harmonix1234
Eats Squid
This morning I was on the footpath waiting for a set of lights to change.
I was off the bike, waiting for the little green walk man so I could walk across.
“Bing! Tock tock tock’ the little green man goes.
I step out onto the road and get two steps in when this lady in a jeep Cherokee doing about 70 goes flying through the red light and almost takes me and three other people out.
One of the ladies screamed and said “I felt the air go past my face”! in shock.
Had I been pushing a pram, or in an electric wheelchair there would have been no way you could have avoided a collision.
I jumped back on the bike and sprinted my guts out 400 metres down the road where I caught her at a red light.
I pulled up next to her, and politely (although a little red in the face from the big sprint) I said through her wound down window “Hello, I’m not sure if you’re aware, but you just drove through that red light back there, through a crossing and almost took out myself and several other pedestrians”.
I was polite, and maybe even a little sickly sweet I was being so sugary nice about it, and you know what she says? She gives me a venomous glare and spits out an angry “That’s Bullshit”!
I replied “Well, no. But anyway, I just wanted to let you know in case you weren’t aware. That’s all”
To which she replies (and this is the bit that leaves me agog because I wasn't even on the bike at the time she nearly ran me over) “You shouldn’t even be on the f&cken road on that bike, you don’t pay rego”! and then as she gave me the finger and went to drive off in a huff she stalled her car trying to do the big getaway haha.
The driver behind her smiled at me and gave me the thumbs up as he had obviously seen her run the red light and caught up to her as well and heard the conversation.
Now this is the bit I am still scratching my head at, the funny thing is that the near accident had nothing to do with me being on a bike, I wasn’t even on the bike at the time!
I was walking it across the crossing, on foot after having a tinker with my front derailleur as I waiting for the lights to change! There was no bike in the equation.
I just couldn’t believe it.
This leaves me to assume that she was completely blinded to the actual gravity and reality of the situation by 'the bike'.
She sees bike, she hates.
Even though I was foot traffic at the time of the near collision!
She was a great sweaty pig of a woman. Looked just like Gina Reinhardt with short skunk haircut, deep hard sneer lines going down from the sides of her mouth from years of practice at being horrible, and cheap Asian knock-off black and gold Gucci style sunnies.
It just goes to show how deep some peoples bias' will actually sway or drive an opinion or be used to justify a behaviour.
At the time I wasn't a cyclist. I was a guy on gfoot pushing a bike. How is that different to pushing a pram, or pushing a wheelchair, or a shopping cart?
Now, I am not trying to start a drivers VS cyclist thread. Or a 'war on our roads' thread, because this had nothing to do with cyclist vs drivers and battling for space on the road, or any of those things, it just goes to show that some people will simply be blinded by their hate of something so much that they actually don't see the real thing, and unfortunately cyclists are hated by a few, which makes them invisible, or justifiably injured.
Ride safe.
I was off the bike, waiting for the little green walk man so I could walk across.
“Bing! Tock tock tock’ the little green man goes.
I step out onto the road and get two steps in when this lady in a jeep Cherokee doing about 70 goes flying through the red light and almost takes me and three other people out.
One of the ladies screamed and said “I felt the air go past my face”! in shock.
Had I been pushing a pram, or in an electric wheelchair there would have been no way you could have avoided a collision.
I jumped back on the bike and sprinted my guts out 400 metres down the road where I caught her at a red light.
I pulled up next to her, and politely (although a little red in the face from the big sprint) I said through her wound down window “Hello, I’m not sure if you’re aware, but you just drove through that red light back there, through a crossing and almost took out myself and several other pedestrians”.
I was polite, and maybe even a little sickly sweet I was being so sugary nice about it, and you know what she says? She gives me a venomous glare and spits out an angry “That’s Bullshit”!
I replied “Well, no. But anyway, I just wanted to let you know in case you weren’t aware. That’s all”
To which she replies (and this is the bit that leaves me agog because I wasn't even on the bike at the time she nearly ran me over) “You shouldn’t even be on the f&cken road on that bike, you don’t pay rego”! and then as she gave me the finger and went to drive off in a huff she stalled her car trying to do the big getaway haha.
The driver behind her smiled at me and gave me the thumbs up as he had obviously seen her run the red light and caught up to her as well and heard the conversation.
Now this is the bit I am still scratching my head at, the funny thing is that the near accident had nothing to do with me being on a bike, I wasn’t even on the bike at the time!
I was walking it across the crossing, on foot after having a tinker with my front derailleur as I waiting for the lights to change! There was no bike in the equation.
I just couldn’t believe it.
This leaves me to assume that she was completely blinded to the actual gravity and reality of the situation by 'the bike'.
She sees bike, she hates.
Even though I was foot traffic at the time of the near collision!
She was a great sweaty pig of a woman. Looked just like Gina Reinhardt with short skunk haircut, deep hard sneer lines going down from the sides of her mouth from years of practice at being horrible, and cheap Asian knock-off black and gold Gucci style sunnies.
It just goes to show how deep some peoples bias' will actually sway or drive an opinion or be used to justify a behaviour.
At the time I wasn't a cyclist. I was a guy on gfoot pushing a bike. How is that different to pushing a pram, or pushing a wheelchair, or a shopping cart?
Now, I am not trying to start a drivers VS cyclist thread. Or a 'war on our roads' thread, because this had nothing to do with cyclist vs drivers and battling for space on the road, or any of those things, it just goes to show that some people will simply be blinded by their hate of something so much that they actually don't see the real thing, and unfortunately cyclists are hated by a few, which makes them invisible, or justifiably injured.
Ride safe.
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