Mood:
caffeinatedTopic: RANTING&RAVING
3/24/06 - As near death experiences go it was essentially a practical demonstration of what one philosopher once called "the resolute confrontation of death".
Coming down Main St. in Chatham on my Pista a car making a left at the light hesitated, as if wanting me to go through. As I was going straight and had the right of way anyhow, I did so. The car waited until I was directly in front of him then floored the car.
I narrowly missed getting run down, then narrowly missed crashing into a car on the sidestreet who was waiting at the light while trying to dodge the ignoramus. Whether the driver saw me I have no idea, he may have been talking on a cellular phone. The vehicle did have out of state plates.
That was bad enough, but then returning from my ride it happened again....
I was going over a bridge that spans NJ Transit. The bridge bottoms out at a mutliple intersection, and cars bearing straight have a yield sign to traffic coming across the intersection from the bridge. And old granny with white hair pulls right out in front of me.
Quickly going in front and around her, I pointedly asked her if she'd prefer to be steering a wheel chair as I could easily arrange it. The woman was already gesturing angrily at me even before I said anything -- a sign that she had seen me coming, expected me to stop despite having the right of way, and was angry that I got in the way of her violating the traffic laws.
Both cases are bad -- to parphrase an old line, it's a case of idiots to the left of me and morons to the right -- but in retrospect the old granny is worse. Why? She knew she was supposed to wait, saw me coming, and went anyway.
This is the sort of actions expected from yuppies in BMW's and "fast and curious" types in souped up Honda 2-doors, not little old white-haired ladies in hornrims. The unlikely suspect -- an old granny -- turned my mind again to the subject of idiot drivers, a thing it does freqently, but only out of necessity.
At times I wish there was a way to publicly post all the license numbers of the cars whose careless, reckless, illegal driving habits have nearly set me up for a closed casket special. Perhaps I should begin a web page for this purpose -- kind of like a motorist "meagans law" so other cyclists and drivers can know who to avoid -- and police can know who to look out for.
In the meantime, it's a sad commentary on the state of our disintegrating social order that an old granny -- who was no doubt raised before American roads became combat zones -- has been affected by that same "road rage" mentality.
If a harmless old granny is that bad, the drag racing kids in souped up sportscars are probably ten times worse. And one can only wonder what their kids will drive like.
I shudder to think of the roads we will leave behind for future generations of American cyclists.
- Elvis