‘The bicyclist didn’t even look until he heard our car skidding’: Roadshow

Q: It is truly amazing that so many people are so totally unaware of the dangers of not paying attention to traffic, especially at night.

The other night when we were in the car and my wife was driving, she had to slam on the brakes and came within inches, literally, of hitting a man on a bicycle on The Alameda.

That section of The Alameda is dark, and the cyclist was wearing dark clothing, no helmet, and had no light or reflectors on his bike. He appeared suddenly, out of nowhere, from the left side of the street, and was riding very fast, crossing the street. He didn’t even look, until he heard the tires on our car skidding.

Thank God for my wife’s quick reaction. Had there been an accident at our speed of 40 mph, it could have been fatal for the bicyclist.

Chuck Dougherty, San Jose

A: Here’s some disconcerting news about night driving, which is especially consequential for pedestrians and bicyclists: Pedestrian deaths have soared nearly 80 percent since their lowest level in 2009, with three-quarters of these deaths occurring at night.

While autobrakes are generally effective in preventing crashes, recent research shows that this technology isn’t as effective in dark conditions. An important part of the problem is that many vehicles tested did not have headlights that detected pedestrians in time to prevent a crash.

To address the high percentage of pedestrian crashes that occur on dark roads, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety recently started a nighttime test of pedestrian automatic emergency braking (AEB) systems.