My commute this morning consisted of a close call and what I like to call the "Highly Motivated Fist".
Close call occurred on a stretch of road I complained about on here a couple weeks ago (Don't recall if it was the commuter forum or advocacy forum.).
Since posting that, it seems that stretch of road has, for some reason, gotten much less threatening. Haven't had many cars, or gravel trucks buzzing me at all the past couple weeks, and the traffic has even seemed to be lighter.
This morning I got a rude reminder that it's still a sketchy stretch of road. I'm riding along probably about 6 - 12 " to the left of the fog line, where the road curves to the left after crossing a bridge. There's a spur right in the apex of the corner such that if you go straight/right you'll be on a small side road that leads to the next cross street just east of the major intersection that the main road leads to. Cars take this road to get to a nearby subdivision while avoiding the major intersection. All of a sudden there's a car on my left cutting across in front of me to get into that other lane. Classic right-hook. I managed to slow enough that she barely missed me, after which I begain screaming and gesturing madly. Saw a look of horror on another driver's face who witnessed the near miss. Dunno if she was horrified by my near-maiming or by my language
. I've managed to calm down somewhat, but the *really* close calls still set me off.
Completely lost my cool and hammered down to the light and took a right (my usual route goes straight) to catch the driver who I knew would most likely be stopped at a red where that other street comes out. Rode up to her car and proceeded to ask (Ok, yell.) "WTF were you trying to do? Kill me?", and she informed me that she was "trying to get into that lane". Yeah, no ****, right through me.
Having vented my anger I went along my merry way, at an adrenalin-accelerated pace. Grateful to still be rolling, but still pretty angry.
Couple miles later, having pretty much cooled off by this point, I encountered a crossing-guard/public safety officer/or whatever the heck those guys are, at an intersection near an Indian gaming casino that's along my route. I've seen this guy before and he's pretty cool. Whenever he sees me ride by he says "Highly motivated!". Did the same thing this morning and pumped his fist in the air while saying it. Had to sorta chuckle at that. At least they're not all trying to kill me...
-Trevor