Originally Posted by
JustBrowsing
That's my take in this situation. Sure, there are some common guidelines that most people obey. But these aren't hard and fast rules, and nobody is "wrong" for not following them. I hate to say it, but the OP sounds like he was being an idiot for continuing to plow through at speed because the other guy wasn't clued in to what the OP was thinking (notice that he never said anything to the other guy before the accident, he just expected him to be clued in to his actions).
I agree: I was being stubborn, and I was almost at my destination and didn't want to stop. However I also fully expected this guy to move to his right at some point, in fact when it got to the point where I knew I had to make a decision, it was to late because I couldn't go to my left because of the possiblity he would finally join the country I live in and do the right thing. and I couldn't go to my right because of the scary metal fence thing.
I certainly should have slowed to a 'less than endo' speed the moment he matched my first avoidance manuver. at that point I could have let my superior mass (I outweighed him by 20+ lbs) move him out of the way; and to boot I still had 25 yards in which to slow down rather than the eventual 3 or so I tried to stop in.
I did however signal to him (although maybe I'm at fault for not issuing a verbal signal at some point): I gave a right turn signal after the second avoidance manuver (which he had already matched) and then I pointed to the right side of the walk (I was trying to indicate: I am turning right ahead, I am maintaining this line right here). After the conversation me and the witness had 'with' him I don't think he was aware of what was going on around him. He seemed confused about why his bike had fallen over and what this slightly bloody guy was doing asking him questions like "What day is it?" and "Do you know where you are?" Actually I don't think he said anything, and he was definitely having trouble focusing on us; I probably should have called the police, now that I think about it, I hope he didn't get hurt worse whereever he was going.
College kids, I hated them when I was one, and I hate them more now