A good reminder for calm thinking and understanding

Last night i was bringing my 9 month old son home from daycare in a trailer behind my bicycle. On the journey, there is one 2 lane road with hardly any shoulder that I have to be on for about 400 yards. Unavoidable. Oh well.

Anyway, I am riding along this stretch, and a really crusty old green pickup comes up behind me. Driver moves ALL THE WAY over to the oncoming lane to pass me before moving back. Thank you so much green pickup driver, for giving us some space.

1000 yards or so ahead is the top of a hill. While the pickup is in the oncoming lane, an e90 BMW crests the hill. What does the driver do upon seeing the truck in his lane? Slow down? Nope. Look around? Nope. Maybe even just lift off the gas? Nope. He instead lays on the horn. The green pickup truck is back in the correct lane and out of the way well before the BMW is even close. When the BMW finally gets close to me, I see that the driver is a 17-18 year old white kid with the seat leaned so far back his head is barely above the steering wheel. Sunglasses and backward hat. I didn't see if his collar was popped or not. Blacked out wheels and heavy tint (good looking car actually). I smiled and waved.

The reminder here for all of us is to remember that the 'idiots' driving all around you might be reacting to something you don't see yet. So don't be like this kid and remember to give everyone the benefit of the doubt until you understand the whole situation.

I don't use the horn anyway, I just get really uncomfortably close to other vehicles that are annoying me.

Usually when I see someone wandering into my lane, I wander into their lane. For some reason people always seem to notice when SOMEONE ELSE is wandering into THEIR lane and then they straighten up. Go figure.

Vigo wrote: For some reason people always seem to notice when SOMEONE ELSE is wandering into THEIR lane.

Its because they have text message notifications about that.

You really want to give them the WAH-WAH-WHAT?!?!Get close enough to push their mirror in. THAT will get someone's attention.

Appleseed wrote: You really want to give them the WAH-WAH-WHAT?!?!Get close enough to push their mirror in. THAT will get someone's attention.

Like this? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBsYzSXxkB4</a

My horn does not work!

Many times I get behind someone on a bicycle. If I cannot see oncoming traffic, I wait until we crest a hill or go around a curve. Once I have a clear oncoming lane, I'll move all the way over to pass. I remember riding a bike on the rode and sucking in car fumes when they pass closely. Not to mention the safety factor.

We are getting more roads with bike lanes, but those are really narrow lanes.

I swear that people use the horn more than the brakes. Sometimes I forget where the horn buttons even are on the steering wheel of my Disco..

In reply to mad_machine:

These days I use the horn mainly to wake up the numbnut in front of me to stop staring at their phone when the light turns green.

Ian F wrote: In reply to mad_machine: These days I use the horn mainly to wake up the numbnut in front of me to stop staring at their phone when the light turns green.

Honk when it is still red and watch them speed off into the intersection.

Two things before I rant: I haven't been here on this forum long. And I agree with the OP.

Rant: is this all this board has become? A bunch of old ladies trying to make public service announcements? Really folks- if you wanna complain, go do so in a way that'll actually make a difference. Preaching to the choir does nothing.

Now, can we get back to what we all signed up for? Racing at a grassroots level.

You should have menaced the BMW with your gun so he knows not to endanger your kids like that.

Trackmouse wrote: Two things before I rant: I haven't been here on this forum long. And I agree with the OP. Rant: is this all this board has become? A bunch of old ladies trying to make public service announcements? Really folks- if you wanna complain, go do so in a way that'll actually make a difference. Preaching to the choir does nothing. Now, can we get back to what we all signed up for? Racing at a grassroots level.

Well, I did own my own driving school and taught driving every day for 2 years in Milwaukee to try and make a difference.

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: You should have menaced the BMW with your gun so he knows not to endanger your kids like that.

Oh that's right. I did learn that earlier this year. Slipped my mind this time - I won't let it happen again.

In reply to Trackmouse:

C'mon now. 80 percent of the postings here fit into one of several categories including but not limited to: "isn't X cool!", "How do I make my (Insert popular car) faster (already covered at least 200 times)?", "How come nobody makes a $20,000 Ferrari beater?" et cetera. It's the nature of this site that you have a mix of tech and frivolity.

What I got from the original post, which I think is valuable is that its real easy to jump to conclusions without knowing the entire backstory and cause/effect relationship. How many times have we gotten into heated arguments over what someone else did without knowing why they did it?

rcutclif wrote:

Ian F wrote: In reply to mad_machine: These days I use the horn mainly to wake up the numbnut in front of me to stop staring at their phone when the light turns green.

Honk when it is still red and watch them speed off into the intersection.

OK really funny to think about.

Hmm ... interesting. Especially the comments about the "white guy in a BMW" and the possible "backwards hat." Is there some jealously here ... or bait?

Gary wrote: I don't think it was necessary to say that it was a "white kid with a baseball hag turned backwards." "collar popped?" Doesn't that seem somewhat racist?

Maybe it was, though I'm not sure it was really race-based. I believe that humans are forced to make quick judgements of their suroundings in order to survive, and often it is hard to reflect and know if race was really a driving factor of that judgement or not. (Doesn't mean its not a good practice). I know the quick judgement i made about the kid was influenced heavily by what he was wearing and his body language (leaned back seat).

However, I will also say that I reported what I saw. If people reading make judgments based on the word white, then there would be some responsibility of the reader.

Finally, if I had left out the white part, but left in the e90 bmw, 17 yo kid, blacked out wheels, heavy tint, sunglasses, hat, leaned back seat, would it have been fair of me to poke a joke at the possibility of a popped collar?

In reply to rcutclif:

Hmm ... very interesting.

I am constantly saddened by the inattentiveness of drivers all around me. It is easier to count the number of people not on their phone.

EastCoastMojo wrote: I am constantly saddened by the inattentiveness of drivers all around me. It is easier to count the number of people not on their phone.

I begin to think that people cannot function without their phone. I was just working Idina Menzel's show here a the Boragata. As I was running a followspot, I was above the audience in the catwalks. The sheer number of people glued to their glowing screens while she was singing was just astounding

rcutclif wrote:

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: You should have menaced the BMW with your gun so he knows not to endanger your kids like that.

Oh that's right. I did learn that earlier this year. Slipped my mind this time - I won't let it happen again.

Ha. Classic

If you are not happy with the post or subject, click off.

rcutclif wrote: Anyway, I am riding along this stretch, and a really crusty old green pickup comes up behind me. Driver moves ALL THE WAY over to the oncoming lane to pass me before moving back. Thank you so much green pickup driver, for giving us some space.

This happens a lot to me, and to be honest, I kinda hate it. While I appreciate the driver's courtesy, I'd rather them give me the required space (3ft), or a bit more than move over into the other lane. It seems moving over into the other lane, they often end up doing E36 M3 like you described in your post - doing so around a blind curve, hill, etc. If they would pass me with a 3ft gap they could likely stay in their lane or mostly in their lane. Or, better yet, if they simply waited until they could see that the coast was clear, they could pass however they choose with no risk of an accident.

Yes, the BMW guy is a jerk in this case, however so is the person passing you.