I was finishing the last mile of my Tuesday night hill ride, on a street with a bike lane, when I came within five inches of my second car into bike crash. I was riding downhill toward an intersection with a light (we had the green). A woman passed me in the car lane, then immediately turned right at the intersection. Not surprisingly she didn't use a turn signal. This was going to be ugly. But, then suddenly I remembered reading a Carmichael article on road safety about two years ago. The article recommended turning with the car, so I did. When we both came to a stop, I was about five inches from her car.
I looked at her and she hadn't even lowered her cell phone. I was shaky for the next hour. I'm going to have to dig into my suitcase of courage for tonight's ride.
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07-13-2011, 06:53 AM #1
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Chris Carmichael saved my life...
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07-13-2011, 06:59 AM #2
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WOW. I'm going to have to remember that one. That nearly happened to us recently , twice. One time it was two motorcycles pulling off into an overlook at the Blue Ridge parkway. It was incredibly rude because we were climbing a beast of a hill, and those motorcyclists are always complaining about drivers being inconsiderate.The other time was on our neighborhood ride, but we already know drivers around here where we live are idiots.
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07-13-2011, 07:01 AM #3
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wow, Maggie, glad you're ok. did you scold the woman???
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07-13-2011, 07:06 AM #4
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I didn't get a chance to really scold her since she sped off as soon as I was clear of her car. I don't think that she had any clue that she was in the wrong.
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07-13-2011, 07:24 AM #5
I heart my bike
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WoW- glad you're OK, Maggie!!! How terrifying! I will remember that! Stupid drivers-- they just don't realize we can be going so fast- they're so stuck in their own little worlds. I'm glad you came out of it unscathed (well, physically- emotionally it hurt).
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07-13-2011, 08:06 AM #6
droppin' off the back
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Wow. That's a good tip. I have an intersection where I've had two close calls. The second time, the women cut in front of me then STOPPED sideways across the two lanes because there was traffic in the right turn lane. My husband pounded on her passenger window, but she was on the phone
Now I just take the whole lane.
Anyone noticed how many kids on bikes are talking on the phone? We don't have a prayer when they turn 16."Well-behaved women seldom make history." --Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
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