agentxcell

Not to say that all motorist's at some point are not exceptionally stupid, however, this one for me takes the gold. So I was getting ready to leave work and go to class, while crossing the street I looked left 3 times and no cars, still no cars so I go. Low and behold to my right there she is honking, throwing up her hands and came about 4 feet from running me clean over. You might think to your self, you should have looked right and not just left, this is true except it was a ONE WAY STREET. The stupid girl finally realized she had been traveling the opposite direction when the only two lanes were headed straight for her. Sounds less dramatic as I read it over but it did suck. Her reaction to me was just overly ambitious on her part, needless to say I wanted to throw something at her but I think the realization of how ****ing dumb she was made it okay.

DataJunkie

Call me stupid but I usually check both ways even when crossing or riding onto one way streets. I noticed me doing it out of habit one day and decided it wasn't a bad thing.
I would have loved to see the look on her face when she realized what was going on. lol

Cyclaholic

I look both ways on a one way street also, simply because if someone is so stupid/reckless that they go the wrong way down one way streets then I want to see and avoid them then before getting in front of them.

Spanky-G-Master

+1 on checking both ways on one ways, I do it on bike and especially while driving my truck since I'm the only cyclist in this city to ride on the right side of the road. (I've seem many people riding the wrong way down one ways.) Of course I bet her reaction was pure gold when she realized what she was doing wrong.

GodsBassist

I look both ways for bike salmon.

I'm sure it took all the wind out of her sails to discover seconds after accosting you that she was, in fact, driving like an idiot though.

lil brown bat

"overly ambitious"?

ItsJustMe

Bike salmon - awesome, gotta remember that one.

EKW in DC

I look both ways, too. Both for salmon and because of a near accident my then fiancee/now wife and I had pulling onto a one way street in downtown DC a couple years ago. We're turning right to go the correct way on the one way street from an alleyway. Visibility is bad due to parked cars, but she makes sure nothing is coming from the left. Coast is clear, she starts to roll out... HOOOOOOONK! A DB is coming flying down the street from our right (i.e., wrong way) at about 30 mph and just misses our front bumper.

I didn't ride the streets too much then, but it got me taking a peek the other way when in my car, and now that I'm out on my bike more, I look both ways for the same reason. What was almost her front bumper could be my bike's front wheel, and that would not be pretty, helmet or no...

CliftonGK1

I check both directions on 1-way streets because we have a few around here with side streets which are just a couple dozen yards from a large intersection, so people will speed the wrong way to turn onto the side street instead of going all the way around the block and doing it the correct way.

agentxcell

I will forever look both directions on one way streets. After she realized what was going on the look of confusion was priceless. Going down the street she was on would have been difficult the way it is, in order to do so she would have to of been on it for a while.

JPprivate

something similar happened to me yesterday. I get to an intersection - I'm on a small residential street crossing a busy 2 lane road. I wait until the cars have all stopped because of a red light about 30 feet up the street. Cross the first lane between the standing cars and look right. While doing so, I hear somebody honking from the left who decided to create there on left turn lane and is drivng towards oncoming traffic...

tennisplyr3

HAHAHA that's gold!

I never look both ways on one-way streets. I guess I should start... :/

oboeguy

Yet another vote for "always look both ways". Alive > lazy + dead.

tarwheel 

That's one of those things you should have learned by kindergarten - always look both ways.

I was reminded of this while traveling in Ireland a few years ago. They drive on the left side of the road there, and it is very easy to get confused and look the wrong way for traffic when crossing streets. I was reminded very quickly to always look both ways, something I do on a bike as a matter of habit.

bhop

She was stupid to be sure, but yeah, look both ways. There could be anything coming from the 'wrong way' that could block your path. Bike salmon, pedestrians, dogs, dive bombing birds...

no motor?

I always look both ways too. I work in an older town with streets that change direction (and names) and go from being one way to both ways. There are enough seniors and people from countries where they drive on the left side (it''s kind of like a low budget version of driving in Miami, except with a real winter) on those streets to make it necessary to look both ways whether I'm walking, bicycling or driving.

High Roller

OP, you learned an extremely valuable lesson, and lived to tell the tale.

NEVER ASSUME ANYTHING WHEN YOUR LIFE IS ON THE LINE.

truman

I'm grateful you posted this, as I noticed this morning that I always feel just slightly doofus when I check for wrong-way traffic.

caloso

Good tip. And a reminder to me to assume nothing.

agentxcell

Yeah the great thing about living in a college town is there are always new freshmen that like to go down the one way streets. Seems to happen a lot at the beginning of the new semesters, I have never almost gotten plowed over though as I usually get to watch the show from a distance. I will definitely be checking all directions all the time from now on.

MNBiker

I also look both ways when pulling onto one-way streets.

I most memorably became aware of this need when I looked left (while driving a car) before pulling out of an alley into a one-way street going right and almost creamed a biker going the wrong way down the street.

Grim

Wrong way drivers happen a LOT!

I have a 1 way in the city of Marietta GA that I travel on my sunday rides and I have more then once had wrong way drivers coming at me. I stopped in the middle of the road and made the last one stop. We are right at a restaurant with a lot of outdoor tables. She is screaming at me to get the "F out of the road" at the top of her lungs in front of a bunch of families. The light behind me changed and she had two lanes of traffic headed at her blowing the horn. She still didn't get it and was sitting in the middle of the road and I pulled up beside her and I leaned in the window and calmly said "you are going to wrong way on a one way road" and point to the sign behind me.

Jtgyk

Nearly the same thing happened to me last year, turning right at a stop sign, focusing on a break in traffic and I almost nailed a "Salmon Cyclist" (riding against traffic flow) took me a couple of days to get the adrenaline out of my system.

cyclefreaksix

+100. Keep yer head on a swivel.

exile

I look both ways out of habit. Like another posters experience when I visited Scotland and England I almost got creamed. Also while new to driving I was one of those idiots that went down a wrong way street while in Manhattan. Luckily it was pretty late on a Sunday when I did it.