Part 198 - One Rule That Will Keep You Alive On City Streets... (",)

One Rule That Will Keep You Alive
On City Streets

Of all the things that we learn being out on the streets with our bikes, one stands out as the all time life-saver in my book.

• If you can avoid it, never enter an intersection without another vehicle on your right side.

(It should be noted that this advice assumes you ride in a country where people drive on the right side of the road.)

If you have to slow down in order to let a vehicle catch up with you on the right side, or if you have to increase speed a little so that you catch up with another vehicle, having one on your right side is as safe as it gets for entering an intersection.

Obviously this also means that if you are stopped at a traffic light and it turns green, you enter the intersection when the vehicle on your right does - no jack rabbit jumps if you want to live.

Too tame? Could be, but this rider likes it that way. In fact, I'd rather that the vehicle on my right was a bus or even an 18-wheeler.

By the way, it is safer that the vehicle be on your right than on the left. The closer you can be to the center of the intersection when you go through it, the more air there is (on average) between you and somebody that comes at you from either side. This is just another way of saying that if you have to enter the intersection by yourself, do it in the left most lane.

Source --> http://www.msgroup.org/