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08-11-11, 05:05 AM
Yet another human inter-action experience while commuting to/from the job.
I was riding home from a long 13 hour shift around 06:00p.m. yesterday evening in weather that was finally comfortable. The temp was in the 70's and the dew point and humidity were down to very tolerable levels. I was extremely tired and riding very conservatively and just enjoying lazily rolling along towards home. It was almost like a Norman Rockwell scene, even the automobile traffic seemed docile and calm and at peace.
Being tired, I opted to cut my usual 12 mile homeward ramble down to my alternate six mile route. This alternate route puts me eastbound on a two lane east/west road that crosses two major four lane north/south suburban arteries, both at signal lights. It's generally quite a docile route, as long as everybody is paying attention to their driving and cycling. Yesterday was the same except for one exception..and that is where this story starts.
Having patiently waited for the signal light to turn green I hesitated just a few seconds longer to be sure that both lanes of northbound and both lanes of southbound traffic were stopping before I ventured eastbound into the intersection. Being on my Trek mountain bike today, I easily glanced back and verified that there were no eastbound right turners waiting to "right hook" me as I started across the four lanes of now stopped traffic. The eastbound and westbound cars were just to my left and moving smoothly by with no problems at all. As I cleared the center of the intersection, a quick glance in my mirror verified that the car behind me was allowing me plenty of space to manuver. Like I said, it was a nice calm traffic type of day.
Then off to my right I saw it approaching. It was as ominous as a dorsal fin slipping through a crowd of bathers at a quiet beach. Slipping through the quiet of the peaceful day was a grey northbound SUV being piloted by a middle aged woman talking on her cellphone calmly driving along and squeezing between the right hand lane of northbound traffic and the curb determined to create a lane where none existed to accomodate her right hand turn. (Now before anyone gets their panties or boxers all in a twist, I've witnessed this manuver by drivers of all ages and both sexes but today it just happened to be this woman)
O.K., I saw her coming. I knew I saw her but none of the other drivers in and approaching the intersection knew whether or not I saw her. To my amazement, traffic in both dirrections slowed drasticly as she approached the corner and me. I was probably about ten feet from where she would be barreling through the corner when I first spotted her and I was simultaneously braking and staring into her windshield waiting for her to see me, if she was going to see me at all.
She was so engrossed in her conversation while guiding her doomsday machine through the narrow passage that was now her private right turn lane that it almost seemed cruel to be the person who was going to interupt her train of thoughtlessness. Just as I was almost to a complete stop and my front tire was within about two feet of the front corner of her rolling phone booth our eyes met and she slammed on the brakes. What a look of shock came accross her face! Her eyes were almost opened as wide as her mouth was. Of course, though she appeared to have stopped talking mid-sentence, she still had a death grip on her precious phone.
With her stopped I was able to continue across in front of her which I did until I was smack dab in front of the drivers seat and then I stopped. I put my foot down onto the roadway and just stared at her through the windshield of her carriage of carnage. I thought I could see a flicker of fear in her big brown eyes which were still wide open and barely five feet away. As we stared at each other eye to eye, her in shock and disbelief and me in anger and disgust I proceded to shout as loud as I could "HANG UP YOUR (naughty word) PHONE.". I then peacefully rode the rest of the way home.
I know it's not proper etiquette to be nasty, but sometimes it just feels so good!!
I was riding home from a long 13 hour shift around 06:00p.m. yesterday evening in weather that was finally comfortable. The temp was in the 70's and the dew point and humidity were down to very tolerable levels. I was extremely tired and riding very conservatively and just enjoying lazily rolling along towards home. It was almost like a Norman Rockwell scene, even the automobile traffic seemed docile and calm and at peace.
Being tired, I opted to cut my usual 12 mile homeward ramble down to my alternate six mile route. This alternate route puts me eastbound on a two lane east/west road that crosses two major four lane north/south suburban arteries, both at signal lights. It's generally quite a docile route, as long as everybody is paying attention to their driving and cycling. Yesterday was the same except for one exception..and that is where this story starts.
Having patiently waited for the signal light to turn green I hesitated just a few seconds longer to be sure that both lanes of northbound and both lanes of southbound traffic were stopping before I ventured eastbound into the intersection. Being on my Trek mountain bike today, I easily glanced back and verified that there were no eastbound right turners waiting to "right hook" me as I started across the four lanes of now stopped traffic. The eastbound and westbound cars were just to my left and moving smoothly by with no problems at all. As I cleared the center of the intersection, a quick glance in my mirror verified that the car behind me was allowing me plenty of space to manuver. Like I said, it was a nice calm traffic type of day.
Then off to my right I saw it approaching. It was as ominous as a dorsal fin slipping through a crowd of bathers at a quiet beach. Slipping through the quiet of the peaceful day was a grey northbound SUV being piloted by a middle aged woman talking on her cellphone calmly driving along and squeezing between the right hand lane of northbound traffic and the curb determined to create a lane where none existed to accomodate her right hand turn. (Now before anyone gets their panties or boxers all in a twist, I've witnessed this manuver by drivers of all ages and both sexes but today it just happened to be this woman)
O.K., I saw her coming. I knew I saw her but none of the other drivers in and approaching the intersection knew whether or not I saw her. To my amazement, traffic in both dirrections slowed drasticly as she approached the corner and me. I was probably about ten feet from where she would be barreling through the corner when I first spotted her and I was simultaneously braking and staring into her windshield waiting for her to see me, if she was going to see me at all.
She was so engrossed in her conversation while guiding her doomsday machine through the narrow passage that was now her private right turn lane that it almost seemed cruel to be the person who was going to interupt her train of thoughtlessness. Just as I was almost to a complete stop and my front tire was within about two feet of the front corner of her rolling phone booth our eyes met and she slammed on the brakes. What a look of shock came accross her face! Her eyes were almost opened as wide as her mouth was. Of course, though she appeared to have stopped talking mid-sentence, she still had a death grip on her precious phone.
With her stopped I was able to continue across in front of her which I did until I was smack dab in front of the drivers seat and then I stopped. I put my foot down onto the roadway and just stared at her through the windshield of her carriage of carnage. I thought I could see a flicker of fear in her big brown eyes which were still wide open and barely five feet away. As we stared at each other eye to eye, her in shock and disbelief and me in anger and disgust I proceded to shout as loud as I could "HANG UP YOUR (naughty word) PHONE.". I then peacefully rode the rest of the way home.
I know it's not proper etiquette to be nasty, but sometimes it just feels so good!!