V
vanojr9
This is vanojr9 on her soapbox, fair warning :
I am an avid biker, not only do I enjoy biking as a hobby, but I commute to work/school (I'm a grad student) every day on my bike, weather permitting, and I run all the errands I can on it as well. Biking is a cheap, fun, and healthy way to travel I always wear a helmet, obey all traffic laws, bike on bike paths when they are available, and specifically try to avoid busy streets and intersections even if it means taking a meandering route to my destination. In short, I do everything I can to avoid annoying motorists. I use my dad's handy driving rule ("everyone else on the road is an idiot") when biking and always, ALWAYS assume that other drivers aren't watching for me. But even all the care I put in and all the overcompensation I do for bad motorists STILL doesn't prevent me from practically getting run over at least once a week. In a college town. With tons of bikers.
For instance, this afternoon I almost got PLOWED over by a driver while biking across a cross walk (I had the walk signal, waited for the driver making a left to see me, then biked out into the intersection, at which point the driver must have thought he could "beat" me and oncoming traffic, and floored it to make the left. I had to brake hard and jump off my bike to stop in the middle of the intersection to avoid getting hit). When this happens, I invariably get one of two responses: either I get the finger (sorry for existing and riding a bike) or the motorist laughs (yeah, it is :censor: hilarious that you almost killed me). I am getting so fed up with it I could SCREAM!!
I have two friends in my grad department who have already gotten hit by cars since taking up commuting via bikes, and I'm pretty sure one of these days I'll get hit too, frankly. Enough people run lights in this town that I won't be able to anticipate all the law breakers. And when that day comes, I will be fully prepared to sue the pants off of whoever hits me (my dad and my bf are both lawyers, booyah!).
So here's my point: please watch for cyclists and spread the word. I know most people are responsible drivers, but it doesn't hurt to check twice for pedestrians or cyclists. You never know when you might make a mistake and hit a young cyclist who can't compensate for your error or perhaps a cyclist with a considerable amount of free legal representation. It always pays to look twice
I am an avid biker, not only do I enjoy biking as a hobby, but I commute to work/school (I'm a grad student) every day on my bike, weather permitting, and I run all the errands I can on it as well. Biking is a cheap, fun, and healthy way to travel I always wear a helmet, obey all traffic laws, bike on bike paths when they are available, and specifically try to avoid busy streets and intersections even if it means taking a meandering route to my destination. In short, I do everything I can to avoid annoying motorists. I use my dad's handy driving rule ("everyone else on the road is an idiot") when biking and always, ALWAYS assume that other drivers aren't watching for me. But even all the care I put in and all the overcompensation I do for bad motorists STILL doesn't prevent me from practically getting run over at least once a week. In a college town. With tons of bikers.
For instance, this afternoon I almost got PLOWED over by a driver while biking across a cross walk (I had the walk signal, waited for the driver making a left to see me, then biked out into the intersection, at which point the driver must have thought he could "beat" me and oncoming traffic, and floored it to make the left. I had to brake hard and jump off my bike to stop in the middle of the intersection to avoid getting hit). When this happens, I invariably get one of two responses: either I get the finger (sorry for existing and riding a bike) or the motorist laughs (yeah, it is :censor: hilarious that you almost killed me). I am getting so fed up with it I could SCREAM!!
I have two friends in my grad department who have already gotten hit by cars since taking up commuting via bikes, and I'm pretty sure one of these days I'll get hit too, frankly. Enough people run lights in this town that I won't be able to anticipate all the law breakers. And when that day comes, I will be fully prepared to sue the pants off of whoever hits me (my dad and my bf are both lawyers, booyah!).
So here's my point: please watch for cyclists and spread the word. I know most people are responsible drivers, but it doesn't hurt to check twice for pedestrians or cyclists. You never know when you might make a mistake and hit a young cyclist who can't compensate for your error or perhaps a cyclist with a considerable amount of free legal representation. It always pays to look twice