Commuting - Cut off today, almost crashed

We were riding through downtown Atlanta today, in the right lane of a three lane road. A car passes us in the next lane over, and decides they want to take a right into a parking garage. The driver quickly hooks a right in front of us. If we weren't as reactive as we were we would have crashed right into the car.

How did the driver not see us when they passed us? She was in the 2nd lane because she wanted to pass us, didn't she think we'd continue forward as she passed us?

As a instinctual reflex we both quickly yelled out, for our own saftey. Something to the effect "Watch where you're going" and "What the heck are you doing?" The driver went into shock realizing she almost injured us and stopped immediatly. So now we had to also bike around her becuase she wouldn't pull through into the parking garage becuase she was so shooken up (as we were).

After the fact I felt kind of bad for screaming so loud in a mean manner. I didn't even think before the words came out of my mouth; I was looking out for my safety. She did have kids in the car. I should have stopped and apologized, she probably would have returned the favor.

Moral of the story, watch out for that right hook.

Ah, no reason to feel bad for screaming. Thats the kind of situation where you don't have much control over your reaction while its happening, since people don't train for that with simulated near death scenarios :)


I've done that myself tho, and felt bad afterward. When I lived in FL, there were always blue hair drivers doing something that would get my adrenaline going, and I'd shout, then realize I just scared some little old grandma

Glad you didn't get hurt!

Screw it. Be mean. She may not have realized what she did, but you'd feel a lot worse if she hit you and you were all scraped up. Besides, it's not being mean, it's an instinctual reaction to a perceived threat.

Screw it. Be mean. She may not have realized what she did, but you'd feel a lot worse if she hit you and you were all scraped up. Besides, it's not being mean, it's an instinctual reaction to a perceived threat.

It's not mean to yell (as you point out). It would be mean (and pointless) to berate someone who clearly recognized her mistake. In this case, seems like someone learned her lesson and no one was hurt (fortunately).

And hey, on the bright side, the kids in the car probably learned some new vocabulary. ;)

Dont feel bad for yelling. I was cruising down the road yesterday when this lady almost hit me. She was driving out of a starbucks drive thru. She had her head down putting away her receipt in her purse while pulling out into traffic. I had my I-pod on and was jamming to a good tune. When I started saying something that I thought were a few choice words muttered to myself, I realized that I let her and everyone on starbucks patio know how I felt about her.

Moral of the story is, next time she sees a biker, she may give some thought as to what she is doing around them.

Thanks guys. I don't so bad about it anymore. I think at the time I just felt worse because I was so close to a major injury, which made me feel a bit more emotional.

But you're right, at least now she'll realize she needs to watch for cyclists.

I'm glad you shook her up, and not because I suffer from driverhate, but because it's bicycle season so to speak and people need to be reminded of these hard to see bikes going down the street. Now maybe she'll tell a few friends or family members about what happened, and your letting her know she almost pancaked you may save other cyclists.

I almost got left hooked yesterday at a wide open country intersection. I was n the right lane waiting to turn left, and a woman was taking a left onto the road I was on. She pointed straight at me, because she didn't see a car out there. I yelled "hello! hello!" waving, and she jerked it around me. The morning sun was also straight into her eyes.