Death From Behind Yesterday we met an Australian TV news reporter who survived a brush with death when a cyclist rode past him in a bike lane at a reasonable speed:No doubt it was a terrifying ordeal, but Im guessing he wouldnt want to trade place with these two riders in Texas:No doubt youve heard about this by now since its the biggest cycling-related story in the non-cycling media since that whole thing with the chefnot because people are particularly concerned about cyclists getting run over, but because theres a horrific video of the incident, which Im not going to post here. In any case, heres what happened:Love. Its what makes a Subaru a Subaru:It certainly looks intentional in the video. Whether this was in fact the case is unclear, but being a Subaru driver he did attempt to apologize afterwards:Mercifully and incredibly, both riders seem to have fared much better than youd possibly imagine after watching the video. Once was treated on the scene, and the other seems at least be well enough to talk to reportersand in a twist, credits his bike for saving his life:Heres why:Im assuming thats a carbon fiber bicycle, and that due to its inherent lateral stiffness and vertical compliance it acted as a spring as per Jan Heines theory of planing.Whatever the case, hopefully both riders make full recoveries, and continue to ride for many years to comethough certainly experiencing something like this would cause even the most dedicated rider to question the wisdom of doing so. When Im riding on the road I often think about how much trust (or rather blind faith) we place in the drivers behind us. As they overtake me I imagine what might be going on inside the car at that moment to take their attention away from the roadusually I see a hand groping around in a console for a phone or something, causing them to drift into the shoulderand it always seems like a small miracle when this does not happen and they pass me without incident. Then there are the times when the do pass closely enough for me to feel it in my arm hairs, and I never know for sure whether they did it to make a point, or they were simply oblivious to my presence as they succumbed to any one of the gazillions of petty distractions that can turn out to be matters of life and death.As cyclists we often feel uniquely vulnerable, and in many ways we are. However, you dont need to be out on the open road for something like this to happen to you, nor do you even need to be on a bike. Your life is similarly subject to the whims of the strangers behind you when youre doing something as mundane as waiting for the subway:Only 17 people were hit by subway trains last year as a result of being pushed into the tracks. Whether youre on a bike or a platform, statistically the odds are well in your favor, and youd be out a lot of money if you were to keep placing wagers on your own demise. Cyclist or a straphanger, youve had a million people on your tail without incident. However, this doesnt make the prospect of one of them hitting or pushing you any less real, regardless of whether they do it out of malice, negligence, or derangement. All we can do is take the usual precautions, and bear in mind the wisdom of Frank Drebin:I meditate on those words pretty much every day.
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