Commuting - Face Painter almost killed me

I was ran off the road and almost hit head on today by an SUV driving soccer mom putting on her face paint. She had her visor down, driving with something other than her hands. As she is coming at me I am trying to figure out where to go as she is moving about 20mph and I am going about 10. Curbs on both sides and she is weaving all over. I was furiously flashing my helmet light at her, yelling (I'm sure all the neighborhood loved that at 6am), and overall panicking. Just as I was jumping the curb she looks up and swerves back onto her side of the rode, and slams on her breaks. I stop and told her what a c hunt she was and how she almost killed me. She just kept saying "sorry" This was a narrow back street I ride almost every day....I wish I would have seen where she pulled out of.

glad you're ok - you didn't happen to get her licence plate number and report it?

Somehow, I doubt she's learned her lesson. She'll probably continue to put on her make up figuring her run in w/ you was a 1 in a million circumstance. Maybe you need an air zound?

An Air Zound? Sounds to me like Tate needed an anti-tank missile system. That is just too scary.

She just kept saying "sorry" This was a narrow back street I ride almost every day....I wish I would have seen where she pulled out of.


What could she have said to make you happy?

I was ran off the road and almost hit head on today by an SUV driving soccer mom putting on her face paint. She had her visor down, driving with something other than her hands.
I always feel safer with motorists than honk at me than drivers like this. If they honk, at least I know they see me.

Glad you are okay ! I wish there were some way to teach a lesson to morons like those atleast so that they dont do the same thing again !

Even if you would have taken her license and reported her, I doubt cops would have done anything knowing that you are well and okay and there was no "contact" !

IIRC distracted driving is a moving violation in MA.

Carry an ice pick with you and the next time this happens, make sure their tires don't allow them to move anytime soon. :)

These people are the scariest to me. She would have run you over and probably not stopped because she wouldn't have known. Great defensive riding you're doing there.

At least yours was stupid accidental (not that it makes it better).

I had someone coming at me sweve intentionally to pin me into a car last night. I think they were just being a holes, but it really p---d me off!

It was dark, and their back lic plate bulb was burned out.

It's my daily route. Hope I don't find them later.

Glad you are ok though!

glad you're ok - you didn't happen to get her licence plate number and report it?

I got the plate number and most of it on camera, but its before dark so all you see are her lights.

What could she have said to make you happy?

How about:

"You're absolutely right, I'm so sorry. This was a terrible error in my judgement. I'm going to pull over right here and finish putting on my makeup while parked, and I absolutely won't make this mistake again."

Distracted driving has to be the worst hazard. Fairly recently a deputy was killed during a traffic stop when an SUV driver claiming that there was a bee in his in his vehicle struck him.

Of course this is bringing flash backs of my last close call. I was going through a traffic circle intersection with yield signs when a low level suit type nearly creamed me without even slowing down to look. I yelled something about his ancestry and he stopped, put down his cell phone, swallowed a big gulp of his ham egg McMuffin and said he was sorry but the sun was in his eyes and I should be more careful riding in the road.

I was ran off the road and almost hit head on today by an SUV driving soccer mom putting on her face paint. She had her visor down, driving with something other than her hands. As she is coming at me I am trying to figure out where to go as she is moving about 20mph and I am going about 10. Curbs on both sides and she is weaving all over. I was furiously flashing my helmet light at her, yelling (I'm sure all the neighborhood loved that at 6am), and overall panicking. Just as I was jumping the curb she looks up and swerves back onto her side of the rode, and slams on her breaks. I stop and told her what a c hunt she was and how she almost killed me. She just kept saying "sorry" This was a narrow back street I ride almost every day....I wish I would have seen where she pulled out of.

Great job. My wife always tells me not to yell, but sometimes you have to. The woman learned a lesson and it's great she apologized. No doubt she's embarrased. You did a civic duty by calling her on it.

There's no reason to call the cops, imo.

If she is hot maybe you could ask her out and tell her about cycling... you know! :)


Seriously glad you are okay. If it was a man, might not have apologized but actually turn around and intimidate you!

Well until you called her a **** you had the high ground.

On a more humorous note, your title had me picturing a clown on his way to a gig, maybe a gene simmons type.

In this instance, I think calling her a **** was totally justified.

In this instance, I think calling her a **** was totally justified.

I respect your opinion but beg to differ. **** had nothing to do with her being a bad driver. If a black guy almost kills me do I have carte blanche to dig out all the racial slurs I can think of?

Of course no one here does anything stupid at any time I am sure. She'll at least think twice about it next time hopefully.

On a more humorous note, your title had me picturing a clown on his way to a gig, maybe a gene simmons type.

I was thinking "rabid sports fan"

What could she have said to make you happy?

Seppuku.

This woman sounds like the JAM that forced me up the curb last month because he was driving along with 1/4 thick crust of ice on his windshield.

Seppuku.

This woman sounds like the JAM that forced me up the curb last month because he was driving along with 1/4 thick crust of ice on his windshield.

Grr. In the last few weeks I've come to think that driving with incompletely cleared windows should be an automatic $1000 ticket. Seriously, they're taking absolutely ridiculous risks with other people's lives for no damn reason whatsoever other than laziness, and it's completely unconscionable.

It's a great symbol of how people just don't realize the responsibility they undertake when they get behind the wheel. They treat it as the most casual thing in the world, when in reality it's probably by far the most dangerous thing they'll ever do, and they do it every day.

**** had nothing to do with her being a bad driver. If a black guy almost kills me do I have carte blanche to dig out all the racial slurs I can think of?
No, of course not, but that's a false comparison. One can drop the C-Bomb on any type of JAM.

I stop and told her what a c hunt she was

I used to love that show..Lloyd Bridges..good stuff.

So you did report it right? Normally, I don't even bother getting plate numbers or I have a look and then not write it down anywhere but this has got to be one of the worse cases (esp. doing it in an SUV where the potential harm is mostly to others).

I called a friend who is an officer in the area and gave him her plate #. He said he might just drop by and let her know the "possible" consequences in a nice polite professional manner if he gets tme in teh next few shifts. Although he said there really isn't much they can do, even with the video, he can let her know a few realities of driving distracted. He said that makeup applying does cause several accidents on his beat every year.

Every time you get a new video of a moron doing something stupid in their car, post it on youtube. Link them all together, make fliers with rip-off tabs with the URL (use snipurl or something like that to make it easy to type) with "(town name)'s most dangerous drivers!" on the flier. Post them in a few supermarkets.

They may not get a ticket, but I bet they get plenty embarrassed.

How about:

"You're absolutely right, I'm so sorry. This was a terrible error in my judgement. I'm going to pull over right here and finish putting on my makeup while parked, and I absolutely won't make this mistake again."

+1! :beer:

First off, I'm glad you are ok.

This lady almost killed you. But she pulled over and told you she was sorry while you were cussing her out. Sounds like she owned up to what she did. I've had similar things happen and the person didn't stop.

We all make mistakes. Hopefully she learned from what happened. Most people are rational and if they do something dumb and realize that they could have killed someone, they won't do it again. I'm glad no one has slashed my tires because I didn't see someone while I was reaching down to get my water bottle.

No, of course not, but that's a false comparison. One can drop the C-Bomb on any type of JAM.
Same with the N bomb if you are the type of person to use that language. C refers to a woman no? Besides cussing out a person while they are apologizing is not classy at all. Sorry, I think my comparison stands. Calling her a stupid as **** driver would have been more applicable maybe but still would lack class and dignity.

Same with the N bomb if you are the type of person to use that language. C refers to a woman no?
No, that's not true, at least as far as I am familiar with it. Racial abuse is racially specific, but both women and man can be called CCCC.

I'm not disagreeing with you necessarily on the other stuff, though.

glad you're ok - you didn't happen to get her licence plate number and report it?

When the OP stopped to talk to her you should have taken note of the drivers licence plate first and record it before talking. That way the cops can already know who/what the car is.

Then again I can understand the heat of the moment and the panic of this crazy driver and you're just glad you're not hurt. I agree an Air Zounds may have been useful then given the flashing light did nto help obviously as the lady was looking in the mirror already.

I tend to take a bit more of a crazy approach but a stop over to the local model store and get some A class rockets and the smallest rocket you can find and mount that on the left side of the bike. A class rockets have a short short range before the delay of the parachute. Some mates call it an XSRM (eXtreme Short Range Missle). *shrugs*

I really doubt this person would nto do this again. She may have been able to say sorry this time but next time who knows. Not to wish ill on this driver but who knows... she could be putting on the makeup and have an 18wheeler slam her into a building. :rolleyes:

Glad you're alive. You might want to look into the Air Zounds and a cheap video mini camera.

If she is hot maybe you could ask her out and tell her about cycling... you know! :)

Seriously glad you are okay. If it was a man, might not have apologized but actually turn around and intimidate you!

ChipSeal wonders; "How many men put on makeup on the way to work? :p

Similar thing happened to me a few weeks ago when an alleged woman pulled out of a fast food drive and did hit me. Wound up doing about $60.00 worth of damage to my bike. My response was the same. Some here felt I was over the top but that's only opinions. Not one of my finer moments but would I do the same thing again? You bet! BTW, the woman who hit me was black and I never resorted to the "n" word. My position, when some endangers your safety do you have the right to loose you temper. Yup.

ChipSeal wonders; "How many men put on makeup on the way to work? :p

A clown or Gene Simmons are possibilities. :)

My position, when some endangers your safety do you have the right to loose you temper. Yup.

I guess my beef is how far you go in losing your temper. Perhaps pulling her out of the car and mashing her head into the fender would be a bit too much loss of temper. I guess we all have different levels of "Losing it". My personal level stops at verbal abuse.

+1

Plus, the driver's actions post incident also play into how you should respond.
If memory serves me correctly, the lady pjoner0012 layed into had apologized profusely thus making his response even more childish.

+1

Plus, the driver's actions post incident also play into how you should respond.
If memory serves me correctly, the lady pjoner0012 layed into had apologized profusely thus making his response even more childish.

Wrong, here apology was anything less than sincere.

So what? I was referring to your response. Not the OPs. In his case I would agree.

Like I said, the correct response by the JAM is Seppuku.

Anybody who ritually disembowels themselves in atonement for nearly running me down is forgiven. The rest might get flipped off or worse.

Glad to hear you picked the right curb.



Grr. In the last few weeks I've come to think that driving with incompletely cleared windows should be an automatic $1000 ticket.

That is a violation which will get you a ticket here in Germany.

I calmed down after she said sorry, but my initial comments to her started Long before she could hear me as I was trying to get here attention. I know is was only like 15-20 seconds as she drifted all over the road, but I sure did a lot of yelling and screaming. Once she stopped and said sorry, I was still hot, and I am sure my words were heated but I don't think I called her anymore names, but I did give her a piece of mind. She seemed more surprised to see me than actually sorry, but i think she got a does or reality and a scare from the thought of what she almost did.

That is a violation which will get you a ticket here in Germany.

I'm pretty sure it's technically illegal here, but the cops don't often ticket it; probably because it would mean they have to stand around in the cold.

Like I said, the correct response by the JAM is Seppuku. Anybody who ritually disembowels themselves in atonement for nearly running me down is forgiven. The rest might get flipped off or worse.
:roflmao: