ModeratedUser150120149

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.

Digital_Cowboy

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.

CB HI

And yet you had the uncontrollable urge to include it.

I-Like-To-Bike

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.

ModeratedUser150120149

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?

JohnnyCyclist

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.

I-Like-To-Bike

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.

Geonz

Oy... what a charming community. Remembering why I don't dally here all that often. Sounds like OP *did* use observation powers, but it's rather a fact that riding against traffic is dangerous, because the powers of observation aren't all that good.
But, of course, anyone riding an SUV is automatically strongly suspect ... and I am one who is a tad sensitive to the "I'm riding a big killer machine! It's your job to get out of my way!" -- I had verbal exchanges with one of those fellows yesterday, when I honked my horn at him as he pulled out in front of me.
He stops, sticks his head out his window and says ever so condescendingly, "I saw you. You had plenty of time."
That's right. *I* had time to... get out of his way, as everybody should, since he is in a big truck!
He pulls forward, talking about me belonging in the bike lane... which there isn't one of there... which I pointed out... but oh! three blocks later, he points at the just started bike lanes and announces taht there they are!
But... really, it was that first comment that said it all. I had "plenty of time" to stop and let him out.

ModeratedUser150120149

Hmmmm...I am a cyclist, I ride this same route regularly and legally with nary an incident, this time by behaving legally and safely while driving I avoided an accident with a cyclist who was riding illegally and unsafely in the hope that others will look out for other cyclists who may do the same and to maybe save a few lives and injuries and I get criticized. Maybe the title of this forum should be changed to Psycho Ward?

I-Like-To-Bike

You don't get it at all. You are not being criticized for your driving. You are being "criticized" for the content of your rant, and your need to include nonsense in your detailed "portrait" of the kind of cyclist whom you don't approve.

njkayaker

Oh no!! You got "i like to bike" mad at you!

Expect excessive righteous vigorous virtual internet finger wagging about the tone you used in your post!!

ModeratedUser150120149

Not only that but I discovered that "i like to bike" doesn't know how to read and has the ability to infer from my posts things that were never said. Maybe, in real life a crystal ball is one of that person's tools?

Enough. I had an incident that thanks to good fortune resulted in no injuries to anyone. I can only hope the person who caused the near miss learned something and that most of the readers here also were encouraged to keep their heads on a swivel looking out for those who aren't looking out for themselves.

njkayaker

No, being enraged by people's tone gives him super powers (kind of like this).

mikeybikes

Shocking, I would never have guessed it to be dangerous to ride against traffic.

This thread has a whole LOT of incredibly useful information. Thank you for bringing it to my attention.

njkayaker

There is that issue! (Hopefully, you are being sarcastic but then I can't understand anything without smilies.)

KZBrian

I watched a wrong way cyclist get a ticket last summer.

mikeybikes

Sarcasm is ruined when I have to append smileys to it.

beebe

According to the OP, that's what he did. I don't understand your beef.

CB HI

Then why add all the extraneous BS?

unterhausen

I think I'm going to put in a feature request that mods can put people on each other's ignore list. I can supply instructions on how to do it yourself for anyone that is interested.

since self control doesn't seem to be at a surplus in here, I'm closing this