stay alert while riding
This is clearly your best protection.
Yes to helmets and using your brain at the very least
There's all sorts of things you can't possibly know, or control... The pot-hole filled with slush, or even just rain water... Black ice... I rolled into the parking lot at work all confident... The roads were fine, and as I crossed the center of the lot on my brand new bike, the bike disappeared out from under me...Fortunately I landed on my feet which slid and I went down easy... the next time a few weeks later though I wasn't that lucky and I went down hard, knocked the wind out of me but my helmet hit the pavement rather than my head, so that saved me.
Another time riding trails I hit a tree. another time riding the slushy shoulder of a busy road in the winter, I got too close to the gutter they built into the pavement, and with a car right behind me, my bike went out from under me... fortunately the driver was being cautious, and held back traffic while I caught my breath and got myself back up.
Another time returning home late at night at the end of a multi-day cycling trip, I turned into this gravel path that is part of a local bike route, not realizing that strips had been washed out since the previous time using it, I had made my turn at speed, hit the first wash-out, recovered, hit the second washout which aimed a different direction, and lost it when my bars were ripped from my hand... the bike flipped over me and landed on top of me. I lay there in the resulting silence while my brain sorted things out then slowly got up and set about trying to figure out if my bike was still road-worthy. after lining the bars back up to the forks, I was good to go with roadrash and torn pants and jacket.
ANOTHER time, I was on a busy divided 4-lane road, riding on a big wide shoulder, but had to make a left which meant crossing two lanes to get to the middle-most left turning lane. I stuck out my hand to signal and glanced over my shoulder to make certain it was clear (it was clear back to the previous light so I was good) and had the handle bar ripped out of my non-signalling hand as my wheel hit a broken portion of pavement that I didn't see because I was checking over my shoulder. See, I had a mirror, but it wouldn't stay put, so right when I needed it, it was pointing at the ground instead of behind me and then it broke when my bike flipped over me. Good thing it was clear... I had to shake myself out of the shock and pull my bike back to the shoulder before the cars over took me.
Note that all of these things were unexpected, and that my helmet did it's job in all of these situations.
I've had a few close calls too, involving cars:
Riding through a traffic circle the driver was watching and I thought he saw me, but he must not have because he pulled into the circle while I was trying to exit the circle... I was ready though, and managed to change trajectory in time and go another turn around the inside of the circle right beside his shocked face as he realized what had almost happened.
There was a teen-girl in a convertible with three of her friends parked beside the road on the other side of the traffic light. I'm not sure what was going on...It looked like she looked right at me, but as I approached after the light changed, I saw her reach for that door handle, and I shouted "don't you even dare!"
She didn't.
Just prior to getting my new bike, riding at night, a car approached from a side-street to make a left onto the street I was on. As usual I coasted with hand on brake, ready to stop if needed. He sat long enough that I thought he'd seen me. I started cranking, and then he released his brake and started rolling, I took evasive action and changed trajectory to pass behind him... then he DID notice me and stopped... now I'm aiming directly at his door, so I try to change up again and unclipped my foot just as my pedal tore a hole in his bumper which threw off my balance at that slow speed and I wobbled over to the corner and fell on the grass. Afterward he asked if I was OK and I apologized for his bumper and we went our separate ways. I remember he asked "didn't you see me?" and my brain hadn't really processed what had happened, looking back I should have explained it the way I did here, but I could only say "Yeah, I just couldn't turn in time"
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