XPost: rec.autos.driving, alt.society.liberalism, alt.fan.michael-moore   
   From: tetraethylleadREMOVETHIS@yahoo.com   
      
   On 2010-09-12, Matthew Russotto  wrote:   
   > In article , Sharx35  wrote:   
   >>   
   >>Excellent points.  Within a minute, almost ANY cyclist I have watched,   
   >>breaks a traffic law.  The average motorist, while hardly a saint, and   
   >>having a LICENSE to protect, is much more careful.   
   >   
   > Not really, no.  At any given time, a motorist is likely violating the   
   > speed limit.  They turn without signalling, fail to stop for stop   
   > signs, and otherwise treat the traffic code like toilet paper.  I will   
   > grant you they tend to give traffic lights and one-way street signs   
   > more respect than the average bicyclist, but that ain't saying much.   
      
   Today's bike ride. Only one real problem driver. 4 lane road. Red light.   
   I pull up to the line and stop. Driver of an SUV pulls up behind me and   
   stops. There are vehicles stopped in the left lane, but he it was his   
   choice to stop behind me. I am in the right lane if that isn't   
   obvjous.   
      
   Light turns green. I take off. I am slightly ahead of the car to my left   
   and not even through the intersection when the SUV driver behind me guns   
   it hard, brush passes as he swerves around me. (I assume the car to my   
   left hit the brakes seeing this, otherwise I don't know how they didn't   
   scrape each other) I was just right of center of the lane as I had not   
   yet quite made it to the other side of the intersection but was starting   
   to drift right. I flipped him the bird for his behavior and he's about   
   3/4s of a block ahead and he NAILS the brakes so hard his tires skid and   
   the rear of the vehicle wiggles. Then he takes off flipping me the bird.   
      
   This isn't the first time I've had someone gun it like this when the   
   light turns green. This and many other behaviors of motorists when I   
   stop for red lights and stop signs while bicycling would be more than   
   enough to convince many riders to run them if they can. I've had drivers   
   get enraged simply because they are in the queue behind me, and nothing   
   else.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)