Forgive me if it's been posted before. I just spotted the link when I followed the link to the article written about Richard and Julia.
Considering how many posts there have been lately about "evil cars and their no respect for bikes"...some written by me, I found the attitude portrayed by Greg Bennett in this article to be interesting.
I like this article and I agree with him. I haven't been tri-ing long, but I am sympathetic to both sides. I almost hit a guy on a bike on Tuesday. He was a casual rider, wasn't wearing a helmet, and I didn't see him to my right as I went to turn right at a stop sign. Fortunately I saw him practically riding into my car right as I turned so I made as big an arc as I could. I just missed him and he didn't seem too alarmed, but it shook me up for a bit after that. I think we both could have done better in that situation but I saw firsthand how easy it was to miss seeing someone on a bike.
I've been getting "buzzed" by a lot of cars lately, and I'm doing my best to stay as far to the right as is safely possible. Oddly enough many of these cars also honk at me, even though there aren't any other cars on the road, as if I need to move into the grass.
The most common car/bike accident is a left hook. The second most is the right hook (which the article describes.) Getting rear ended only accounts for 3% of car/bike accidents. Those jerks buzzing you probably see you clearly. Just be aware that they may be zooming ahead of you to make a right turn and avoid waiting for you to pass. That seems to happen to me a lot.