1 min video · safe-or-risky quiz
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Day 100: Delivery scooter blind turns. Build muscle memory for one specific street scenario. Week 15 of the year-long curriculum. Here are the rules for this one. Try this one as a thought experiment: an Upper East Side avenue under construction. The habit you're building is this. Delivery scooters often cut across crosswalks, hop curbs, and run reds to make drop times. Expect them where you don't expect bikes. Practice it a few times and it becomes automatic. Three things to do. Do 1: Scan the sidewalk behind you near restaurant clusters. Do 2: Watch for scooters cutting from the bike lane onto the sidewalk. Do 3: Pause at corners with active delivery activity. Three things to avoid. Avoid 1: Stepping off without checking the sidewalk-to-street transition. Avoid 2: Walking through a restaurant's pickup curb without scanning. Avoid 3: Trusting a red light to stop a scooter on a tight delivery clock. Why this matters: Delivery scooters operate on a different incentive structure than other cyclists — speed beats compliance, and the crosswalk pays the cost. Risky move: Crossing in front of a stopped school bus that still has its stop arm out. Kids are crossing or about to cross. Wait for the arm to retract. Safe move: Holding kids' hands and keeping them on the inside of the sidewalk. Puts an adult between them and the curb — the simplest, strongest protection. Risky move: Walking out from behind a tall SUV without leaning to look first. Drivers in the next lane can't see you and you can't see them — a classic blind-pull collision. Safe move: Stopping at the painted edge of a bike lane and looking left first. Exactly the routine that prevents the most common bike-lane collisions. Risky move: Crossing a one-way street while only looking the way cars come. Cyclists, scooters, and wrong-way drivers come from the other side too. Safe move: Carrying or wearing something reflective on a dark walk home. Reflective gear can double or triple the distance at which drivers see you. Risky move: Walking next to a truck that has its right turn signal on. Truck right turns are the deadliest interaction for pedestrians. Stop and let it pass. Safe move: Walking on the building side of the sidewalk on a rainy day. Puts more distance between you and splashing or sliding vehicles. Risky move: Crossing while a delivery e-bike is approaching at speed. E-bikes are faster and quieter than they look. Let them pass first. Safe move: Stepping back from the platform edge as the train pulls in. Gives you margin against sway, wind, and accidental bumps. Risky move: Darting out from between two parked vans. Drivers cannot see you and you cannot see them. Classic dart-out collision. Safe move: Waiting a full beat after the light changes before stepping off. Late-runners and last-second turners clear the box in that beat. Risky move: Standing at the edge of the platform with toes over the yellow strip. A bump or a gust from an approaching train can pull you forward. Stay behind the tactile strip. Safe move: Pausing before a turning SUV until the driver makes eye contact. Confirming the driver sees you is the single best habit at a corner. Risky move: Hopping off the curb to wave down a cab in a moving lane. Drivers behind the cab won't expect a pedestrian in the lane. Wait at the curb. Safe move: Looking both ways on a one-way street every single time. Covers the wrong-way cyclist, scooter, or driver you did not plan for. Risky move: Trusting a turn signal as a promise the driver will yield. A blinker shows intent, not yielding. Wait until the vehicle actually slows. Safe move: Using the push button at intersections that have one. It often extends the walk phase — more time to finish the crossing safely. Risky move: Sprinting across on a solid red hand because traffic looks clear. Turning vehicles and e-bikes appear fast. The signal protects you from things you cannot see. Risky move: Crossing diagonally through an intersection to save time. Diagonal crossings double your exposure to turning vehicles from every direction. Watch the clip, then decide which of these reads is the safer call for delivery scooter blind turns.
Crossing in front of a stopped school bus that still has its stop arm out.
Is this safe or risky?