Bicycle Austin forum

MichaelBluejay

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From: Austin, TX

Registered: 2008-05-26

Posts: 1,466

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Driver thinks it's okay to kill bike messengers

A reader just shared this story with me, which was too interesting to not pass along:

Once a driver coming from the opposite direction suddenly, without using a turn signal, made a left turn into a company driveway right in front of me, and I nearly broadsided her car.  I got off my bike and followed her into her office with my hands shaking hard from the adrenaline.  Confronted with a 40-something woman (me) who asked in a quiet, trembling voice, "why did you run me off the road?", she apologized and added, "Oh, I thought you were just a bike messenger" (as if that would make it OK to run me off the road?!  WTF.)  Then she offered me some coffee and donuts that were right there on a counter for the arriving employees (it was 8am.)  Duh, sugar and caffeine was that last thing I needed with the adrenaline rush!  But she felt bad and just wanted to do *something* for me.  I simply asked her to not run bicycles off the road in the future, that this would be a great help.  That's me, educating one driver at a time.  In fact, her co-workers learned something, too, having witnessed our conversation.  And she suffered the embarrassment of me approaching her in front of her colleagues.  Which is better for her than had I slammed into her car and ending up suing her.

People are less likely to tell an older, non-confrontational lady to fuck off than they would a bike messenger.  That's how I get in their faces, by being a sweet, frightened lady asking them why they just tried to kill me.