cranky old dude

Riding in to work the night shift this afternoon on my Mtn. Bike / commuter (I only use the recumbent on the day shift) and some day-dreamer turns left into a driveway directly in front of me.

Now I hate my job and everything associated with it so you can imagine I don't generally move along too quickly going to work, maybe 12 to 14 mph as a rule. So this fellow in his 30's starts from a standstill along the side of a quiet residential street and procedes to turn left right in front of me. And they say DF's are more visible than 'bents! Now he noticed me after he had commited to the turn and instinctivly did what all drivers do in an impending crash...he stopped, right in front of me. I had to grab the binders quite hard to keep from hitting his passenger door, hard enough that the back end unweighted a little bit. I'm fortunate I was just poking along and no harm was done, just a close call.

The driver offerd what sounded like an insincere appology but I wasn't man enough to graciously accept it. Instead I just looked quizickly at him and shrugged with my palms turned upward as in a silent WTF?
My bad, I should have taken the opportunity to exchange a pleasentry with the man but I didn't.

It seems like there was a lot of traffic today and I know there were many accidents, in fact my workmate witnessed a youg lady in her SUV as she anihilated the poor guy who was stopped in traffic in front of her. Those SUV's are awfully big, I hope she didn't drop her cell phone as it could take forever to find it in there!

tsl

Glad it turned out okay, Cranky.

JanMM

Close call! Glad to hear that he didn't swear at you for being on the roadway!

Floyd

thank you for being a 'gentleman', we need more of that sort of behavior. OTOH I would not fault you for telling, or reminding, the guy...or gal...to think and LOOK when they are pulling into traffic.

PaulH

It's not that you were "not man enough to accept his apology", rather, he was not man enough to be worth accepting an apology from. I would have reported him to the cops, hoping that it might help get him off the road.

Paul

Louis

He knew he screwed up; you did the right thing by not escalating things. That's good for all of us.

Jet Travis

Glad you're safe!

doctor j

Sorry to hear about this encounter but glad the outcome was OK.

jppe

If you had been a second or two quicker getting to that spot you would have been in exactly the same situation as my buddy who got hit in November.......and who still isn't walking and is going back for more surgeries Monday. I usually have a good handle on my emotions but I get really quick with folks that do stupid stuff on the road. Your immediate reaction was totally normal.

I'm really glad you're okay. I'm trying to learn from these episodes and trying to be even more observant with folks that might turn into me or in front of me but I could probably do an even better job of staying on my toes.......

Thanks for sharing. Good lesson learned on the road!!

maddmaxx 

Based in part on your buddy's accident and a few near hits for myself, I'm outfitting my bikes that go on the road with bright flashers front and rear. Every little bit helps.

I've learned to watch the people coming out from my right like a hawk and I watch the people passing from behind carefully but the ones that really scare me are those coming toward me.

leob1

You where nicer than I woould have been, much nicer.

stapfam

Couple of years ago- I had the same happen to us on the Tandem. Rear wheel lifted and the back end swung round but Stuart, the pilot had the sense to release the brakes and go broadside into the car. It made a right mess of the rear door and wing. The driver of the car was not amused and started swearing at us.

He did it to the wrong person as Stuart warned the driver not to say any more and just hand over his insurance details. He still swore at us so Stuart got on the phone and within 2 minutes we had 3 Police cars.

Don't upset an off- duty policeman by blaming an accident on him.

cyclinfool

Crankster - glad your OK. You did the right thing. The best thing was to keep moving on, having a chat, whether friendly or not at worst might have turned ugly, at best might have mentally left him off the hook. Sounds like the way it happened he gets to drive away shaken with a lesson learned and you get to ride away safe and sound - the best of both worlds.

In my younger days I have expressed rightous indignation - but most times it resulted in less than a favorable outcome. Not expressing forgiveness but not expressing outrage tends to be the best approach - it's not like I never made a mistake as a driver.

tntyz

Glad to hear it was "only" a close call. People get defensive when they make mistakes, but sounds like you read the situation the right way.

Couple weeks ago had a young woman pull out from a stop sign right in front of me when I was sailing along at about 18 mph. Funny thing is that she actually made eye contact with me before pulling out! I braked hard and was glad that she was astute enough to punch it to get out of the way. Just goes to show that you cannot trust the other guy.