Safety Spotlight: When Is Helping Not Helping?
When riding in groups on two-lane country roads (i.e., one lane in each direction) and traffic backs up, we might be tempted to wave and signal cars behind us to pass when it appears to be safe for them to pass. Our club used to do this, and some clubs and even solo riders still do. Seems like a courteous thing to do, right? Well maybe, but in my view, we exercised good judgment when we got away from the practice. What if we miss something, or maybe the situation changes because the passing driver is a little slow to take advantage of the small break in oncoming traffic? In the event of a head-on collision or someone running into a ditch, the driver may say, “Well, the bike rider told me it was safe.” I think it is better that we let the driver decide when it is safe to pass. That said, we absolutely should wave a car down when it is not safe to pass! ✎
Likewise, we used to have our lead riders call out “Clear!” when it appeared there was no cross traffic. Again, that seems like maybe the courteous thing to do so that riders toward the rear of the group wouldn’t have to check for cross traffic. They could just bomb on through. Well, we used to do that, and some clubs still do. But again, what if the lead rider missed something (a distant car is going much faster than it appeared to be going) or the situation changes (a car suddenly pulls out of a parking space)? As a club, our policy is that each rider is responsible for getting him/her-self across the intersection. For sure, we call out all potential hazards! We may call out “Car left!” when an approaching car three blocks away is going slower than we thought and turns out not to be a hazard, but what is the cost? Just a few lost seconds as each rider slows down to look left to be sure it’s safe to cross. On the other hand, if a rider calls out “Clear” when it really isn’t, well, I don’t want to think about that cost.
Dave McQuery, Membership Secretary