Use These Ways To Ride Predictably And Avoid A New Haven Bicycle Accident

Earlier this month you may have read about the things you need to avoid to stay safe when you’re riding your bicycle. If you’re following these three things we hope you’ve been able to avoid a New Haven bicycle accident and we wanted to go a little deeper into one of these three things.

One of the things we want you to avoid when riding your bicycle around the city is being unpredictable. In fact, said more simply, you need to ride your bicycle predictably whenever you can so you can make sure while you share the road with other motorized vehicles you are allowing the drivers of those vehicles to see you and steer clear of interaction with you while you’re on your bike. If you can do this well you will be able to remain safe and avoid an accident that could leave you injured or worse.

Being predictable when you are riding your bicycle can be challenging because road conditions are not always predictable and you may not be able to have a clear path to where you are going. With that said, you need to take steps that will make sure you are predictable, even when the conditions aren’t as predictable as you would like. Even things like small changes in street signs, weather changes or the time of day can leave your bike ride unpredictable so in order to stay safe you need to be a steady, predictable force while riding.

There are plenty of things you can do to make sure you are predictable when you are riding. If you follow this post you will be well on your way to being a predictable bicycle rider who is doing everything in her/his power to make sure that you are staying safe.

1.) Maintain a straight line. This can be challenging when road conditions change, but to the best of your ability you will want to make sure you are riding in a straight line. Weaving in and out of traffic is one of the deadliest things you can do while riding a bike. On top of that, just simply being lazy about the line you take while you’re riding and doing a little casual swaying from side to side can make you unpredictable to on-coming traffic and can out you at risk of being struck by a car and becoming injured.

2.) Keep a steady speed. You may be noticing a pattern here that all of the things you will want to do while riding your bicycle require that you are steady and consistent. Your speed is one of the things that you can quite easily control and it will allow those vehicles that are sharing the road with you to make sure they are navigating around you safely. Keeping a steady speed will make you predictable to the traffic that you are sharing the road with.

3.) Follow all traffic rules. One thing that often puts cyclists at risk is that they either don’t know all of the traffic rules or do not follow all of the traffic rules. Drivers of motorized vehicles are expecting that everyone who is on the road and sharing the road with them will be following all of the agreed upon traffic rules that are supposed to be followed. This is because when these rules are not followed people may get hurt or even worse, killed. When the rules aren’t followed by those who are driving motorized vehicles you’ve seen the damage this can cause, imagine the damage that could come out of an accident involving a bicycle rider who was not following all of the traffic rules.

Staying predictable is one for the best things you can do to avoid a New Haven bicycle accident and reduce your risk of injury or death while you’re riding a bike. Start with the above steps to keep yourself predictable and you will be putting yourself in a much safer place then if you don’t follow these steps. While it may be difficult to be predictable all of the time, given that road conditions are not always predictable, it is important that you do your best to make sure you are putting yourself in the best position to be free from incident.

If you do get injured in an accident you may need to speak with an experienced attorney who can review your situation and work with you to protect your long-term interests. Contact our office and one of our attorneys will speak with you and learn more about what happened in your situation.