
Close Call Database for Cycling - thanatosmin
http://closecalldatabase.com
======
eiopa
SF resident here. I've had quite a few close calls, and the same holds true
for many of my friends who bike.

These typically happened on these "shared bike lanes" \- it's where the city
takes the right-most car lane, draws a bike sign on it, and tell cars and
bicyclists to "get along" (since cars are still allowed full use of it).

This, of course, doesn't work. Cars are much faster than bikes, and asking
these two vastly different transportation methods to share a lane is nuts.
Should the cars just drive 6mph? Should they go around, try to merge and hope
they don't misgauge the distance?

The problem here is that the city didn't put any real thought into the bikes
lanes, and the result is a terrible and incredibly dangerous system.

Personally, I've given up on bike lanes in many areas of the city. It's simply
not safe.

~~~
natch
I'm astonished at how ignorant otherwise intelligent bicyclists often are of
the rule common in most US states that they can and should take the traffic
lane (and should take the center of the lane to block cars from edging around
to their left) when they are stopped at a red light where there is a shared
right turn/bike lane.

I often see bikers who have helmets, lights, visibility vests, etc., all signs
of being clear thinking riders, parking themselves squat in the middle of the
shared turn lane at a red, when they should be in the main stream of traffic
for the duration of the wait (in fact the recommendation is to ride with
traffic if your speed matches it, absent bike lanes).

When the light turns green, cars are stationary, and bikes accelerate plenty
fast in the first few seconds. One or two turns of the pedal gets you over
back into the right side, and onward into the continuing bike lane as you
cross the street. This can happen in a couple of seconds without significantly
slowing down any cars (unless it's a Tesla P85D, maybe).

Joining the main stream of traffic in front of a car at a red light (assuming
you beat that car to the red) may miff some ignorant drivers (ignorance all
around, right?) but they'll be pleasantly surprised that you are out of their
way in no time when the light turns green. Obviously this doesn't apply if
you're a super slow rider... in which case, people just need to be patient for
a few seconds. The point is, if you are blocking a shared right turn lane, you
are doing it wrong.

~~~
woah
Do you even bike? I don't want to cross over a lane of traffic right out of an
intersection. That sounds like the most dangerous thing I could do. I'll
happily sit in the turn lane during a red light. If someone wants to turn,
they can wait to till it's green. I'm not going to risk my life so that
someone can get to their destination 1.5 seconds sooner. If someone has an
issue, they can get out of their car and confront me about it.

Ultimately, this is the fault of whoever planned the streets so badly.

~~~
jacobolus
What? No one said anything about “crossing over a lane of traffic”. You start
in front of the cars in the regular go-straight lane, and then when the light
turns green, you ride straight across the intersection. If there’s a bike lane
on the other side of the intersection, you aim for the bike lane.

This is safer for everyone involved than your suggestion of parking your bike
in the turn lane.

------
stegosaurus
Bicycle lanes, at least in my experience in the UK, are almost universally
pointless (lanes and tracks through parks are generally OK.)

Riding on the road is always safer, because the highway code actually applies
there. You just become a slow car, you have right of way at roundabouts etc.
Be considerate and pull to the left when you can. Sorted.

On roads that are too narrow to cycle without completely blocking traffic I
generally use the footpath at slow speeds (e.g. 6-8mph, just rolling along).

On super fast roads (limit 50 and above) generally unless it's late at night
and quiet I would just try to find an alternative route.

I don't think anything needs to happen other than more drivers cycling and
more cyclists driving, to enable empathy. Everything else is just fluff.

~~~
ArkyBeagle
This just sounds sort of hopeless.

I don't bike anymore ( got rid of my last bike during a move ). I certainly
wasn't comfortable in high density mixed USA suburban traffic.

The cognitive load on drivers for just motorcycles is pretty high. Bicycles
make it even more complex.

From just watching what people do in cars with other cars, I am skeptical that
even rudimentary driving safety is widely understood. Turn signals are rarely
used, nobody preserves their intervals and people form patterns in traffic
they can't recover from.

~~~
stegosaurus
You're probably right!

I haven't been to the US, but my stereotypical picture is wide, sweeping grid
like roads, which result in drivers going fast.

The UK isn't really like that especially in metro areas. In London the highway
code plays second fiddle to a general 'be alert all the time and be courteous'
type system.

I think that cycling properly (not just at the side forever) on roads where
drivers aim to be hitting 40mph constantly is a dream, really. Too high a
speed difference.

In inner London, though, likely you will be cycling 10-20mph while cars drive
at 20-30mph. Is that not the case in NYC for example? Are your roads just too
straight and easy to use so drivers gun it? (It's well known that narrow roads
result in unconscious slowing).

~~~
ArkyBeagle
I don't know about NYC. (Downtown) Montreal seems to be a great place to use a
bike, though.

There's no way the law has more bandwidth than "stay alert all the time".

I still encounter the odd cyclist who doesn't take care to stay out of my
blind spot. Very unnerving.

------
eezis
Hi all, I am the cyclist/coder behind the site. It's clearly not "the
solution" but I think it's an important part of it. If you do ride, I
encourage you to sign up, the site becomes more effective as the network
grows. I am also exploring a couple partnerships that should make the site
more effective this summer. Appreciate the support. Thanks.

~~~
tucosan
This is a great project idea. Riding in Berlin I experience close calls on
almost a daily basis. Networking with other riders could be a very empowering
tool in an environment that many times makes you feel helpless and without
proper means of recourse.

@eezis, there is no means of contacting you on your site! Wouldn't it make
sense to supply email/twitter info so people can get in touch? Also, I held
off signing up, since it was unclear to me what I can expect once I signed up
to your site. I.e. what would a database entry look like? Clicking on an
incident on the map only gives me the date of the incident and no further
info.

~~~
eezis
Good point about a sample report. I just modified the code to show one. More
data is collected than presented, these sections are published:
[http://closecalldatabase.com/incident/show/CO-141108-001/](http://closecalldatabase.com/incident/show/CO-141108-001/)

When I review a report, I almost always zoom in on the map, then use the
"streetview" feature to get a feel for the context (road width, presence of
bike lanes, speed limits, line of sight visibility, general road conditions,
etc). That helps me to get a better understanding of what the driver and the
cyclist/s were experiencing when the incident occurred.

Regarding the contact info, unregistered users can access it from the
login/register drop down:
[http://closecalldatabase.com/contact-u](http://closecalldatabase.com/contact-u)

Registered users can access it via their account drop down or from the FAQ:
[http://closecalldatabase.com/contact-r/](http://closecalldatabase.com/contact-r/)

I might make the FAQ available to non-registered users . . . but in general,
cyclists seem to "get it" or they don't. At this stage of development, I'm not
really looking to "sell" the idea to fence-sitters, I want the core of the
community built around experienced cyclists that have balanced perspective on
what's happening out there on the roads.

Regarding social media, I have been reticent to engage for several reasons but
now realize I probably have to . So I have started to include some of that
information in the email notifications. And I am cleverly "hidden" at @eezis
and @closecalldb and Kennett Peterson volunteers to keep a FaceBook page (and
you might wish to follow his blog:
[https://kennettron.wordpress.com/2014/10/18/adelaide/](https://kennettron.wordpress.com/2014/10/18/adelaide/)).

If you ride, you can find me on Strava as well.

~~~
tucosan
Thank you @eezis for linking to Kennetts blogpost. What a painfully sad story.
Lets hope that Adelaide recovers completely and the driver won't be allowed
behind another steering wheel.

Just yesterday afternoon I had another reckless driver deliberately drive up
close to a few centimeters behind my rear wheel because he saw me as an
obstacle. This was just 30 Meters away from a red light. The argument through
the driver window, as always in situations like this, lead nowhere. People
like this know, that there will be no consequences to their behaviour, so they
keep on risking other peoples lives...

You might be interested in the german project
[http://wegeheld.org](http://wegeheld.org), which mainly focuses on
documenting parking offences. Sadly the interface of the app is not there yet.

Being able to use a phone to document and upload an incident report complete
with pictures/videos and GPS location and GPS track info would be a great plus
to any such app. Also being able to warn other cyclists of reckless drivers in
a specific area or of an ongoing incident might be helpful (i.e. if witnesses
are needed).

------
chrisra
Responsive web design tip: make sure your map doesn't take up full height or
width of the screen. Scrolling in that area becomes difficult.

------
mattip
Why only for cyclists? Why not collect data from multiple sources: reports
from pedestrians, driver, security cameras facing intersections...

------
danieltillett
Anyone who rides a bicycle in heavy traffic is far braver than me.

------
irixusr
And when the cyclists don't obey the rules? Can we have a database for that
too? Wait they don't have tags

Legally bikes have to stop at red lights, but in my experience the opposite is
the norm: quick glance to make sure no one is coming, and dash across multiple
lanes to turn left on red.

Wanna bike on the roads? Great! I do too. We can turn all city roads one way,
making room for nice thick bike lanes. But! Get tagged like every other road
vehicle so we can report on problem cyclists.

~~~
Zigurd
How about after the first time a cyclist kills a driver in a collision?

~~~
irixusr
How about if they hit a pedestrian? Here's a fun example from a cycling
magazine:

[http://road.cc/content/news/89218-us-cyclist-who-killed-
pede...](http://road.cc/content/news/89218-us-cyclist-who-killed-pedestrian-
guilty-vehicular-manslaughter-escapes-jail)

(full disclosure, I walk or bike to work.)

No one pretends that drivers don't recklessly open doors endangering cyclists'
lives. Or cut them off. Or engage in other dangerous behavior affecting ppl w/
bikes. It's tragic. But why do we have to pretend that the converse is not
true? That cyclists' behavior is also often dangerous to themselves or others
(i.e. pedestrians)!

We don't let pedestrians J-walk. We don't let cars run red lights. Why do two
wheels get a free pass?

Everyone (I hope) tries to avoid cyclists. It's a human life; no nitpicking
about rules and who is at fault changes the sacrosanct value of a human life.
But a bike is not carte-blanche to do whatever you want.

~~~
Zigurd
Sorry, but I'll be leading the crusade against falling air conditioners first.
[http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2011/07/air_condi...](http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2011/07/air_conditioners_fall_nyc.php)

~~~
irixusr
Why? Are they more frequent? Anyway, how frequent it is, is irrelevant.
Cyclists can and do cause fatalities ( _sometimes_ their own). To mitigate
this they should follow the rules.

There are rules of the road for everyone's safety. I obey them when I walk,
bike and drive. If we're going to go Stasi on drivers, let's go Stasi on
everyone.

~~~
Zigurd
> _If we 're going to go Stasi on drivers, let's go Stasi on everyone._

That is, on the face of it, a ridiculous position. Cars, and only cars, are
what matters in road safety. Everything else is less important than obscure
threats like falling air conditioners.

What you are really saying is "Lets give cops the tools to harass cyclists"
Fuck that. You're driving a deadly tool. If you kill someone with it, it
should ruin your life. If you don't like that, wait until cars can be made
safe for everyone around them.

~~~
irixusr
"Cars, and only cars, are what matters in road safety."

If you believe that, you don't have a toddler. I don't either (yet), but I do
remember running around the streets of BsAs like an idiot with my freaked out
mother screaming, chasing after me as I dodged, ironically enough, an
ambulance.

Cars matter the most. Agreed. But let's not exaggerate, eh?

