Bike shop Louisville: Top Ten Bike Dangers-#3 The Crosswalk Slam

Schellers bike shop Clarksville, IN is presenting a series of biking safety posts from the excellent website Bicyclesafe.com. These tips could save your life!
You're riding on the sidewalk, so you cross an intersection at a crosswalk, and a car makes a right turn, right into you. Drivers aren't expecting cyclists in the crosswalk, and it's hard for them to see you because of the nature of turning from one street to another, so it is very easy for someone to get hit this way.  This collision is very, very common.  One study showed that sidewalk-riding was twice as dangerous as road riding, and another study said it's even more dangerous than that.

How to avoid this collision:

1. Use a headlight for maximum visibility. Many places this is required by law at night.

2. Slow down. Slow down enough that you're able to stop completely if necessary.

3. Its generally wise to avoid the sidewalk. There are exceptions to this when the sidewalk is very long, not requiring you to cross the street, and there are few pedestrians.