Originally Posted by
PatrickGSR94
I don't think you get it. ALL indications were that the driver saw me and was waiting on me to make the turn. He didn't start pulling out until I was almost past the car. The ONLY way I could have avoided any such encounter would have been for me to STOP dead in the middle of a road where traffic does not stop except for waiting for any oncoming traffic to pass before turning left (which there was none). And that would NOT have been the proper course of action, acting as a vehicular cyclist.
I don't know why you are being so defensive about this... OK... the driver saw you... gave you all the signals... yes, that could be... I've been there many times... driver waiting, me approaching, everything looking irie... then... as I'm pasing in front of them they start rolling. WTF! Happens. Some people are like... its going to take my F-250 .04 seconds to spin up the 150lb wheels enough to overcome the inertia of 6,000lbs. of Detroit's finest so I'll just get on the gas now while this @#$% who has kept me waiting here through two episodes of Honey Boo Boo flounces past. Then you drop your chain and mess up his/her math very big time. I wonder who is more pissed, you or them?? When I am approaching a turning vehicle, I make complex calculations based on my speed, their speed and the distance each of us have to cover till impact. If the math has them clearing the intersection before I arrive, I keep cranking. If not I stop cranking and coast. If definitley not, I apply brake. If halfway through the turn the driver should see a wardrobe malfunction occur on the Pamela Anderson look-alike on the sidewalk and lifts off the gas it is going to present some interesting contradictions to my predictive analysis. As I said in an earlier post... if you are doing it right... i.e. riding hard enough to break a sweat... you
will encounter another close encounter... I for one hope you will not attempt to chronicle all of them in the Commuting forum.
H