Near accident! Holy cage idiots!

BoulderBud · Post by **BoulderBud** » Mon Jul 22, 2019 1:26 am

I almost died today. I was kind of lucky. I hope this short story will help others stay alive.

I was making a left turn on a fairly heavily trafficked four lane street. The left turn light was green for me, it was a left turn only dedicated lane, and I was going faster than normal(15mph) to try and catch the light and save 90 seconds on the next cycle. So, I had my eye on the traffic signal in case it turned yellow. I slowed to about 5mph just prior to turning. It didnâ€™t go yellow so I almost made the left. Just before turning my handlebar to the left, a car came speeding right through the red light about 40-45 mph and would have crushed me had I been 1-2 seconds earlier. My heart stopped. There was a car stopped at the red light in the right hand lane, but this guy came ripping through the red light in the left lane. I wasnâ€™t even thinking of looking down the road of opposing traffic because they had the red and mine was totally green arrow.

So, lesson learned! I will put my safety above trying to save time by catching lights. And, I will always slow way down before making lefts and look at any potential oncoming traffic even when they have a red light. And, I will always assume that cars out there are trying to run me over. I must be super vigilant, especially when making left hand turns! Same goes for oncoming traffic turning left into me when Iâ€™m just going straight. I will slow down in case some idiot cage driver doesnâ€™t see me or is just â€œtrying to run me overâ€�.

I hope this helps other riders out there avoid a collision in the future. I feel lucky to be alive. Seriously!

johnk · Post by **johnk** » Mon Jul 22, 2019 1:55 pm

I'm glad you're okay! And I appreciate the stark reminder of the importance of riding defensively.

BoulderBud · Post by **BoulderBud** » Mon Jul 22, 2019 4:01 pm

Two more thoughts on defensive riding.

1. Going slower around potentially dangerous situations allows the brain time and a much better chance to analyze situations in time.

2. When riding streets where cars are driving fast, be extra vigilant because the consequences are so much greater should something bad happen.

Itâ€™s a weird feeling this morning. Iâ€™ve never had an experience where I feel like I have a second lease on life. And Iâ€™m 64! Ride safe and focus!

Dooglas · Post by **Dooglas** » Tue Jul 23, 2019 5:38 am

You have it right. Assume they are trying to get you - and make sure they don't!

skully93 · Post by **skully93** » Wed Jul 24, 2019 1:28 am

Yikes!

Well, you also live in Boulder, which is probably second only to Denver in light-blowing morons in CO.

I've put about 90k miles on various bikes, almost all in the State, and I'm just amazed at how stupid people can be.

Glad you didn't get hit!

buzzvert · Post by **buzzvert** » Mon Jul 29, 2019 4:19 am

Stoplights are just a suggestion up here in Longmont as well. It's tough with a full-face because you lose a bit of peripheral sensibility. I reserve my big Vespa for the long rides and ride my wife's Buddy for in-town- which is why I just started building up my own Buddy from throwaway scraps.