How to Survive in the Traffic Flow — A Guide to Urban Cycling Survival

We all love cycling.

It is a great sport and an efficient and environment-friendly way of transportation.

But because most of the time it is carried out on open roads, it is more dangerous than other sports, especially for novices, it is more likely to cause traffic accidents and damage the body of their newly bought car.

The small series has specially sorted out some precautions, which can greatly improve the safety factor of riding! ▼ Keeping away from cars is undoubtedly the greatest threat to cyclists.

They can hurt you in countless ways.

No matter how they hit you, it must be you who ride the bike that will suffer more.

Collision when turning right, collision and rear collision when turning left, even if the vehicle is parked, the door may suddenly open you down.

Whether you are commuting or riding, you must pay attention to the cars around you, and try to keep a distance from the cars as far as possible when circumstances permit.

You should always pay attention to whether there are vehicles to drive out of the intersections and lanes, and whether the vehicles in front of you want to turn or stop.

Although the car is mostly responsible for causing accidents, you must be the one who gets hurt more.

In fact, cars can cause relatively limited injuries, especially when driving at low speeds.

Large trucks are the vehicles that pose the greatest threat to the lives of cyclists.

Numerous traffic accidents remind them of their danger.

Large trucks have large blind areas, heavy bodies, poor mobility, and are easy to crush, causing disability and death.

Therefore, large trucks are the vehicles that cyclists need to pay attention to and stay away from most.

Choosing a correct cycling route can effectively avoid many risks.

A road with a dedicated bicycle lane can separate you from the car, making the probability of traffic accidents between the car and you very small.

If only a road with mixed use of motor vehicles and non motor vehicles can be selected, try to choose a route with fewer vehicles, especially large trucks and engineering vehicles, even if the route is not the shortest.

In addition, you need to pay attention to the road conditions, especially the road you are unfamiliar with, the hole in the ground or a speed bump may cause you to fall down when you are not paying attention.

Don’t trust others too much.

In an ideal world, every car driver, cyclist and other traffic participants will abide by traffic rules and have good driving skills and adaptability.

However, we do not live in such a world.

In fact, we all know that in our country, traffic participation or non-compliance with traffic regulations is normal.

For cars parked at random, non motor vehicles traveling at random, and various careless pedestrians, you need to pay attention to the dynamics of surrounding vehicles and people at all times to avoid accidents.

Maybe a car will turn suddenly without turning the turn signal, maybe the cyclist in front will stop suddenly, or maybe a person will run out of the road to catch the bus.

You never know what others will do, so you should always keep a safe distance and keep alert.

When you want to stop or turn, you should also pay attention to whether there is a vehicle behind you.

If necessary, you can gesture or shout to remind you.

In a word, don’t expect others to have sufficient safety awareness and focus on the road.

Don’t assume that other vehicles will obey the traffic rules to avoid accidents with you.

Even if it means that others are fully responsible, it doesn’t mean that you will get any benefits, because there is no winner in traffic accidents.

You must wear a helmet.

Yes, for some people, wearing a helmet looks stupid and will damage their hair style.

It’s cooler without a helmet.

I want to know if you are cooler or dumber after brain damage.

In addition, there are many helmets with beautiful appearance and comfortable wear on the market.

Of course, many good helmets are not cheap, but I believe helmets are not worth your head no matter how expensive they are.

Let others see that you are wearing colorful clothes with reflective stripes, which can greatly improve your recognition in foggy nights, and let other traffic participants see you earlier, which can effectively avoid accidents.

Use the rear warning light at night to better remind the surrounding vehicles.

Studies have shown that flashing warning lights can effectively improve the attention of car drivers to you, and will leave more space for you.

Don’t take risks.

Maybe you are in a hurry, or you are just tired of the speed of electric vehicles and shared bicycles around you, or you just want to rush through the intersection, ride at high speed in a group of vehicles, pass through a small gap between vehicles, and other accidents that are prone to occur should be avoided as far as possible.

If an accident occurs, it will not only delay more time, but also pay other costs.

You know, even if you ride forward slowly, you will be faster than that sports car stuck in the crowd.

Observing traffic regulations seems to be nonsense.

However, many accidents are caused by cyclists’ violation of traffic regulations.

Dangerous behaviors such as running a red light, crossing a line for parking, and driving in the opposite direction often lead to accidents or even tragedies.

Even if the people around you are breaking the rules, you should still obey the traffic rules, because the traffic laws do not exist to impose fines, but to protect every traffic participant, especially the vulnerable groups such as cyclists.

The following are the regulations on non motor vehicles in China’s Road Traffic Safety Law.

In addition, you need to comply with local local regulations.

Article 68 When a non motor vehicle passes through an intersection controlled by traffic lights, it shall pass in accordance with the following provisions: (1) Turning non motor vehicles give priority to passing vehicles and pedestrians; （2） Do not enter the intersection when there is traffic jam at the intersection ahead; （3） When turning left, turn to the right near the intersection center; （4） In case of stop signal, stop outside the stop line at the intersection in turn..