Originally Posted by
bpcyclist
I know. It's just unbelievable. So, I was leaving Safeway after getting a couple of things this morning at about 0630 AM or so. Totally dark in my neighborhood, which is basically, downtown Portland. Lots of people heading to work. I get to a cross street where I have no stop and no light. I am to go. There is a Lexus SUV perpendicular to me to my right approaching his stop sign. Because I have been hit before and because I am paranoid, I hit my brakes anyway, in order to visually verify that he is, in fact, going to stop. He slows way down as he approaches his stop sign. It looks and feels like he is going to stop. Looks like he's stopping. Good.
I begin to pedal, somewhat reluctantly, still watching him. There are trust issues. I have 1100 lumens on my helmet and I am now looking right at him, because he still hasn't totally stopped. What is he doing? He turns and looks directly at me. Then he hits the accelerator and screams through the stop sign, while looking right at me!. By then, I had just stopped, so, he didn't hit me. But if I hadn't been riding so defensively, he for sure would've rammed into me, all 4500 lbs of him, right at me and my 18-pound BMC. Enjoy your morning.
Or.. to be fair. He is waiting for you to go because you have the right of way but you act hesitant and unsure and he finally decides to just get through without dealing with the waffle. I ride defensively but quite assertively and basically tell other drivers what to do with my hands or body language.
I often find it more frustrating to deal with
nice holes, those people who follow slowly behind instead of passing when they have room or stop at intersections when they have the right away just because I'm on a bike. They are trying to be safe or kind but it causes confusion for everyone around.