Look at me! Look at me!

On the return leg of Saturday’s bike ride we happened upon an bike vs. car “almost-accident”. The cyclist was heading ewa in the bike lane on Kalanianaole Hwy and was crossing W. Hind Drive. She had the green light but a car rolled out from the side street to make a right turn without stopping at the red. Even though the cyclist saw the car and moved as far to the side of the bike lane without going into the traffic lane, the driver ran into the bike anyway.

The cyclist said she actually felt the wheels slide sideways but amazingly managed to avoid crashing and was able to pull over safely. (It turns out she also rides a motorcycle so her mad handling skills probably saved her). She could have easily been pushed into moving traffic.

While we were making sure the cyclist was okay, I saw another near miss at the exact same spot, exact same circumstances. During the morning ride I had not just one, but TWO similar close calls. In each case drivers turning right onto the highway from a side street have the red light but blow past the stop line, through the crosswalk and into the bike lane before looking to see if things were clear.

I’ve got other whole entire rants about both motorists and cyclists alike (because there are a lot of idiot cyclist out there too), but I’ll save those for future posts. Today I’ll keep it simple – when you’re turning at an intersection, please:

Stop at the line – pretty sure it’s the law and not just a recommendation.
Look around – look for things other than cars (cyclists, pedestrians). I’ve also almost been run over while running.
THEN roll forward to see if it’s clear to make your turn.

The 2 seconds it takes to stop and look is infinitesimal compared to the hours a traffic investigation will last if you hit a cyclist or a pedestrian because you were lazy.

Thanks for reading.

(Admin note: I’ve added a couple plug-ins that should allow easier reading on a mobile phone as well as Twitter avatar support in the comment section.)