On my way down a city street with no sidewalks but pretty good, though unpaved shoulders. Lots of head high and higher lilac and other bushes along the road.
I'm in the right hand lane, cleared my left rear with a look back over my shoulder and then started my lane lane change. As I did I saw approaching me was a cyclist riding against traffic, no bright clothing, no paying attention to anything other than his own riding. Oh yes, no helmet, although that really doesn't play into the event. I was close enough to see the expression on his face and in his eyes. They could be summarized as: Get out of my way!
Had I not been making a lane change it would have been a head on collision with this cyclist and my 3000# SUV. I was traveling below the speed limit of 30mph, which would have been of no help to him at all.
Wonder if this idiot made it to his destination and how many people he angered and endangered enroute.
(锕侊箒)~~~~----------------------------------------------------------------------
I had a similar encounter last night leaving The Pier. I'm traveling west with the flow of traffic (if there had been any other traffic) when this I presume both drunk and homeless (from the way he was dressed as well as mumbling to himself) cyclist turns right into my path. Luckily for him that I was watching him leave the sidewalk and was prepared for him to do something stupid. Otherwise we would have collided with each other.
(锕侊箒)~~~~----------------------------------------------------------------------
Oh yes, no helmet, although that really doesn't play into the event.
And yet you had the uncontrollable urge to include it.
(锕侊箒)~~~~----------------------------------------------------------------------
And yet you had the uncontrollable urge to include it.
As well as old time favorite rant chestnuts about the brightness of the bicyclist's clothing and what was on the bicyclist's mind as determined presumably by the OP's dash mounted crystal ball.
(锕侊箒)~~~~----------------------------------------------------------------------
And yet you had the uncontrollable urge to include it.
Uncontrollable? You give me far too little credit. I put it there just to finish the portrait without being unduly boring. Plus, I admit, I wanted to see whose bias trigger I'd pull first, You're it
Actually, he was wearing a dark red street short sleeved T-Shirt, light tan calf length pants, shoulder length brown hair that had been streaked blond, no glasses, not sure about contacts, blue eyes and, oh yes, bare hands with no jewelry except what looked like a watch on his wrist.
None of that has any bearing on the event other than to illustrate we got as close as possible without colliding.
But, this and the comment following yours follows the pattern of dismissing the cyclist's dangerous behavior in favor of criticizing the motorist who was behaving safely and legally.
Happy?
(锕侊箒)~~~~----------------------------------------------------------------------
While driving, I recently saw a wrong-way cyclist wearing a yellow hi-vis vest. I'm pretty sure he was wearing a black helmet. We were going the same direction, so he was on the opposite side of the road. He'd just come out of a road to my left, so I thought maybe he was waiting for me to pass and would then move into the proper lane (rural area - there was no other car in sight either ahead of or behind me). He didn't.
After I passed him, a car appeared ahead in the distance, so I slowed to watch in the rear-view mirror what occurred: the cyclist drove off the road and came to a stop in the grass/bushes, got started again and proceeded to ride on the wrong side of the road.
I guess we have to give him points for wearing a hi-vis vest and a helmet. (锕侊箒)~~~~----------------------------------------------------------------------
Actually, he was wearing a dark red street short sleeved T-Shirt, light tan calf length pants, shoulder length brown hair that had been streaked blond, no glasses, not sure about contacts, blue eyes and, oh yes, bare hands with no jewelry except what looked like a watch on his wrist.
[SNIP]
But, this and the comment following yours follows the pattern of dismissing the cyclist's dangerous behavior in favor of criticizing the motorist who was behaving safely and legally.
Happy?
I'll be happy when you use your eagle eye observation powers to see what is coming and respond accordingly as you drive about town. And save your electronic "portraits" of other riders who don't meet your lofty cycling standard for your diary.
