Monday, October 24, 2016

One day about twenty years ago

I was riding down the street and saw smoke up ahead. On the other side of the intersection I was going through was a bike in the turn lane, burning, a car stopped a ways down, and the rider laying in the street between with a couple of people standing to keep traffic away from him. Yeah, that gets your attention.

I have no idea how many times I've nearly been sideswiped by someone not paying attention, or looking but not seeing, or with a phone in their hand.  The assholes who think the stop sign or red light doesn't apply to them.  The asshats who think the whole road belongs to them.

I really like riding, and I'm not planning to give it up.  But you damned well better have your head on a swivel in any traffic, and use your mirrors, and watch for the assholes who think their conversation or text is far more important than what else is on the road.

1 comment:

Arthur said...

I don't ride bikes, motors or manual, and I still assume everyone else on the road is actively trying to kill me.

I was run off the road by a semi on a rural road just a couple of weeks ago. I was slowing down to do a left hand turn with a car in the oncoming lane. I looked back and saw the semi behind me was straddling the center stripe and still flying up behind me doing 60. It was either hit the ditch or become someone's hood ornament.