Cycle Savvy
All news relating to bike issues
Friday, November 10, 2006
Sore Shoulder
My shoulder hurts. Last night I got nudged (I won't say "knocked") off of my bike in stationary traffic. Coming into town at the bottom of Hope Street a little after "rush" hour I was manouevering towards the green advanced stop bike box in the left hand lane. There was a clunk sound, followed by a thud as I was unbalanced into the back windscreen of the car in front, accompanied by some rattling as I slid down to the ground on top of my bike.
Normally I'm quite, how should I put it, pro-active about my safety in relation to cars, buses or other antisocial roadusers. If I get the slightest hint of trouble from a driver, I'm not shy about announcing my presence and/or annoyance. You don't get any credit from them for being meek and polite. The bad drivers just won't notice you and the good drivers wouldn't have come anywhere near you. So I found my reaction to this quite interesting.
I was very polite. I picked myself and my bike up quickly and quietly and got off the road to check the damage. When the guy who hit me came over to apologise I was falling over myself to reassure him that I was OK and just waiting to catch my breath.
Why did I do that? At first I wasn't sure that it was his fault. I hadn't seen the car move (wearing a hood) so there was a possibility that I'd caught the car. Except I do that manoeuvre all the time. I know the gap was big enough and I went through the centre of it. But the car couldn't have moved, why would it? The lights remained red until I was up and off the road.
The mystery was only cleared up as the driver left (after having checked his side bumper, natch). The last thing he said to me was "you were moving so fast". That wouldn't matter if he hadn't been moving forward to close the gap in front of him. I wasn't moving fast at all, no more than walking speed, and as I said before the traffic lights were red, so he had no call to be moving. I had my lights on, batteries fully charged but the top I was wearing was black.
I wouldn't say I had a lucky escape. That would imply I was doing something foolish. Moving to where I'm supposed to be isn't that. I went there the sensible way, staying away from the 3/4 buses that were blocking the inner lanes.
Incidentally, that Advanced Stop Box I was aiming for stretched across all 3 lanes until recently. Now there's one to turn right and one to go straight ahead and left, nothing in the middle - despite the need to be in the right hand lane once you hit Hope St proper. The next junction forces all traffic except buses and bikes Left. So if you were to go straight ahead in the leftmost lane, you run the risk of that traffic cutting across you as you carry on up the hill. (In fact staying in the left lane for all of Hope St is a bad idea because of the buses racing each other, but you still get dogs abuse from the ignorant bastards in the metal boxes for not cycling in the gutter.)
If the Council hadn't shrunk that stop box, I would not have had to move across to it and wouldn'tve been hit by a daydreaming driver. There's problems with the road on the other side of the bridge too but what alternative route is there into that side of town? None.
Normally I'm quite, how should I put it, pro-active about my safety in relation to cars, buses or other antisocial roadusers. If I get the slightest hint of trouble from a driver, I'm not shy about announcing my presence and/or annoyance. You don't get any credit from them for being meek and polite. The bad drivers just won't notice you and the good drivers wouldn't have come anywhere near you. So I found my reaction to this quite interesting.
I was very polite. I picked myself and my bike up quickly and quietly and got off the road to check the damage. When the guy who hit me came over to apologise I was falling over myself to reassure him that I was OK and just waiting to catch my breath.
Why did I do that? At first I wasn't sure that it was his fault. I hadn't seen the car move (wearing a hood) so there was a possibility that I'd caught the car. Except I do that manoeuvre all the time. I know the gap was big enough and I went through the centre of it. But the car couldn't have moved, why would it? The lights remained red until I was up and off the road.
The mystery was only cleared up as the driver left (after having checked his side bumper, natch). The last thing he said to me was "you were moving so fast". That wouldn't matter if he hadn't been moving forward to close the gap in front of him. I wasn't moving fast at all, no more than walking speed, and as I said before the traffic lights were red, so he had no call to be moving. I had my lights on, batteries fully charged but the top I was wearing was black.
I wouldn't say I had a lucky escape. That would imply I was doing something foolish. Moving to where I'm supposed to be isn't that. I went there the sensible way, staying away from the 3/4 buses that were blocking the inner lanes.
Incidentally, that Advanced Stop Box I was aiming for stretched across all 3 lanes until recently. Now there's one to turn right and one to go straight ahead and left, nothing in the middle - despite the need to be in the right hand lane once you hit Hope St proper. The next junction forces all traffic except buses and bikes Left. So if you were to go straight ahead in the leftmost lane, you run the risk of that traffic cutting across you as you carry on up the hill. (In fact staying in the left lane for all of Hope St is a bad idea because of the buses racing each other, but you still get dogs abuse from the ignorant bastards in the metal boxes for not cycling in the gutter.)
If the Council hadn't shrunk that stop box, I would not have had to move across to it and wouldn'tve been hit by a daydreaming driver. There's problems with the road on the other side of the bridge too but what alternative route is there into that side of town? None.
Bikopath, 8:02 AM
