This kind of thing always worries me a bit — a biker killed when hit by a car as she was stopped along the side of the road. While it really adds emphasis to the notion that bikers should pull well off the road when stopped, the scary part to me is that the driver (who is suspected to have been drunk) swerved toward her.
I take the proper safety precautions when I go biking. I always wear a helmet, I ride with traffic, I signal turns and slowing, and I pick less-traveled roads with wide shoulders and slower traffic when possible. And yet there’s nothing I can do to control crazy drivers.
When I went riding two days ago I was cruising solo down Port Road, a fairly empty road deep in Seabrook, or maybe Shoreacres. Not much around but refinies and chemical plants, and not much traffic on a weekend. I looked up ahead and saw a white pickup truck pulling a trailer coming towards me in the other lane. Oncoming traffic — no big deal, right? So imagine my surprise and moment of outright fear when, with about 600-700 feet to go between us, he moved from his lane into my lane. On this long empty road with no other traffic in sight and no apparent reason for doing so, he moved from his lane into my lane.
I was already preparing to jump off my bike at 20+ mph and dive into the grass on the side of the road, figuring that although I’d probably end up with a broken bone or sprained joint, it was better than the alternative, when he moved back into his lane as quickly as he’d left it. He was probably in my lane for no more than 2 seconds, but that was enough time for me to panic. He zoomed past me, with my already tired legs shaking that much more.
I just wonder why? WHY?? Why would you intentionally do that? Is it fun? Do you get some sort of thrill out of it, knowing that you’re in some sort of position of power? Why would you intentionally move into the other lane, knowing full well that the biker heading towards you will experience a moment of terror with the realization that they have absolutely no chance of avoiding serious injury or worse if hit by a car going 50 mph??
It’d been a long time since I was as livid as I was for the five minutes after I thought I was about to end up in the hospital.
It’s not much help now, but that driver probably didn’t see you. Motorcyclists are trained to assume they are invisible to cars and trucks — the drivers just don’t see you. So you’re doing the right thing being prepared to leap to safety.
Maybe he didn’t see me. But otherwise why would he be swerving across the road? It’s hard to believe he would have moved into my lane and then back again with no reason if he wasn’t trying to freak me out. Buzz has had similar things happen to her while running on the wide shoulder of a busy road.