I once heard it said that the heights of human capability know no bounds- nor does the depth of human stupidity. I'm inclined to agree. There's a particular intersection I have to cross pretty much on a daily basis- traveling almost always by bike. This intersection is a four way intersection, with a stop light. Nothing strange about this, it's largely like most other four-way intersections across our fair land. However, there must be some overhead wires or something, as it seems to prompt stupidity en masse. As you no doubt no, bicycles tend to favor the right-hand side of the lane. This is to accomodate passing cars, so that assuming they are moving faster, they can continue to do so without interruption from us, plodding up the hill or whatever it is we're doing. At an intersection and at a red light, when encountering a bike on the side of the road, and the bike is not attempting a right on red, assume the biker is waiting there for the light to change to proceed straight through the intersection, and is on the right side so that you, the person in the car, can likewise proceed straight through the intersection, passing on the left. I make it a point to drift a little rightwards, to allow cars plenty of room both to get around the cars coming towards them, and allow them to get around me. And we all live happily ever after. Women, I know I'm the hunkiest guy you've ever seen- please keep your wolf whistles within the confines of good taste, however. (True story).
Now, if you find yourself behind a bike at a red light, the bike is simply sitting there, and you want to make a right, there are two options. Provided that you can do so safely, you may wish to come around on the left, get ahead of the bike and take your right turn. Failing that, simply wait behind the bike if you are unable to pass, and wait for the biker to get into the intersection and subsequently out of your way. If you wish to go around, do so. However, observe the light. If you pull up so far that you can't see the light, you might as well just stay the hell put and wait for the biker to move.
Here's a situation that happens all the time at this intersection- the biker (me) is waiting for the light to change so he can proceed straight through the intersection. Up comes a car behind him, to the red light. Said car now rushes around the biker, who has noticed that the light has turned green, and assumes (not really such a wild assumption, I think) that the driver of the car has likewise observed the green light- although annoying, the car has plenty of time to proceed right and allow the biker to continue on unimpeded. However, despite being in a tremendous hurry to get around the biker, the driver is clearly not in a hurry to proceed further. The driver cuts diagonally in front of the bike, stops dead halfway out into the intersection... and checks to see if there are oncoming cars. If you are this driver, the loud smack you heard is my hand connecting with my forehead. On more than one occasion, I have had to jam on my brakes to avoid drivers doing this. It's really just a minor annoyance to have cars pass too close on the right, or go flying around you to make a turn less than a yard ahead of you. However, these are minor annoyances because they don't actually require any action on my part- shaking my head at the amount of fuel such a jackrabbit acceleration and subsequent slowing down just wasted is not really an obligation on my part. (In case it wasn't obvious, people who forgo cars for bicycles tend to be on the smug side- we know it's obnoxious, and we're working on it, hopefully with government funding in the future). At any rate, would you not be annoyed if someone driving their car cut your own car off, only to stop in front of you? It's insensitive and rude. According to traffic laws, a bicycle is a vehicle. (Technically, bicycles can get traffic citations, too). However, there is an advantage to bicycles- they do not require insurance, and a rider bent in the head enough can ram them with impunity and very rarely damage to the bike. This has occurred to me recently- if I were simply to "miss" the brakes, a nice little controlled crash would result in me being completely unharmed, the side of the car I just rammed into at about 15 miles per hour not faring as well, and the bike taking the brunt of the impact across the front (rubber, air-filled, highly resilient) tire. Why, whatever would the insurance company say? What would the driver say after the insurance company finds out they are responsible for the damage to the car? Of course, leaving the scene might mean that wouldn't you know it, I just happened to get the plate number, Officer. Of course, I might well have jinxed myself into actually not having room to stop, and winding up taking a dive off the handlebars. This too has happened before, though off-road, never in traffic. I still have a scar from a dislocated shoulder that resulted from some abrupt contact between it and hard-packed dirt.
But then again, we should follow legal channels- part of the reason car insurance is so outrageously expensive is because some people abuse cars. Of course, about all of the rest of the reason is because car insurance companies can get away with one of the greater legal scams in history. But I digress. However, I begin to fear that if people like this continue to drive without paying much attention to what they're doing, someone could get hurt. If I was to pull off this little charade, it would be to teach a lesson I'm not at all sure I should be teaching in the first place. If circumstances are different, it could cost a life.
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