I was out on a training ride in Brissie; we had split into two groups,
and both groups got hassled by a guy in a van. He hooned past in front
of us and then swung over onto the gravel roadside to spray us with
gravel. Much to our pleasure he nearly wrote himself off on the second
one and when we made an aggressive pack move to catch him he took off.
More recently a ute driver in Caboolture gave my group about 2 inches
clearance from the handlebars (and yes, it was two lanes each way, so he
had no excuse to be that close). There was a red light up ahead and when
we jumped out to the saddle to chase him down it was quite satisfying to
see him panic, pull out from the traffic and hook over the traffic
island into a "turn left at any time with care" lane.
Just this week a car travelling in the opposite direction from me
decided to pull a right turn and nearly hit me square in the side.
Really not much I could do, and it was a close call. Because it was in
the vicinity of the Uni, which is quite safe, I chased him down,
cornered him in a carpark and demanded an apology. He didn't stop until
he saw I was female though, I imagine if I had been a big strong-looking
fella he would've left campus.
On the other hand, I've had a lot of good drivers who take in the entire
situation, eg you're going down a big curvy hill and can take the
corners faster than them, eg there's barriers to roadworks at the side
of the road so you can't ride in the non-existent bike lane even though
you're crawling up the hill at 25 km/h, and they just calmly wait back
until they can safely pass you.
One thing I'd like cyclists to think about is the difference between
having a right to be on the road and etiquette. For example, if you were
driving your car in the mountains and weren't confident with taking
corners, and a line of 10 cars formed up behind you, you'd probably pull
over once it was safe to, and let them past. This is as much for your
safety (they are less likely to road rage or smash into your bum from
sitting up it so far) as for politeness. Similarly if you are on a
single lane highway where you can only go 90 (eg down south if you're on
your P's) or you want to be good and go at the speed limit but everyone
wants to go 120 there is not much point in trying to stop them and where
possible (like the next overtaking lane) you'll make sure to stay out of
their way and let them pass. It's your right to be driving at a speed
that you see safe for the conditions, right, but you don't need to ****
people off more than necessary.
Of course I'm not saying to ride in the gutter. I never have and never
will - and the thing that pisses me off more than anything else is
people who try and overtake you in the same lane - because they wouldn't
do that if there was a 40 km/hr car there, would they, so why with a
bike?
But if you get the opportunity (eg where the road widens) to let some
traffic past you, you make yourself less likely to be the victim of road
rage. It's about being assertive about your road space but not
aggressive.
This of course does not help with the w#$%ers who will hate you
regardless because you stand for everything that is not a gun-toting,
ute-driving redneck or an unfit, prematurely-aging suit.
T.B.
Etxy wrote:
>
> To add to the horror stories, I was out riding with some fellow juniors
> from my club (6 of us in all) when a ute zoomed past us, yelling
> something out the window. He then slowed down a hundred metres in front
> of us, came to a stop, and forced us to go round the outside of him.
--
______________________________________
Tamyka Bell, PhD Student
School of Human Movement Studies
The University Of Queensland
w: +61-7-33656105
m: +61-4-00782972
e:
[email protected]
______________________________________
