Hawkowl2

I finally stopped shaking enough to keyboard on my phone. Today I missed a bike and rider by inches.

Divided four lane urban highway. I'm in the inside straight ahead lane. The light turned green. I waited a few seconds because cars have a habit of running that red light.

When I started forward out of the corner of my eye I saw something moving and started to take my foot off the the gas pedal.Then this male crossed in front of me so close his handlebars overhung my fender. He had a smile on his face.

Looking back, what I saw out of the corner of my eye had to have been him riding down the centerline between vehicles. He appeared to be having a ball.

By his actions he almost caused me to have shakes and nightmares for the indefinite future.

As it is I just hope he stops his reckless behaviour before he gets killed and gives someone else nightmares.

Moe Zhoost

I wonder what was in his head. Was he oblivious, impaired, mentally ill, suicidal, or maybe intentionally wanting to cause havoc? I'm glad you weren't the one to ruin his party.

The 3 second rule for green lights is an excellent strategy. In my area, so many drivers speed through reds that have just turned that waiting a bit is essential to safety.

BobbyG

That is very un-nerving. I'm glad it didn't turn out worse. Unfortunately I think the odds will be against the cyclist who obviously has some mental issues or substance abuse problems.

Most days my bike commute takes me through a section of the city where homeless services are located. I often see individuals on foot or bike who are oblivious to their surroundings, or blind to the potential consequences of their actions, or defiant, wading into traffic, actually challenging vehicles to hit them.

You said you waited a few seconds before accelerating and took your foot off the gas when you sensed movement in your periphery. That makes you more conscientious and more alert than many other drivers, and definitely more so than the cyclist. And now you will be even more circumspect in similar situations.

A good bike ride away from traffic should help calm your nerves.

indyfabz

There are a lot of impaired (mentally or otherwise) riders and pedestrians here in Philly. Then you have the defiant ones who have no sense of social order. But there are also "normal" people who are simply selfish and will do what is most convenient for them. Here is a good example: I work across from Comcast's world headquarters. The back entrance to the building provides access to an extremely busy commuter train station. That entrance is roughly in the middle of the block. Because people from the several surrounding office towers were crossing the street in the middle of the block to get to the entrance, the city installed a mid-block crosswalk, complete with flashing lights and yield signs. Despite that convenience, people who work in towers to the west and are heading east to the entrance cross the two lane street wherever they fell like it instead of heading to the crosswalk and crossing there. They often just step right off the curb to make a bee line for the entrance. I have nearly hit people while riding my bike home.

livedarklions

What's the deal with this doing wheelies in traffic fad? I've now seen at least four people zipping in and out of moving traffic lanes doing this, and it's just one near miss after another.

No, I'm not describing YouTube videos, I've actually witnessed this at least four times in the past three weeks.

Daniel4

I'm sure there's someone in these BFs that can tell the rest of us how to properly run red lights.

Sometimes niceholes exist for these kind of things.

rumrunn6

I think the bike was going the same direction as the OP with the green light & not crossing traffic perpendicular thru the red light

Chris0516

I am glad, there was no collision.