I pulled out of the 24 hour gas station in Hamilton onto Par-La-Ville Road, heading towards Front Street.  Cars were lined up past the gas station on Par-La-Ville, towards The RG offices, so, being on a bike, I pulled out and attempted to get in front of everyone at the light.

Yes, technically it's wrong, but we ALL do it (most of us anyway).

So a woman rounds the corner from, what is that...Church Street...and onto Par-La-Ville.  She sees me pulling out and try to hug the line of cars to give her plenty of room.  I pull in as best I could, but the lined up cars had left no room to enable me to get all the way out of her lane and stop, just to make sure all was cool.  She had PLENTY of room to go on her way! 

She gets a frown on her face and aims her car at me. 

I have no-where to go. 

With at least a THREE FOOT gap between her car and the edge of the pavement on her left side she barely missed grasing me with the entire length of her car as she drove by.  I even thought about abandoning the bike and jumping onto the car to my left for a second but it was too late.

I yelled at her and just extended my arms in her direction...because I wanted to know why?

She is willing to actually aim three thousand pounds of metal at me to "teach me a lesson".

My kids would like to thank her very much for not hitting me.  They are grateful that you didn't hurt their father because he does what 95% of bike riders do here in the same situation. 

 

Why?

Cos she was your wife?

What Captain Canuck said...

As a car driver I get tired of having to hug the sidewalk, or sometimes the wall because of the never ending line of bikes heading towards me on my side of the road, courtesy of the third lane. I now have the attitude that if you haven't learned that in Bike vs. Car, Car wins 90% of the time then I'm more than happy to give you a ride west on the hood of my car.

Playing chicken first thing in the morning is annoying and I wish the Police would crack down heavily on all the Third-Laners as well as the two-wheeled vehicles who are willing to play Chicken in order to get to the front of the line at the stop light.

Very eloquently put Canuck, and I totally agree. I find Paget lights the best for "intimidating" the odd cyclists every now and again, and they don't even seem to be bothered by the trucks or buses.

"Better 5 minutes late in this life than 5 minutes early in the next one"

Cos she was your wife Casual Observer?

Now that the evidence is in....

Actually CO - I agree with you. In fact I have attached a good old Hamilton Beach to my back fender just for those times. I call it the "Fender Blender". It sits about knee high and acts just like James Bond's wheel shredders. It's awesome baby!

So, some of you are willing to smash into a bike rider because he/she gets in *your way* in a car.

Wow.

Just wow.  Road rage is a very interesting thing.  No wonder this island is such a madhouse with attitudes like this.

Are you serious? You're complaining that somebody didn't get out of your way when you were sitting on their side of the road? Am I hearing this right?! The other person wasn't at fault YOU were...I'm glad you've picked up the Bermudian way of blaming others when you are clearly at fault. Have a good one and learn to ride a bike. 


Oh, and why do you feel it necessary to ride down the middle of traffic? My bet is you wouldn't do that away so why do it here? The 'road-rage' you talk about exists solely because of people like you...

ace - every action elicits a response, right or wrong.

As I stated, as a regular 4 wheeler it is very harrowing driving, particularly first thing in the morning with bikes coming at you HEAD ON on your side of the road. I don't just mean a couple of inches over the line, I am talking about having to swerve out of the way to avoid a head on collision. It is disgusting, and the lady's response was very likely out of frustration from day in and day out encountering bike riders, who like yourself, think that because 95% of riders do it, it's okay. It's not. It's dangerous and it's illegal. And very selfish to other road users, when you then expect them to adjust their behaviour to compensate for your misuse of the roads.

You begrudgingly admit that you were *probably* in the wrong. Adjust your behaviour and others will act accordingly (with the exception of the odd asshole)... Your children will appreciate the fact that you're home every night in time for dinner, but you really can't blame it on anybody else.