Riding my bike to work every day and frequently biking outside for recreation as well, it's pretty much a given that I will occasionally have conflicts with motorists (either they do something dumb or I do). Luckily motorists around Boulder are pretty aware and tolerant of cyclists. However, both yesterday and today I've had run-ins with careless and distracted drivers. Not a good start to the beginning of my road season.
Yesterday I was riding back to work from lunch at home (I live less than a mile away, so I often lunch at home). I was on 13th Street, on the one block with no bike facilities (north is a bike lane and south is a baraccaded contra-flow lane). Suddenly, without any slowing or turn signal, the car in front of me whips into a diagonal parking space to our right. I braked quickly enough to miss it. I go over to the driver's side window and a woman is yapping on her iPhone, completely oblivious to the fact she almost swiped me. I pound on the window, startling her.
"Do you know you almost hit me?" I ask
"Oh, I'm so sorry," she replies. She seems genuinely sorry. Apologies are rare in this situation, so I don't feel like yelling at her any more.
"Well, please be more careful next time," I say, and ride away
Last time I confronted a motorist she started attacking me (verbally) and yelling at me for not wearing a helmet, so I didn't really think much of this relatively passive encouter until today.
I was doing a tempo interval at lunch up Sunshine Canyon. The shoulders aren't huge, but generally motorists are aware and polite. A shiny black SUV comes roaring down the canyon and starts drifting across the center line and into my lane.
I see the driver, a middle-aged man, has a magazine/newspaper on the steering wheel and is reading it, head down. He keeps drifting and finally looks up as I am riding off the road to avoid him. Incredible.
I just kept riding up the canyon (wanting to finish my interval), which was stupid. Sunshine is twisty enough that I might have been able to catch him and get his plate number to report to the State Police.
Anyways, these things are always so unnerving and it helps to rant. Every cyclist handles these inevitable enounters with motorists differently. I don't know if my strategy works. Is it better to be more threatening in order to scare them into being more aware (if they are at fault), or it is more effective to confront them more passively and constructively? What's your strategy?
1 comment:
Boulder drivers maybe be "bike aware", but they're also sloppy (and probably stoned). Driving out west is abysmally simple, and it shows in the quality of driver.
I feel like the drivers are "better" in Boston because in Boston, you learn to watch your bumpers, or end up on someone else's. It's like being in prison, really.
Most of my close calls and collisions come in the suburbs.
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