Why Shoulder Check Right?

[barton bourassa]

Well let me tell you why! Last Friday, cycling down Blanshard towards Cloverdale, lots of traffic, cyclist in the bike lane passing traffic, gets near Cloverdale intersection, watches, watches, watches some more and then with no indication at all, not even a hint, a vehicle abruptly turns right in front of cyclist. There was no signal, no shoulder check by the vehicle driver, just a very quick turn right. Fortunately, cyclist anticipated just such an event.

Today cycling east on Craigflower, coming down the hill past the fire hall in the bike lane, just past Four Mile Pub, an SUV turns on their signal light for a right hand turn then abruptly turns into the parking lot below Four Mile Pub. Cyclist yells loudly, hits the side of the vehicle at about 40 K hr and goes with the vehicle into the parking lot. Cyclist crashes and rolls across the driveway and slides some more on the grass. Bike banged up, cyclist banged up, cyclist very, very sad after just getting his bike back on the road after a recent incident with a deer!!! ARRRRGHHH!

By the way, the cyclist was me, in all incidents. Lying on the grass this evening all I could say to the driver was, Please, Shoulder Check Right!!!

[mfarnham]

Jeez Barton. Let's hope you've fulfilled your life's quota of such incidents.

I had an experience identical to your first paragraph last winter. Except that the right turn was so sudden that I couldn't get to the brakes and I collided and went down. Poor driver (!) was more traumatized than I was, fortunately for me.

I've also been the driver in the above scenario, except that I shoulder-checked and aborted the right turn that would definitely have taken out the cyclist. That incident--a couple months ago on Government--reminded me how easy it is for a cyclist to "sneak up" on a driver on the right side when traffic is slow. If we cyclists are hyperaware of bicycles when we're driving and *still* get caught by surprise occasionally, then it suggests that the average driver poses a serious risk to 2-wheelers. I shoulder check religiously, but I suspect the average driver only shoulder checks when they're not "sure" what's there. And most drivers can't conceive of being passed by a cyclist so unless they have just passed a cyclist and hit the brakes, they're "sure"--sometimes incorrectly--that no cyclist is immediately to their right.

So let's all be careful, no matter which side of that passenger door we're on. And remember that it doesn't matter who's right legally--the car always wins.

Any significant scrapes or dents on you, Barton?

Martin

[Lund]

I'm envisioning an elaborate lesson-teaching scenario involving J. Walter Weatherman, an artificial limb and plenty of theatrical blood.

"And THAT'S why you always shoulder check right!"