CliftonGK1

Seriously, is there something in the stars about this year being the Year of the Right Hook? I've been clipped twice in the past week and a half.

Last week:
In the bike lane on a standard 3-lane (one each way, center R/L turns) with bike lanes on either side. I'm in the bike lane, blinkie flashing away, reflective gear, big white bucket pannier on the traffic side of my bike. Pretty tough to not see me. Kid passes me as many cars are doing, but then when his passenger mirror is even with my front wheel he decides he absolutely must stop into the gas station on my right. Plows right into me and takes me along for a ride.
Incedent was resolved, no majour injuries to self or bike, irritation level = 8/10

Yesterday:
Irritation level settled to 2/10, riding home enjoying my day. Same bike/blinkies/pannier. Bright green Tour de Cure jersey. Using crosswalk with 2 other cyclists and a pedestrian. You can see the purple line in the pic indicating my path, and the blue line indicating the automobile, with a circle at the point of impact.
Again, standing on corner with a group of people waiting for the light. Other trail users on opposite side of intersection waiting to cross. Traffic flowing steadily (right to left) from the exit ramp into that side street, so the (blue line) turning guy is irritated that he can't make a right on red. He's edging forward waiting for a gap, and I pretty much knew he'd skip the light the minute he had a chance. Sure enough, when the crossing light changed and I slowly rolled into the intersection, he took that as the perfect opportunity to make his right and clipped my front wheel (I timed it pretty well). I stayed upright and dragged as much of my bike along the side of his car as possible. Again, no damage to bike or person; vehicle sustained significant damage when he decided the best idea was to hit-skip, and instead of stopping he gunned his engine and took off. Irritation level back up to 8/10. I managed to get his passenger tail light as he bolted.
So, while I will claim partial responsibility for that second one, only in the fact that I knew what was coming and unlike other trail users I wasn't willing to yield my right of way, had I only been paying attention to the crossing light and zipped out into the intersection the situation would have played out significantly worse for me.
Is it the weather? Alignment of the stars? Something in the water? It's not like I'm riding in a zig-zag between the bike and traffic lanes, splitting lanes, and whipping through intersections against the light. Following the rules in the recent past has seemed to get me if not respect, at least just treated with the boredom of "ho-hum, just another guy on the road."

How about anyone else? Noticing drivers being more aggressive with failure to yield situations these days, or am I just having a bad streak?

Bud Bent

Was there ever a year that wasn't the year of the right hook? Glad you're ok.

Surrealdeal

I won't harp on you re: incident #2 because from the way that you tell your story you already know how you could have avoided it. We're always going to have to ride defensively regardless of whether or not we are in the right and there will always be idiot drivers. As Bud said there's never NOT a year of the right hook.

Glad you're OK!

cycle_maven

Yeah, but some severe paint damage to the dipwad's vehicle is classic!

colleen c

Driver are for sure more aggressive.

Had me another incidence three days ago. It was the dark morning hours and I was going up this overpass. A single SUV came along side of me pushing me into the curb while the passenger had his window roll down harassing me. I knew this was trouble so I hit the brake hard while the suv coasted slowly forward another 40 ft and stopped. I had all my lights at the suv and ready to do a u-turn and act like a wild Salmon going down the overpass in case they started reversing their car.

Luckily there was car at the bottom of the overpass waiting for green light and they started approaching. The SUV took off as the other car came up and I talked to one of the driver and they made sure everthing was ok.

Becareful out there. This is a second time something similar happened to me for no apparent reason. I think the bad economy made things worst.

rnorris

Haven't run into this problem on my bike yet, but as a pedestrian I'm finding I have to literally run out of the paths of moron drivers who can't get a clue to look for pedestrians who are legally crossing the street. It's really gotten bad in the past few years.

I'm glad you weren't hurt in either of these cases. I live near that crossing. 148th seems to attract a certain type of suburban driving behavior that abhors anything not on 4 wheels.

akohekohe

OP: Ha, ha on # 2. You missed a good opportunity though ... should have gotten the plate # and taken a dive. Pretend you're a soccer player Start rolling around on the pavement in agony and get the names of witnesses. Then call 911 and report it as a hit and run. The key is to remember to always get the plate number.

CliftonGK1

If I were more convincing at taking a dive, I might. Maybe I should practice... Right now it would look something akin to a Beavis & Butthead sketch:

Beavis (holding chest in mock pain) - "Ahhh! My liver!"
Butthead - "No dude, it's lower."
Beavis (holding groin in mock pain) "Ahhh! My liver!"

mikeybikes

Be careful out there.

I can haz diagram too?

This happened to me this morning. Blue is me. Red is truck. The big orange * indicates a potential location for collision. Fortunately, I had my wits about me to avoid and yell at the fat ass operating the truck at the same time.

jdgesus 

year of the idiots more like it.
had a dood today on the burke-gilman (near kenmore) who saw us (me and wife) coming, speed up and stopped to block us at the crossing and yelled at us we have yield! couldn't not at this point, as he was blocking the whole intersection

needless to say he didn't like the look of me and my 200+lbs-6'3"-weirdo-beirdo dismounting and coming towards his truck... and he peeled away.

WTF?! i think seattle ppl are starting crack under this weather!

vtjim

I only did that once. I'm about your size, and had the same result. They tend to fold up and acquiesce when actually confronted.

CFXMarauder

No crosses or hooks but ive had two motorists do rollouts on me at intersections..First one started to cross then stopped as she seen me approaching...Were Maybe 30yrds apart so I get out the saddle and bump it up to about 26mph to get across the intersection faster and hold her up less time. Just as I enter the intersection and begin to give her a thumbs up / wave she moves out into me !! The wave and mouthed thank you quickly turned into a finger and what the F is wrong with you as I went left to create more distance..

The second was yesterday on my way to work as a semi and I reached a 4 way stop at the same time..I came to a stop , put a foot down and waved him through...He waved and proceeded through..I clipped back in and started to pass behind him making my left when the Ford F150 behind him just coasts right on through stop and comes within a few feet of hitting my back wheel...Dont think he ever saw the Dual flashing Magicshines, bright yellow jersey or single digit salute as he passed....

jdgesus 

i was with my lady and i get defensive..... i *try* not to be an ******* back

CliftonGK1

Which intersection in Kenmore?

unterhausen

there is lots of traffic right now. All the people suffering from seasonal affective disorder are getting the energy up to take a trip to nowhere

jdgesus 

one of the "yield" ones not the "STOP" ones where the burke crosses those roads down to the houses.

CliftonGK1

Ah, sounds like that's one in the ever-contested area of private roads. I'm not fond of riding through that section for two reasons: the intersections are sketchy, and there's soooo many root heaves through there!

snajper69

I had one dude come out of the car and run up to me and when I stood up he looked up and run back into the car nad took off lol hahahahaha

wphamilton

I think they suddenly realize how much easier it is from inside their vehicle as opposed to face to face. Although I'm sure it helps to have intimidating size, the same thing has happened to me and I don't think my 5'10 145lbs with graying hair intimidates anyone.