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I yelled at a motorist today

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I yelled at a motorist today

Old 06-11-22, 12:37 PM
  #1  
VegasJen
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I yelled at a motorist today

One of the few disadvantages for me of living in a rural community is a lack of road shoulders. I'm my town, there are precious few bike lanes and even to get to a road with a bike lane I have to ride 3-4 miles. As such, I try to plan my routes and be vigilant on my bike. When people give me space passing, I always try to wave to show appreciation but even so, there are always people who seem to have no problem taking my life for granted.

But today I had enough. I'm riding down this road, part of a normal route I take often, and this car snuck up on me. I have a mirror on my drop bar and try to check it regularly when I'm on a road with no shoulder. And by no shoulder I really mean no shoulder. There are a number of roads out here where there's not even enough pavement for the white line lane marker. Most roads do at least have the white line, but even when they do, there's often only about 6" of pavement and then it's just dirt and gravel. This particular road has no outside lane marker.

So anyway, I'm trucking down this road and somehow I missed this car coming up on me. When he passed, he passed within just a couple feet, maybe 18" doing at least the speed limit (45mph). But what really set me off was that the section of road had a dotted line and absolutely no oncoming traffic for almost a mile. So there was literally ZERO reason to be so close to me. He's gambling with MY life.

I'm generally pretty mild mannered but when something sets me off I'm ready to go, and there's nothing small about me. I may not be particularly tall, but I'm not a small woman. This clown passes me so close the suction almost pulls me in behind him. I sit up and raise my hands like "WTF????" I'm pissed. So I keep yelling at this ******bag and he decides he's going to turn around. OK by me. He turns and he drives right back by me, but I'm fired up. He's not going to intimidate me. I pull into the lane, almost to the line and as he passes by I ask in my most demure manner WTF his problem is. I was expecting him to stop and get out but he didn't. I was almost hoping he would have. I'd probably have gotten my ass kicked, but I was determined he was going to know he was in a fight.
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Old 06-11-22, 12:59 PM
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You might be a good candidate for one of the Garmin rear radar devices and GPS head units, this way you will get a warning of an overtaking vehicle. People who use them swear by them.

I had to laugh at your road description. Reminds me of a road in Santa Fe, NM, specifically northbound Rt 84/285. The state highway dept. would pave this on occasion and when they did so, they would add less and less pavement on the shoulder to the point it looked like the multiple layers of the Grand Canyon. The oldest layer was 3 ft off the white line, the next oldest, 2 ft. etc..... You could not possibly ride this shoulder.
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Old 06-11-22, 01:21 PM
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I live and ride in a congested urban community and yell at motorists every day...

That being said I don't blame you.
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Old 06-11-22, 01:38 PM
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Originally Posted by VegasJen
One of the few disadvantages for me of living in a rural community is a lack of road shoulders.
Sounds a lot like many of the roads I have to ride on. Some of them will give you almost a foot to the right of the white line at times, but those will usually have rumble strips built in.



Originally Posted by Steve B.
You might be a good candidate for one of the Garmin rear radar devices and GPS head units, this way you will get a warning of an overtaking vehicle. People who use them swear by them.
I could not agree more. I just upgraded to the Varia RCT715 unit from the base Varia. I won't ride without it. Got the first Varia after a driver who claimed he "didn't see me" on a road similar to the one pictured attempted to pass so closely, the windshield pillar caught my arm. I remember a loud THUD and then waking up in the middle of the road, bleeding heavily from a cut that required 12 stitches to close, along with some pretty bad road rash. Now, when I hear the beep warnings from the head unit, I keep a close eye on my helmet mirror. If I don't see the car moving over to pass safely, I'd rather be able to exit the roadway more graciously.
p.s.: the new RCT715, along with the forward facing GoPro, can provide good evidence of an unsafe pass or harassment to the local authorities. Ask me how I know.

Last edited by Bald Paul; 06-11-22 at 01:41 PM.
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Old 06-11-22, 01:52 PM
  #5  
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I made another post in a different thread about the same thing. Trying to ride defensively and taking the lane sometimes seems to make things worse for people who just seem to love to get close to me. My first thought is that they must think it's dangerously illegal and wrong to go across a solid yellow line to pass a slow moving vehicle, to which a bicycle is. It's not! (Unless its a blind hill/corner) It's only illegal to pass another moving car across a solid yellow line, and some do that anyway so it doesn't make sense.

Miles and miles of open road and they still pass with the bare minimum of space, definitely not 1 meter as the law here states. I am mostly calm about it since riding downtown in the city core has you quickly used to cars going by close, but at a MUCH lower speed. It doesn't make it ok though in any case.

When I'm passing a cyclist while I'm driving a car and the road is open, I signal, and move completely into the other lane. Why? Because I can! And it's not hard to turn a steering wheel 10 degrees while sitting on my butt. Or to wait 2-3 seconds at MOST when a car is oncoming and too little room to pass.

I think there needs to be an update to the driving standards and schooling or something similar since it's becoming more common to encounter cyclists around rural, suburban, and urban areas. And stricter distracted driving laws, but that's something I can go on for days about...

+1 on having a mirror
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Old 06-11-22, 02:24 PM
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Originally Posted by VegasJen
One of the few disadvantages for me of living in a rural community is a lack of road shoulders. I'm my town, there are precious few bike lanes and even to get to a road with a bike lane I have to ride 3-4 miles. As such, I try to plan my routes and be vigilant on my bike. When people give me space passing, I always try to wave to show appreciation but even so, there are always people who seem to have no problem taking my life for granted.

But today I had enough. I'm riding down this road, part of a normal route I take often, and this car snuck up on me. I have a mirror on my drop bar and try to check it regularly when I'm on a road with no shoulder. And by no shoulder I really mean no shoulder. There are a number of roads out here where there's not even enough pavement for the white line lane marker. Most roads do at least have the white line, but even when they do, there's often only about 6" of pavement and then it's just dirt and gravel. This particular road has no outside lane marker.

So anyway, I'm trucking down this road and somehow I missed this car coming up on me. When he passed, he passed within just a couple feet, maybe 18" doing at least the speed limit (45mph). But what really set me off was that the section of road had a dotted line and absolutely no oncoming traffic for almost a mile. So there was literally ZERO reason to be so close to me. He's gambling with MY life.

I'm generally pretty mild mannered but when something sets me off I'm ready to go, and there's nothing small about me. I may not be particularly tall, but I'm not a small woman. This clown passes me so close the suction almost pulls me in behind him. I sit up and raise my hands like "WTF????" I'm pissed. So I keep yelling at this ******bag and he decides he's going to turn around. OK by me. He turns and he drives right back by me, but I'm fired up. He's not going to intimidate me. I pull into the lane, almost to the line and as he passes by I ask in my most demure manner WTF his problem is. I was expecting him to stop and get out but he didn't. I was almost hoping he would have. I'd probably have gotten my ass kicked, but I was determined he was going to know he was in a fight.
The driver buzzed you. On purpose. Either that or is completely incompetent. I yelled at a driver today too. I was on a bike path and while looking the opposite direction, she pulled right across the path while exiting a parking lot. She was surprised to see me since she had not looked in my direction. On this one, I went with completely incompetent.
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Old 06-11-22, 02:27 PM
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2 Feet or 18" doesn't sound terrible to me, admittedly you would like a bit more space but I've had cars, motorcycles and trucks come that close to me on a fairly regular basis. One time the local driving school was inside that distance while passing me, I held up my thumb and index finger very close to each other as if to say your d**k is tiny.
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Old 06-11-22, 03:08 PM
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Bad drivers will buzz past you regardless if you are on the far right or taking the lane. Even good drivers pass too closely if you ride too far to the right. I'd rather take the lane where good drivers will change lanes.

Get a rear facing camera. The sight of a camera tends to improve driving habits. Not all the time of course.
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Old 06-11-22, 03:12 PM
  #9  
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Originally Posted by Daniel4
Bad drivers will buzz past you regardless if you are on the far right or taking the lane. Even good drivers pass too closely if you ride too far to the right. I'd rather take the lane where good drivers will change lanes.

Get a rear facing camera. The sight of a camera tends to improve driving habits. Not all the time of course.
I tend to be middle to left tire track. Then as they start going around, I move further right. I give myself the cushion, assuming they won't.
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Old 06-11-22, 04:00 PM
  #10  
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be safe !

unfortunately you never know - especially if you live in a place with lots of firearms - when those kinds of confrontations will turn really bad.

i’ve done it twice this year and regretted it both times. once i was riding with my two kids on a 25mph local street, residential, four way stop signs every block, and the road marked “bike route” with sharrows right in the middle of the lanes. this ******* in a pickup truck is behind us honking like crazy, passes my 10 year old while honking, scaring her into almost crashing, and then buzzes me and my 4 year old, still honking. amazingly, he comes to a stop at the stop sign that’s about 50’ away (small blocks) and his window is open. i yell at him. “what the hell is your problem?!??” he yells back “get out of the road !!!!” we proceeded to yell and scream at each other, me explaining the law, he claiming we’re not allowed to be in the road, finally i pull my phone out to video his truck as he pulls off and he refuses to, so we go ahead of him, only to get honked at again.

the other was worse. an uber smack in the middle of a bike lane on a fairly busy airport access road, forcing me into the single northbound lane at around 15mph (very bad headwinds) while traffic is more like 40. i yell at him and give his mirror a slap on my way by. he immediately gives chase, weaving around cars as he can and eventually catching up to me, at which point i’m between him and a jersey barrier. he slows and starts screaming, “what gives you the right to attack my vehicle.” so of course i yell back to get the F out of the bike lane. we come to a stop at a light. i have now totally lost my cool, get off, lean the bike on the barrier, and walk up to his car and tell him to get out and await an officer to explain himself to, i’m calling 911. of course now he just floors it and takes off.

i can’t imagine doing this sort of stupid **** (because it truly is) as a woman or a smaller person or a person in a place where there’s a decent chance the hothead in a car has a gun. i’m 6’2”, can be plenty imposing if needed, but it won’t stop a bullet.
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Old 06-11-22, 04:06 PM
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Originally Posted by Bald Paul
Sounds a lot like many of the roads I have to ride on. Some of them will give you almost a foot to the right of the white line at times, but those will usually have rumble strips built in.





I could not agree more. I just upgraded to the Varia RCT715 unit from the base Varia. I won't ride without it. Got the first Varia after a driver who claimed he "didn't see me" on a road similar to the one pictured attempted to pass so closely, the windshield pillar caught my arm. I remember a loud THUD and then waking up in the middle of the road, bleeding heavily from a cut that required 12 stitches to close, along with some pretty bad road rash. Now, when I hear the beep warnings from the head unit, I keep a close eye on my helmet mirror. If I don't see the car moving over to pass safely, I'd rather be able to exit the roadway more graciously.
p.s.: the new RCT715, along with the forward facing GoPro, can provide good evidence of an unsafe pass or harassment to the local authorities. Ask me how I know.
That's a pretty nice road you have there. Hell, if you went off, it might even be a soft landing. Out here, not so much.
I worry about what would happen if someone caught me with a mirror or something. And that's the main reason why I put mirrors on all my bikes. It's not for other bicyclists because there are precious few of us out here. It's because there is generally so little shoulder. I do try to ride as far to the right as I can and most people give me some room for comfort, even if only grudgingly, but I would say maybe 5-10% of the drivers out here almost seem hostile.
Originally Posted by KerryIrons
The driver buzzed you. On purpose. Either that or is completely incompetent. I yelled at a driver today too. I was on a bike path and while looking the opposite direction, she pulled right across the path while exiting a parking lot. She was surprised to see me since she had not looked in my direction. On this one, I went with completely incompetent.
The thing that pissed me off is less the fact that the driver buzzed me, which he did. But how completely unnecessary it was. As stated, it was a dotted line, so he couldn't use the excuse of crossing a solid yellow line, and there was no oncoming traffic. This was pretty much a flagrant challenge, but especially at the speed, the driver was putting my life at risk.
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Old 06-11-22, 04:06 PM
  #12  
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Not worth it to yell at a driver and initiate any type of confrontation especially if you're alone and in the middle of nowhere with no other people around to act as witnesses just in case something violent happens.
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Old 06-11-22, 04:17 PM
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Originally Posted by VegasJen
That's a pretty nice road you have there. Hell, if you went off, it might even be a soft landing. Out here, not so much.
I worry about what would happen if someone caught me with a mirror or something. And that's the main reason why I put mirrors on all my bikes. It's not for other bicyclists because there are precious few of us out here. It's because there is generally so little shoulder. I do try to ride as far to the right as I can and most people give me some room for comfort, even if only grudgingly, but I would say maybe 5-10% of the drivers out here almost seem hostile.

The thing that pissed me off is less the fact that the driver buzzed me, which he did. But how completely unnecessary it was. As stated, it was a dotted line, so he couldn't use the excuse of crossing a solid yellow line, and there was no oncoming traffic. This was pretty much a flagrant challenge, but especially at the speed, the driver was putting my life at risk.
I never assume they are even looking at the road, let alone a lone bike rider! I watch the eyes of oncoming drivers when I’m riding the back roads out in the sticks where there’s not much traffic and I see about 50% of them are looking at their phones, their radio, or anywhere but the road! That’s why I won’t ride with earphones in, so I can hear them coming from behind and brace for impact!

The ones who are paying attention will usually give me lots of room if there’s no oncoming traffic but every once in a while one will go close by with no traffic, you know they’re texting, not driving!
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Old 06-11-22, 05:11 PM
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Originally Posted by wolfchild
Not worth it to yell at a driver and initiate any type of confrontation especially if you're alone and in the middle of nowhere with no other people around to act as witnesses just in case something violent happens.
Normally I wouldn't as this happens often enough. I just happened to be in a mood at the time. I'm getting tired of people being dicks and nobody saying anything about it. Even at 52, I'm still a Marine and I'm going to call out people being A-holes.
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Old 06-11-22, 05:35 PM
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Originally Posted by wolfchild
Not worth it to yell at a driver and initiate any type of confrontation especially if you're alone and in the middle of nowhere with no other people around to act as witnesses just in case something violent happens.
I like my chances of winning such an encounter.
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Old 06-11-22, 07:26 PM
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Originally Posted by Paul Barnard
I like my chances of winning such an encounter.
I don't. One, I'm a 52 year old woman, and 2, a lot of people here carry, even people who shouldn't. I don't when I ride because I stay out of the desert, but I've considered it.
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Old 06-11-22, 08:12 PM
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Thursday I yelled a a motorist too. After he had slowed and yelled at me for illegally riding in the road. A rural road. But hey I got to yell at the idiot driving the dually hauling a trailer after he pulled into his driveway and was getting his mail. Va has the 3 foot law. Which he was not too close. Just yelled to Google bike passing in Va laws. It allows drivers to cross the double yellow line if no oncoming traffic to pass a bicycle if needed to make the three feet.

I have the radar and a mirror. The two come in handy. Get a warning showing the number of cars and glance in the mirror.
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Old 06-11-22, 09:32 PM
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Originally Posted by biker128pedal
... After he had slowed and yelled at me for illegally riding in the road. ...
I would be prepared to tell him to call the cops and complain that there's a bicyclist on the road.

If that's all he's going to call about, they should just laugh and hang up on him.
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Old 06-11-22, 09:49 PM
  #19  
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Originally Posted by VegasJen
One of the few disadvantages for me of living in a rural community is a lack of road shoulders. I'm my town, there are precious few bike lanes and even to get to a road with a bike lane I have to ride 3-4 miles. As such, I try to plan my routes and be vigilant on my bike. When people give me space passing, I always try to wave to show appreciation but even so, there are always people who seem to have no problem taking my life for granted.

But today I had enough. I'm riding down this road, part of a normal route I take often, and this car snuck up on me. I have a mirror on my drop bar and try to check it regularly when I'm on a road with no shoulder. And by no shoulder I really mean no shoulder. There are a number of roads out here where there's not even enough pavement for the white line lane marker. Most roads do at least have the white line, but even when they do, there's often only about 6" of pavement and then it's just dirt and gravel. This particular road has no outside lane marker.

So anyway, I'm trucking down this road and somehow I missed this car coming up on me. When he passed, he passed within just a couple feet, maybe 18" doing at least the speed limit (45mph). But what really set me off was that the section of road had a dotted line and absolutely no oncoming traffic for almost a mile. So there was literally ZERO reason to be so close to me. He's gambling with MY life.

I'm generally pretty mild mannered but when something sets me off I'm ready to go, and there's nothing small about me. I may not be particularly tall, but I'm not a small woman. This clown passes me so close the suction almost pulls me in behind him. I sit up and raise my hands like "WTF????" I'm pissed. So I keep yelling at this ******bag and he decides he's going to turn around. OK by me. He turns and he drives right back by me, but I'm fired up. He's not going to intimidate me. I pull into the lane, almost to the line and as he passes by I ask in my most demure manner WTF his problem is. I was expecting him to stop and get out but he didn't. I was almost hoping he would have. I'd probably have gotten my ass kicked, but I was determined he was going to know he was in a fight.

Do you think this interaction will cause the motorist to be more courteous towards cyclists in the future?
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Old 06-12-22, 06:24 AM
  #20  
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Originally Posted by Daniel4
I would be prepared to tell him to call the cops and complain that there's a bicyclist on the road.

If that's all he's going to call about, they should just laugh and hang up on him.
Yes, afterward I thought it would have been easier just to yell for him to call a state trooper and report me.

Then again smiling and waving would most likely go farther in the future. It’s not far from home so I’ll have to worry about his road rage. Crazy people these days.
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Old 06-12-22, 07:00 AM
  #21  
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Originally Posted by Paul Barnard
I like my chances of winning such an encounter.
me too. they are like all bullies, weak
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Old 06-12-22, 11:50 AM
  #22  
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I, too, like my Garmin Varia rear radar/light. Not only does it alert me visually and audibly to a car to my rear (or multiple cars) but the light also blinks as someone approaches giving the vehicle a visual indication of a bike on the ride. Okay, in an urban environment it might alert too often but I'll take that. In a more rural or suburban environment it is really helpful. I will note that when paired with my earlier Garmin 1000, I could generally not hear its beep. It works fine with the Garmin 1030+. It also alerts to bikes catching up and in one instance a train on a parallel track!
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Old 06-13-22, 08:38 AM
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Due to forum rules can't say what I'm specifically avoiding that's uniquely an American problem, but I have modified my "gestures" to convey soft/gentle disappointment and keep me alive in case somebody "turns around". Kind of a "hey man" instead of a one finger salute or something more triggering. So that if someone does have words we start off at a lot safer starting point.
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Old 06-13-22, 09:23 AM
  #24  
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As a general rule I don’t confront reckless drivers, knowing that they have 2 ton weapons or possibly a firearm. People don’t tend to fight with fists anymore. However, in those cases, like a truck running a stop sign as I am in the intersection about to be T-boned, screaming WTF! Just can’t be helped. I also have no problem with yelling at vehicles passing me at 50+ MPH because I know they won’t hear me and I just needed to vent - probably due to adrenaline. However on rural slower roads, I try to keep my cool and never give the one finger salute.
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Old 06-13-22, 02:01 PM
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jnbrown
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Originally Posted by rsbob
As a general rule I don’t confront reckless drivers, knowing that they have 2 ton weapons or possibly a firearm. People don’t tend to fight with fists anymore. However, in those cases, like a truck running a stop sign as I am in the intersection about to be T-boned, screaming WTF! Just can’t be helped. I also have no problem with yelling at vehicles passing me at 50+ MPH because I know they won’t hear me and I just needed to vent - probably due to adrenaline. However on rural slower roads, I try to keep my cool and never give the one finger salute.
Same here, but yesterday I was riding and a van towing a very large boat passed me at pretty high speed, the boat was very wide and came within inches of hitting me.
I could see a signal light ahead so I sprinted as he stopped for the light and pulled up to the drivers door and explained that he almost hit me and I would have been dead.
His response after a brief pause was Thank You. I took that as positive and went on my way. My emotions after a near death experience just took over.
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