Brake Check!

[Kogarashi]

Three from yesterday as I made a last-minute run to the post office to mail a package.

#1 and #2 - Sorry I'm In Your Way

Driving down a residential street. I approached an intersection where I still had the green, only to see a minivan barreling down a side street toward the intersection. It just barely braked in time, stopping with its front wheels on the wrong side of the crosswalk. Pedestrians wishing to stay in the crosswalk would've had to go through the minivan. The lady in the van looked horribly inconvenienced that I was there, keeping her from making her turn-on-red.

Then just two blocks further down, I came to an intersection where the side street is on the left. They had a stop sign, I had nothing, meaning I had full right of way there. There were no cars in front of me, no cars behind me, and no cars coming from the other direction. Just as I drew parallel to them, they started turning toward me, almost hitting me as they fell in line behind me. Couldn't they wait for me to get past them first? It's not like they had to make the best of a gap in traffic. I was the only other traffic!

#3 - Moron on a Bicycle

This is the one that really gave me a heart attack, though. At the end of the previous residential street, I turn onto another. This street has about two blocks' worth of houses, then a really long apartment building on one side with tiny front yards and driveways spaced like regular houses, and a park on the other side of the street. Weaving lazily back and forth between one particular driveway and the park was the aforementioned Moron on a Bike. Just weaving back and forth across the street. I always seem to see the gangsta-wannabes with the low-slung pants doing this lazy figure eight on their too-small-for-them stunt bikes, and this guy looked to be no exception.

While I was still a block away, I saw him spot me and weave up into the driveway, where he proceeded to continue his figure-eights in the confines of the driveway. Just as I get abreast of him, he veered back into the street, nearly hitting my front bumper. I hit the brakes hard, yelping, and he just sort of meandered along the edge of the road past my side doors, with this lazy "what of it?" look on his face that I have since dubed "gangsta'cow." I swear it scared ten years off of me.

Seriously, if you're on a bike, you're not going to win in a head-on collision!

[LillFilly]

I always wondered, what would happen if someone on a bike runs into your car? Since it's supposed to be operated like a motor vehicle, does insurance cover it? But then, you don't need insurance on a bike? Not to mention, how do you prove they ran into you?

Had a lady tell me a kid on a bike came out his drive to fast and wham! Right into her driver's side door. Big dent, she stopped to see if the kid was ok, he was and ran into a nearby house. His mom called the ambulance and police and told the police the driver hit him, even though evidence was contrary, but apparently they were only liable for a certain amount to fix the damage; something like $300 for a thousand in damage.

[protege]

Had a lady tell me a kid on a bike came out his drive to fast and wham! Right into her driver's side door. Big dent, she stopped to see if the kid was ok, he was and ran into a nearby house. His mom called the ambulance and police and told the police the driver hit him, even though evidence was contrary, but apparently they were only liable for a certain amount to fix the damage; something like $300 for a thousand in damage.

My mother had that happen once. She was driving our station wagon...and got hit. Some stupid kid was coming down the hill to her left, blew through the stop sign, and was attempting to turn right. Unfortunately...he slid on some gravel, and plowed right into the driver's door of her Volvo. End result? A tire mark on the door, the bike was totaled, and the kid got messed up. Even with a bloody nose, road rash, lots of cuts and bruises, he got off lucky. More so, since he wasn't wearing a helmet--when that happened, you didn't have to in PA. Nothing ever happened with that--the tire mark was scrubbed off the car, and the kid got a *serious* reaming-out by not only his mother...but the local PD for being an idiot

[Magpie]

My husband was the idiot kid on a bike once. Not the kind the OP described, where they're trying to scare you, but the one who went really really fast down a hill and t-boned a car. Left an impressive dent, and is really really good about always wearing helmets these days (it's not legally required here unless you're a minor). Which is funny, because he will, on occasion, ride on the sidewalk.

As for the right turn on red - I don't know about where the OP is, but here you have to stop no matter what. Even had there not been any traffic, that first crazy driver would have been doing something wrong, even if she stopped where she did, because she missed where she's supposed to stop. And that's ignoring that she probably wasn't watching for pedestrians.

[Kogarashi]

the kind the OP described, where they're trying to scare you

I don't even know if he was trying to scare me. He did it all so lazily and with that cud-chewing expression on his face the whole time that it looked like he just didn't care. Like he thought, "Oh, I've got right of way, they have to stop." There's a reason I called him Gangsta'Cow.

As for the right turn on red - I don't know about where the OP is, but here you have to stop no matter what. Even had there not been any traffic, that first crazy driver would have been doing something wrong, even if she stopped where she did, because she missed where she's supposed to stop. And that's ignoring that she probably wasn't watching for pedestrians.

In the US, even when it's legal to make a right on red, you still have to stop first. Red means stop, after all. Doesn't mean some people actually pay attention to that, though. I've seen them make a right at a stop sign without stopping either.

But seriously, if there'd been any pedestrians, that lady would've hit them.

[Rantsylvania 6-5000]

I hate assholes on bikes! Most of them are doing it on purpose, including the laid-back gangstas who think they're Mr. Cool. They must think they're invincible too, that the driver will always be able to stop in time. I guess they figure the worst that could happen is they get injured a little, then they can sue! Fuckers! I have more to say on this issue, but I'll have to go to Fratching with it.