Avoiding the left cross

This post isn’t about pointing the finger of blame. If that is to your taste, you would have been able to find endorsement of that position in many comments on the video below when it was originally posted on YouTube. But I think that you would rather avoid crashes in the first place, so this post is about avoiding crashes.

[As of September 2025, the video, (https://www.youtube.com/embed/LhTUGcC_Hdo), is listed as ‘no longer available’ on YouTube. In case that would happen, I saved a copy locally, and I have posted it as fair-use commentary under copyright law. I do not know who originally posted the video, or I would give author credit.]

The motorist could have prevented this crash. He missed one cue that it was about to happen. The cyclist missed three cues.

Briefly at 0:09 through 0:10 in the video, the car which was about to turn left is visible with its left-turn signal on. The cyclist’s camera saw the car and so the cyclist also could have seen it and the motorist could have seen the cyclist, but neither was looking at/for the other. Following the brief interval when the cyclist and motorist might have noticed each other, a minivan screened the cyclist’s and motorist’s view of one another until too late for either to prevent the collision. The turning car slowed (note increasing gap between it and the SUV ahead of it). The minivan which the cyclist was passing on the right also slowed, leaving a gap for the car to turn left into the driveway. These were additional cues which the cyclist might have heeded.

I don’t know anything about the driver. The cyclist is visible wearing special cycling clothing and shoes with the non-walkable cleats used by racers and some avid road cyclists. The cyclist is also running front and rear cameras. The cyclist clearly has spent real money on cycling equipment and enjoys riding fast.

However, the cyclist is not skilled in defensive driving strategies. So, let’s talk about them as they apply to this incident. How might cyclists and motorists avoid crashes like this?

While it is tempting to maintain speed in a bike lane when motor traffic to the left is slow or stopped, do not expect that the bike lane somehow makes you immune to incidents like this. Do not pass on the right any faster than would allow you to avoid a vehicle or pedestrian crossing in front of the vehicle to your left. If you can safely pass motor vehicles on the left (though not here on this two-lane road), do that instead.

If you are a motorist turning left, keep a lookout for bicyclists passing on the right whenever there is a bike lane, shoulder, sidepath or sidewalk. This requires slowing, even slowing to a crawl if your view is screened by a vehicle.

And: people promoting or designing bicycle infrastructure should not succumb to the illusion that lateral separation of bicyclists and motorists can prevent most bicycle-motor vehicle collisions, because most are crossing and turning collisions.

Another post about a cyclist who did not avoid a left-cross crash

And here’s a post by a cyclist who avoided one.