How to Look Over Your Shoulder
As a cyclist who also drives, I’m often amazed by how careless I can be when I get behind the wheel of a car. I know what it’s like when some idiot opens his car door directly into the path of my bike, and I have to swerve into traffic to avoid it. Yet somehow I often open my own door without checking for bikes. What a jerk!
That’s why I get excited about ideas like this, from Sheldon Mains over on e-democracy.org:
Just found out a little piece of driver’s education in Amsterdam. The teach people to open the drivers door with their right hand. That forces you to turn around so you can look over your shoulder (which you should be doing).
If I can train myself to do that, then I won’t be risking that particular act of negligence anymore! I think driver education is an important component of bike safety. So what other driving tips am I missing?
Update: I actually queued this up like a month ago, and since then have briefly tried and then completely forgotten about this.
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colesarar said:
I’m as scared of being hit by other drivers as I am of dooring a bicyclist, I ALWAYS look to see who/what is coming.
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erikostrom posted this
