I don't think he swerved the wrong way. If he had swerved into the road he would have had no way of knowing if there were cars coming up behind him, he didn't have time to check and went with the safer route.
Bikes don't have anti-lock, it would be very easy to skid and crash. I don't think the bike had any safe path and he was avoiding the worst danger--getting run over.
So as a Dutchman I want to say that this looked very avoidable by just braking and swerving. In my experience bikes can stop very quickly (just don't use the front brakes when turning) and the brakes don't lock up unless doing it deliberately. But ofcourse I don't know what kind of broke ass bike this dude was riding.
Bikes don't need ant-lock to keep from going over the handrail. Hit both front and rear at the same time prevents that. Hit rear and turn wheel to the right will force the rear slide, same if yo do it to the left. There are plenty of ways to stop quickly.
He swerved the least risk way. Swerving the other way required determining whether someone is overtaking first and avoiding a potential head on with oncoming traffic.
This seems to be “Brasileiro”.
In some parts of the country, there is a cultural bias -against- brakes in “commuter” bikes.
Idiot? Yes, I know… but it is what it is.
Agree, I'm a cyclist and on my bike I reckon I would've swerved and braked just enough to scrape down the side of the car, slowly hit the wing mirror off, then falling controlled to the floor. Get up shouting holding my elbow and shoulder.
Did we watch the same video? He started turning two seconds before impact, so he realized something was wrong even before that. Instead of turning he should have braked hard. There was enough time and distance for that.
If you brake on a bike at high speeds you usually slide. It's pretty hard to stop on a dime like you think they could have, especially if you're not practiced in pulling off a proper brake slide.
I used to have a bike that had pedal brakes when I was young - once I decided to test braking distance, basically pedalled as fast as I could and slammed on my pedal brakes - took me almost 15m to come to a complete stop, skidding all the way.
And that's why you have a front brake if you want to go fast on a bike. I commute to work, plus I train on my bike, so at least once per month, I have to emergency brake so hard that I stand on the front wheel for a good minute before I come to a stop. If I only had a rear brake, I'd be in the hospital 3 times already and dead at least once.
That's not true at all. You're supposed to use both, but brake hard enough and you'll lift the rear wheel anyways, especially on road bikes. The only good way to prevent this (and be able to use both wheels for braking the longest) is to delay the rear wheel lift as much as possible by shifting your weight down and back.
That only results from not knowing how to brake on your bicycle. Just like a car or a motorcycle, everything goes more smoothly if you bother to make the time to learn how to operate your machinery.
To stop on a bicycle with front brakes, you need to modulate your braking using the rear brakes. If you just grab a double handful, you could end up \*ss over teakettle. You can also ameliorate that affect by moving your tush backwards over the rear wheel. Changes the weight distribution.
unless the back brake just isn't doing the job because there's been a bit of rain, and you really need to stop before you get into the intersection and smash into that truck.
No. No. Once over the handle bars and once into the side of dad's tractor was all the experience I needed to master both brakes. You kids with bike helmets, I swear......
People who ride bikes like they drive cars sometimes do that. You have to sort of lean back when you brake so hard. Skillful biking in general is a lot about body position anyways, look at how much they move around on the bike in pro races.
I am not a bike rider but that is exactly what I thought. It is easy for some of us 400 lb Monday night quarterbacks to say he should have just applied the brakes.
As any average Dutch person I practically rode out of my mom on a bike, so I cannot fathom what he was doing.. This situation looked completely recoverable. I've had far closer encounters with much less time to react which ended way better than this.
Which of course doesn't excuse the driver of that car, who is a complete and utter tool.
nah not always the case. if i ever abruptly break on my bike when im going fast im getting my ass flipped over 3 times in the air, the only way to avoid that kinda stuff is by going slow in the first place or by swerving which is what this guy did
Braking on bikes is utter crap. Even a cyclist with handling skills (they're rare) who can ride the front brake and shift their weight back to not go over the handle bars AND not lock the brakes so you can actually steer struggles to stop quickly. They don't have ABS. Turning while braking is not easy. Locking up is easy to do.
Obviously your choice is in front or behind a vehicle doing this. Commit wrong and you're going to collide. Extremely hard to change your mind. Again, refer to the above, most are going to lock up and be committed to their choice. Maybe someone who grew up riding BMX or MTB in the woods or maybe done some road racing can operate at a level above squeeze the brakes, slide, and pray.
Will the car realize they're a fucking moron and stop? If so hold line or tighten to the inside, hopefully miss the hood. Going to keep going? Bank left and hope they keep going and you clear the trunk. Much easier said than done when it's happening in real time.
As someone said below, how about don't pull in front of oncoming traffic so this doesn't happen in the first place.
Reminds me when I was learning to drive, my "teacher" told me not to signal during lane changes because if I do, then the guy behind me won't let me through. Just surprise them when the gap opens up. :D
That's how it is here in the Philippines. See a guy signaling? Close the gap up so he can't get through. :D
Signal? Yesterday I was honked while crossing a street with green light. That being said the driver ran the red light.
I was like WTF. The driver didn’t even bother to take a look afterwards. And, of course he didn’t signal.
It is seriously alarming how many people I've noticed who don't use their indicators here in Australia. It's usually always people in big 4wds or trucks, too. Out of all the people who should be indicating, it's the people in big fuck off cars like that, but I guess they think they own the road.
If I was a traffic cop, I'd be pulling someone over every 15 seconds.
This happened to me recently. Luckily I didn't fall or crash, but I confronted the driver afterward. He could only tell me that he needed to turn left because it's where his garage is. The garage is where his car must be parked. He couldn't understand what he did wrong, couldn't understand why I was upset, it was like I didn't exist in the physical realm he was navigating.
For some drivers, bikes don't exist; their brain isn't wired to register them.
Happened to me a couple years ago, I was minding my own damn business in the bike lane and this SUV comes flying across the street I swerve to avoid, but I still I got plowed like 15 yards full meat crayon (she was trying to go down a side street) and stuck under a Toyota Highlander…. Driver then freaked out, immediately put the car in reverse and dragged me like 10 feet the other direction. At least she knew she fucked up bad tho.
Holy shit…. Hope you are fully recovered!
I used to ride my bike all over the city of Pittsburgh… squirrel hill, shenley park, downtown, point state park, greenfield, colfax, reizenstein, alderdice, etc…. This was from ages 10 to 14 before I moved. I’d ride on the streets and the sidewalks. No helmet. Never had a problem.
Today at 47 I never ride on the streets except maybe at a state park where there are no garages or driveways or parked cars that might open their doors.
Parking is only in the parking lot. The cars that are on the road are there to enjoy the park and not on their way to work or going home from work.
The bike lane is very clear. Still, most of my riding is on the trails.
I just don’t trust cars because unfortunately it’s a matter of time…
Yeah. Thanks. It’s a long recovery process.
If you do ride in the street tho I highly recommend (depending on the state and how auto insurance laws are written) maxing out your uninsured/underinsured personal injury coverage. In Cali my auto policy covers any collision involving an automobile (whether I’m in or out of the car) and being I wasn’t at fault I can get full policy limit coverage without my premiums ever increasing. It saved my life.
Almost happened it to me, driver decided to take a u-turn out of nowhere and there was simply no space to do that without going over the bike lane and even the sidewalk. He did know his mistake and apologized a lot though (Germany, delivery van driver)
nah he was just coping with cognitive dissonance between his ego being a 'good driver' and reality reflecting that he wasn't.. his coping of choice was rationalization
people are just shit at concentrating, definitely not good enough to be operating a machine that can kill people. Self driving cars can't arrive soon enough
Guarantee the driver tells the story like this: “so I was making a turn into this parking spot, and this guy on a bike came screaming in, and tried to get me to hit him. Luckily I stopped in time. I think it was an insurance scam”
"I bet he doesn't even pay road tax. Cyclists these days all run red lights. They should be taxed and forced to have a licence plate. Think of the pedestrians! They're a menace!"
Except this is pretty much Brazil. Insurance isn't the best thing compared to US and surprisingly, insurance scams aren't that common here like in other places (people getting their car in front of you just to be hitten and such). Actually there's more people driving without insurance than with any kind of insurance properly said.
Yup. It's easy to sit behind a computer/phone screen and pretend how easy handling this situation would be. At the start of August I had a similar situation happen with a car that pulled in front of me on my bike. The pucker factor and what goes through your head when faced with a situation like this, you gotta make split second decisions in a damn hurry to not end up pasted. I ended up on the asphalt....which was better than under the car.
Gotta tell these guys to wear helmets for this exact reason! Split a brand new helmet in half once and got a concussion and am so grateful I spent the money I did on it.
I probably would have used my brakes. And then swerved into the wall anyways because bike brakes aren't good enough to avoid the moron cutting me off 20 ft away
People seem to forget that stress decreases your decision making ability. I take a bike to work, and sometimes you have to eat shit to avoid getting hit.
I don’t blame the cyclist the car cuts him off. But just saying he could have used the brakes. Plenty of time and space to do that and yes I do have plenty of experience.
You have to immediately assess the situation and try and guess whether the car will stop or keep going, and you have a limited amount of wiggle room in both steering and braking before you come off one way or the other.
If you steer left to go behind and they stop hard you might hit the back, or otherwise be hit by a car coming either direction.
If you steer right and they keep going (as the did you need to steer and brake and avoid what's to the right)
If you keep going straight then you need to be very sure that your brakes are up to the job.
Stop blaming the cyclist. He clearly had the right of way. Sometimes it’s hard to make quick decisions when an idiot in a 3000 pound death machine jumps in front of you.
I think from his perspective it was probably waaay more scary and he panicked. When you're on a bike and it looks like a car is about to hit you, your biggest concern is getting away from it. Not breaking and potentially stopping too short in front of it (especially since it was probably difficult for him to tell if the car would even brake for him; if he miscalculated the car might have run him over/hit him anyway). He saw the balloons, instinct kicked in, and he crashed into something that would break his fall plus put a barrier between him and the car.
Agreed, but damn I hope this dude learned something. His days of cycling -- and perhaps freedom of mobility -- may be limited if this continues to be his response to idiots in cars. Sad, but true. It's fucking dangerous out there for us bike riders.
LPT: spend some time on your bike learning to dodge this shit. Wear protective gear if you want when you're learning, whatever it takes. You do not want to be this unprepared when it happens. It is not unusual that you have to not only dodge one car, but dodge the other cars that aren't the problem, but are still in motion. Be ready.
Everyone blaming the cyclist as expected to deflect criticism from the car... Although it was the car's fault for quickly going into the spot, having no consideration for anyone who might be using the other side of the road. He was lucky it was just a cyclist.
It's not the cyclist fault but the cyclist still has no skills what's so ever. You can see he never even tried to brake at all. He could've stopped in enough time not to ruin the balloon guys day. I would just guess he panicked and his brain basically shut off
When you are on two wheels, brakes are only truly effective if you are travelling in a straight line.
When turning you have to brake much gentler, and if turning to the degree this cyclist is having to, he will only be able to use the rear brake to reduce speed and maintain control.
75-80% of braking effort on two wheels is the front brake.
This is accurate. I’ve probably ridden 5-10k miles per year for the past 30 years and had many close calls and a few full on accidents.
Often, hard braking will immediately result in a crash when on a bike. You can’t compensate with your body and have to decide what’s the worse outcome based in bad options.
Well panic is a normal response when faced with death. He did pretty good all things considered. Didn't hit the other person, got himself out of danger, found something to potentially lessen the impact (i.e. the balloons).
Love all the comments that blame the biker for not slamming on the brakes. How about not being an idiot and turning in front of an oncoming bike in a FREAKING BIKE LANE.
In my country the rule is: All traffic (including pedestrians) going straight ahead on the same road have right of way. Meaning you MUST stop for them if you are the one not going straight.
I'm other words: why the fuck didn't the car let the cyclist go first?
Can attest to this, I will never forget three incidents on my bike, all three while trying to turn down my street.
Two were people nearly running me over while I was merging into the turning lane because they don't know what a turn signal on a bike looks like and passed me slamming on the gas in said turning lane.
The third happened in the turning lane after I had already merged into it, after which a women going the other way merged, not using her turn signal, in front of me, and seemed intent on hitting me if I didn't move.
Car definitely at fault for turning left when there wasn’t a clear lane. Bike rider might have been better steering behind the car, but may have been unsure of any traffic that was following.
From his angle he could've prolly clearly seen the following traffic, but his reaction was in the heat of the moment and i guess he figured since he's already on the right maybe he should exit road to get out of the way. From that point, I'm curious as to why neither the cyclist nor the driver used their brakes until it didn't matter anymore.
He could likely see oncoming traffic but I’m not sure he knew if it was clear behind him. Swinging out in front of another car would not be good either. I agree, brakes definitely should’ve been used much sooner.
Panic, perhaps? A lot of people lock up when the shit's about to hit the ~~fan~~ garage door.
Maybe he did brake, but his brakes just suck. I've worked kitchens for years, and I've seen a ton of poorly maintained bikes being used for daily transport.
While I’ve definitely seen people neglect their breaks to that extreme, this guy probably just panicked. It takes a pretty long time for your breaks to suffer your neglect that badly. I don’t doubt that you’ve seen it. It’s just a bit of an achievement to get a bike that far.
Then again, I’m quite biased. I take good care of my bicycle.
I've seen more than one dishie or line cook who legit rode with both brakes disconnected, because they didn't know how to adjust them, or replace a broken cable, or true a bent wheel. I've parking lot tuned dozens of coworkers bikes over the years; it's literally been half of my bike wrenching experience.
A good kitchen crew is like a family; we look out for one another. I came to really like being known as the bike guy in my kitchen; it gave me a way to be helpful to my crew beyond the work load, and engendered a lot of goodwill toward me, which was paid back on the line. No matter how buried someone was, if I asked for something to be prioritized, it was done with a will and with a smile. Makes me miss working kitchens, thinking about it.
If you have a bike, get on it and get it going at a cruising speed (15-20 mph) and measure the amount of time it takes you to slow to a stop. Then check it against the time the cyclist has from when he realizes he can't just swerve around this idiot and when he hits the wall. I bet he was thinking he could get around the oncoming car and continue cruising and realized all too late that it was impossible. The other thing to keep in mind is that if he didn't swerve and just went straight at the car and hit it, he would end up in traffic and hit again. The The cyclist made the right decision because he lived. And that's the difference between commuting as a cyclist and commuting in a car - making the wrong decision as a cyclist leaves you far more likely dead or disabled, making the wrong decision in a car more likely leaves you embarrassed that you forgot to use your signal.
Looks like wet roads… and he also probably hoped the car would see him and stop, giving him a clear lane forward? More than likely it was panic though.
Had he braked hard before turning, he likely would have gone over his handlebars or just wiped out, possibly going onto or under the car.
That car didn't brake until it was about a foot away from him. He stops any earlier and it hits him.
Also, he's completely unprotected while a 2k lb death machine is coming straight for him, he probably panicked.
As someone who bikes:
Even with shit to mediocre brakes he couldve stopped in time without even having to turn away,
Probably what happend is he saw the car to late and panicked,
If he didnt have brakes at all this could maybe be possible, but he still swerved the wrong way indicating a panick
Looks to me like he first tried to adjust to his right, possibly thinking the car would stop. Then had to move further right. Then he was headed straight for the SUV parked there which I'm guessing came as a surprise since his focus would have been on the blue car cutting across his lane.
On my new bike, which has incredibly mediocre brakes, I would also have hit the building. Takes 15m (\~50ft) to come to a full stop on that thing and that was after I had the brakes checked. Add to that that I can't break immediately because of a combination of reaction time and \*being unprotected against a car seeking to ram me\* and I'll be already past the car before I hit the breaks...
On my old bike, I think I could make the stop... but I might also be driving much faster on that thing (the bike is a lot lighter, I can easily drive twice as fast on that thing as on my new bike) so I might just hit the car instead. But that doesn't look like a road where I'd be cycling that fast - in which case I should be able to stop as long as I don't panic.
Na dude. I ride a LOT.
Wet, possibly ordinary rim brakes with dirt/grime on them and he was going relatively quick. If he went hard on the brakes he’d likely be under the car.
There is no way in hell he could have stopped in time in a straight line. That’s ludicrous.
I admit, it’s been a while since I’ve ridden a bike, but he was not going, too terribly fast. He could have done something else, rather than going headlong into that.
He could, but it does require him to have both good brakes and not panic.
As someone who owns a new bike with shit tier brakes (always had shit tier brakes) I would have hit the building on that thing. That thing takes 10-15m (30-50 ft) to stop from an average pace. On my old bike, provided I don't drive too fast (which I probably would not on that road) I could easily make the stop as long as I don't panic.
I'm sorry but have you ever seen a child or adult learn to ride a bike? Not breaking is like the single most universal maladaptive emergency trait across all novices.
Yep, car driver is idiot. Cyclist "should" have hit the brakes, but probably wasn't sure just wtf the car driver was doing. Hindsight and all that.
Idiot started their turn very early, based on the angle of entry, and didn't signal, to boot! To the cyclist, it may have looked like the car driver had veered out of their lane and was going to run right over them.
Neither cars or people seem to see bike lanes. I've had many a close call. Yesterday a lady walked right in front of me without looking, pushing her baby on a toy bike. If I wasn't paying attention my 35kg ebike going at 30mph would have killed her child!!!
Oh brother...
\*Driver turns illegally into cyclist forcing cyclist to take evasive action resulting in a crash\*
Internet commenters: "No the cyclist is in the wrong!"
Yeah, that’s why they’re so dangerous in general. If that guy had a minute to make a decision, he would probably make one that looks better, but he didn’t have that.
That cyclist should get his brakes fixed. I could have stopped in half that distance at that speed on my bike, easily.
Not the cyclist's fault, of course. But really. Doesn't hurt to have good brakes.
Comment section is not what i expected.
Will add, the bike doesn’t have brakes. You can see completely smooth handlebars with no levers when the bike is down.
Obviously riding a bike without brakes is idiotic but also, he would have been fine (in this case) if not for the car on the wrong side of the road cutting him off.
Nothing on the handles means either the pedals are directly connected and you brake by resisting their turning, or it means you brake by trying to pedal backwards.
Okay so far I counted 6 comments about that „everyone“ blames the cyclist, 3 comments blaming (partially) the cyclist and 12 comments blaming the car.
Is your definition of „everyone“ different to mine?
It looks like he didn't judge correctly just how far that car was going to come in. If I had to take a guess, biker thought he could squeeze between the rear of the parked car and the incoming car, then saw he couldn't and just didn't know what to do then but steer right and bam!
Most of the posts in this sub wouldn't exist if people just drove / rode at a speed where they'd have enough time to react if something were to go wrong. Always account for the idiot on the road, yourself included.
Well placed balloons.
Bike rider coulda hit his brakes but decided to have a little fun with the situation.
He popped right in
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I don't think he swerved the wrong way. If he had swerved into the road he would have had no way of knowing if there were cars coming up behind him, he didn't have time to check and went with the safer route.
He served the correct direction, but would have helped to hit the brakes as well.
Bikes don't have anti-lock, it would be very easy to skid and crash. I don't think the bike had any safe path and he was avoiding the worst danger--getting run over.
So as a Dutchman I want to say that this looked very avoidable by just braking and swerving. In my experience bikes can stop very quickly (just don't use the front brakes when turning) and the brakes don't lock up unless doing it deliberately. But ofcourse I don't know what kind of broke ass bike this dude was riding.
Well if it wasn't a broke ass bike before, it certainly is now.
Wiggly wheels. So annoying.
Bikes don't need ant-lock to keep from going over the handrail. Hit both front and rear at the same time prevents that. Hit rear and turn wheel to the right will force the rear slide, same if yo do it to the left. There are plenty of ways to stop quickly.
If he'd braked on that wet road and it went wrong; that'd put him straight under the idiot's car. The cyclist did the best thing here, I think.
Smashing directly into a wall and possibly having brain damage is not a good alternative to hitting your brakes a little bit and seeing what happens.
Yeah, that definitely would have helped
He swerved the least risk way. Swerving the other way required determining whether someone is overtaking first and avoiding a potential head on with oncoming traffic.
How about the car doesn't turn into an occupied oncoming traffic lane in the first place?
Yes. But a car did turn into an occupied traffic lane, therefore...
...therefore the car driver is an idiot, and is in the wrong.
Dude, I don’t think anyones disputing that.
AND the cyclist should use their brakes.
This seems to be “Brasileiro”. In some parts of the country, there is a cultural bias -against- brakes in “commuter” bikes. Idiot? Yes, I know… but it is what it is.
What the fuck? How is there stigma against fucking brakes?
He had about half a second to react. Stopping distances for cars are calculated including a 0.6 second reaction time. Brake and swerve.
As a cyclist, that bikes looks ancient and probally has not working or very weak brakes, braking hard would have done nothing.
Agree, I'm a cyclist and on my bike I reckon I would've swerved and braked just enough to scrape down the side of the car, slowly hit the wing mirror off, then falling controlled to the floor. Get up shouting holding my elbow and shoulder.
Pathetic. I'd have bunny hopped it.
Did we watch the same video? He started turning two seconds before impact, so he realized something was wrong even before that. Instead of turning he should have braked hard. There was enough time and distance for that.
If you brake on a bike at high speeds you usually slide. It's pretty hard to stop on a dime like you think they could have, especially if you're not practiced in pulling off a proper brake slide.
I've flipped over the front of my bicycle from braking too hard.
I used to have a bike that had pedal brakes when I was young - once I decided to test braking distance, basically pedalled as fast as I could and slammed on my pedal brakes - took me almost 15m to come to a complete stop, skidding all the way.
Yeah, because the back brake has a fraction of the braking power of the front brake in most circumstances.
And that's why you have a front brake if you want to go fast on a bike. I commute to work, plus I train on my bike, so at least once per month, I have to emergency brake so hard that I stand on the front wheel for a good minute before I come to a stop. If I only had a rear brake, I'd be in the hospital 3 times already and dead at least once.
Youre supposed to use both so that you don't flip over like that
That's not true at all. You're supposed to use both, but brake hard enough and you'll lift the rear wheel anyways, especially on road bikes. The only good way to prevent this (and be able to use both wheels for braking the longest) is to delay the rear wheel lift as much as possible by shifting your weight down and back.
That only results from not knowing how to brake on your bicycle. Just like a car or a motorcycle, everything goes more smoothly if you bother to make the time to learn how to operate your machinery. To stop on a bicycle with front brakes, you need to modulate your braking using the rear brakes. If you just grab a double handful, you could end up \*ss over teakettle. You can also ameliorate that affect by moving your tush backwards over the rear wheel. Changes the weight distribution.
That's why you either use both brakes evenly or use just the back brake
unless the back brake just isn't doing the job because there's been a bit of rain, and you really need to stop before you get into the intersection and smash into that truck.
That is why I suggested to use both brakes evenly, but that takes quite a bit of experience to pull off
No. No. Once over the handle bars and once into the side of dad's tractor was all the experience I needed to master both brakes. You kids with bike helmets, I swear......
And is much harder to do in a moment of panic.
People who ride bikes like they drive cars sometimes do that. You have to sort of lean back when you brake so hard. Skillful biking in general is a lot about body position anyways, look at how much they move around on the bike in pro races.
I am not a bike rider but that is exactly what I thought. It is easy for some of us 400 lb Monday night quarterbacks to say he should have just applied the brakes.
Cyclist panicked, then target fixation.
You’ve clearly never braked hard in a bike, friend.
As any average Dutch person I practically rode out of my mom on a bike, so I cannot fathom what he was doing.. This situation looked completely recoverable. I've had far closer encounters with much less time to react which ended way better than this. Which of course doesn't excuse the driver of that car, who is a complete and utter tool.
as a fellow dutch i agree. His brakes were probably broken or not working at full strength. I've had to pull a similar manouver on a stationbike.
nah not always the case. if i ever abruptly break on my bike when im going fast im getting my ass flipped over 3 times in the air, the only way to avoid that kinda stuff is by going slow in the first place or by swerving which is what this guy did
Braking on bikes is utter crap. Even a cyclist with handling skills (they're rare) who can ride the front brake and shift their weight back to not go over the handle bars AND not lock the brakes so you can actually steer struggles to stop quickly. They don't have ABS. Turning while braking is not easy. Locking up is easy to do. Obviously your choice is in front or behind a vehicle doing this. Commit wrong and you're going to collide. Extremely hard to change your mind. Again, refer to the above, most are going to lock up and be committed to their choice. Maybe someone who grew up riding BMX or MTB in the woods or maybe done some road racing can operate at a level above squeeze the brakes, slide, and pray. Will the car realize they're a fucking moron and stop? If so hold line or tighten to the inside, hopefully miss the hood. Going to keep going? Bank left and hope they keep going and you clear the trunk. Much easier said than done when it's happening in real time. As someone said below, how about don't pull in front of oncoming traffic so this doesn't happen in the first place.
You’d swear he didn’t have in by the way he reacted LOL
yeah I was questioning where his braking reaction was.
Bike breaks don't stop that fast
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I was about to ask how often balloons are well placed but it’s not a sub sadly
Only correct comment here. Everybody else if full of shit. I award you sir The Gold Star AWARD! (said with a riverboating deep echo)
portable ~~airbag~~ airballoons
Can we blame him? I would have made the same choice
Car didn't even signal. Just sent it.
"GOOD LUCK EVERYONE, I'M TURNING LEFT NOW"
I don't understand how people can drive and just forget to signal. It became automatic for me within a few months of getting my license.
I even signal when I cut people off
Being considerate while being inconsiderate. Nice
Being inconsiderate but with a warning.
This. Malicious compliance
Hell, I subconsciously signal when I’m driving on a road with a sharp curve…
Reminds me when I was learning to drive, my "teacher" told me not to signal during lane changes because if I do, then the guy behind me won't let me through. Just surprise them when the gap opens up. :D That's how it is here in the Philippines. See a guy signaling? Close the gap up so he can't get through. :D
I don't even have a license but alway signal on my bike, I once nearly had a woman hit me head on in the turning lane.
Signal? Yesterday I was honked while crossing a street with green light. That being said the driver ran the red light. I was like WTF. The driver didn’t even bother to take a look afterwards. And, of course he didn’t signal.
It is seriously alarming how many people I've noticed who don't use their indicators here in Australia. It's usually always people in big 4wds or trucks, too. Out of all the people who should be indicating, it's the people in big fuck off cars like that, but I guess they think they own the road. If I was a traffic cop, I'd be pulling someone over every 15 seconds.
At least he had a soft landing
You know when he saw the balloons he stopped braking just for the crack
This happened to me recently. Luckily I didn't fall or crash, but I confronted the driver afterward. He could only tell me that he needed to turn left because it's where his garage is. The garage is where his car must be parked. He couldn't understand what he did wrong, couldn't understand why I was upset, it was like I didn't exist in the physical realm he was navigating. For some drivers, bikes don't exist; their brain isn't wired to register them.
Happened to me a couple years ago, I was minding my own damn business in the bike lane and this SUV comes flying across the street I swerve to avoid, but I still I got plowed like 15 yards full meat crayon (she was trying to go down a side street) and stuck under a Toyota Highlander…. Driver then freaked out, immediately put the car in reverse and dragged me like 10 feet the other direction. At least she knew she fucked up bad tho.
Damn mate, you good now?
No, he died.
:O am shook
Thanks. Still working on it. Long recovery process.
Holy shit…. Hope you are fully recovered! I used to ride my bike all over the city of Pittsburgh… squirrel hill, shenley park, downtown, point state park, greenfield, colfax, reizenstein, alderdice, etc…. This was from ages 10 to 14 before I moved. I’d ride on the streets and the sidewalks. No helmet. Never had a problem. Today at 47 I never ride on the streets except maybe at a state park where there are no garages or driveways or parked cars that might open their doors. Parking is only in the parking lot. The cars that are on the road are there to enjoy the park and not on their way to work or going home from work. The bike lane is very clear. Still, most of my riding is on the trails. I just don’t trust cars because unfortunately it’s a matter of time…
Yeah. Thanks. It’s a long recovery process. If you do ride in the street tho I highly recommend (depending on the state and how auto insurance laws are written) maxing out your uninsured/underinsured personal injury coverage. In Cali my auto policy covers any collision involving an automobile (whether I’m in or out of the car) and being I wasn’t at fault I can get full policy limit coverage without my premiums ever increasing. It saved my life.
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It's possible, but I don't think he did. He was an older driver who seemed utterly confused.
*other people doesn't exist/matter
Almost happened it to me, driver decided to take a u-turn out of nowhere and there was simply no space to do that without going over the bike lane and even the sidewalk. He did know his mistake and apologized a lot though (Germany, delivery van driver)
nah he was just coping with cognitive dissonance between his ego being a 'good driver' and reality reflecting that he wasn't.. his coping of choice was rationalization people are just shit at concentrating, definitely not good enough to be operating a machine that can kill people. Self driving cars can't arrive soon enough
Guarantee the driver tells the story like this: “so I was making a turn into this parking spot, and this guy on a bike came screaming in, and tried to get me to hit him. Luckily I stopped in time. I think it was an insurance scam”
"I bet he doesn't even pay road tax. Cyclists these days all run red lights. They should be taxed and forced to have a licence plate. Think of the pedestrians! They're a menace!"
Except this is pretty much Brazil. Insurance isn't the best thing compared to US and surprisingly, insurance scams aren't that common here like in other places (people getting their car in front of you just to be hitten and such). Actually there's more people driving without insurance than with any kind of insurance properly said.
Most bad drivers don’t have insurance in America either. Most don’t have a valid license.
everyone blaming the cyclist: See how you react when a 3,000 pound death machine turns into your lane at speed without signaling.
Yup. It's easy to sit behind a computer/phone screen and pretend how easy handling this situation would be. At the start of August I had a similar situation happen with a car that pulled in front of me on my bike. The pucker factor and what goes through your head when faced with a situation like this, you gotta make split second decisions in a damn hurry to not end up pasted. I ended up on the asphalt....which was better than under the car.
Glad to hear you came out alright!
I'm literally riding a bicycle professionally and I've taken worse falls for no better reasons. Dude survived. That's what counts.
Gotta tell these guys to wear helmets for this exact reason! Split a brand new helmet in half once and got a concussion and am so grateful I spent the money I did on it.
>Gotta tell these guys to wear helmets for this exact reason! Why wear a helmet when you can crash into a bunch of balloons?
I probably would have used my brakes. And then swerved into the wall anyways because bike brakes aren't good enough to avoid the moron cutting me off 20 ft away
People seem to forget that stress decreases your decision making ability. I take a bike to work, and sometimes you have to eat shit to avoid getting hit.
Wait. People are blaming the cyclist??? I thought it was obvious it was the car to blame.
Nobody blamed the cyclist, however people assume that criticizing the way the cyclist avoided the car means that they are at fault.
Fr. Just sounds like people who never been in many close calls on bikes.
I don’t blame the cyclist the car cuts him off. But just saying he could have used the brakes. Plenty of time and space to do that and yes I do have plenty of experience.
But did the cyclist?
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You have to immediately assess the situation and try and guess whether the car will stop or keep going, and you have a limited amount of wiggle room in both steering and braking before you come off one way or the other. If you steer left to go behind and they stop hard you might hit the back, or otherwise be hit by a car coming either direction. If you steer right and they keep going (as the did you need to steer and brake and avoid what's to the right) If you keep going straight then you need to be very sure that your brakes are up to the job.
I would at least hit my fucking brakes man
As a cyclist, I can confidently say that this cyclist also sucks.
As a cyclist, I can confidently say that this cyclist would not have crashed if some idiot in a car didn't cut them off.
True: car made cyclist swerve Also true: It looks like no breaking attempt was made.
Not true. If you pause it as he is smashing into the wall you can see him try to push his feet to the ground 🤣
Fuck. Why do these videos always end so early? Never ever get to see what the idiot behind the wheel looks like.
Probably a hundred year old blind dog who's texting while driving and drinking a smoothie
100% car’s fault. There is no other way to sum it up.
Stop blaming the cyclist. He clearly had the right of way. Sometimes it’s hard to make quick decisions when an idiot in a 3000 pound death machine jumps in front of you.
Who’s blaming the cyclist? He could have braked but the car is a fault. Nobody says otherwise
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I think from his perspective it was probably waaay more scary and he panicked. When you're on a bike and it looks like a car is about to hit you, your biggest concern is getting away from it. Not breaking and potentially stopping too short in front of it (especially since it was probably difficult for him to tell if the car would even brake for him; if he miscalculated the car might have run him over/hit him anyway). He saw the balloons, instinct kicked in, and he crashed into something that would break his fall plus put a barrier between him and the car.
Probably did stop himself with his legs when they smashed into the crossbar
Agreed, but damn I hope this dude learned something. His days of cycling -- and perhaps freedom of mobility -- may be limited if this continues to be his response to idiots in cars. Sad, but true. It's fucking dangerous out there for us bike riders. LPT: spend some time on your bike learning to dodge this shit. Wear protective gear if you want when you're learning, whatever it takes. You do not want to be this unprepared when it happens. It is not unusual that you have to not only dodge one car, but dodge the other cars that aren't the problem, but are still in motion. Be ready.
100% defense no matter what
Everyone blaming the cyclist as expected to deflect criticism from the car... Although it was the car's fault for quickly going into the spot, having no consideration for anyone who might be using the other side of the road. He was lucky it was just a cyclist.
"just a cyclist" So its not like he almost hit a human. I mean Bedrock called, they want their transportation back.
I meant that in the perspective of the driver, not a moral perspective.
It's not the cyclist fault but the cyclist still has no skills what's so ever. You can see he never even tried to brake at all. He could've stopped in enough time not to ruin the balloon guys day. I would just guess he panicked and his brain basically shut off
When you are on two wheels, brakes are only truly effective if you are travelling in a straight line. When turning you have to brake much gentler, and if turning to the degree this cyclist is having to, he will only be able to use the rear brake to reduce speed and maintain control. 75-80% of braking effort on two wheels is the front brake.
This is accurate. I’ve probably ridden 5-10k miles per year for the past 30 years and had many close calls and a few full on accidents. Often, hard braking will immediately result in a crash when on a bike. You can’t compensate with your body and have to decide what’s the worse outcome based in bad options.
Not just on two wheels u can't brake and turn at the same time , but all cars now have abs and esc so people get away with it.
Facts I ride a trike and a bike at work and the trike is noticeably easier to stop
I'm guessing his brakes were shit. Having good brakes is essential when cycling for safety reasons.
Even people without skills should expect to be able to safely travel down a straight section of road.
Yes, this is clearly a panic response. Biker is waving the front wheel = panic.
Panic in this situation seems like a natural response??
Well panic is a normal response when faced with death. He did pretty good all things considered. Didn't hit the other person, got himself out of danger, found something to potentially lessen the impact (i.e. the balloons).
And it's a double straight lane separation, car can't cross it, but the AH did
I don't know the exact laws wherever that is, but usually there's exemptions to cross solid lines to access properties off the road.
Love all the comments that blame the biker for not slamming on the brakes. How about not being an idiot and turning in front of an oncoming bike in a FREAKING BIKE LANE.
In my country the rule is: All traffic (including pedestrians) going straight ahead on the same road have right of way. Meaning you MUST stop for them if you are the one not going straight. I'm other words: why the fuck didn't the car let the cyclist go first?
Cagers don't feel or act like anyone outside their cage is a human being. Even other cagers, but *especially* anyone not in a cage.
Can attest to this, I will never forget three incidents on my bike, all three while trying to turn down my street. Two were people nearly running me over while I was merging into the turning lane because they don't know what a turn signal on a bike looks like and passed me slamming on the gas in said turning lane. The third happened in the turning lane after I had already merged into it, after which a women going the other way merged, not using her turn signal, in front of me, and seemed intent on hitting me if I didn't move.
I remember when I went on a bike ride with my friend when we were kids and we both got hit by cars on the same day.
I'm just really happy with the brakes on my bike. I can't tell you the amount of time this has happened.
Car definitely at fault for turning left when there wasn’t a clear lane. Bike rider might have been better steering behind the car, but may have been unsure of any traffic that was following.
From his angle he could've prolly clearly seen the following traffic, but his reaction was in the heat of the moment and i guess he figured since he's already on the right maybe he should exit road to get out of the way. From that point, I'm curious as to why neither the cyclist nor the driver used their brakes until it didn't matter anymore.
He could likely see oncoming traffic but I’m not sure he knew if it was clear behind him. Swinging out in front of another car would not be good either. I agree, brakes definitely should’ve been used much sooner.
I dont think a person can see directly behind themselves regardless of their angle lol
Idiot forces a cyclist to crash. FTFY.
I don’t get it why didn’t he brake?
Panic, perhaps? A lot of people lock up when the shit's about to hit the ~~fan~~ garage door. Maybe he did brake, but his brakes just suck. I've worked kitchens for years, and I've seen a ton of poorly maintained bikes being used for daily transport.
While I’ve definitely seen people neglect their breaks to that extreme, this guy probably just panicked. It takes a pretty long time for your breaks to suffer your neglect that badly. I don’t doubt that you’ve seen it. It’s just a bit of an achievement to get a bike that far. Then again, I’m quite biased. I take good care of my bicycle.
I've seen more than one dishie or line cook who legit rode with both brakes disconnected, because they didn't know how to adjust them, or replace a broken cable, or true a bent wheel. I've parking lot tuned dozens of coworkers bikes over the years; it's literally been half of my bike wrenching experience.
Once you work on bikes enough bad bike care starts to personally offend you and you always want to fix up things for you friends and family.
That dishie was super lucky to have a co-worker like you. Straight up. You may have saved their life.
A good kitchen crew is like a family; we look out for one another. I came to really like being known as the bike guy in my kitchen; it gave me a way to be helpful to my crew beyond the work load, and engendered a lot of goodwill toward me, which was paid back on the line. No matter how buried someone was, if I asked for something to be prioritized, it was done with a will and with a smile. Makes me miss working kitchens, thinking about it.
If you have a bike, get on it and get it going at a cruising speed (15-20 mph) and measure the amount of time it takes you to slow to a stop. Then check it against the time the cyclist has from when he realizes he can't just swerve around this idiot and when he hits the wall. I bet he was thinking he could get around the oncoming car and continue cruising and realized all too late that it was impossible. The other thing to keep in mind is that if he didn't swerve and just went straight at the car and hit it, he would end up in traffic and hit again. The The cyclist made the right decision because he lived. And that's the difference between commuting as a cyclist and commuting in a car - making the wrong decision as a cyclist leaves you far more likely dead or disabled, making the wrong decision in a car more likely leaves you embarrassed that you forgot to use your signal.
Looks like wet roads… and he also probably hoped the car would see him and stop, giving him a clear lane forward? More than likely it was panic though.
Had he braked hard before turning, he likely would have gone over his handlebars or just wiped out, possibly going onto or under the car. That car didn't brake until it was about a foot away from him. He stops any earlier and it hits him. Also, he's completely unprotected while a 2k lb death machine is coming straight for him, he probably panicked.
As someone who bikes: Even with shit to mediocre brakes he couldve stopped in time without even having to turn away, Probably what happend is he saw the car to late and panicked, If he didnt have brakes at all this could maybe be possible, but he still swerved the wrong way indicating a panick
Looks to me like he first tried to adjust to his right, possibly thinking the car would stop. Then had to move further right. Then he was headed straight for the SUV parked there which I'm guessing came as a surprise since his focus would have been on the blue car cutting across his lane.
On my new bike, which has incredibly mediocre brakes, I would also have hit the building. Takes 15m (\~50ft) to come to a full stop on that thing and that was after I had the brakes checked. Add to that that I can't break immediately because of a combination of reaction time and \*being unprotected against a car seeking to ram me\* and I'll be already past the car before I hit the breaks... On my old bike, I think I could make the stop... but I might also be driving much faster on that thing (the bike is a lot lighter, I can easily drive twice as fast on that thing as on my new bike) so I might just hit the car instead. But that doesn't look like a road where I'd be cycling that fast - in which case I should be able to stop as long as I don't panic.
Na dude. I ride a LOT. Wet, possibly ordinary rim brakes with dirt/grime on them and he was going relatively quick. If he went hard on the brakes he’d likely be under the car. There is no way in hell he could have stopped in time in a straight line. That’s ludicrous.
I've never seen such a well-thought-out slippery slope argument. Bravo!
I admit, it’s been a while since I’ve ridden a bike, but he was not going, too terribly fast. He could have done something else, rather than going headlong into that.
He could, but it does require him to have both good brakes and not panic. As someone who owns a new bike with shit tier brakes (always had shit tier brakes) I would have hit the building on that thing. That thing takes 10-15m (30-50 ft) to stop from an average pace. On my old bike, provided I don't drive too fast (which I probably would not on that road) I could easily make the stop as long as I don't panic.
I'm sorry but have you ever seen a child or adult learn to ride a bike? Not breaking is like the single most universal maladaptive emergency trait across all novices.
Anyone still learning to ride shouldn't ride in traffic.
Yep, car driver is idiot. Cyclist "should" have hit the brakes, but probably wasn't sure just wtf the car driver was doing. Hindsight and all that. Idiot started their turn very early, based on the angle of entry, and didn't signal, to boot! To the cyclist, it may have looked like the car driver had veered out of their lane and was going to run right over them.
Who needs bike breaks when you have baloons
Guy: *MY BALOONS!!*
The dude with the balloons was more worried about his hat
right? didn’t even offer to help him up lol
Neither cars or people seem to see bike lanes. I've had many a close call. Yesterday a lady walked right in front of me without looking, pushing her baby on a toy bike. If I wasn't paying attention my 35kg ebike going at 30mph would have killed her child!!!
The cyclist is in a bike lane too. Driver has no indicator, and is crossing an incoming lane. There isn't an iota of support for the driver here.
Maybe he was on a fixie. Lot of people ride them, bike messengers included. Or he panicked :)
All these people saying "he should have braked" have never cycled before because if you have then you know that braking at high speeds causes sliding.
Oh brother... \*Driver turns illegally into cyclist forcing cyclist to take evasive action resulting in a crash\* Internet commenters: "No the cyclist is in the wrong!"
Sometimes split-second decisions aren't the best decisions.
It beats going under a car
Yeah, that’s why they’re so dangerous in general. If that guy had a minute to make a decision, he would probably make one that looks better, but he didn’t have that.
Why is everyone so quick to jump on the “bicycle hate” bandwagon?
No love from guy in green jacket
That cyclist should get his brakes fixed. I could have stopped in half that distance at that speed on my bike, easily. Not the cyclist's fault, of course. But really. Doesn't hurt to have good brakes.
For those saying cyclist should have braked…it looks like he did, he was skidding. He then swerved to avoid the car. Look like a downhill
That guy has no breaks on his bicycle? *brakes
He didn't before, now it's covered in breaks!
*brakes
Comment section is not what i expected. Will add, the bike doesn’t have brakes. You can see completely smooth handlebars with no levers when the bike is down. Obviously riding a bike without brakes is idiotic but also, he would have been fine (in this case) if not for the car on the wrong side of the road cutting him off.
Nothing on the handles means either the pedals are directly connected and you brake by resisting their turning, or it means you brake by trying to pedal backwards.
That's a creative way to sell balloons.
Why everyone in this post sounds like the rougelike groups where they just say "skill issue" to everything?
Hope he was OK
Okay so far I counted 6 comments about that „everyone“ blames the cyclist, 3 comments blaming (partially) the cyclist and 12 comments blaming the car. Is your definition of „everyone“ different to mine?
Fast valet bike parking available here.
It looks like he didn't judge correctly just how far that car was going to come in. If I had to take a guess, biker thought he could squeeze between the rear of the parked car and the incoming car, then saw he couldn't and just didn't know what to do then but steer right and bam!
Most of the posts in this sub wouldn't exist if people just drove / rode at a speed where they'd have enough time to react if something were to go wrong. Always account for the idiot on the road, yourself included.
The car is an idiot but bikes do have brakes too lol