Causes of Bicycle/Automobile Accidents

The top five reasons for accidents involving motor vehicles and bicyclists are:

Mid-Block Ride Out
This is the most frequent accident for young riders.  It occurs after the bicyclist leaves a driveway, alley or curb and enters a roadway without slowing down, stopping, or looking for traffic.  The bicyclist’s sudden entry may leave a motorist with too little time to avoid a collision.  Thus, a bicyclist always should stop and look “left-right-left” before entering traffic.

Wrong Way Riding
Motorists do not expect bicycle traffic to be approaching on the road shoulder closest to their traffic lane.  In fact, the law prohibits “wrong-way” bicycle riding.  To avoid this type of accident, a bicyclist should ride with flow of traffic, in the right hand lane, just as the cars do.

Motorist Overtaking Cyclist
This happens when a motorist fails to see and react to the bicyclist until it is too late.  These accidents frequently occur at night or on narrow rural roads.  Sometimes, the motorist is inattentive or intoxicated.  To be safe, bicyclists should avoid riding at night, on narrow roads, or on highways with speed limits over 35 m.p.h.  In addition, a bike rider always should use lights and reflectors when riding in the dark.

Bicyclist Left Turn or Sudden Swerve
This collision occurs when a cyclist swerves to the left without checking traffic and signaling, and moves into the path of an overtaking motor vehicle.  In this situation, a motorist may not have enough time to avoid a collision.  Bicyclists can avoid this, by riding in a straight line in a predictable manner.  Before changing lanes, a cyclist should check the position of vehicles to the rear and yield to overtaking traffic.  To make a left turn, a bike rider must keep checking the location of all nearby vehicles, give a left-turn hand signal before moving to the left lane, give the left-hand signal again, and then make the turn.

Stop Sign Ride-Out
A bicyclist risks this type of accident by failing to slow or stop at an intersection controlled by a “yield” or “stop” sign.  This may leave a motorist approaching from an uncontrolled lane with too little time to avoid a collision.  To avoid this accident, a bike rider should obey all traffic signs and signals.  At busy intersections, it is wise to get off the bike and walk across the road like a pedestrian.

Other common types of bicycle/automobile collisions include:

• A motorist turning directly in front of a bicyclist
• An automobile driver entering the street from a driveway or parking spot and pulling into traffic in front of a bicyclist
• An automobile driver who fails to yield or runs a “stop” sign or red light, at an intersection
• An automobile driver's inattention while driving past a bicyclist
• An automobile driver's failure to look both ways before resuming travel after stopping at a “stop” sign
• An automobile driver impaired by drugs or alcohol