Yesterday's commute home was a bit too adventurous, as a driver definitely tried to run me off the road. My commute home involves a a nice, winding descent (along The Arlington in Kensington/Berkeley, for those who know the East Bay area near San Francisco). More background: the previous day, I had to swap my rear 27" wheel on my commuter with a 700c wheel while I await a new tire on order. In the meantime, I had loosened my rear brake since the pads are slightly off the rim and I was in too much of a rush, plus I have a good front, I thought. So, the following happened with reduced braking ability, too
Anyway, going about 30+ mph, I approach a car from behind while in the bike lane, maybe getting about even with the rear bumper but never passing the car. Suddenly, the driver decided to brake and veer hard right, pushing me a good 8-10 feet toward the curb, through the bike lane, and toward the back of a parked car. I consider myself a good bike handler, and that was definitely very dangerous situation and a near miss.
A few minutes later, I caught up to him at a light and yelled through his rolled up window, using my best WTF hand gestures. His response was to give me the "too close" hands together gesture. Apparently, in this driver's mind, running a cyclist off the road and potentially causing serious injury or worse was justified? What would you do? Is it worth filing a report? In any case avoid this a**hole driver.
