BIKE: Re: "didn't hear (or see) the car coming"

[Don]

Speaking as a mostly deaf,(in all directions) mirrors are definitely a plus 
for road riding. I agree the helmet mirrors are sometimes difficult to get 
used to, and the constant refocusing is a problem, but it's better then 
nothing.  Take care, Don Holder.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Librik or Babich" <mlibrik>
To: "bike" <forum>
Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2005 8:14 AM
Subject: BIKE: "didn't hear (or see) the car coming"


> Lane Wimberley wrote:
>
>> Jay related how he didn't hear
>> the car coming and only realized something was wrong when everything
>> went slow motion as he was flying through the air."
>
> Patrick Goetz wrote:
>
>> I can no longer hear cars coming up
>> behind me since I've started wearing a helmet  It's quite unsettling to
>> be biking down a quiet rural road and suddenly have a giant, noisy
>> pickup blast by completely unanticipated.
>
> Yakkity yak yak properly positioned and non-vibrating mirrors yakkity yak 
> yak
> yakkity.
>
> And just to one-up Goetz in the business of making inflammatory statements 
> that
> will upset most of the list:
>
> . . . If you consider it difficult or impossible to mount properly 
> positioned and
> non-vibrating mirrors on your bike, due its design, maybe that design is
> essentially flawed for use in traffic. Perhaps we should attempt a bit of
> self-criticism about how well we are prepared by our equipment to meet the 
> actual
> challenges of traffic on the public roads. Bicyclists seem to be the only 
> users
> who do not have at least two mirrors, and we are always so worried about 
> what is
> coming up behind us.
>
> I realize that helmet mirrors are an alternative if the arrangement of the 
> bike
> design does not readily permit mirrors, but just how easy is it to 
> re-focus on a
> mirror that close to the head at a frequency necessary to stay abreast of 
> the
> situation to one's rear (like once every 5-10 seconds)? Someone else can 
> likely
> set me straight on this. I tried using a helmet mirror but I kept getting 
> headache
> from the constant heaving about of my optic muscles. Anyway, if such 
> mirrors
> really did the trick, we would not be reading about how these cars keep 
> sneaking
> up on cyclists.
>
> The first question any driver should ask whenever anything unpleasant 
> happens in
> traffic is: "What could I have done to help prevent this?" or "What did I 
> fail to
> do that allowed this to happen?"
>
> --
> Mike Librik, LCI #929
> Easy Street Recumbents
> 512-453-0438
> 45th and Red River St., thereabouts
> Central Austin
> info
> www.easystreetrecumbents.com
> www.urbancycling.com
>
> "Is it about a bicycle?"
>
>
>
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