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#1
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inconsiderate drivers!
Had a close call with a motorist who was making a left turn without looking for pedestrians(or unicyclist). I had all my gears on but doubt that would of helped if that driver clubbered me. I live in a pretty open area of city that is mostly homes but there are "some" drivers with poor driving skills. I mostly ride on the sidewalk instead of riding w/ the traffic cause many drivers whizzes by me when I ride along the street, missing me by inches sometimes! This would scare the hell out of anyone! Now because I now ride the BIGGER and TALLER Coker, drivers seem to slow down more around me. I think it's because I look like a big STOP sign on a Coker; especially when I wear bright-colored shirts. Anyone else with close calls with cars? -- leadpan - OC Cokeur "Pain is temporary. Quitting lasts forever" - Lance Armstrong ------------------------------------------------------------------------ leadpan's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/9751 View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/43301 |
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#2
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inconsiderate drivers!
Sounds bad mate, I remember Kit had more than a close call with a car earlier this year! Joe, -- joe - Who needs cranks anyways? *www.cool.unicyclist.com* 'I like to show off in front of people not to show them what I can do, but to show them what can be done on a unicycle' - Sofa 'Unicycle.Com' (http://www.unicycle.com) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ joe's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/957 View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/43301 |
#3
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inconsiderate drivers!
I live on a highway in the middle of timber-country, big trucks are always -flying -past, I've had a few close calls. -- arcane - my avatar is INTERESTING not green Why does everybody want green avatars? ------------------------------------------------------------------------ arcane's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/10051 View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/43301 |
#4
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inconsiderate drivers!
leadpan wrote: *I mostly ride on the sidewalk instead of riding w/ the traffic cause many drivers whizzes by me when I ride along the street, missing me by inches sometimes! * That's why I ride on the sidewalk (or pavement as we like to call them the UK) on busy roads, along with the fact that the pavements next to busy roads tend to be nice and wide. But when I turn off into a quiet suburban road, I tend to switch to the edge of the road itself, as the pavements there tend to get rather narrow, especially as it seems much more likely to encounter a fellow pedestrian than it does to encounter an occasional car. If a car does come, a quick turn to ride up a dropped kerb outside someone's driveway (or hopping up to it, or idling between two parked cars) is needed, but that doesn't happen often. *Anyone else with close calls with cars? * Well if anyone does, it won't be with me as the driver. Having just passed my driving test today, I've said to myself that I will always respect cyclists (one wheel or two) and keep a careful eye on them. I wonder if that's due to the fact that I ride myself... -- gkmac - Seldom rides in public ------------------------------------------------------------------------ gkmac's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/4577 View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/43301 |
#5
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inconsiderate drivers!
On Wed, 14 Sep 2005 15:05:32 -0500, gkmac wrote:
leadpan wrote: *I mostly ride on the sidewalk instead of riding w/ the traffic cause many drivers whizzes by me when I ride along the street, missing me by inches sometimes! * That's why I ride on the sidewalk (or pavement as we like to call them the UK) on busy roads, along with the fact that the pavements next to busy roads tend to be nice and wide. I've recently stopped riding on the pavement, after an almost nasty incident. I was riding one way, and there was a jogger coming the other way. Just as we were about to pass, a car suddenly popped out of a slightly concealed driveway right next to us both. Fortunately, the driver managed to stop before hitting us. However, the jogger got very cross with me, because since I was focussed on avoiding him, I hadn't noticed the car until it was almost too late, and had ridden right in front of it. He said I was a bit big (meaning too old) to be riding on the pavement. I was extremely upset by this, because I didn't think being on the road would be particularly safe, so the discussion got a bit heated. However, I did ride the remaining 150m home on the road, mostly so this bloke wouldn't chase after me. I stayed upset for a long time. I could see the jogger's point that riding on the pavement wasn't safe, but I also didn't feel safe on the road, where I'm legally obliged to ride. It was looking like I was going to have to get my bike fixed for my commute to work. The next couple of days, I continued riding to work on the pavement, but I was looking at the road, wondering just how dangerous it actually was. Then came the weekend, so I decided to try road riding in the quieter traffic. It wasn't nearly so scary as I had thought it would be, though there were occasional moments of worry. After that, I switched to riding on the road wherever possible. I do leave the road for shortcuts across a pedestrian bridge, and a couple of short bits of road where I'm riding against the one-way direction. However, in these cases, I keep a really close eye on where people are walking, and don't ride down the bridge steps until pedestrians are well clear. I now find that not only is road riding almost entirely un-scary (but see below), it also seems much easier than riding on the pavement. I used to UPD a few times during the 24 miles I rode each week, but on the road, I think it's only happened 3 or 4 times in a few months (and one of those was because I was trying to show off to people who shouted "Jump!" at me). There's a pretty big hill I have to climb on the way home. On the pavement, I usually stopped once or twice on each climb and thought it necessary, but on the road, where stopped vehicles just get in the way, I find that I can ride the entire hill in one go, even overtaking the occasional bike. *Anyone else with close calls with cars? * Last weekend, a car came extremely close to hitting me. I was riding along a big open road, with plenty of visibility. As I was riding past a side road, I saw a car coming up it, towards the junction with the road I was on. I had right of way, and I was already half way across the turning, so I didn't really pay it much attention. As I was almost past this car, however, it started to pull out. At first I thought this was just one of those impatient drivers who like to cut things fine, starting to pull out before they really should, in preparation to overtake me. However, I soon notice that this car isn't overtaking; it's heading directly towards me, and accelerating! By the time the driver sees me and starts braking, the car's bumper is about three inches away from my wheel (I can see it without turning round, just by looking down), and I'm going as fast I can. Fortunately for both of us, he did slow down just in time, and I managed to stay in control despite being terrified and riding faster than I thought possible. The driver then tried to argue that I shouldn't be "racing along on that little thing". I told him that I can only usually manage about 6-8 mph, which he'd have seen for himself if he was paying attention. The only reason he thought I was "racing" was because when he did see me, I was trying to escape being smashed into a bloody pulp. -- Peter Haworth "Soap and education are not as sudden as a massacre, but they are more deadly in the long run." -- Mark Twain |
#6
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inconsiderate drivers!
Oh I just love it when drivers aren't paying attention then try to blame you, for their almost killing you. -- ThisGuyIKnow - Film Guy ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ThisGuyIKnow's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/10203 View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/43301 |
#7
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inconsiderate drivers!
I HATE WHEN THEY DO THAT. I HAD A COUPLE CLOSE CALLS THE FIRST FEW TIMES I WENT ON THE ROAD -- unicycle dave - ONE WHEEL IS BETTER THAN 2 David Sensenig ------------------------------------------------------------------------ unicycle dave's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/10416 View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/43301 |
#8
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inconsiderate drivers!
I've had a few bad ones...almost got hit by a truck at a stop sign once while riding my coker, but it was clearly my turn to go, and he just wasn't paying attention to me. came close enough for me to put my hand on the hood though. it was scary. another time, I was riding my coker on the left side of the road like I usually do, it was kind of on a highway, and a car came behind me and buzzed me. that means, they went as fast as they could and came as close as they could to me, without hitting me. it really makes you wobble, and scares you too. another time, I was riding my coker home at night, and the street to get to my house is sooo dark at night, it's SCARY. so a car drove past, and the driver leaned out the window and just SCREAMED really super loud and scarylike, it totally freaked me out for a minute. -- James_Potter - betcha can't stick it! sanity calms, but madness is more interesting. michael atkinson mdotedotatkinsonatgmaildotcom President of the MRIS -last edited by george w. bush on 2005-09-05 at 4:23 pm- ------------------------------------------------------------------------ James_Potter's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/3807 View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/43301 |
#9
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inconsiderate drivers!
Yea, I hear you James. My riding after work sometimes takes me in to the night. Last night, two guys driving saw me riding my Coker yells, "Awesome!", takes a photo on his camera phone then turns around sneaks up behind me then blew a loud noise-maker can at me. I am guessing he thought I was fall cause of the loud noise. Instead it scared couple of pedestrians walking near me. What kinds of people compliments you on riding a uni one moment then tries to make you fall the next? "Morons" I thought to my self as I kept riding. I might add few months ago I WOULD of fell cause of the loud noise but now other people watching, yelling, motioning at me don't phase me anymore. -- leadpan - OC Cokeur "Pain is temporary. Quitting lasts forever" - Lance Armstrong ------------------------------------------------------------------------ leadpan's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/9751 View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/43301 |
#10
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inconsiderate drivers!
"leadpan" m wrote in message yclist.com... Had a close call with a motorist who was making a left turn without looking for pedestrians(or unicyclist). I had all my gears on but doubt that would of helped if that driver clubbered me. I live in a pretty open area of city that is mostly homes but there are "some" drivers with poor driving skills. I mostly ride on the sidewalk instead of riding w/ the traffic cause many drivers whizzes by me when I ride along the street, missing me by inches sometimes! This would scare the hell out of anyone! Now because I now ride the BIGGER and TALLER Coker, drivers seem to slow down more around me. I think it's because I look like a big STOP sign on a Coker; especially when I wear bright-colored shirts. Anyone else with close calls with cars? Far too many people in this forum have had close calls. Sounds a pretty good statistical reason not to risk the roads to me. I don't want to be that headline on the news thanks. I'll stay on the pavement, and give the pedestrians space too. Before I took up the unicycle I used to see I guy riding down the roads locally. I thought he was insane. Not seen him for years, neither on or off the road.. Nao |
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