I almost assaulted a driver today

[fez]

now see, that i have done. but you never said you were going to do something like that.

i recognize your feeble intellect has to rely on exaggeration and hyperbole to sound like you have an argument here, but you are trying to ascribe actions to me i have never done.

The little old lady in question was about to turn in front of me. My choices were let her know i was there or take a ride over the hood of her car. I know which you would have me choose, since she was in a car, she was in the right.

[trainnvain]

I smell cage match.

"And in this corner king of the nan..."

[mildbill.]

Originally posted by fez
i recognize your feeble intellect has to rely on exaggeration and hyperbole to sound like you have an argument here

yeah, that's lame. not like threatening to fight me over the internet. now there's some good argumentatin.

you're arguing that a bicycle should have the same road presence as a car. it's just not reasonable. just like a civic doesn't have the same road presence that an 18-wheeler does. yes, it falls on both drivers to drive safely, but the civic is going to have to drive more defensively than the 18-wheeler, as the civic is less visible, the truck has a bigger blind spot, takes longer to stop, turn etc. you wouldn't ride in a truck's blind spot, see the turn signal go on and heave a brick out your window to keep the truck from turning.

[fez]

Originally posted by mildbill.
yeah, that's lame. not like threatening to fight me over the internet. now there's some good argumentatin.

you're arguing that a bicycle should have the same road presence as a car. it's just not reasonable. just like a civic doesn't have the same road presence that an 18-wheeler does. yes, it falls on both drivers to drive safely, but the civic is going to have to drive more defensively than the 18-wheeler, as the civic is less visible, the truck has a bigger blind spot, takes longer to stop, turn etc. you wouldn't ride in a truck's blind spot, see the turn signal go on and heave a brick out your window to keep the truck from turning.

But again, you are exaggerating and trying to ascribe actions to me that are inaccurate. You seem to be saying i was intentionally riding next to someone lurking in their blind spot, when actually, they pulled up next to me as i was riding along, minding my own business and tried to run me down.

If that was the situation, if i was in the right lane of a road in my little civic, driving along minding my own business, and a semi trailer pulled up next to me and put its turn signal on and i happened to have a brick handy, id sure as shit toss it.

Its true that bicycles dont have the road 'presence' that autos do. We do, however, have the same rights.

Drivers seem to feel the same way you do, they are bigger, they get the right of way. What can a little bike do to their metal cage? I merely attempt to change that perception. If ignoring and trying to assault cyclists and pedestrians with a car has some negative consequences then perhaps cars will pay more attention to us. Obviously from the posts on this thread (besides ours) it appears its not an uncommon occurance for cyclists to be nearly killed by a car.

I've been hit by cars and pickups. The last one was a 3/4 ton chevy two years ago. I got creamed while riding straight down the road in the center lane of a road through a green light. The guy who hit me was making a left turn. I went up and over, off the windshield. Unfortunatly my busted skull and severe concussion left me unable to say or do much of anything to anyone. Though the ambulance driver had to tell me i was bleeding out my ear to get me in the ambulance. The cop who arrived at the scene obviously feels the same way you do about traffic laws and cited me for failure to yield the right of way.

Is that how you think our traffic laws should work? Before you go straight on a green light you have to yield to anyone making a left turn who is in a bigger car?

Fortunately they don't and the judge who heard the case threw my citation out. And the insurance company of the driver who hit me bought me a new bike, new skis, a season pass, paid my tuition for a year and provided me with the means to not have to work for a year while in school. But i still have lost my sense of taste and smell and have frequent headaches related to my fractured skull (and maybe a bit of an agression problem ).

The fewer drivers who feel the way you do and actually watchout for cyclists and motorcyclists and obey traffic laws by yielding the right of way when required, the safer we all will be.

And one more thing, when did i ever threaten to fight you? you sure you are arguing with me and not the voices in your head again, nancy boy?

[mildbill.]

Originally posted by fez

I've been hit by cars and pickups.

which brings me back to my initial statement.

you're on a bike. it's a car. stay the fuck out of the way. a driver fucked up and hit you, that sucks and sorry you got hurt.

but if you think you're going to pull out into traffic on a bike and ride through it as if you were in a car, you're soft. if you keep spitting on cars instead of changing your riding behavior to be even more defensive than it already is, you're probably not going to end up any safer on the roads.

[powderhound]

Originally posted by Plakespear
Why the hell are suburban women in $50,000 SUVs the worst drivers on the planet?

because they are women

[Cosmic Bandito]

Is this the work of Fez?

Tires Slashed By Bicyclist