I regularly am enthusiastic about the prospects of cycling and have commented on the merits and general goodness of riding cycles. I usually write under the assumption that my audience is fairly sensible in terms of understanding and following traffic. I have made comments in earlier posts on selective jumping of red lights, claiming lanes etc… that should be followed only when one is extremely confident of the traffic situation.

Extreme confidence about traffic stems from extreme caution and high awareness of surroundings. If in doubt, a sensible cyclist would not break any traffic rules.

Personally, I do not consider my commuting route to be dangerous. It is probably because of my reasonably developed traffic sense (I used to ride in rules-free Indian traffic) and my awareness of how others behave on the road (I have spent many years riding cycles, motorbikes and cars).

In the past several months, I have come across notices of fatal accidents 3 times along my commuting route. The latest was this morning, near my work place and the victim was a cyclist. Judging from the time of the accident, it is probably someone on their exercise route. I pass by this junction every time I am on the bike to work and would not dare jump the lights (the junction is complex with lots of blind spots and heavy trucks turning).

Though the incident is regrettable, I have seen a pattern with these accidents:

1. They happen in the wee hours – potentially because people are not at their attentive best or the cyclist is not visible enough. Solution: Keep your yes open, If you are tired, try not to be on the road. Get reflective tapes and lights. They can help to draw attention.
2. They happen in large / complex junctions. My theory is that someone was trying to avoid the red and rushing through the junction. If it is night / early morning, there is probably little or no traffic and it is easy to catch up lost time at a junction. There is no need to rush through signals. But drivers seem to not understand this simple rule of catching up. it is also likely that the cyclist did not wish to stop (to keep the heart pumping and the muscles warm or being irreverent to the traffic rules). Either way, it is not worth while.

When I speak to people about cycling, I generally get the attitude of “it is too risky for normal people and I am some kind of adrenalin junkie”. While in reality, it is my means of getting home and if I choose to be safe I can. Anyone for that matter can commute safely without encountering trouble – all it needs is a safe approach to following and breaking rules. End of the day, I find the risks are probably similar to the ones taken by pedestrians and they regularly break rules too.

So if you are planning to incorporate cycling into your work commute or for recreation, do not be disheartened by stories of accidents and take a safe approach to staying on the road.

I was riding up to work this morning and was along the usual route. My rout passes though downtown and with all the construction going on now, the roads are merging and splitting at odd locations. I was pedaling hard after a bus gave me room and wanted to get away from a particularly messy junction. Just then, I had a distinct sound of something metallic hitting the tarmac and I looked down to see something shiny fall off my bike. I managed to get to the side of the road and I wanted to check what dropped off my bike. I looked at the bike and everything seemed intact. So I had no choice but to se what actually fell off.

Luckily for me, the signal went red and I could go over to lane 2 to look for my stuff. As I was busy looking, I did not realize the lights changed and I was left stranded in the middle of the road with a flood of traffic heading my way. I almost bumped on an SUV and mildly shocked the driver. Well I managed to get to safety and saw the shiny metal piece in the middle of the road. I waited till the next red and ran over to pick it up and realized I had risked my limb for this.

A hook I was playing with over the weekend on a domestic project. Darn these bits and pieces. I suppose the lesson is that I should not leave things hanging on the bike. Everything needs to be fastened and strapped in. More importantly, I should not be foolish enough to jay-walk up and down busy downtown streets with high traffic volume. At least, if I have to do it, I should pay better attention to the traffic situation. Oh well, we live and we learn.

Accidents are a statistical certainty. No matter how much rules are in place (and how closely people follow them), everyone is eventually going to be involved in a few accidents.

I met with one this morning. Not all accidents are collisions but this was one. The last time I had a collision was probably 10 years earlier (I would tell the story some other day). First off, I am fine, Have a sore knee but I am fine none the less. Well enough to be up and running already.

The term Door’d is usually “doored” but I prefer it my way. It is a common problem for cyclists and usually happens due to careless attitude of motorists. My commute takes me along Collyer Quay and at the junction where it becomes Raffles Quay, there is usually a mix up of traffic. The left lane is Left turn only and there are vehicles entering and leaving NTUC Centre. The NTUC Centre Building is like a drop off point and the traffic is busy around there. I have observed this for a while and am usually careful around here.

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This morning was different. As I was riding from Esplanade dr, I heard a couple of honks and one was from a pickup in my lane. This feller was getting closer to me and I suppose he wanted me out of the way. I was trying to see if he is too close and raised my hand asking him to slowdown and stay behind. At the same time, I was getting closer to this car in front and since I had enough space, I moved to the left. Then it happened. Some dumb-arse decided it was ok to jump out of a car when at traffic junction and happily opened the passenger side door. The result – my handlebar smashed on to his door and I did a minor somersault on to the asphalt.

As with any accident, my first reaction was to see if things are ok. My panniers were still on the rack and so was my front bag. The cycle computers were in place and I was clipped out. Apart from a slight pain in the knee, I was visibly alright. One of my snap-on glasses snapped off and was on the floor. I picked it up and moved out of the traffic first. The arse-hole of a driver did not stop to apologize. He drove on. I did not even have the chance to note down his license plate – damn.

The accident happened simply because the the driver did not want to spend 2 minutes to move to the Drop-off point in NTUC Centre to Drop-off. I wonder if his time was worth more than another person’s life or limb.

Accidents usually are not isolated incidents. It is a consequence of numerous things going wrong at the same time. It has very little to do with how comprehensive the rules are but more with how people understand and use them with sense. It is usually difficult to pin the blame on one person (though, the drop-off was illegal). The onus is on the person who is most likely to suffer (aka me the cyclist) to avoid accidents. I will be more cautious now when getting closer to vehicles.

I learnt my lesson, I wonder if the car driver did.