With all and total respect for all who posted above, you will go down ONLY under one of two reasons:
1. You had a mechanical failure (trans locks up, tire blows etc. Not much you can do with that one except keep your equipment up on maintenance and ride only with excellent tires.)
2. You aren't paying attention.
How do you think some truck drivers get to the 'million mile' mark (accident free)?
To the guy who got rear-ended on his bike: Why weren't you watching traffic behind you? You failed to give yourself an escape route and you weren't paying attention. You can argue, but it's fact. That #2 reason will get the vast majority of riders into accidents.
That was me that posted about being rear ended.... perhaps I could've done something different/better. FYI, it wasn't a panic stop or anything, I did see what was about to happen, was primarily trying to avoid the large fire truck going throught the red (which I succeeded at <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> )
Where you're wrong is thinking that if you're vigilent and defensive that you'll be able to avoid all trouble. That's "superman" type thinking. Sure, you'll increase your odds (by a lot), but you can't compensate for all the stupidity that can happen on the roads. That's why you wear the gear right?
Another example, a middle aged couple from the neighbourhood was riding double on a bike, going to a movie downtown one evening 2 summers ago. Were just cruisin' along, going straight through a stale green light, and got T-boned by a teenager in a car that just plain drove through the dead red light. No DUI, no overly excessive speed. With the buildings around, you just can't see anything around the corner until you're entering the intersection. I doubt there was much they could've done different. BTW, they were both wearing helmets and were 2 DOA's (and 2 orphaned kids).
Like I said before, I like bikes and miss mine... if it wasn't for the traffic, they'd be great.
