flydhest
07-20-2012, 09:29 AM
So, on the way to work today, I'm coming across R Street. I'm in the bike lane. At a previous intersection I had worried a bit because there was a cab that was accelerating hard and braking at lights (as cabs tend to do here in DC). I was ahead of him at the light at 17th. I was going along, notice ahead a car coming out of an alley. I think "I hope that guy stops soon, because he's going to pull into traffic." Sure enough, he stops, but not until he is 5 feet in the road. The cab overtakes me and then (***?) notices the car out in the street and swerves into the bike lane to avoid it. I shift over a couple feet (to the other edge of the bike lane) while shouting expletives/interjections.
Fast forward 5 minutes, I am heading south on 21st Street. Just before getting to L Street, the traffic backs up badly because there is a lot of construction. Only two lanes are useable, but they aren't being used because cars are back and forth across the lanes trying to make turns into parking garages, or get set up to turn left at the next block or what have you. Just a jumble of cars. I roll up the right side of the mess of cars and, in the middle of the block, the rear door of a cab that is most of the way into the right lane opens abruptly right into my bars. Somehow, I landed on my feet, but off the bike. The woman getting out of the cab says, "I didn't look because I didn't expect anyone to be there." Whatever. Cable likely shot, bar tape shot, bleeding thumbnail. You could say I should have been waiting in line behind the traffic, not rolling along the side, although DC laws do allow the cyclist to ride to the right of the lane where there is room. Of course, you're not allowed to get out of a cab that is not at a curb, so I reckon shared responsibility all the way around. I just rolled to work.
be careful.
Fast forward 5 minutes, I am heading south on 21st Street. Just before getting to L Street, the traffic backs up badly because there is a lot of construction. Only two lanes are useable, but they aren't being used because cars are back and forth across the lanes trying to make turns into parking garages, or get set up to turn left at the next block or what have you. Just a jumble of cars. I roll up the right side of the mess of cars and, in the middle of the block, the rear door of a cab that is most of the way into the right lane opens abruptly right into my bars. Somehow, I landed on my feet, but off the bike. The woman getting out of the cab says, "I didn't look because I didn't expect anyone to be there." Whatever. Cable likely shot, bar tape shot, bleeding thumbnail. You could say I should have been waiting in line behind the traffic, not rolling along the side, although DC laws do allow the cyclist to ride to the right of the lane where there is room. Of course, you're not allowed to get out of a cab that is not at a curb, so I reckon shared responsibility all the way around. I just rolled to work.
be careful.