jimmuller 

SBP, good to see your name here again. It has been a while.

I didn't ride to work yesterday but did Monday and again today. I am still at the office and fortunately made it here safely.

Today's commute had one incident where I wish I'd had a big rock ready to throw. Instead I settled for wishing someone damnation. I was on Lexintgon St in Woburn and came up to a landscaping truck parked on the right, a truck so wide that it took the entire shoulder and protruded into the traffic lane. Traffic was approaching from the other direction and a car was about 50yds behind me. I was moving near 20mph so I pulled into the center of the lane to pass the truck figuring that it would avoid tempting the guy behind me from trying to squeeze through. False logic. He squeezed through anyway, gave me maybe 6 to 12 inches clearance and I have no idea how close he came to the oncoming car. Then he gave me the finger as he pulled ahead.

So how many ways is this wrong? Discourteous, check. Illegal, check. Poor tradeoff of safety (my health and his driving record) against loss of perhaps half a second, check. Lack of awareness of just how much time it might really cost him or how quickly I'd be back over on the shoulder, check. Lack of awareness that when I on my bike he can pass me almost anywhere but when I'm in my car he can pass me almost nowhere, check.

But then maybe he was just a jerk. If he'd take his dangly thing off the gas pedal and use his head every so often he might understand, but probably not. I blame Howie Carr for some of this kind of behavior.

In my cooler moments these past few weeks I've been contemplating what would be the best way to encourage the state and various towns to develop public education programs. I was told that there has been a push lately to cut down on speeding. I'm not sure I see anything that would make me or anyone else change driving habits. Instead, I'd like to see frequent reminders for the general public about:

the importance of noticing everyone and everything around you while driving (which means more than just putting the cell phone down);
the meaning of a red light and a stop sign;
the actual right-of-way laws as opposed to what people actually do most of the time;
the rule about not entering an intersection until you have a way out so as not to block everyone else (I saw an atrocious example of this at Four Corners this morning - long story in itself involving many cars and even a school bus driver);
the proper approach to cyclists (e.g. don't stop in a busy street to let me cross as if I were a pedestrian - I'm not, I'm on a vehicle waiting my turn and you are holding up everyone behind you);
the real time lost or gained by your speed (e.g. at 60mph every 1mph you go faster or slow gains you only 1 sec for every minute, which means 1 sec for every mile or 1 min for every hour, which isn't much, so have some patience);
if I were driving to work instead of biking it could be one more car trying to make a left turn in front of you or go through some stop sign or around that awkward rotary, so you win when I'm biking.

Maybe that's too much to ask. I'd be happy if the state would just run a street cleaner on some of those roads.