It was dark this morning as I drove into work, with the edge of the sky just beginning to lighten up when I got to my destination. About 10 minutes before I got to work, while the overcast sky was completely dark, I had passed someone who probably thought that he was doing things safely, but in my mind he was an accident waiting to happen.
I take mostly back roads to work. This means that there are a lot of curves, few streetlights (usually miles apart), and trees arching over the roadways. Add all this together with the early morning hour, and it is is not only quite dark, but it is hard to see very far ahead. At one point, I slowed down for a deer that decided to cross the road. But she didn't really cause me any problems.
I then saw a small blinking red light. It was so small and blinking so fast that I couldn't even figure out what it was for a minute. Then I realized it was a bicyclist who had a warning light on the back of his bike. This was all well and good as I wouldn't have seen him until I was much closer if it hadn't been for that attention-getting devise. Then I noticed that he was riding in the middle of the lane. Then he would drift toward the shoulder, then out to the middle of the lane again.
I slowed down and waited until we had passed thru a curve before passing him. I was so leary of his riding, that I used the entire opposite lane to go around him. Then I realized why his riding was a little eratic. He had no head light. He was having a hard time seeing exactly where the road was. The bad news was that I could no longer tell where he was once the front of my truck had passed ahead of the cyclist.
I sped up and kept in the opposite lane until I felt sure that the cyclist was well behind me and pulled back into my lane. But I didn't know, I couldn't tell for sure. I was nervous and POed at him at the same time. I was nervouse because there is always that chance I mis-judged how fast he and I were going respectively (or he could have sped up). I was POed because I should not have been in this position.
The cyclist, although he has a right to part of the road, he also has a duty to make sure he can be seen. He made sure he could be seen from behind, but not from ahead. Too bad there weren't any cops around at that time in the morning. I would have loved to have pointed out the road hazard to them and perhaps they could have taken care of the problem. However, he is still out there and some morning he may not be so lucky with other cars on the roads.
It seems almost every night when I'm coming home from work, I almost run over some dumbass on a bicycle in a black shirt, black pants, and that small red reflector on the back. They're just asking to be hit.
Posted by: Sam | July 29, 2003 at 11:35 AM
Not only does he have the responsibility of making himself seen...he needs to obey the rules of the road and stick to one lane or near the shoulder. Shame on him for weaving this way and that!
Posted by: Da Goddess | July 30, 2003 at 05:44 AM
My husband has a similar tale to tell about a jogger who chose to run down the middle of the north bound lane at five in the morning. He dressed in dark colors, and chose not to wear any reflectors. Some people simply have a death wish.
Posted by: Buffy | July 30, 2003 at 01:02 PM