| Re: My Close Call 2007 (1)
On 2 Jan 2007 20:45:33 -0800, "what does THIS button do?"
<betatron@gmail.com> wrote:
>I propose an omnibus thread to gather all the missed-me-by->that<-much
>posts and offer the following to start
>
>when/where:
>today about 15:35, on Prairie north of Wilson in Batavia (IL) , going
>to work.
>
>
>Me:
>ultraflourescent hit-me-orange with retroflective stripes, made for
>autobahn workers, high vis vest, blaze-clip-me-orange hunting gloves,
>flashy spandex speedo tights. MTB, riding right wheel rut, 18 in a 25.
>Sunny.
>
>what:
>Giant ,*shiny* jacked-up black 4 door chevy pickup, Daddy driving, wife
>and daughter onboard, passes so close that his mirror missed my head by
>about 4 inches. speeding. Guy laughs at me when i inform him of his
>near whacking experience. Fortunately, wife and little girl look
>mortified.
>
>oh well. beats getting stuck in a fenderwell.
>
>.max
This happened this past summer.
I was in the country and came upon a sweeping, gentle right curve as
the oncoming car approached, to is, a gentle, sweeping left curve.
At the moment we were able to see each other the car made such a
purposeful move right at me that I figured it was a stupid kid trying
to scare the guy on the bike.
I pulled all the way to the berm and stopped, determined to make eye
contact with the driver -- you know, sort of like that poster "The
Last Great Act of Defiance" (a mouse giving a hawk the finger as the
hawk scoops down to make a meal of it.)
I'm assuming the car was doing better than 50 mph.
Anyway, as I stood in the berm the car kept coming right at me, well
past what I would have considered needed for let's-scare-the-biker
fun. And this is where it got scary.
When the car got close enough to make eye contact I noticed it was a
little old lady looking up over the steering wheel. She wasn't trying
to scare me ... she just hadn't seen me.
She cranked the wheel hard to the right when she saw me. I kept an eye
on her as she bobbed down the road to make sure she didn't end up in
the soy beans.
I'm pretty sure this is the same little old lady I saw blow through a
stop sign, without slowing, a couple of weeks before. I'm sure she
looked as she approaced the Y in the road, noticed there was nothing
as big as a tractor or car coming, and then didn't bother to stop. Had
I been a little quicker that day she might have hit me broadside.
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