Moron Almost Kills Bicyclist
Idiocy Meter
Asshole Meter
I have a photo I took earlier last week that I’ll share in the next few days of a prick in a BMW who was impatiently tailgating a commuter cyclist on Sepulveda. What if the cyclist happened to hit a rock on the road and stumbled? Did this moron think 2 feet was enough room for him to brake and swerve out of the way? Cyclists really do get shafted in this town. Not only are there not nearly enough bike lanes, but many drivers feel they shouldn’t have to share the road with these bicyclists. Some companies give commuting bonuses to employees who cycle to and from work, but what good is a few dollars a day if the trade-off is getting mowed down by some impatient road hog?
This submission really took me by surprise and elevates the selfishness of some in this town to a whole new level:
“So it’s Saturday, almost 4 p.m., and our “residential” street in Hollywood (if you can call any street in Hollywood residential) was pretty quiet. My husband was just coming home, driving in the same direction as you see this car is facing. My husband had to make a left turn to enter our driveway, but he waited for a bicyclist going down our street from the other direction; he had his signal on. This moron goes around my husband’s car to his left (!). He almost hits the bicyclist, who runs into the curb and falls on the grass berm next to the sidewalk in his attempt to avoid the car. The moron motorist continues up the street without stopping or even slowing down and then parks at the end of the block and nonchalantly walks across the street to a house there. I don’t know if he lives at that house or if he is involved in the film shoot that is currently going on there for True Blood. My husband got out of his car and checked on the bicyclist, who was shaken up, but okay. This idiot motorist couldn’t wait the extra second it would take for my husband to make his left turn.
I saw another incident while I was running Thursday evening. It was about 6:15 p.m at Wilshire and Crescent in Beverly Hills. Across the street from me, a young mother and her little girl, maybe 4 years old, started walking across the street when the walk light came on. A guy in a big black SUV wanted to turn right. He came out into the intersection, braked, but then kept advancing on the mother and child until his bumper was nearly touching them. They did manage to get across safely. Naturally, the SUV driver had to beat me out and I had to stop running until he finished his right turn – but he saved a millisecond!”
First, kudos to your husband for being the Good Samaritan. Nearly mowing down a cyclist and pretending the incident didn’t happen is seriously not OK. If anyone reading this does work on the television show True Blood and recognizes this vehicle, I strongly urge you to remind the owner that vehicular manslaughter is likely one of the fastest ways to kill his career, since stressing the value of life in general would probably do jack given that he apparently doesn’t care about anyone else but himself.
Furthermore, intimidating pedestrians in a crosswalk–especially a mother and child–with any vehicle is…wait for it…seriously not OK. Honestly, who does that? Buddy, are you actually telling this mother and her daughter to hurry up? I see drivers all over L.A. cutting in front of pedestrians all the time, which according to the letter of the law is illegal, but nearly hitting them when they’re a couple of feet away crosses the ethics line. I did see two motorcycle cops pulling over a Mustang in Beverly Hills sometime last year for nearly running over two pedestrians in a crosswalk, who managed to jump back just in time. However, cops can only do so much; it’s up to us to reinforce safe, lawful, and courteous behavior with our friends and family. I recently put a new link in my blogroll: Speak Up or Else. Please take a couple of minutes to check out the site…good stuff.
Filed under: aggressive, observation