Monday, June 18, 2007

Jerk

I saw it as though it happened in slow motion -- a cyclist, two cyclists ahead of me on College Street, hitting the ground after being struck by a car door. The good news is that no cars were beside him. The other cyclist and I helped him up, made sure he was alright. The driver got out of his car and was seemed relieved that the cyclist was OK and not angry.

The truly strange part is that the driver was perplexed. He repeated over and over that he did not see the cyclist in his mirror, and he wondered where he came from. Of course, we all told him that he needs to shoulder-check because he has a blind spot, the same way you need to shoulder-check when you change lanes. The driver just could not understand that and it seemed to me as if he was angry at his mirror for letting him down. I believe that the concept of shoulder-checking was completely new to him.

I wonder what box of cereal this guy got his driver's license from.

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10 comments:

Anonymous said...

WOW that'a fear with me and motorcyclists. Some of them drive kind of nutty. Driving is so perilous isn; it!

tshsmom said...

The last time we drove in a city, I didn't see ONE person shoulder check, when pulling out or changing lanes, except for ME!

Anonymous said...

I expected to be 'doored' several times yesterday during my bike ride. Fortunately, I wasn't.

Scary stuff!!!

Anonymous said...

Wow, you can get licenses from boxes of cereal there too?

I meant to comment the other day but I spent to much time reading.
I'm looking forward to the continuation of the previous posts.

running42k said...

As cyclists we need to be extra vigilent since the drivers aren't. You can't expect them to drive safely with all the other things they have to do like talk on the phone, drink coffee, apply makeup, read the paper etc.

tweetey30 said...

I have to say when you have over a 100,000 people its hard because people come out of nowhere but I always check when I change lanes and so does J. Its ridiculous though. I see people do that all the time not looking and there are always horns honking. Its just stupid.

Super Happy Jen said...

They really don't have enough prizes for adults inside cereal boxes. When one cereal had Movie Passes, I ate that same cereal for like 2 months.

zydeco fish said...

Super Happy Jen: You are so right, and that has always bugged me. Why, I am going to write a letter to cereal companies about this.

Ben-Ohki said...

I was puzzled while reading the post... and then i got to the end and took note that you were posting from Toronto. And then everything about the driver made perfect sense.

zydeco fish said...

Indeed. TO drivers are of varying quality.