One
Rule That Will Keep You Alive On City Streets
Of all
the things that we learn being out on the streets with our bikes, one
stands out as the all time life-saver in my book.
"If
you can avoid it, never enter an intersection without another
vehicle on your right side."
(It
should be noted that this advice assumes you ride in a country where
people drive on the right side of the road.)
If you
have to slow down in order to let a vehicle catch up with you on the
right side, or if you have to increase speed a little so that you
catch up with another vehicle, having one on your right side is as
safe as it gets for entering an intersection.
Obviously
this also means that if you are stopped at a traffic light and it
turns green, you enter the intersection when the vehicle on your right
does - no jack rabbit jumps if you want to live.
Too
tame? Could be, but this rider likes it that way. In fact, I'd rather
that the vehicle on my right was a bus or even an 18-wheeler.
By the
way, it is safer that the vehicle be on your right than on the left.
The closer you can be to the center of the intersection when you go
thru it, the more air there is (on average) between you and somebody
that comes at you from either side. This is just another way of saying
that if you have to enter the intersection by yourself, do it in the
left most lane.
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