Santa Rosa CityBus and Paratransit agencies just hired Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition to develop and deliver training to all their drivers on “Best Practices for Driving Around Bicycles.”  I drove a bus in Seattle for King County Metro while writing my doctoral dissertation, so it was a fun assignment for me. The trainings were  completed this month with a nod to Bike to Work Month, and we hope to take the show on the road to more bus agencies and other professional drivers in the future. 

I always feel safer riding near professional drivers than private motorists. Even though they are usually in much larger vehicles, their standard of care is greater and the consequences of a mistake make them more attentive. Professional drivers are judged on the factor of “Preventability” and not “Fault”.  

My main message for the drivers was that they can use the presence of bicyclists on the roads as a means to make themselves better drivers. By always working to see bicyclists, a driver is elevating the level of attentiveness with which they are practicing their craft. Take the TfL Awareness Test to get an idea of what I’m talking about: https://youtu.be/xNSgmm9FX2s 

A power hierarchy on the streets affords the greatest respect to tractor trailers and the least to the pedestrian.  But in some ways people on bicycles are both more exposed and more vulnerable than pedestrians. To become the best drivers we can be, we must not wield the power in our hands. We must instead drive empathically toward vulnerable road users. You can achieve this by driving with your attention on high alert for the least visible people (those on foot or on bike) and giving them plenty of space. Our greatest desire should be to never hit anyone, and to exercise sufficient attentive that we can avoid people who are dressed in all black, at night, crossing the street outside crosswalks.

As bicyclists, we do best by ourselves when we are highly visible and friendly to motorists. I usually lead rides from the rear. My conduct at the rear of a ride helps to put the driver in a good frame of mind when they encounter my SRCC club mates riding ahead of me. People who ride with me will notice me giving a friendly wave to almost every driver who passes. Though I ride further left than most of you due to my training (something I’ll write about in a future post), I also show consideration by moving rightward when the driver is nearing.

As a driver, you should be aware of the three most frequent ways drivers inflict injuries upon bicyclists:  the right hook (turning right without yielding to a bicycle traveling in your blind spot), the left hook (crossing the path of an oncoming cyclist), and the drive out crash (where the driver is distracted by other activity on the roadway and doesn’t see the cyclist).  Each of these crashes are made more likely when there are other motor vehicles in the environment competing for your attention as a driver. 

Patience is your super power as a driver. Each of us should be grateful that we are driving in a multi-modal environment. The presence of pedestrians and bicyclists are what make towns vibrant, vital, and worth visiting. 

California enacted the 3-foot passing law about ten years ago. Unless a travel lane is wide—say 14’ wide—it is really not possible to pass a bicycle legally without crossing the lane divider or centerline. This past year, California added a stipulation in the passing law that now requires drivers to execute a complete lane change to pass a cyclist when the lane is too narrow to share. Sometimes, it is simply necessary to wait to make a successful pass, even if that requires you to drive at 10 mph for a bit.

With eBikes and a myriad of new devices including scooters and electric unicycles, drivers are no longer simply sharing the street with road bikes. There include much slower and much faster users than we might expect based upon past experience with bicyclists. A driver needs to exert much more attention to understand what is going on in this new environment. Some of the bike-like road users may be able to overtake you even though they are using the bike lane.

My bottom line message is that driving should no longer be something you view as easy and effortless.  Instead driving is should be something that brings out your most conscientious, empathetic and patient self.