I never used to hate people that rode bikes. I really have nothing against bikes, except for that one time when I was about 5 and I got into a fight with the kickstand on my own bike, and the kickstand won. I still have the scar.
But anyway. I get that people like to ride their bikes, and sometimes they don't have cars and the bike is all they have to get around.
BUT, that being said, that does NOT give people that ride their bikes in the road the right to be completely idiotic and expect that those of us in cars won't run them over when the opportunity strikes. Being on a bike does NOT make you exempt from the rules of the road when you're riding in the street including, but not limited to, riding the CORRECT way down a one-way street, NOT using the turn lane in the middle of the street as your own personal bike lane, and also, actually STOPPING at red lights/stop signs.
I didn't think that was complicated, but then again...I really need to stop being surprised by the sheer collective stupidity.
Today my brother and I were pretty darned close to running over some stupid teenager that decided the middle of the road was a perfectly good spot to ride his bike. He started off on the sidewalk on the opposite side of the road, then he was IN the other lane, riding directly toward a whole line of cars coming straight toward him, and then he veered over into the middle turn lane, pedaling as fast as his dumb little legs would go. He kept weaving closer and closer to our lane and I had a sudden vision of him pulling to the right and streaking into our lane, falling, and our car running him over because we would NEVER have had enough time to stop--that's how close he was. I don't care if you're a teenager and you feel like you're the coolest, bad-ass-iest person that ever lived, if you're gonna ride your damn bike in the damn street, you better use your damn brain.
My brother honked the horn at the idiot kid in the street after we both thought he was going to ride right in front of us, and without breaking stride he turned around and started yelling at us. Our windows were rolled up, and neither of us have any idea what he said aside from the very clearly mouthed "f--- you!".
Hey kid, if you end up as a pancake or smooshed into someone's grill, I can't say I'll feel bad. One less moron I have to put up in this stupid city.
I also have this fear that one of these days I'm going to back out of our driveway and back over another idiot on a bike that's riding in the street, going the wrong way down our ONE-WAY STREET. I realize you're on a bike, but if you're in the street, you have to follow the same rules a car does. It's very hard to see people coming the wrong way down our street because, going the proper direction, there's about half a block of level street and then it slopes down, and because I'm not Superman, I have no x-ray vision to see through the street to tell if there's anybody there. Given how often it happens, it's really just a matter of time until we run them over. Not on purpose, of course, but I still won't be losing any sleep over it.
There was also the day that I came THIS close to hitting yet another idiot on a bike. I was on my way to work, you know, the usual, driving the correct way down our street. I started to slow down for a red light, and a teenager on a bike came careening around the corner, making a wide turn off the sidewalk directly into my lane, headed, you guessed it, the wrong damn way down the street. I stomped on the brakes and honked my horn at him, and he gave me the finger, shouted something that I can only assume wasn't very polite, and took off down the street.
I guess that's what I get for obeying the laws of traffic.
It's days like today that I'm grateful winter is coming because snow means less morons on two wheels.
Sincerely,
Smart Girl.
