How to convince others of trike safety

[HMS_Dave]

I think it's fair to say, if you're hit at speed on any bicycle that it isn't going to end well. The recumbent rider is likely to be more comfortable is all...

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

I presume a recumbent also often reduces the distance you would fall if you came off???

 

[Scoosh]

Very early on my 'bent riding days, a car did knock me off.
I was stationary about to turn right, he was turning across from my left, slightly cut the corner, "couldn't see because of the low sun" (though he still drove on - go figure ) and he responded to my shout by gently knocking me off on to my right side. I just rolled off and no harm done - to me or him, though he was more shocked than was I - I'd seen him coming, he hadn't seen anything !!

Regarding flags - Mine is quite high and is not for the car behind me. It's for the guy behind the car behind me, who may be wondering why this idiot car-driver is going so slowly. The flag explains ... . ... if he's actually looking...

 

[classic33]

I've a Brox, ridden through Manchester city centre on the day it was bought, truly a novelty to most folk as room was left all round.

I've ridden in Leeds city centre with no problems(aside from the fact it's too wide for the cycle lanes).

 

[derrick]

I do wonder if there where the same amount of recumbents on the road, as there are normal bikes, what the accident statistics would be. Between the two.

 

[Tigerbiten]

Recumbent trike rider here.
A trike rides wider than a bike on a road.
If I have my left wheel where a bikes wheel would be then my centreline is inline with the ends of the bikes handlebar and my right wheel is another 18" further out.
Therefor anything overtaking me has to move further out.
This make it less likely for a car to try and stay on a straight line to just squeeze past and more likely to move over to try and overtake properly.
Once they start to move over then you tend to get more room.

If they are so safe, Why are there not more people using them?

The bike racing industries have pushed the development of all bikes.
But the UCI banned recumbents from racing in 1930.
This stopped almost all development in recumbents and they dropped from general consciousness for +50 years until after the internet started to make it easy to find obscure knowledge.
Now the development of recumbent has started up, they have started to become more widely known.
But the entrenched cycling community still tends to look down on us ............

Luck ...........

 

[DRHysted]

I have managed to crash my recumbent trike. Commuting to work early in the dark came round a bend an a shared use path to find a tree across 3/4 of the path. Swerved hard whilst braking hard (going downhill so a lot of speed to lose), but couldn’t get slow enough or far enough to the left. My right front wheel clipped the tree at 17mph, the bent flipped on its side whilst rotating 180 degrees and spat me out backwards. The damage? A few scratches on the grip of the bent, a bruised elbow, and my jersey was torn from the shoulder down (I had an undershirt on so no gravel rash).
imagine what the damage would’ve been if I’d hit the tree on one of my “normal” bike!

 

[Attheback]

Thanks for all the replies, I'll be passing them round the family as part of my effort to reassure them

 

[classic33]

The bike racing industries have pushed the development of all bikes.
But the UCI banned recumbents from racing in 1930.
This stopped almost all development in recumbents and they dropped from general consciousness for +50 years until after the internet started to make it easy to find obscure knowledge.
Now the development of recumbent has started up, they have started to become more widely known.
But the entrenched cycling community still tends to look down on us ............

Luck ...........

"At the 58th Congress of the UCI on February 3, 1934."
From
https://bikeroute.com/NationalBicyc...bent-why-its-faster-how-it-came-to-be-banned/

 

[cwskas]

I ride my Catrike Expedition quite a lot. As with driving, walking or 2 wheel transportation the most important thing is to proceed defensively, I will be 69 this month and have ridden on the shoulder of 4 lane roads in a busy city and on dedicated shared use trails. But most of my time is spent on rural two lane roads with little or no shoulder. I find vehicle drivers to be very friendly almost all of the time and as of yet have not had to bail off the side of the road, but I try to always 'leave myself an out'.

I have a very good light on the front and rear and keep them on all the time. I carry fully charged spares of each as well. I also use a flag and have two mirrors which I use extensively.

I enjoy rides by myself but prefer to ride with another cyclist. I have always had someone stop to ask if I need help on the rare occasions I needed to fix a flat or other problem.

 

[simongt]

no way anyone was failing to spot that bike/trike

When I was rear ended riding a regular bike, it was broad daylight and I was wearing a hi-viz yellow long sleeve top and had a yellow bash hat on, 'fraid I don't altogether hold with bright colours / lights means that you will always be noticed.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

When I was rear ended riding a regular bike, it was broad daylight and I was wearing a hi-viz yellow long sleeve top and had a yellow bash hat on, 'fraid I don't altogether hold with bright colours / lights means that you will always be noticed.

Fair point - I used to know a blind bloke who liked cycling
He was always looking for volunteers to go on the front of his tandem
but what he really wanted was someone to go on the back and guide him by shouting - he was a nutter by the way

I would trust him driving before I would trust some people I see on the road - especially yesterday - to celebrate my birthday 2 people nearly hit me by pulling into my lane suddenly without - apparently - looking.
and I was in a bright red car with my lights on in broad daylight
so it is no wonder people get hit on bikes in spite of hi-vis, lights and - in some cases - flags

maybe a marching band would help?????

 

[byegad]

I've been riding 'bents since 2005 and only recumbent trikes since 2008.hkl

Drivers give me far more room than I ever got on an upright bike.
I am often told that I'm hard to see, 'down there'. Usually by upright riders who've never ridden a 'bent.

But many thousands of miles ridden 'down there' have taught me that I'm more visible and get more consideration than on any upright. There's a perception that I'm disabled, I'm not. Maybe drivers seeing me on the road think how it would look in court having run into a cripple?

As to visibility at low level I assume that councils spend a fortune painting 1/4" high white and yellow lines on the road because they feel it can be seen.
I use a flag so that, in traffic, THE CAR BEHIND THE CAR BEHIND ME can see that I'm there. As as been said above.

 

[a.twiddler]

When I was rear ended riding a regular bike, it was broad daylight and I was wearing a hi-viz yellow long sleeve top and had a yellow bash hat on, 'fraid I don't altogether hold with bright colours / lights means that you will always be noticed.

The expectation that all "vulnerable" road users should wear high viz and be lit up in daylight feeds into the victim blaming mentality where its somehow your fault for being run down, not the responsibility of the driver of the larger, heavier, faster vehicle to be able to stop in the distance they can see to be clear, to have consideration for other road users, and to look where they are bl**dy going.

As a long time motorcyclist I have seen years of arguments as whether you should ride with your lights on in daylight, wear high viz etc and at one time it could be said that it "might" make a difference. Now that all new vehicles have permanent driving lights you lose any advantage because you blend into the sea of lights and it's a bit of an arms race because even low output lights are getting brighter. It used to be said that you should assume that you put on a cloak of invisibility when you get on your motor bike, and ride accordingly. It's a psychological thing. Car drivers are programmed to look for car sized objects particularly in our car centric culture and anything smaller can be overlooked particularly in a quick scan at a junction. As a general rule you have to ride defensively which for a new cyclist who has been used to driving a car takes time to learn. Car drivers take for granted limited vision due to thick safety pillars particularly in modern cars.

It came as a shock to me after motorcycling and cycling for years how many blind spots there were in a car once I learned to drive in 1980, even with the skinny pillars and thin doors which cars had then.

When mixing it with car drivers who mostly have no experience of other vehicles, it is useful to bear in mind that they can't hit you if you're not there, and to constantly be thinking "what if?" and to assume that they are most likely idiots. Keeping a lookout for an escape route is also good. The experience of @simongt shows that even this can't prevent the unexpected happening. This topic could develop into a thread of its own.

The "differentness" of a recumbent bike or trike (or even an upright trike) or trailer is enough to make most other road users give you a wide berth and so increase your safety (real or perceived) compared to an upright but doesn't change the laws of physics if it comes to the crunch. By all means get lit up, reflect away to your heart's content, fluoresce, wear a helmet, carry a St Christopher medallion, lucky rabbit's foot (not so lucky for the rabbit) your favourite underpants or whatever, all optional. I would like to fly a flag, but in my area the possibility of being trampled by a panic stricken horse outweighs the benefits.

Just remember that the biggest aid to safety is between your ears and that despite what people seem to believe, cycling is not inherently dangerous!

 

[Scoosh]

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ------------------- ^ ^ ^ ^
Now that is an excellent summation !
Thank you, @a.twiddler