There are hits, and there are misses... [bicycling]

[rebeccmeister]

On my commute home this evening, I was waiting at a red traffic light on a bridge overpass above a highway/interstate junction. The bridge overpass isn't my favorite, because there's a bike lane leading up to it, and a bike lane after it, but on the bridge itself all it has is some sharrows (aka "shitty arrows") and a too-narrow gutter that fills with debris in the winter.

Anyway, that makes me extra alert and paranoid about what's coming up behind me.

This evening it was an SUV that missed the fact the light was red and only missed colliding with another SUV crossing in front of me because the other SUV saw what was happening and screeched to a halt.

Ugh.

I think I'm going to have to revise my opinion and declare that drivers out here really are the worst. I have no love for SoCal or Arizona drivers, either, but they are awful in different, reckless ways.

Comments

[altamira16]

All the drivers are the worst. I think that the sense of personal security these large vehicles create is part of the issue. I think there is a movement for car safety to include safety of others, but I am not sure when we will get there. In other places, they do have to consider this.

https://usa.streetsblog.org/2024/09/10/walk-this-way-feds-finally-want-car-safety-testing-to-apply-to-people-outside-the-vehicle

Rant

[ranunculus]

I agree with the article that the big blocky design of SUV's and Pickups are absurd. They are mostly designed to appeal to people who imagine themselves going off road. Meanwhile the average height of the bed of a pickup has inched up, up, up and up. If one is actually trying to load the bed of a pickup regularly one must lift heavy objects an extra foot or so, leading to back and shoulder injuries. Think about heaving a 100# bale of hay up an extra foot. So the front is high and dangerous and the back is high and stupid.

Re: Rant

[mallorys_camera]

the big blocky design of SUV's and Pickups are absurd

Very, very true. It's really hard to survey what's around you inside one of those things.

Re: Rant

[altamira16]

Every time we see the tall trucks my husband complains about how hard it would probably be to lift things into the truck bed.

[threemeninaboat]

I'm glad you didn't die and weren't injured!

[cmcmck]

The worst drivers in the world are in Belgium. Trust me! I know!