Here's a couple pieces of advice about how to behave safely around a bicycle. They are based on my experiences as a cyclist.


If you are a pedestrian and there's a bicycle coming towards you:

Don't Dodge

A bicyclist has to anticipate where you're going to be. Unless you are absolutely sure where the bicyclist is going to go (in a crowd, you never are), there's a fair chance that you will "dodge" exactly into the path of the cyclist. Even if the cyclist appears to be aiming for your left, he might actually have to go to your right in order to thread his way through the crowd.

More than once, I've had to come to a complete stop because someone veered unexpectedly in an attempt to avoid me. If my brakes had been poorer I might have hit that person. Don't be that person.

Just keep walking in the same direction you were walking in. The more predictable you are, the easier it is for the bicycle to avoid you.



If you are an automobile and there's a bicycle coming towards you in the opposite lane at night:

Don't turn on your high beams to see him better

Even if the bicycle has a headlamp, it is very dim compared to car headlights, and is really only there for you to see him. A night bicyclist relies entirely on night vision, and a brilliant pair of high beams in the face instantly blinds him. This actually only happened to me once but it was frightening enough to remember, as it was on a curve and for a few seconds I couldn't even see the center line to tell whether I was drifting into the other lane in front of the oncoming car.