Fools, Damned Fools, and Cell Phones!!

It is one of those things that really gets on my nerves - not just when I'm riding my bike (though it is worse then), but all the time! Car drivers using cell phones! I mean who would want to be concentrating on what they are doing when they are in sole control of half a ton of metal and glass travelling at 60 mph - Nah! It's far more vital that they call their friend to discuss dinner plans, etc.

Anyway as you may be able to detect I have an issue with people driving and using their cell phones.

Last night driving home from work - yes I know I should commute by bike but getting kid #3 to preschool prevents this at the moment - I am cut up, not once but twice by drivers using their cell phones. You know how it is, no use of signals (cos they have one hand on steering wheel and one holding their phone), general obliviousness (cos the conversation they are having is soooo riveting) and besides, they just don't give a damn (the selfish bastards who put peoples lives at risk by talking and driving don't really give a sh*t about anyone else). So I'm getting pretty steamed up!

I consider starting a "hall of shame" in this blog; containing photo's of drivers using their phones. Two problems (i) I have left my camera at home and (ii) there is a slight contradiction in objecting to people using their phones then me driving whilst taking photo's - you decide.

Either way fortunately no-one was hurt, no photo's were taken and once I got off the highway my blood pressure returned to normal. Just then I pass my LBS - great store, great selection of bikes, knowledgeable staff and supportive of the loal bike scene. However on a Tuesday at 5:30pm they host a group ride from the store. So just as rush hour hits it's peak a large group of (fairly novice) bikers spill out onto a pretty busy suburban commuter route. Fan-bloody-tastic! I fear it is only a matter of time until someone gets hurt! Tonight luckily everything is hunky dory and although they are riding three abreast the traffic is well mannered and gives them space by forming a single line around them. Me (being a cyclist) make sure I am 100 % considerate and pass leaving plenty of space and smiling in a friendly fashion to any rider who makes eye contact. (I'm a nice guy aren't I!)

As I approach the head of the pack I see the guy leading the ride is riding up the street, sat up without hands on bars. Bit strange I think - probably just stretching out his back ready for a good old fashioned workout! As I pull level though I discover............. No he is actually sat up with his cell phone pressed to his ear in the middle of an animated converstaion!

The moral here my friends is.... just because someone is a cyclist, doesn't mean they are not a d*ckhead as well.

Keep the rubber side down and the cell phones in pockets

DogzBollux

Sh*t almost happens again

What do they say about lightening? Nearly bloody proved them wrong on my way to work on Monday! I'm back cycling after my encounter with terra firma, but the fixie is stowed safely at home right now and the regular road bike is the preferred mode of transport. Still a bit nervous and am taking it easy so when I start down the only real hill on my commute and catch sight of a car in my peripheral vision I pay atention. The car is reversing very slowing from a drive way about a third of the way down the hill and is going so slowly I assume he has seen me... But no, he just keeps coming. On with the brakes and I grind to a halt almost touching his rear fender. He just seems to sit in the middle of the road so shaking my head wearily (I find politeness or displays of disapointment work better with car drivers than anger - they have the advantage in being surrounded by half a ton of metal, so a confrontation is normally a bad idea) and edge past him on his inside with my feet down. As I get level with his passenger mirror he starts to move again! I speed up to move out of his way and he blows his horn at me!!! Bloody cheek. Politeness be damned, I pull over and throw my hands in the air - "you pulled out in front of me you idiot" I scream. The man just drives of shaking his head clearly under the impression that I am some idiot biker who shouldn't be on the road.

It is only as normality returns that I realize the site of my latest bike related near miss is exactly where I fell off a month ago - spooky. (Perhaps the guy has a point about me being an idiot biker who shouldn't be on the road).

Anyway all is well that ends well - the guy in the end drives so slowly through his neighborhood that I keep up with him for the next two miles or so. Funny thing is the whole way his car is spewing out thick black smoke and although the guy makes a number of turns he doesn't use his signals once! There is an idiot in this scenario that shouldn't be on the road, but it is not me.