jl0703

What a dangerous ride home from work today!! TWICE, almost got creamed by idiots on cell phones in their steel cages. First, on Kennedy Blvd, a women travelling north turns left directly into oncoming traffic travelling south. Car in my left lane slams on his brakes and just misses the turning idiot. I slam on my brakes and just miss hitting her. A woman was on her cell phone and apparently had no idea she almost caused an accident.
Second was about 2 miles later on the same road. SUV riding behind me but in the left lane suddenly speeds up to make a right turn cutting me off. This intelligent being came VERY close, and seemed to accomplish this purposely. This has never happened in 5 years of bike commuting. Needed a drink after I arrived home today.

Quel

To balance this out, I noticed some good driving on my ride home. I was stopped at a light and turning right, and I had stopped in line behind a Jeep. He was also going right, and went WAY wide thinking he was going to right hook me. It wasn't necessary because I was staying safely behind him in line, but at least he was paying close attention to me.

jl0703

Usually my cummute is unevenful and drivers are generally polite, but todays ride home was completely out of the ordinary. Hopefully tomorrow will be back to a normal.

CCrew

I watched a poor girl get chewed up today. She was prolly about 12 on a brand new Trek road bike, riding with her dad, and she came to a stop and couldn't unclip (Speedplays). She went down twisted in some really unnatural positions, took her dad and I to extricate her out of the bike. Poor kid laid her right leg to tatters on the chainring. She was trying to be such a trooper, but it even hurt me to look at. Fortunately I carry a first aid kit, because she needed it. I can only imagine what it's going to be like at that house when mom sees it

cmb430

I hope the girl will be okay.

CCrew

She'll be ok, but I can about guarantee that she'll have scars on her calf she'll be able to tell her kids about.

She was not going to let her father see her cry, that's what amazed me. She had some grit, I'll tell ya.

jl0703

Glad she's OK. What a trooper not crying in front of her father.

lil brown bat

Sometimes the flow just feels sketchy, ya know? Days like that, I ride paranoid and just concentrate on getting home in one piece.

degnaw

bad/aggravated drivers seem to come in waves - i haven't been honked at for four days, and incidentally four days ago I was yelled at twice, honked at and cut off once.

Elkhound

It seems the women drivers are worst. There are a lot of loud-mouthed ignorant harridans around here.

Digital_Cowboy

Saturday on my way home, I'm traveling south on a 4-lane road in St. Petersburg, Fl (2 lanes for each direction with the occasional left turn lane) when some moron in a dark red/maroon HUMMER makes a left turn cutting me off.

This HUMMER sat high enough off of the ground and the windows were dark enough that there was NO way for me to see into the interior.

When are these bloody cagers going to learn the damge that they can inflict if/when they hit someone? Especially someone who is on a bike?

corkscrew

Threads like this make me glad that 80% of my commute is on a MUP following the Boise river.

Sorry to hear about the close calls, and hopefully that girl doesn't scar to bad. Then again with not crying in front of dad, maybe she'll consider them battle scars.

jl0703

The commute today was back to a normal un-eventful trek. I did, however, notice that I rode a bit more cautious on the ride in this morning

uke

Yup. I ride on the road when I have to, but given a road vs. a parallel MUP, I'll take the MUP every time. Life's short enough as it is.

rumrunn6

report it - maybe the cops can post a visible cruiser for a day and slow some of those nuts down

EatMyA**

I haven't had a JAM bother me in over 2 months! They are actually giving me room and get this......They are slowing down BEFORE they pass!

I dont know what the hell is going on, but I am scared!

Seriously.

dandela

Sorry for your luck. Hope it improves.

I just had my first commute today with a new detour due to a bridge that will be closed for the next 6 months. Now I have to ride through a not-so-nice neighborhood. Had 2 different drunk (I assume they were drunk since they were all holding 40's) porch dwellers yell unintelligible words of advice to me. Looks like it will be a nice summer for commuting.

Elkhound

"Sticks and stones." You can bike faster than they can run. Try to vary your route as much as you can.

I'd suggest forming a good relationship with your local constabulary. Do they have a bicycle patrol unit? Be sure to make friends with as many of them as you can. Tell them what you observe along the way.

dandela

Actually Elkhound, it is funny that you asked if I were friends with local police. I am actually very good friends with the majority of the local force and they do have a bike patrol. Unfortunately, due to local economy they have been "downsized" and don't have enough guys left to man the bike patrol. I am not even going to mention it to my friends though because they have a lot more pressing problems to deal with. I will just do as you suggested, ignore the comments and ride faster than their fat legs can carry them. Unfortunately or maybe fortunately, my 16 mile commute takes me across state lines so I can't legally carry any protection. I only mention this because this section of neighborhood is very rough and known for violence. No safe bike routes around it though.

Fremdchen

I agree, sometimes the whole city has an aggro sort of vibe, and other times it's laid back all the way. And I mean just during rush hour!

Elkhound, women drivers are not the worst. It's about 50/50 overall in my experience. That's about all I can say about that comment.

rumrunn6

re: "bad neighborhoods" be warry of anyone approaching because they can easily hit you with something

metro2005

I almost got hit today by a woman who was very busy looking to the left, i approached from the right and i was on a bicylepath and i had priority on that bikepath but she didn't see me and rolled right up the path. I had to slam on the brakes not to hit the car.
Stupid people. I'd like to have a loud horn on my bike for those moments.

schu777

I'm thinking of writing a letter to the editor of the local paper addressing it to the Pedestrians, Bicyclist and motorcyclist, basically telling them to look out for all the drivers as they are not looking for you, they are only looking out for themselves.

Last week after getting home from the ride, my wife drives up into the garage and gets out and is upset. Turns out a guy on a Harley was riding along with her (4 lane road) coming up on an intersection that is poor. She gets past this spot where cars will leave an open spot and let turning cars go - someone went and hit this guy on the Harley...never heard on the news about it...upset my wife a bit though...

Elkhound

Ymmv, of course.

Elkhound

There are other forms of protection than a gun. Pepper spray, or an expanding baton, for example, are both perfectly legal.