Commuting with Psychopaths

posted by Joe on 3/12/2007 | 5 Comments |

It seems as though drivers (not) sharing Gerrard Street with me this morning have taken Rob Ford's hate speech seriously.

I lost count of the number of cars who sped by me with a couple inches to spare, scaring the hell out of me and resolving me to work even harder on the "mission statement" I've posted.

The buzzing is bad enough (especially since the other lane was clear for them to have moved over)... but I also went through two occasions on a 20-minute ride where a pickup truck changed lanes into me, forcing me to almost hit the curb and brake hard.

The only way that these pickup-driving rednecks could've missed the fact that I was on the road was if they had their eyes closed. The only other explanation is that they were dropped on their heads (repeatedly) as children, and were under the impression that it was okay to kill a cyclist. They pulled up beside me, straddling the two lanes of Gerrard, and moved quickly to the right.

People wonder why some cyclists always seem to be full of rage and indignation at car drivers. It's because some of them actively try to kill us.

My serenity wrecked, I rode the middle of the curb lane the rest of the way to work, a symbolic "come on, I dare ya!" to the drivers behind me.

The behaviour of the drivers in this city is only going to make me work harder to make this city as difficult to drive in as possible. You can't expect to keep on destroying a city I love and repeatedly try to kill me and expect me to lay down and take it.

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5 Comment(s) so far:

It's not "I Dare ya!", it's legal under the HTA to take the whole lane when *WHATEVER* condition (drivers behaviour included) requires you to, to be able to proceed safely. So take your lane as is the law.

By Ken Chase, at 4:52 PM

Hi Ken... point taken, and I agree with you. I usually bike in the right half of the lane as a courtesy... until I get pissed off by the lack of respect.

By Joe (BikingToronto), at 5:05 PM

rage against the machine, joe.

By Tuco, at 12:22 PM

Not only rage against it, but try and change it. :)

By Joe (BikingToronto), at 12:36 PM

I had a guy get out of his car and try to grab me last week on Harbord. Thankfully I was still clipped in and had my foot in the "sweet spot" to be able to quickly pedal 50' away. This was after he pulled into the bike lane immediately in front of me and jammed on the brakes to make a right turn at a small side-street intersection, of course. My fault entirely, apparently.

By Wes, at 4:50 PM