Trends and lessons emerge from review of Fort Collins bike, car crashes

I'll be cycling to work again soon, so here's another earnest discussion of cycling safety. In this small study, four types of collisions predominate:

The most common collision is "The Broadside," at 60.5% of crashes. That's when a motorist goes straight through an intersection even when there's a bike right in front of him.

Broadsides seem to result from traffic violations by both bikers, such as riding on the sidewalk, riding the wrong way, blowing through stop signs, and by drivers, who blow through signals and fail to yield. As a cyclist, I have little fear of broadsides because I don't ride that way, and I no longer expect cars to yield, but I do see people riding that way every day. What scares me are the 2nd, 3rd and 4th most common accidents.

The infamous Right Hook -- or what the city calls "Overtaking Turn Accidents at Intersections" -- is the second most common collision at 13% of the total in their count.

Cars are so much faster that it is hard to see this coming. I have been cut off by the Right Hook as a runner, cyclist and moped rider. My feeling is that once a car driver passes a slower entity, his attention transfers to what is ahead. Practicing Lane Control, or riding in the center of a lane, is supposed to avoid this situation, but also tends to aggravate auto drivers.

The third most common collision type is the left cross at 9.3% of collisions. This is when a left turning motorist slams into a cyclist going straight through an intersection. Of the 33 left crosses, 3 involved a cyclist riding on the sidewalk, 2 were going the wrong way, and two failed to stop at a signal or sign. The overwhelming number of these were motorists who just kept going in spite of the presence of a bike in their path.

The Left Cross is a notorious killer of motorcyclists, too. I had my worst motorcycle accident when a car turned left right in front of me on a slick road. I put the bike down, sprained both wrists and essentially gave up motorcycling.

After that, the next collision type is the dreaded "Hit From Behind." The 30 "sideswipes" recorded account for 8.5% of bike collisions. With the exception of a single head on, all fatalities are these types.

"All fatalities" is a small number in a small study, but this collision involves the highest degree of auto driver misbehavior: DUI, erratic driving, etc., and therefore is least preventable by cyclists. Again, the standard advice is Lane Control, but on faster roads, lane control is practically asking for road rage. Hence, in a more suburban situation, I will choose the empty sidewalk rather than go rubber to rubber with SUVs going 50 mph.

I always wear a helmet, but a friend on Facebook sent me this article:

Wearing helmets 'more dangerous'

Cyclists who wear protective helmets are more likely to be knocked down by passing vehicles, new research from Bath University suggests.

The study found drivers tend to pass closer when overtaking cyclists wearing helmets than those who are bare-headed.

...

To carry out the research, Dr Walker used a bike fitted with a computer and an ultrasonic distance sensor to find drivers were twice as likely to get close to the bicycle, at an average of 8.5cm, when he wore a helmet.

...

To test another theory, Dr Walker donned a long wig to see whether there was any difference in passing distance when drivers thought they were overtaking what appeared to be a female cyclist.

While wearing the wig, drivers gave him an average of 14cm more space when passing.

I'll bet he got a lot more funny looks, though.