Cager almost knocks down Jogger

[OlHossCanada]

I`m the guilty cager here, and I`m confessing to you all. It was almost a SMIDSY situation, as in Sorry Miss, I Didn`t See You.

The situation: clear, dry roads and clear visibility. I`m on a 2 lane service road about 3 blocks long, running north and south and it is 1 block west of the main 6 lane highway leaving town. This is the new main shopping area of town as the big box stores move in. I pulled onto the road from a parking lot and traveled 1 block north up the stem of a T intersection to a stop sign, where I STOPPED, preparing to turn left onto another 2 lane road.

To my right is an empty parking lot behind a funeral home, where I can see traffic is clear all the way to the highway. To my right is a large furniture store, and several vehicles parallel parked on the street on the near side to me. I slowly eased ahead looking past the parked cars and waiting for a couple of cars to pass from left to right in front of me, then checking again that I was clear to go.

My peripheral vision had not detected any vehicles coming from my right, but I made a quick glance just as I was starting to move to make my left turn. As I turned my head, there was a shapely young woman in a baby blue jogging suit and hat, at the right front corner of my Delta 88, and giving me a look like like What the ####? I stopped again, rolling no more than a couple of feet after I saw her.

Where did she come from? All I could think of was the righteous indignation we express on this board when a cager pulls out in front of us on a bike, like we are invisible. And here I had almost done it to a jogger.

My best guess right now is that she was still blocked by the funeral home, and/or the "A" pillar of my car between the windshield and front passenger side door when I first checked to the right, while rolling up to the stop. As she was jogging, not walking, she was covering ground two or three times faster than a person walking would have done. I simply was not prepared for someone on foot to come from that direction, traveling that fast.

In my defense, I have not often seen pedestrians or joggers in this area, especially this time of year. The roads were clear and dry but the temps were only about 20*F. I am going back there sometime this week to look over the layout again and try to figure out where she came from, and why I did not see her until I almost knocked her down.

After writing this and re-reading it a couple of times, I believe the young lady made a mistake here too, not that it excuses me in the least. When I am walking across an intersection where cars are present, I always make eye contact with the driver before stepping in front of their car, and maintain the contact until I am clear. If the driver breaks eye contact it gives me a warning that he may not have seen me, and I have a split second more to get out of his way. We are all pedestrians sometimes, and some may be joggers or runners. Making eye contact with drivers is not a guarantee you will be seen, but I believe it tilts the odds further in your favor .

[Jace Bror]

Was she in the road or on a path?

[LibertyPilot]

I think you did good man. No harm, no foul I say. You didn't hit her, you saw her just in time. Yeah she might have been put off but she's not hurt. If all it did was help you have a better eye out next time at that intersection I say its a good thing. What does "shapely" mean? It that a good shape or not so good?

[OlHossCanada]

Originally Posted by Jace Bror

Was she in the road or on a path?

Originally Posted by LibertyPilot

I think you did good man. No harm, no foul I say. You didn't hit her, you saw her just in time. Yeah she might have been put off but she's not hurt. If all it did was help you have a better eye out next time at that intersection I say its a good thing. What does "shapely" mean? It that a good shape or not so good?

Q #1. - She had been running on a concrete sidewalk, and was 2 or 3 strides onto the unmarked crosswalk when I saw her.

Q #2. - Shapely means real easy on the eyes!! It does NOT mean round, as in round is a shape. LOL. If I had noticed her 10 seconds earlier, I would have stopped well back just to watch her jog past. After all, girl watching is my second most favorite pastime!

[skalding]

[Public Service Message On]

As a long time bicyclist, I can tell you that a lot of bike/car accidents happen because drivers are really only in the habit of watching for cars. Riding your bike in the road, with the traffic, is the best way to stay safe. Riding (or walking/running) against traffic, especially at intersections, puts you in a place that the drivers are not likely to look, because they're simply habituated not to. This makes sense - who spends a lot of time looking to see if a car is coming the wrong way down the lane toward you? Instead you focus on where you expect cars to be (i.e., in the correct flow of traffic.)

Still, most of us do a quick glance at the "against traffic spot", but how many of us "reglance" before we start to roll out into traffic? That space can quickly become filled with a pedestrian or a bicyclist.

So if anyone complains to you about a cyclist riding *with* traffic (and I'm not talking about holding up traffic or riding like a jerk, but simply riding as a vehicle) do me a favor and point out how easy it is for cars to hit someone walking/riding *against* traffic. The second it takes to pass a bicyclist is far preferable to ruining a pair of lives by hitting someone who was traveling in your mental blinders.

[/Public Service Message Off]

[Knifemaker]

They always say that pedestrians have the right of way...and many pedestrians/joggers believe this and will not even think about how easily they are seen or even think about "Walking defensively".

The fact that you can kill them very quickly without harming you car a bit never seems to cross their minds.

The woman jogger in my view here was at fault, she , just like we have said of poor riders, assumed she was seen. She came from a direction not normally in the areas drivers look at, and in my opinion is lucky and should be thankfull that you did see her in time to avoid hitting her.

When we talk about bikes, we always say a bike will not win over a car...well a unprotected jogger/hiker is no match for 2+ tons of steel and should really watch what the phuk they are doing, and not start blaming the guy in the car for "not seeing them"

So next time honk your horn and yell at her to watch what she is doing.


KM

[LibertyPilot]

Originally Posted by OlHossCanada

Shapely means real easy on the eyes!! It does NOT mean round, as in round is a shape. LOL. If I had noticed her 10 seconds earlier, I would have stopped well back just to watch her jog past. After all, girl watching is my second most favorite pastime!

You and me both Hoss! That being said the only thing I think you did wrong here was not have your camera out in time to snap a few pics! I've been to several places in Canada several times after hearing from Europeans how hot the girls were. Let me tell ya, they weren't kiddin'! I wish I could tell the story of "Le Cage" here but its so inappropriate...

[jimkonst]

Another thing to consider is that people jogging are often in a kind of zone, and are tuning out the world. Especially those with headphones on. They are listening to music that acts like a metronome, to help them keep a pace. Bikers and cyclists seem to be the only ones who are usually alert. Because they know the danger. And sometimes we are not.

[stiervulcan]

You can't feel too bad about this. I have a full size chevy extended cab + 8 foot box that is red. More than once I am going down the road planning to make a left with me having the right of way, there is a person on the road I am turning onto that is making a left onto the road i am on. I see them looking both directions but not at me,right in front of them (full size, 8foot box RED truck) I stop wait for them to jump forward then see me and hit the brakes, I shake my head and make my turn. I don't know what else to do.

[OlHossCanada]

Red is not the most visually attention getting color according to some studies that I can`t quote offhand. About 30 years ago our local fire dept. switched to bright yellow trucks from the traditional red for this reason. I read somewhere else that bright yellow or school bus yellow was the most visible under the widest variety of light conditions.

In the past couple of years I have read that the lime green color we are seeing on some safety vests is the most eye arresting. I have shone a green laser into a dark night sky and it is visible for a very long way. If it touches on something solid like a pole, wire or wall, it lights up like a neon tube.

Getting back to the topic at hand, the fire dept. started buying red trucks again a few years ago because they now had flashing strobe lights on the trucks that were bright enough to give them the safety they required, and still be able to drive the traditional red fire truck they wanted.

Soooo... Stiervulcan, I guess if you want to be noticed in your big red Chevy, you are going to have to get some strobe lights, or at least modulators like our bikes!! <BG>