Commuting/riding around town during the holidays
 

Seems a bit more dangerous, what with all the stress and people going crazy in their cars. Sorta noticed this today when I went to drop off some toys at the FD. On my way back I passed through an area that is fairly busy throughout the year. As I was riding, keeping as close to the right as possible and keeping an eye out for "loaded" parked cars on the side, I hear honking. I wasn't sure if someone was honking at me or some other car. It sounded like more than one car honking. I figured people were just stressed. Then I see some idiot riding someone's ass at 34-40mph. Seeing things like this ticks me off because I hate tailgaters, yet I just smiled to myself and glad I'm not driving!

that's the nice thing about being in a college town. Nobody is here.

December is the worst month of the year, and not because of the weather, but because of all the people rushing around doing christmass shopping. It's madness out there right now.

Living and working in the city, ordinarily we complain that there's no retail. This time of year, it's a blessing. It's been fairly quiet on my commute this week, and with no school starting today, it should seem like a ghost town.

I do feel for you suburban riders.

I haven't noticed any difference on the bike-ride part of my commute, honestly. Drivers seem about the same, by which I mean mostly courteous.

The Metro trains seems a tad less crowded, but mostly the same there too.

Rick / OCRR

the other day, while riding down a dedicated bike lane past cars piled up in traffic, a lady decides to jump out of her car into the middle of the street. I was able to stop in time, but my warning yell put her in a tizzy and she dramatically spun around a couple of time. she commenced yelling how I need to watch out, to which I explained she was the idiot stepping out of her car in the middle of the street without looking. I'm ready for normality to begin.

Did you figure out why she jumped out of her car? It sure doesn't sound like she was capable of communicating intelligably.

I had that happen once. I was going fast enough that the person just got buzzed and an earful of obscenities.

I love living in a college town for times like this. The only downside? Very few of the traffic lights detect my bike. With everyone gone, I find myself walking across or running the light.

People around here are all a couple of towns over at the mall doing their shopping. It's pretty quiet in little ole Fairhaven.

I love mt air horn! :) Sets people straight (most of the time)

My commute takes me by the parking entrance to a mall. Its always annoying because there is a pick up drop off section with lots of cabs, but I noticed that recently its been much worse with the holidays. Lots of cars blocking the intersections when the light changes and not paying attention.

Besides that section, traffic has been much lighter this week which has been great.

A woman pulled a right hook on me yesterday, looking me in the eye for so long I couldn't believe she stayed on the road. When I went behind her enormous SUV I saw her staring at me in the mirror. WTF?

Oahu is small enough and congested, that Thanksgiving to New Years is the worst time of the entire year for cycle commuting. More honking, tailgating, blocking intersections and distracted drivers.

I had a guy in a large commercial panel truck tailgating me the other day. Took down his plate # and looked it up in the court web site. The guy got cited in October for driving without a license and then again in November. I got pretty good video of his tailgating/driving for December. Might be fun to show up at his court dates (yes two, one for each citation) in January and show the video to the prosecutor and judge.

Submit the evidence to the prosecution for them to use at the court hearing. I don’t think you’d be able to pipe up from the “audience”(?) “here’s some new evidence you might like to look at” during his court appearance

Traffic courts are pretty relaxed. The prosecutors do very little preparation for any one case. One prosecutor will handle an entire morning of cases up that day (20 to 40). The cases I was the victim/witness, I prepared my evidence (full case) and showed it to the prosecutor the morning of the case. The prosecutor then showed it to the defense. The defense then either requested a continuance to figure a way to try and challenge my evidence (really hoping I would not show up next court date) or they would finally just plead 'no contest'.