adapting to the deer situation - NOT riding so far right

[Paula]

In light of Barton's accident, and a number of other near misses....
time to rethink.. and adapt.

On the Farm Team ride this morning, Greg M and I were talking about what we can do to make it safer (prior to the cull) since deer seem to be our biggest hazard these days. As Greg (a street safety expert guy) suggested, staying far to the right isn't the best option. This is especially true in areas with tall vegetation. We should stay more to the centre line so we have a bit of a chance of seeing what pounces out of the bushes. The means the people on the back need to be on it to call out 'car' (and then the rest pass it up the line), so we move right, but only when necessary.

This technique might not have prevented Barton's accident, but it might prevent ones in the future.

Adaptation... survival of the cyclist species.

[DavidB]

While I think this is a valid solution to the deer problem, it has to be addressed in balance with other issues we face, which seem to be more prevalent, such as other road users that we would be impeding. We manage to irritate enough motorists riding two across the road as is, I don't think it would be adding to our somewhat lacking good-will to do so in the middle of the lane.

That said, I do think there is a need for increased awareness, and understanding around the fact that we may need to consider changing the club kit to something along the lines of this:

[JohnT]

I realize that wasn't serious, but it does provide me with an opportunity to point out (useless as it may be) that most mammals don't have the same colour vision as we do. But, having said that, I wonder if lights (we all have them) might be a worth while experiment. B's run lights from now until September. We'll record deer hits/close-calls until then and see if there's an effect.

JT

[DavidB]

But, having said that, I wonder if lights (we all have them) might be a worth while experiment. B's run lights from now until September. We'll record deer hits/close-calls until then and see if there's an effect.

Our resident smart people can confirm this, but shouldn't we make one B group run lights and one not run lights and compare there? They say animals can sense fear, and the fear in the A group of Anika moving to the front may attract the deer.

[sylvan]

I wonder if lights (we all have them) might be a worth while experiment.

Only if you want to reduce your chance of getting hit by a car. Or crashing into a deer maybe. I started running a ~250 lumen unit on flash on every ride - all in full daylight - when I was in Austin and in about 50 rides nobody pulled out in front of me or turned left in front of me. Think about it. What's the most common way we get hit? Can't really comment on the deer thing. I didn't hit any deer in Austin either but I'm not sure the flasher had anything to do with that.