okay, so tuesday i had my first run in w/ a vehicle, and i actually got side swiped, but luckily we were both barely moving. here's the scenario:

I was coming up on a busy turn where its more of like a merge type area. I tried to get over immediately, and i looked in my mirror and saw a truck was turning right...so i figured i'd just do a quick dash to get in front of him to get out of his way ASAP. he started honking frantically, so i wasn't sure what he was going to do, so i slow down so he can pass....he honked more, so i start to gun it again, all of the sudden he takes off, goes around me and side swipes me. it doesn't hurt me, but my mirror does a 180, i stop and stare at him and he gives me a dirty look from his truck, not stopping to check to see if i'm okay, and I KNOW HE KNEW HE HIT ME!

what did i do wrong? this was the 2nd time a car/truck went around me and tried to squeeze by when they did not have room in a turn/merge lane rather than staying behind me, which would add about 15 seconds to their travel time and i don't know if i should handle it differently next time, and stop and make sure nobody is coming. People around here do not know how to drive w/ a bike around, and biking is very uncommon.....as there is only 1-2 roads with bike lanes, and even then, people people will use the bike lanes as turning lanes or use wide shoulders as turning lanes. I've only ridden to/from work about 5 days over the past 2 weeks and have already almost gotten sideswiped/hit about 3 times, so i don't know if the solution is moving to another city, which i'll be doing as soon as i finish nursing school anyway....because I HATE THIS CITY!