first 2 inidents are very similar, same road even:
on university ave, downtown palo alto
riding in the shoulder area to the right of the cars (not an official bike lane)
one time, had car suddenly pull into a parralel parking spot when I was riding beside it; i had to turn and ride into the parking spot with him
another, had car do similar move to turn right into a side street
distracted drivers prioritizing getting good parking spot are dangerous

Prevention;
Take the lane.
on that road i don't ride in the shoulder anymore; despite all the other bikes who do it, and despite the fact that it allows faster travel compared to the cars who are all rubbernecking for open parking spots
-really; they should just ban cars from that street, the percent who actually park vs the distracted ones competing for those few spaces is not worth it; and only presents a hazard to the larger number of bike and pedestrians (this is a downtown shopping area after all....)



Left Hook, various locations
be going straight through intersection, have car from opposite side make a left turn into my path
either they werent looking hard enough to see a bike vs the expected car traffic; or they assumed they had right of way....
Prevention;
while waiting for the signal to turn, I'll turn on my headlights(daytime) and wave my handelbars back and fourth a few times, flashing light at cars aross the intersection.
Seems to make them less likely to jup out in front of me.


Unsafe Pass: El camino real
travelling on el camino, have big rig trailer truck pass me within inches -wheels as tall as I am whizz by my handlebars, shadow of the cargo container blocking out the sky
?prevention?
the textbook answer is to take the lane, so traffic must pass safely with a complete lane change
but jeeez; this is el camino; its a 40-50mph de facto highway
I gave up and quit using the street
what other option is there?
-anyone else think its kinda stupid to have a street that runs through such heavily populated residential/commercial/my backyard get treated as a highway? why not enforce a speed limit?