Do not brake hard with only the front brake unless you want to launch yourself over the handlebars.
Well, there’s your problem, right there. Every vehicle is required be in control at all times.
Going down a hill per se does not mean you have to use both hands to brake. Given this particular situation, the correct maneuver is to slow well ahead of the intersection until you slow to a speed where you can stay in control with just the rear brake, and signal. I assume you are familiar with the intersection and were not taken by surprised by the hill and intersection. I have done this a few times starting at about 28 MPH.
The truck probably thought he could safely turn and still leave you enough space if you had gone straight. That would not be true if you had been driving a car instead.
This is bad advice. You can brake extremely hard using the front brake, provided you manage your body weight: get your ass off of the saddle and move your weight low and back over the rear wheel, as far aft of the front wheel as you can. Safety-conscious riders should learn how to do this, because the ability to decelerate extremely rapidly can make the difference between a close call and tragedy. Practice, practice, practice, learn how hard you can brake without lifting the rear wheel off the ground, how much you have to move your body to prevent it, and so on.
Obviously that kind of body english is difficult or impossible with only your left hand on the handlebars, but even with your butt glued to the saddle, you can still brake much harder with the front brake (short of going over the bars) than you can with the rear. As above, it’s important to develop a feel for how hard you can brake without going over the bars.
I disagree. Yield signs provide one nice thing: they allow unobstructed traffic to not stop.
Years ago I attended a public hearing concerning traffic calming in the city I lived in. My specific neighbordhood was on the list of areas being considered. A city traffic engineer gave a presentation about the impact of stop signs in residential areas. He made a big deal about the extra noise a stop sign generates at intersections. A vehicle having to stop typically has to rev up its motor in order to begin moving. A yield situation eliminates those noise incidents.
Living where I do in NYC, what I hate most is when there is a STOP sign for a smaller street intersecting a larger, major one (an “avenue”) instead of a traffic light, yet that avenue allows curbside parking right up to the end of the block where this street is.
Meaning, if I am driving or riding a bicycle on that side street and stop at the avenue, if there is a large vehicle - and those giant SUVs are super popular nowadays, as well as vans, pickup trucks, or commerical trucks - parked right at the corner - you can’t see oncoming traffic. At all. Especially if they have blackout tinted windows. You have to do the cautious, nosing out little by little thing while craning your neck to peek around the obstruction.
And hoping whatever is coming down the avenue is not speeding at such a rate that you can’t see it until it’s right on top of you because of the blockage.
If they’re not going to put either a 4-way stop there or an actual traffic signal, they need to put up NO STANDING ANYTIME signs banning vehicles from being 30 feet from the corner.