User:ItalianRake/Left hook

Left Hook

Left hook is one of the myriad types ways in which a person riding a bicycle can collide with a motor vehicle.

There two kinds of left hooks, one where one faces the traffic and one where the gets rear ended while attempting to make a left turn while riding in the middle of the lane, where a car will.

Legal issues
Although it is often legal to make a left turn, often police will ticket cyclists anyway. Thus, riding in the lane or "vehicularly" comes with both a legal and a physical risk.

Incidence
"12%" of collisions are from left hooks.

For reference, 11% of collisions are right hooks while 7% of collisions are due to getting hit by a door. The danger to getting hooked by a left turning motorists is second to and almost as dangerous as wrong way riding (14% of collisions).

Avoidance
In many countries, they suggest not mixing with traffic which avoids this problem almost completely. Other places will accomodate a cyclist making a left turn with a separate light phase this safety improvement which prevents collisions in intersections is part of segregated cycling facilities. Another way of avoiding this problem is to hit the "beg button" and to cross the street like a pedestrian.



"The ideal implementation for left turns of course comes from the Dutch. Some Dutch cities have physical separation between motorists and bicyclists even for left turns to avoid any possible conflict between the two."