| Re: My Close Call 2007 (1)
Close call #1, 2003
Where/When: Outskirts of small town, daylight, fair weather.
Me: riding road bike on main road, back from a good ride, 25 km/h ?
What: A guy starts from a roadside business parking lot and accelerates
straight towards me from my side. I escaped by accelerating vigourously
and managed to put 20 cm between his front fender and my rear wheel. Guy
seemed a bit puzzled.
Close call #2, 2004
Where/When: Downtown, winter morning, night.
Me: riding road bike with a small diode headlight, because the commuter
was at the bike shop for a repair. Downhill, 35 km/h ?
What: A guy starts straight in front of me from a private parking lot,
with poor line of sight. I brake like hell, and end up shouting
leaning with my hand against the back of his car. Guy stops, and says he
hasn't seen me. Has been asking the city to put a mirror there for some
time, without success.
Close call #3, 2006
Where/When: Downtown, evening, night. Roadworks reduce street width to one
lane for a short distance (about 20 m). I have the right of way, oncoming
trafic has to yield.
Me: Riding my commuter bike with SON/Lumotec light (= visible), at the
center of the only lane, ~20 km/h.
What: A guy coming the other way, instead of waiting for me to be out of
the way (would have taken 5 seconds ?), accelerates towards me with high
noisy rpms. Out of fear I pull to the right, but out of rage I can't
resist banging my fist against his window. Very stupid idea: he is going
so fast that my banging actually got me a swollen and painful thumb, which
is curing only slowly. The guy didn't stop, didn't even slow down.
More-than-close call #4, 2005
Where/When: Outskirts of small town, morning, mist/light fog against
rising sun. Major road, 2 lanes in each direction, low trafic.
Me: riding loaded touring bike, yellow vest, red panniers, at the far
right edge of the road (too far to the right perhaps ?).
What: Guy hits me from behind and sends me flying into the grass. Broken
rib, bike damaged. The guy says he hasn't seen me - well, I expect he
didn't hit me on purpuse...
Plus a few others... all this, lined in row, might seem scary, but
actually these events are rather rare. No close call yet in 2007, but it's
been only 4 days...
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