Driver Brags About Hitting Cyclist on Twitter; Learns Police Have Internet

[Ms. Toad]

159. It is amazing how many of the solutions include

Ride to the left.

My daughter freaked my mother out when mom took her to test out a bike. My daughter had been riding with me and headed down the road about 3' left of the white line. My mother thought she should be to the right of it (where there was all of 1' of pavement, at most).

I guess my daughter must have been listening to me. Aside from anything else, some of the drivers who believe bikes don't belong on the road will deliberately buzz me wherever I am. At least if I'm 3' into solid pavement, I have a place to ditch to where I can still control the bike if they get to close.

Plus all of the other good reasons at the link.

I survived Collision Type #1 because of where I ride. A driver who shouldn't have been behind the wheel backed out into the path of about 1500 bikers (me being the closest) without looking. (The route was well marked to warn residents in advance of the ride, and has included that street at least since 1994 when I started doing the ride.) Had I been hugging the curb he would have not have been able to stop before hitting me, once he heard my screams. As it is, he got away with a kick to the rear of his vehicle in a last minute attempt to get his attention and I got away with my pedals briefly tangled with a rider who pulled up to pass at just the wrong moment.