Motorist exhibits creative stupidity

On Fri, 10 Oct 2003 01:44:29 -0400, MP <[email hidden]> from Posted via Supernews,

url='http://www.supernews.com/'http://www.supernews.com/url said:

By now I'm used to the most common stupid actions of motorists. Getting cut off by someone who
couldn't wait an extra 3 seconds to make a right turn is almost routine.

I hate that with a white hot passion.

--
home.sport.rr.comcuthuluOpen ↗ human rights = peace LBJ, LBJ, how many JOKES did you
tell today??!
1:26:00 AM 10 October 2003

Quoted message said:

...is almost routine. What makes me really nervous is the totally unpredictable, the things it
seems that nobody would even think of doing.

They do it. The trick is learning to operate in a zen state where all of it is merely incidental. It
is really hard to build one's performance level to the point that anticipation approaches
realization.

It is, like, important to be congruent with the universe.

When it becomes routine one has to look to another level.

It isn't good enough to be aware yet ignorant. The dynamic is complex, but I might say that it
is mostly predictable, every item of it. And a systematic approach is better than reinventing
the wheel.

At least as far as traffic is concerned. You may read this and you may read that, but I can tell you
as an interested person that with experience you will build your skills and abilities into a package
that will serve you well.

And I'm not trying to sell you a bill of goods. I'm trying to sell you on the idea of a method of
science, an approach to cycling that is based on test and experiment, and not on myth and fable.

I want minds that question and experiment and report results and conclusions. I want cyclists with
good ideas.

--

_______________________ALL AMIGA IN MY MIND_______________________ ------------------"Buddy Holly,
the Texas Elvis"------------------
__________306.350.357.38>>[email hidden]__________

"Eric S. Sande" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

...is almost routine. What makes me really nervous is the totally unpredictable, the things it
seems that nobody would even think of doing.

They do it. The trick is learning to operate in a zen state where all of it is merely incidental.
It is really hard to build one's performance level to the point that anticipation approaches
realization.

It is, like, important to be congruent with the universe.

When it becomes routine one has to look to another level.

It isn't good enough to be aware yet ignorant. The dynamic is complex, but I might say that it
is mostly predictable, every item of it. And a systematic approach is better than reinventing
the wheel.

At least as far as traffic is concerned. You may read this and you may read that, but I can tell
you as an interested person that with experience you will build your skills and abilities into a
package that will serve you well.

And I'm not trying to sell you a bill of goods. I'm trying to sell you on the idea of a method of
science, an approach to cycling that is based on test and experiment, and not on myth and fable.

I want minds that question and experiment and report results and conclusions. I want cyclists with
good ideas.

--

_______________________ALL AMIGA IN MY MIND_______________________ ------------------"Buddy Holly,
the Texas Elvis"------------------
__________306.350.357.38>>[email hidden]__________

Yeah...all that, and a full water bottle expertly thrown, should do the trick.

--
~_-* ...G/ \G cyclistats.comcyclistats.comOpen ↗ CycliStats - Software for Cyclists

MP said:

hundred yards behind me. I signalled left, and I got over to the center of the road . This left
loads of room to pass me on the right;

The car behind me floored it, swerved over into the other lane, and passed me on the *left*, then
swerved back into the right lane just in time to miss the nearest oncoming car.

Many motorists seem baffled by a bicyclist who makes a left turn like any other vehicle. I'm
guessing that he made a snap decision to "teach me a lesson". What is amazing is that he would be
willing to risk a collision with another car when there was no reason for him to change lanes at
all. Sheer idiocy is not an adequate explanation. This was *creative* stupidity.

That's possible, however, that has happened to me once while I was driving a car; and my
girlfriend was a passenger in a car driven by somebody who did the same thing, again, around a car
instead of a bike.

So, it could just be complete and utter idiocy. There are people like that out there; they are
unpredictable risks that we take no matter how carefully we ride, and the above is NOT their only
stupidity example.

Quoted message said:

MP

--
Rick Onanian

MP <[email hidden]> wrote:

: The car behind me floored it, swerved over into the other lane, and passed me on the *left*, then
: swerved back into the right lane just in time to miss the nearest oncoming car.

Maybe the driver got locked in the mental pattern "I must pass the cyclist on the left". Normally
one would drop the pattern when it is no longer viable - ie. adopt the "I must pass on the right"
pattern as you went to the middle of the road. Inflexible patterns can be very dangerous in traffic.

--
Risto Varanka | helsinki.fihpv.htmlOpen ↗ varis at no spam please iki fi

Quoted message said:

So, it could just be complete and utter idiocy. There are people like that out there; they are
unpredictable risks that we take no matter how carefully we ride, and the above is NOT their only
stupidity example.

Quoted message said:

MP

--
Rick Onanian

Happened to me once too. Holding at the centre line with left arm extended. Oncoming car went by,
then the car behind blasted past on my left. His/her roof was right under my extended left arm. I
was a little shook up at how close I had just come to death. Bernie

"MP" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

<snip>

Quoted message said:

It was interesting to note my own reaction. Other near misses in the past have scared the **** out
of me, but this time I was so angry that there was no room for any other feeling. Unfortunately, I
was too angry to think straight and try to read his license plate.

MP

I'm just thankful that you're still with us.

---Stash

SPAM FILTER: You'd have to be out of YourMind to send me email.

"MP" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

By now I'm used to the most common stupid actions of motorists. Getting cut off by someone who
couldn't wait an extra 3 seconds to make a right turn is almost routine. What makes me really
nervous is the totally unpredictable, the things it seems that nobody would even think of doing.

A couple of months ago I was almost home. This is on a two lane North-South road that is fairly
busy for much of the day. Heading North, my final turn is a left into my driveway.

If traffic is too heavy to let me get over in time, I take the next right, turn around, and wait
for a chance to head back the other way. This day the traffic was fairly light. There was one guy
a couple of hundred yards behind me. I signalled left, and I got over to the center of the road .
This left loads of room to pass me on the right; I do the same thing when I'm in my car, and most
vehicles can squeeze by. I then waited for the two cars coming South to pass my driveway so that I
could make the turn.

The car behind me floored it, swerved over into the other lane, and passed me on the *left*, then
swerved back into the right lane just in time to miss the nearest oncoming car.

What really makes this unbelievable is not his attitude toward me. Many motorists seem baffled by
a bicyclist who makes a left turn like any other vehicle. I'm guessing that he made a snap
decision to "teach me a lesson". What is amazing is that he would be willing to risk a collision
with another car when there was no reason for him to change lanes at all. Sheer idiocy is not an
adequate explanation. This was *creative* stupidity.

It was interesting to note my own reaction. Other near misses in the past have scared the **** out
of me, but this time I was so angry that there was no room for any other feeling. Unfortunately, I
was too angry to think straight and try to read his license plate.

I've had people do this to me when I was driving a car, so don't take this as a slight against
cyclists. There are freaks, speed freaks, manic dysphorics, and just plain [censored] all over this
world, and one does into them occasionally. Don't let them drag you down to their level.

Matt O.

On Fri, 10 Oct 2003 01:44:29 -0400, MP <[email hidden]> wrote:

<snip>

Quoted message said:

The car behind me floored it, swerved over into the other lane, and passed me on the *left*, then
swerved back into the right lane just in time to miss the nearest oncoming car.

<snip>

Very scary encounter. I'm happy that I've never encountered anything like that and I hope your heart
rate has returned to normal :-)

But good things do happen ...

I had a Porsche 911 driver try to push me into the kerb about a year ago. Two lanes approaching a
roundabout. I was stopped behind two cars with no room to filter next to the kerb. He came from
behind and plonked next to me. Every time we moved forward, he inched a bit closer to the kerb. I
was just in front of his front wheel. One car got away, we moved forward 15 ft and he moved closer
by another foot. Hmmm. My near side foot is on the kerb and I'm sitting in the saddle (I can't touch
the ground while I'm in the saddle.) I pulled my off-side Look cleat out of the pedal and rested it
on his shiny, expensive car. I looked at him, made grinding motions with my hand and raised my
eyebrows in a questioning way. He nodded and turned his steering wheel away from me. The driver was
probably the same age as
me (55), but his female passenger looked to be about 25 to 30 and she was a stunner :-) Maybe he was
feeling a testosterone rush. I was :-) This one ended happily.

The next one was on the same piece of road last weekend. I need to turn across both lanes. I looked
behind me as I was getting close to the roundabout. The young driver in a hoon car (sound system has
more power than 90% of the cars on the road, lots of go-fast stickers, exhaust pipes about 4" dia,
you get the picture) looked at me and gestured, with a friendly smile, that he would let me move
across lanes. I did. We smiled at each other and got on with our day.

There are some good guys out there :-)

Regards, Richard.

[email hidden] wrote in :"]news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

MP <[email hidden]> wrote:

: The car behind me floored it, swerved over into the other lane, and passed me on the *left*,
: then swerved back into the right lane just in time to miss the nearest oncoming car.

Maybe the driver got locked in the mental pattern "I must pass the cyclist on the left". Normally
one would drop the pattern when it is no longer viable - ie. adopt the "I must pass on the right"
pattern as you went to the middle of the road. Inflexible patterns can be very dangerous in
traffic.

Very typical of asian drivers