now I'm mad!

[vitaminC]

Okay, so a couple days ago I wrote about this little incident, which was more amusing than anything else.

Today, however, was a bit different. Same time, same road, almost the same spot. I'm still doing my ~5mph over the limit, this time with a Volvo wagon behind me. She's only behind me for a short while before she decides to pass me on the right!! What f*ck is she thinking??? Passing on the right in the bicycle lane is a major no-no, regardless of what planet you're from- especially when there is no traffic in the opposing lane.

Naturally, she makes no additional progress because there were other people in front of me. At the next signal she stops to turn left, which tells me she must be picking up a kid from school (that's a dead end road to school), and I proceeded to go straight on. Somehow I managed to only blast her with the horn instead of kicking her door in as I went by, but next time...

What the hell is up with this? I did this same road many, many times on a motorcycle and never dealt with this crap! Do people think "oh it's a scooter, I'll just run them off the road"? I know I should have taken her license number, but honestly I was fuming too much to remember all the numbers. Should this happen again I will certainly follow them enough to get the plate so I can file a report.

Perhaps I need to exhange my green-ish textile jacket for a badass leather jacket with metal studs to help keep all the soccer-moms at bay

[KidDynomite]

This may be hard to convey....

Today I was on a two lane county road I was looking to turn left and the car approaching me was making a left as well.

I started to go ahead and go (as she was stopped to make her left) but something inside me said nope, that jackass is going to pass her on her right (which he did) and I'm going to get smashed (which I would have).

It all happened so fast (yet in slo-mo thankfully for me) that all I could do was point to him as I called him an ass-hole.

Moral of the story....we must always drive defensively.

Here's to hoping we never lose a "Buddy" to this type of behavior.

[Keys]

Always ride as if EVERYbody in a cage is out to kill you. This is more critical on a scooter since the assumption is that a scooter has a) no acceleration and b) no top speed. They will assume that they can ALWAYS just TAKE the right-of-way if they want it. 36 years of experience speaking here...

--Keys

[ebcspace]

There are definitely times where the other driver is going to be the worst, and to be safe, you must always assume the worst is about to happen, as the car does something to communicate a road etiquette insult to the rider. It's tempting, to contribute to the road rage state, but then consider that most other drivers may have seen what happened, and are on your side, thinking, that was not cool what that driver did. Kind of like seeing a crazy person in a crowd of level-headed people. I think you have to keep yourself safe, always on the defensive, and also keep your sense of humor, and be glad that you don't drive like the bad driver.

[vitaminC]

Yes, I am vigilent about being aware of what the cagers are doing, which is part of why I got so angry today. This woman did not zoom up behind me, she did not make any zig-zag "I want by right now" kind of motions. I registered her as behind me and getting a bit close, had a look to see what was happening in front, then heard her going by on the right. Had I needed to dodge some road debris at that moment I would have swerved directly into her.

I've had a motorcyclist strike my car before, and it was all I could do to restrain the "red mist" and swerve directly into him. He certainly would have lost that argument! That memory keeps me from escalating "battles" when I'm on two wheels.

Typically I am non-plussed by such idiots, but today's incident could have been very ugly for me, and it just followed too closely to the previous incident. Hopefully I've now met my quota for manic cagers for quite a while to come...

[dnpicardy]

a couple of days ago i was driving my Buddy to work with my 14 year old on the back. we were on the freeway for a short segment, slow, merging traffic, and a guy turned right into us. i could have reached out and pushed his door but instead swerved then beeped like hell. when we came to a stop, i turned around and said to my kid you always have to ride like they are trying to kill you. that's the only way you survive on a scooter.

drove big bikes for years and that was my survival technique: assume other drivers will not see you, will turn in front of you, run that red light, turn left in front of you, pull out of the driveway without looking, change lanes without looking. total defensive driving. always predict the worst possible scenario. assumptions will kill you on a two-wheeler.

sounds negative, but i make a game out of it. "watch, that guy is going to run that stop sign", and then he does. this is the philosophy of the motorcycle safety foundation courses. SEE. search, evaluate, execute. these guys are right on.

[MrNatural]

Last 3 posts state most excellent philosophies!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks!

[hermitgirl]

My first postings on here reflected how nervous I was about driving a scooter. Now that I'm over the initial fear and LOVE it, I still mentally put myself in a thought pattern of being defensive and over-observant, because otherwise I tend to get a little cocky. That memory of fear helps me now that I'm not afraid, if only to keep me in line.

I find I'm tempted to show off more when there are other bikes/scooters about. I blame the Buddy for being so darn cute and flashy!

[josephwtyler]

If you really want to be careful, the department of motor vehicle offers a course (usually intended for motorcycle drivers) that helps teach awareness when on two wheelers. At the very least, it inspires confidence.