I had my first actual brush with a car yesterday, after 3-1/2 years of commuting. I was pulling away from the light when the car next to me brushed the left end of my bars. It caused his mirror to fold against the car and shifted me into the smallest chainring, but otherwise it was a non-event. Since we were maybe going 3 mph it was just enough to raise my pulse rate.

I have to say we probably share responsibility for it. I zigged a few inches left on start-up and he zagged a few inches right to get past a large truck in the center lane, so together we used up all the extra room between us. I guess I'll just treat it as an object lesson to be more careful.