoul d noone coming along..."

Edit:

I forgot at least one important thing: If one has to stop for a red light on a bycicle lane other bycicle riders will pass one with full speed and no safety clearance. So starting on the wheel should work without wobbling around or one first looks backwards if someone is coming...

[DS]

Here are my two points:

1. When you do not estimate enough distance from a hard object (curb, wall, tire of a parked car...) and touch it with the footrest.

The effect is the wheel turns furiously and entangles (crosses) your legs - inevitable body fall down even if you ride slow. Happened to me twice - six months ago when I was a novice and just two days ago being overconfident to pass a narrow path. In both cases, I fall down and had some bruises.

Prevention: Develop good measure skills, more attention on unfamiliar narrow paths

2. When you decide to slalom/turn/change direction while at the same time a much higher speed bicyclist approaching behind you is intending to overtake you.

Prevention: Be aware what is going on aside/behind you before changing direction.

Generally (or wishfully) said if you already are slaloming, the bikers behind you should see that and be aware too.

 

[Chriull]

13 minutes ago, DS said:

...

1. When you do not estimate enough distance from a hard object (curb, wall, tire of a parked car...) and touch it with the footrest.

The effect is the wheel turns furiously and entangles (crosses) your legs - inevitable body fall down even if you ride slow. Happened to me twice - six months ago when I was a novice and just two days ago being overconfident to pass a narrow path. In both cases, I fall down and had some bruises.

Prevention: Develop good measure skills, more attention on unfamiliar narrow paths

...

Also jumping down a curb at a too "low angle" can easily lead to a pedal getting to much friction/stuck and letting the wheel spin furiously ....

... Until now i had good luckk and always could "slide down the curb" on this one pedal ...

[Jurgen]

 

1.       Stupidity of the EUC rider: this one comes in different chades; like assertive riding style public roads, speed not adapted to the situation, lack of focus, …

2.       Lack of experience, technique, control of the EUC rider,…

3.       Badly designed EUC, malfunction, bad maintenance, …

4.       Inherent limitations of a small wheel: ground clearance of pedals, hitting higher edges of side walks instead of rolling over it, lack of stability at low speeds,….

My point is that the bicycle roads (dangers) are almost exactly the same as when you bike, skate, etc…

The main variable here is the EUC, a device with an acceleration and cruising speed that is closer to a motorised bike.  Also, other travelers on the road are underestimating the acceleration and manouverability of the EUC, which takes them by surprise.

To make matters worse, compared to an e-bike, the EUC is an experimental device without redundancy in the design, some design flaws (BMS) or inherent limitation (no torque left at max speed), and no brakes.

I believe that when riding an EUC at 25KmH f. ex., and want to reduce the risk of serious injury, you simply have to be much more cautious then when riding a normal bike at that same speed. When you ride an EUC it’s hard not to be enthousiastic about it, but too much enthousiasm when riding is unfortunately a risk factor….

 

[johrhoj]

I think there are three categories of risk:

1) All risks that arise by the use of an EUC alone.
Meaning: the shutdowns, all kinds, and resulting face plants. Encounter really, really bad road conditions, unexpectedly, that you cannot handle on your EUC.
Maybe also meaning doing stuff while not capable; the learning phase. Try to learn in a safe environment. Be aware of your shortcomings. 

2) All risks that you have as if you were a biker.

3) All risks involving other peoples' judgement.
I can totally understand why the "cardoor opening in front of an EUC" happens. The car driver looked (routinely) and did not see a reason not to open the door. If he had looked closely, he would have seen that the upright person was not a pedestrian at all, and was going alarmingly quick for a pedestrian. But the sad truth is that most of our actions and small decision making is very routine.

It will be a long while, before recognising EUCs becomes part of the routine. I hope we will get there eventually. Untill then, we need to be empatic with other people in traffic. 

I had two near accidents, both in category 3, both times the driver taking a turn accross my path.
I had one near faceplant, going over a small pothole in the road. It was at speed and had my eyes of the road. It was the kind of pothole that can give you a flat tire, a hole that would give a scare to normal bikers too.

Btw, it is good to read all your risk-assessment here. Good topic.

[Rehab1]

Encountered a John Deer ATV with a bunch of dumb kids driving over the weekend up at the lake. They were going like a bat out of  hell and did not see me. I had to abort the E+ and landed in a ditch suffering a tibia contusion. Sucks because now I cannot not ride due to the pain even with a foam shin wrap. 

Has anyone tried using a rear view mirror that is attached to sunglasses for a better field of vision behind? I have seen them out there for bicyclists. 

[Chuts]

16 hours ago, Cloud said:

Let me add another one thats not immediately obvious but can be very dangerous and its good to keep in mind. I almost crashed a few times due to this situation.

when you are riding fast on sidewalk, and there is a car going on the street alongside you on your left slightly ahead of you and cannot see you. Now , you and the car are coming to an intersection. You want to cross and the car wants to make the right turn. You are at the intersection at the same time. Because the car did not see you and there was no other pedestrians the car dirver has seen coming up to the intersectionat , the car will just make the right turn crossing your path of travel. The car driver knows there can be noone coming up to the intersection as fast as the car did - he is used to seeing pedestrian speed. Very likely to hit you unless you realize this and slow down knowing there is no way the car driver knows there is anyone crossing. This is very real and has happened to me several times, i had a narrow escape from the potential collission

Don't really understand this one... if you are on the sidewalk and you are crossing onto a road shouldn't you be stopping before you cross looking for road traffic anyway?  As they are on the road they have right of way.

[esaj]

21 minutes ago, Chuts said:

Don't really understand this one... if you are on the sidewalk and you are crossing onto a road shouldn't you be stopping before you cross looking for road traffic anyway?  As they are on the road they have right of way.

Depends on country I guess. In Finland, if I remember correctly, it's something like: pedestrians crossing a "zebra crossing" always have the right of way (if there are separate traffic lights for pedestrians / bicycles, then they of course have to follow those). 12-year old or younger bicyclists always have right of way.  Bicyclist crossing a (non-traffic lighted) "bicycle lane continuation" (or something along those lines, zebra-crossings with "split" lines in the middle) always have a right of way. Basically, as a driver of a car, you have to yield vs. lighter traffic in most situations.

[Tomek]

13 minutes ago, Chuts said:

As they are on the road they have right of way.

in most countries if you go straight (as a pedestrian on a sidewalk or cyclist on a bike lane) and the car riding along you is turning and about to cross your path, you have the right of way

that said, in all above cases I expect the worse from other people on the road and unless they make it obvious that they see me and that they're letting me go first, I don't excercise my right of way

for me the the no.1 dangers are SMSing cyclists and corners - so far I luckily haven't had any accidents involving other people though (well, just one fall and 15+ run-offs in total, all due to bumps, overleaning my old generic wheel, or/and lack of focus)

[Jurgen]

I forgot something, car drivers that are in a hurry to...... whatever they think is more important than NOT running over a biker.

So peak hours are extra dangerous, I try to avoid them when riding the EUC.

This morning near the school of my daughter 2 cars saw me almost too late, and there was 1 (another) that absolute did NOT see me (riding my bike) even after a near miss (where I had to swerve around the car turning the corner, almost into a hedge); this guy just kept on accelerating like nothing happened.

[DS]

56 minutes ago, Chuts said:

if you are on the sidewalk and you are crossing onto a road shouldn't you be stopping before you cross looking for road traffic anyway?

I think Cloud is referring here the situation when both the car (on the street) and the EUC (on the sideline) are approaching the intersection on a green traffic light. The car wants to get right and the EUC to go on straight. The car must yield to the EUC (or pedestrian) in this case but the car driver just has not expected such a speedy pedestrian capable of following the car and have not seen the EUC rider (being in a dead mirror zone).

[Cloud]

4 hours ago, Chuts said:

Don't really understand this one... if you are on the sidewalk and you are crossing onto a road shouldn't you be stopping before you cross looking for road traffic anyway?  As they are on the road they have right of way.

Ok. Yes you should be looking around but you have the right of way as your light is green to cross the sidewalk. the car can also make the right turn on green and he is turning in front of you crossing your patch. You ( if you consider yourself a pedestrian, since you are on sidewalk ) actually have the right of way over him - problem is he is absolutely sure there can be noone at the crossing at this time - so you expect the car to give uo the right of way to you, but he will not and will continue turning.

Its important to understand the essence of this danger. Its not because its important to look around, its not because we should respect the right of way. The point is that it is dangerous for this main reason below:

The car has traveled next to sidewalk and there were no pedestrians walking the sidewalk for a while ( euc rider is traveling at same speed slightly behind or next to or even slightly ahead but outside of periferal vision of the driver). The diver WILL NOT look if someone is crossing because he already knows there was noone for the entire length of the sidewalk he just passed by and there is no way a pedestrian can catch up with a car at the car speed. .This happens automatically and subconciously. The car driver almost doesnt have to look around as he knows there is no way in heaven or hell a potential pedestrian from far fat behind can catch up with the car at the cars speed and arrive at the intersection crossing at the same time. He doesnt realize there is a euc driver capable of travveling at the same speed on sidewalk. 

euc riders should look around before crossing even when the light is green. But its remember to understand that this works both ways - you need to see the car and the car needs to see you. In this situation, be aware that the car does not realize you are there and will not look around to see if you are there. You expect the car to yield to you as a pedestrian - he wont yield, he thinks you are nit there

 

3 hours ago, DS said:

I think Cloud is referring here the situation when both the car (on the street) and the EUC (on the sideline) are approaching the intersection on a green traffic light. The car wants to get right and the EUC to go on straight. The car must yield to the EUC (or pedestrian) in this case but the car driver just has not expected such a speedy pedestrian capable of following the car and have not seen the EUC rider (being in a dead mirror zone).

Exactly. 

And Its actually a bit worse than this. Its not because of the dead mirror zone. If the car is in the right most lane , the driver doesnt have to look in the right mirror at all, because there can be noone on the street to the right of him. All he has to do is just look to the right to see if there are any oedestrians. Since hes been riding next to sidewalk he has been observing the sidewalk with his periferal vision, or maybe he even looked a bit to the right before he reached the intersection, but saw noone as the euc rider is slightly behind. 

[DS]

21 minutes ago, Cloud said:

All he has to do is just look to the right to see if there are any pedestrians.

Right. Because of that in my country the traffic law states that if you as a byker intend to cross the street as a pedestrian, you have to get off the byke, push it and walk across the street.

Actually, we, the EUC riders could be even more dangerous - for many car drivers we look like pedestrians (upright body), but at the same time do not move like them.

[Chuts]

The system I know and go by is that a pedestrian who is already halfway across the road when a car turns into it the car is required to slow/stop in order for you to get to the other side.  However if a car is already making the turn and you have not yet started to cross then the pedestrian has to yield to the car and let it pass.

In the scenario that is mentioned above to me the car has right of way because, as was mentioned you are following behind, so the car is already starting to make the turn before you get to the end of the sidewalk.

 

 

[The Fat Unicyclist]

1 hour ago, Chuts said:

In the scenario that is mentioned above to me the car has right of way because, as was mentioned you are following behind, so the car is already starting to make the turn before you get to the end of the sidewalk.

My logic tells me that when it comes to "car vs. EUC," the car will win every time. So my philosophy is to yield regardless of rights. 

[DS]

8 hours ago, Chuts said:

The system I know and go by is that a pedestrian who is already halfway across the road when a car turns into it the car is required to slow/stop in order for you to get to the other side.  However if a car is already making the turn and you have not yet started to cross then the pedestrian has to yield to the car and let it pass.

That's OK, but what your traffic law says when both the car and the pedestrian are on the intersection at the same time. The pedestrian wants straight and the car is to turn right. Both traffic participants have a green light...and also a conflict point. Who has to yield?

[SlowMo]

7 hours ago, The Fat Unicyclist said:

My logic tells me that when it comes to "car vs. EUC," the car will win every time. So my philosophy is to yield regardless of rights. 

When an accident happens, it will be in the favor of the car driver. This is why the rules became stricter in our place. Because of deaths caused by electric devices roaming on the roads.

[Jurgen]

To better understand what happens when a car driver doesn't see a person riding an EUC,

see how good you are at the following TEST (just 1.21min):