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Bike Safety & Best Practices

Bike Safety Videos

Treating Stop Signs as Yield Signs

The following video describes Idaho's rules for bikes at stop signs and stop lights. It provides an excellent description of how to safely treat a stop sign as a yield sign which reflects the reality of how most of us ride. If followed they will keep you safe if not legal in other states.

Bike Safety Resources

A very comprehensive presentation of bike safety can be found at the Bicycling Street Smarts: Riding Confidently, Legally and Safely website.

How to Not Get Hit by Cars is a web page that shows ways you can get hit and how to avoid them.

Bicycle Law in California is a Wikipedia web page that identifies and describes the sections of the California vehicle code that are especially relevant to bicyclists, explaining the relevancy as appropriate.

Cycling attorney Bob Mionske's website bicyclelaw.com provides an excellent resource for legal issues related to bicycling as well as links to other bike safety resources including a YouTube video series.

Bike Accidents: What to Do After the Crash is a web page by attorney Bob Mionske that describes what you should do in the event of an accident with a vehicle.

Road Rights—How to Handle Bike-Car Accidents is a web page by attorney Bob Mionske that identifies things you should consider when trying to decide how to handle issues arising from an accident.

Safe Cycling Best Practices

It is important that every cyclist know and exhibit the following safe cycling best practices when riding alone or in a group. They will keep you safe and make you a good ambassidor for cycling.

  1. Ride in bike lanes when available
    • Move into the road when the bike lane contains hazards
    • Move into the road to past other bikes when vehicles are not present
    • Ride two abreast if desired when bike lane width permits
  2. Ride as far to the right on roads as practicable
    • Ride on a road's shoulder when adequately wide and safe
    • Ride two abreast if desired when the shoulder width permits
    • Move left as required to avoid hazards
    • Move left to safely pass another vehicle/bicycle
    • Take the lane when it would be dangerous to be passed
    • Take the lane to make a left turn
    • Move left to avoid a right turn conflict—create a diverging not crossing condition
    • Take the lane as desired if you are moving at the normal speed of traffic
    • Ride two abreast if desired on roads with light or intermittent traffic
  3. Obey traffic laws—Bicycles are legal vehicles
    • Always stop at red lights
    • Always honor right-of-ways at intersections
    • Stop at stop signs or slow and treat them as yield signs making sure to honor right-of-ways
  4. Call out approaching vehicles: "Car Up;" "Car Back"
    • Move right as practicable to permit vehicles to pass
    • If riding two abreast, move into single file to permit vehicles to pass—right (outside) rider accelerates and left (inside) rider slows slightly and moves in behind
  5. Point out road hazards
    • Repeat signals you receive for riders behind you
  6. Signal your intentions visually and verbally
    • Hand signal and call out "Slowing" or "Stopping"
    • Hand signal and call out "Turning"
    • Repeat signals you receive for riders behind you
  7. Pass other bicycles on the left and call it out: "On Your Left"
  8. Be responsible for your personal safety: Be Visible, Alert, Smooth and Predictable
    • Wear bright or light colors and use lights when warranted
    • Look through the riders ahead of you and scan your surroundings
    • Use a rear view mirror to keep aware of riders and vehicles behind you
    • Create enough space between yourself and other riders so you can evade sudden danger
    • Hold your line and speed—no sudden moves
    • Look and signal before making changes
  9. Leave the road completely when stopping to re-group or make repairs
  10. No one lost or left behind on group rides—take care of each other
    • Keep the group rider behind you in sight
    • Wait or return for group riders lost from sight
    • Communicate problems to group riders ahead: e.g., call out "Flat"
    • Stay with a group rider that has to stop
  11. Be courteous at all times and acknowledge courteous behavior
  12. Encourage others to follow safe cycling best practices

Ride Leader Best Practices

These best practices identify key issues and recommendations to assist in planning and leading a rides that are safe and enjoyable.

Ride Planning

  1. Design a route
  2. Scout the route in advance to check for safety, points of interest, re-group points, destinations (e.g., places to eat), rest rooms and ride distance
  3. Prepare a Route Slip
  4. Gather any SAG materials to be carried on the ride
  5. Notify any commercial place (coffee shop, restaurant, etc.) where the ride will stop and provide an estimated number and time of arrival

Ride Beginning

  1. Arrive at the ride location before ride time
  2. Bring Route Slips and SAG materials as appropriate
  3. Greet and introduce riders
  4. Count the number of riders participating
  5. Make sure that everyone has a helmet
  6. Distribute Route Slips
  7. Describe route, regroup locations and destinations
  8. Identify route conditions or features that may present safety problems
  9. Highlight "Safe Cycling Best Practices" relative to the route
  10. Describe how different rider paces will be accommodated
  11. Identify how Regrouping, Sweeps and/or Buddies will be used during the ride—refer to "No One Left Behind Best Practices" below
  12. Ask if any riders plan to deviate from or not complete the planned route

The Ride

  1. Start the ride once everyone is ready
  2. Check to see that everyone arrives at each regroup point

Ride Ending

  1. Check that everyone planning to finish the ride arrives at its end point

No One Left Behind Best Practices

Nothing feels worst than having a problem or not knowing the route and realizing that no one is in sight.
Nothing feels better than seeing riders return to find you or waiting for you when you round a bend.

The following techniques can be used separately or in combination to insure that no one on a group ride is lost or left behind.

Regroup

Establish locations or distances to points where the group will stop and wait for everyone to arrive. Consider the following in establishing regroup points:

Proceed once everyone has arrived and allowed time to recover.

When appropriate, send two riders back to find those missing so one can stay and the other can report back to the group.

Sweep

A rider providing sweep should know the route and always keep the slowest rider in sight throughout the ride.

One approach is for the ride leader to be the sweep—to lead from behind.

Buddies

Buddies stay together—within sight—throughout a ride. There are three approaches to implementing buddies:

Ride Types & Responsibilities

It is thanks to the work of club members that rides are organized. It is because of the knowledge and care of the participants that rides are safe and enjoyable.

Ride Types

Show-&-Go Rides follow recurring routes with variations agreed to by the Riders that show on the day of the ride.

Designed Rides follow a path described in a Route Slip provided on or before the day of the ride.

Ride Participants

A Rider is a club member that participates in a club ride.

Rider Responsibilities

Ride Organizers

A Ride Contact is a club member that volunteers to facilitate a weekly or monthly Show-&-Go Ride series. A Ride Contact’s name is published in the newsletter and on the website.

Ride Contact Responsibilities

A Ride Series Coordinator is a club member that volunteers to organize a weekly or monthly series of Designed Rides. A Ride Series Coordinator’s name is published in the newsletter and on the website.

Ride Series Coordinator Responsibilities

A Ride Leader is a club member that volunteers to lead a Designed Ride. A Ride Leader’s name is published in the newsletter and on the website or provided with the Route Slip.

Ride Leader Responsibilities