Avoiding Typical Accidents Part 3: Accident Avoidance Riding Skills
Defensive driving awareness coupled with knowledge of emergency accident avoidance techniques may decrease the chances of an injury accident. However, an old statistical rule of thumb is that the average rider will be involved in an accident about once in every seven years of riding. Knowledge of emergency avoidance techniques can go a long way toward avoiding accidents because there is so much room in which to maneuver in a typical intersection for a narrow bicycle. The League of American Bicyclist’s (LAB) Effective Cycling course has taught riders these types of maneuvers for three decades or more.
It is a little difficult to practice emergency maneuvers which necessarily involve taking the bike to the limit of its performance. Mountain bike riders usually learn how much front brake to apply without performing an “endo” over the handle bars, but on a road bike few riders know where the line is between maximum braking and a front flip.
Car drivers have classes available at Portland International Raceway (PIR) which teach emergency avoidance maneuvers. For these classes, regular street cars are outfitted with adjustable wheeled outriggers. The outriggers can be raised or lowered, taking weight off of the tires of the car. The car is then driven in dry and wet pavement simulations, allowing the driver to experience tire and suspension performance at and beyond the point of loss of traction. Emergency braking and steering maneuvers require practice and some technique, such as turning into the direction of a skid, which may be counter intuitive, so these classes provide a safe “laboratory” for practice.
While bicyclists do not have outriggers or specialized “training wheels” available, some people practice emergency maneuvers on a soft mowed grassy area. Since the front wheel provides over twice as much braking potential as the rear wheel, it is important to learn how to shift weight during emergency braking back behind the saddle and low on the bike without going over the handle bars. Many riders become complacent and fail to use their front brakes sufficiently; and, the rear brake, particularly with a narrow high pressure tire, provides very little braking power before the rear tire breaks loose from the pavement and skids.
Another technique that can be practiced and mastered is used by bicycle police officers to come to a sudden controlled stop and involves skidding the bike sideways, a maneuver many of us practiced with our coaster brakes when we were kids, causing great loss of rear tire life.
A grassy area can also provide a good place to practice emergency turning maneuvers and explore how far the bicycle will turn before it begins to skid or flop over. The usual complement of hazard warnings must accompany any practice session since any accident, even on a grassy knoll can produce serious injury.
It may go without saying that one of the few things we can do to improve our chances of avoiding serious injury in the event of an accident is to wear a good helmet. Many serious accidents include large force impacts to the head. Dented and cracked helmets are frequently found at the scene of high energy accidents. Yet, many riders, including a number of elite level racers, object to wearing a helmet for reasons of aesthetics.
Ray Thomas is an Oregon bicycle attorney and advocate. He is a partner at Swanson, Thomas & Coon in Portland.