Bad Drivers

The worst are people making a right turn onto the road you're on. They'll watch the oncoming traffic but never check for bikes or pedestrians coming the other way, even if they are crossing a sidewalk. (Since we run against traffic, this is serious.) I once literally rolled over the hood of a car that pulled out in front of me and then I landed on my feet on the other side and kept on running. Glad it wasn't an Hummer. Ever since then I've always watched the drivers to see if they glance over and even then almost always go around the back of the car. Slowing down for a few steps on a tempo run is worth avoiding the risk.

BUT ... a good friend of mine was biking home from work last summer when a driver speeding out of a parking lot looked right at him and hit the gas. They guy was in the hospital for a week and laid up for months. It's only now he's feeling like full strength and mobility are returning. The driver stopped and told the cops that he was just looking for cars and by the time his mind registered "bike" it was too late.

I agree. I have fun standing right by the hood and then pounding on the hood when I know they clearly haven't looked. My favorites still have to be the people on their phones making those turns as they are even more distrcted. Unreal.

I got hit last year. Not too hard, enough to take my legs out from under me and hit the hood pretty good. Guy was coming out of his neighborhood at 5AM and didn't stop at the stop sign or big white line that was there, instead he was going to come all the way up 10 feet past to the main road to stop and look. I know it was early and I wasn't hurt, mainly because I saw it coming, but a stop sign is a stop sign. People need to pay attention to what they're doing. A few other times I have the people turning right and looking left without turning right. Blind corner but there's still a stop sign they roll through and a cross walk. Startled the crap out more than a couple people that have almost tagged me at that corner because they didn't even look my way.

Shoe on the other foot though, I had to take a right turn last year and I was sitting at a stop light. Big truck to my left and there was no one on the cross walk but I couldn't see around the truck. We have a right on red, so I try to slowly nudge my truck forward just about a foot to see if I could peek and make sure no pedestrians were coming, and out comes this early 20'ish girl running and a good clip, head down, big shades on, ipod in each ear, almost tags my bumper (missed her by like 4 inches) and never even broke stride or looked up.

Hospital lots are the worst. Running past a hospital I've been nearly hit numerous times, and actually got hit once- you know people leaving hospitals always have other things on their minds and tend not to be paying much attention to anything and are generally pretty distracted. The time I got hit I was running with 4 or 5 other guys and I was in the back- we were strung out a little doing something of a tempo so I was a yard or two off the back of the others. We come past the exit from the parking lot at the hospital, and theres this guy who stopped at the stop sign and then just started going even though I was right in front of him, and 4 other guys were just in front of me. He realized about a second too late and slammed on his brakes. His bumper bruised the outside of my left knee, but my fist dented his hood and he got an earful as I limped on and finished my run.