Modern Vespa

On my commute this morning I was traveling along a road that had two lanes of traffic in each direction. At every major intersection a third 'turn lane' opens up for those looking to make a left. This is almost always at a traffic signal.

At this one particular intersection the two lanes of opposing traffic was quite congested, and cars wanting to get into the left turn lane were forced to wait until traffic moved forward to allow them access to the lane.

Unless they wanted to cross the double yellow and drive in my oncoming lane.

The first driver to do this got my horn as I swerved to avoid them, while remaining in my lane.

The second drive who did this got the universal finger.

The THIRD driver who did this got their side mirror either punched off of punched shut. I never turned around to look.

I guess four wrongs don't make a right, but aside from a tingly feeling in one of my fingers I have an odd and possibly unwarranted feeling that justice was served.

I hear what you're saying. On my commute last night from Redwood City to San Jose, on Foothill Expway, I kept getting cut off from lane splitting(on red lights) by a woman in an SUV. I know she did it on purpose because she kept checking her passenger sideview mirror. I finally passed her at Foothill/280 and so badly wanted to throw something/hit her mirror, but I know that I would be the one who got punished for anything. So i just drank an extra beer later on

Every single one of those vehicles deserves to have had a one-time 'handshake' with one of my favorite tools http://www.craftsman.com/craftsman-40-oz-blacksmith-hammer/p-00938262000P?sLevel=0&redirectType=SKIP_LEVEL. Well done with your punch...I'd buy you a beer if I were remotely within driving distance. Can't stand that type of ignorant disregard. Never a cop when you need one.

I had someone do that to me yesterday as well trying to get to the turning lane. It is quite common here where drivers will cross the center line to get to the turning lane because god forbid they have to wait an additional 30 seconds. Fortunately, I was looking far enough ahead and anticipated some azzhole would do it. Had I not been paying attention I very well could have been in a head on crash as I was probably doing about 45-50 on this street.

Chicago drivers are the most impatient driver's I've ever seen.

1) regularly bust U turns ANYWHERE.
2) drive in parking lanes to filter to front of stopped traffic and then drag race off the stop lights so they can cut back over before a parked car.
3) cut across parking lots at stop lights to avoid waiting to make a turn
4) general speeding
5) not too mention constant honking for every little thing.

Last year about this time, I had a Redneck in a truck trying to race me from every red light on fairly congested road. It was a four lane road (two going each way) with that left hand turn lane making up another lane at the lights. I was in the left lane and he was in the right.

I kept an eye on him because he was one of those guys that couldn't believe a scooter could pop out ahead of him with such ease. So we start and stop for about six lights and I can see him getting agitated and I'm not pushing my bike any more than I would driving on a 45 mph road.

He's definately worried more about me than where he's going and as we approach a big intersection-he decides he needs to make a left and comes from the right lane forcing me to lock down on my brakes and he just barely makes the left hand turn lane. Lucky me-I am going left too and raise my arms in a WTF motion as we sit at the light. And he flips ME the bird!

Well, off we go onto the turned road and he's running about 10 mph faster than posted and I catch up to him at the next light doing the speed limit. I decide to screw with him a little and pull out my phone and take a couple of photos waiting for the light. All of a sudden Bubba steps out of the truck and onto the running board with his phone, fumbling with it yelling at me that I was speeding and that he was going to call the f'ing cops. And then the light turned from red to green. And Bubba dropped the phone into the oncoming lane and all the cars behind me started honking and after the oncoming cars were clear, I started a procession from behind him that safely detoured around the truck and kept him from bending down to safely get his phone.

I could have easily run over that damn phone, but I didn't. And I am still kicking myself hard about not putting tire tracks on it. Missed opportunity.

Maybe a GoPro on the helmet would serve us all well.

[quote="LC353Every single one of those vehicles deserves to have had a one-time 'handshake' with one of my favorite tools http://www.craftsman.com/craftsman-40-oz-blacksmith-hammer/p-00938262000P?sLevel=0&redirectType=SKIP_LEVEL[/quote]

I checked this link yesterday, opened up BBC news today, and the ad spaces are FILLED with Craftsman hammer ads! Yikes.

I just let this stuff roll off me. I have been riding scoots of all types for over forty years and have learned it is just not worth getting upset over. Yes, protect yourself, drive defensively, and realize that you are invisible to the vast majority of people. Anyway, many people now carry "heat" in the car with them or on their person. Who wants to possible tick off someone that may happen to be on the edge. My two cents.

Good point, but allowing people to flagrantly endanger others without consequence just reinforces their bad behavior and may lead to the next scooterists being killed when they run them off the road or cause a crash. (IMO)

Kuddos Shebalba!

Real gunshot holes in a vehicle look nothing like those stupid stickers.

If you ever happen to see a car in a parking lot somewhere with those stupid little stickers on it, I think you should take the opportunity to draw little smiley faces on the stickers.

Harv

I totally agree - in spirit.

I am afraid, though, that retaliating to assholeish behavior is just as likely to reinforce that behavior. "See, he/she's acting like a dick, too, so I must be all right."

Stay safe.

Agree. People who have to one up others to feel like they've elevated themselves by doing so are a dime a dozen. They don't do it because of some spite against you personally, I think they're just looking for ways to feel better about themselves and you just happened to look like a nice easy non retributive opportunity for them to stick it to someone.

These are often some of the people who C&C. Not because they've been victimized or were ever threatened, but because it fulfills a certain persona qualification they imagine themselves to have or be.

That's my take.

Harv

I checked this link yesterday, opened up BBC news today, and the ad spaces are FILLED with Craftsman hammer ads! Yikes. [/quote]


Sorry...wasn't looking to spam anyone. You might need to beef up your antispyware, the googles seem to be watching you. Maybe it's just a sign from Thor?

Adverts on the Beeb? Not with Adblock Plus. None on Facebook either, which is further improved with Facebook Purity.