Originally Posted by
unkchunk
Next time when you see a stereotypical old lady pulling past a stop sign and looking to the right to make a left turn you might want to slow the f*ck down. And don't bother yelling "Stop" or "On your left" cause it only distracts them... and you from slowing the f*ck down.
Originally Posted by slugman
I was wailing on the brake (fixed gear, IRO gb frame that's a few weeks old and set up with a strong brake)
Sounds to me like your tirade is way off-base. OP was on the brakes and in process of stopping.
As for your suggestion that the OP heads to an empty parking lot and learns the appropriate stopping distances at speed: That's all well and good... If you know far enough in advance that you need to stop. When someone pulls out in front of you, you lose that foresight. No matter how fast you're going, you only have the gap they've left you before you either stop on your own, or smack into them. The fact that the OP noticed it was an old woman looking the wrong way doesn't imply that he had ample warning. That's the kind of quick observation you can make with a split second glance while jamming on the brakes and yelling. So, even though all the "warning flags" of a bad driver were there, it sounds like in this situation there simply wasn't enough space to stop.
IMO, this accident had little to do with bike handling skills, and can be attributed to a bad driver.