Share the Streets

This evening, I was going down to meet Husband at the coffee shop to celebrate TGIF.  I rode my bicycle because the dorm move-in traffic is all confusing.
The streets that are not blocked off are temporarily going One Way, parking times are short, and so a bicycle is easier to navigate campus.

On University Street are three drains between the street and the curb which are not level with the asphalt. 
Bicycle riders have to be very careful, a front tire suddenly going down four inches off the pavement wouldn’t be good.
So, I’m coasting along, and I am familiar with the physical hazard. 
However, town is receiving the influx of college students, who are braving the great unknown.
One of these young ladies was driving too fast for conditions, the most obvious being there are stop signs every half block and pedestrians and bicycles and carts and clipboards and Red Shirts blowing whistles.
She must have decided she wanted out of the thick of it and turned off into a side street.
However, in her cluelessness, she failed to notice one broad’s bottom on a bicycle.  The woman wearing a bright blue t-shirt who was just passing a recessed storm drain.  I have excellent peripheral vision, thanks be to heaven, so I saw her swerve the front wheels just a hint and then she turned Right in front of me.

I grabbed both brake handles and hopped off the seat, coming to a complete stop about twelve inches from the passenger door.  She had been looking at her friend in the passenger seat, did not even have the turn signal going.  The window was down, so I blasted her with some verbal assaults, as she had the grace to look a bit scared at how close we had come to a collision.  The passenger turned her head and her eyes widened in surprise.  Neither one had any idea at all about crowded situations.
She went on her way straight down the side street, and a bit more slowly.

As I got myself going again on the bicycle, I realized that the back tire had scooted into the drain after my feet had touched the ground.  I was still shaking and furious when I got to the coffee shop.

With the price of fuel being what it is, I hope more folks use bicycles and that drivers of motor vehicles pay attention to road safety.
~~love and Huggs, Diane

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