Don't belong on the road

[bunsen_h]

Earlier this afternoon, I was heading westwards along my street (Norice), and was slowing to a stop behind the student driver waiting at the red light to make a left turn onto Woodroffe.  The SUV well behind me honked.  I glanced backward, then returned my attention to the important matter of signaling my turn and coming to a safe stop, centred behind the student driver.

The SUV pulled up close behind me.  Then edged fowards, partly in my lane and just to my right, so the woman could open her window and tell me that I wasn't supposed to ride across the road.  "You're supposed to walk your bike across."

I gave her a "what planet are you from" look.  "I'm a vehicle, and I have as much right to be on the road as you do."

She became more insistent.  "But you aren't supposed to ride across the road.  I'm sure of it.  I don't want you to get in trouble."

A "what colours are the moons around your planet?" look.  "Read your Driver's Handbook.  I'm a vehicle, and I have as much right to be on the road as you or any other vehicle."

"But I don't think..."

Then the light changed, the car ahead went through, and I followed it.  Carefully switched into the bike lane on Woodroffe when I was through the intersection.  I was worried that the idiot was going to pass me on my right and then cut me off, but she stayed behind me through the intersection and stayed in the regular lane.

Good grief -- if she's expecting that cyclists won't ever try to bike across roads, she's going to hit somebody.  Of the two of us, I know which one shouldn't be on the road.  How can people be so ignorant?

Comments

[auriaephiala.livejournal.com]

Did you notice the SUV's license plate? If she was from Quebec, this explains much -- they have a mandatory side-path law there which forces cyclists to use bike lanes. And segregated bike lanes in Montreal that make it almost impossible to travel efficiently if you want to turn.

Most of the ignorant drivers I run into are from Quebec, where they don't expect to or want to see cyclists on the road.

Though I must admit I'd never heard of being forced to walk your bike across an intersection - at least not for anyone over 8 years old!

[bunsen-h.livejournal.com]

I didn't notice her license plate, and I've been wishing that I had. Most of the traffic on Norice is local, though current sewer and water main work in the neighborhood has diverted some other traffic onto the street -- and of course the idiot might have been visiting someone local. I'm going to be watching for the vehicle as I travel around my neighborhood for the next little while. If I see it, I may leave a copy of a Driver's Handbook under the windshield wiper or in the mailbox of the house. With a Post-It note attached just saying: "Learn, guys."

I was just completely boggled by the notion that I wasn't "allowed" to ride my bike across a street at an intersection.

[con-girl.livejournal.com]

Actually, for me, my worst driver problems have been in TO.

In Gatineau I have had almost zero problems even on 70K roads.