Today's WTF

[pectopah]

I almost hit a 12/13 y.o. boy who rode his bike (while holding a skateboard) at high speed right in front of my car at Main and Battery in Burlington today. This intersection is busy and this was in the middle of lunch hour. He came from my left at an angle and passed into my line of sight just as the light turned green. I had barely started moving

Comments

[urbear]

I had a sort of similar experience last Friday... light turned green, and as I started to turn right a 20-something cyclist cut right in front of me and in front of another car that was turning from another lane. I slammed on the brakes and avoided hitting him, as did the other car, but just barely. This was probably deliberate provocation... this was a Critical Mass Friday, and I'll bet he was hoping that I'd hit him at low speed so that he could make an example of me. He had a nasty smirk on his face, which reinforced my suspicion.

[pectopah]

I see this kind of thing in Burlington all the time, but usually it's college students on skateboards. And if it wasn't me, it could have been someone backing out of the parking spaces he cut across before he got to me, or hitting the curb he jumped over after he passed me, or the oncoming traffic he rode across to get to the other side of Battery Street.

When I lived in Seattle, I hit someone who ran into a crosswalk against the light. There was no way to avoid him. I was able to stop, but he bounced off the hood. He got up, dusted himself off and ran away. Never said a word. I have never been so shocked in all my life. A woman who saw the whole thing finally asked me if I was ok--she was so dumbfounded by what she saw that she couldn't react.

[bear_left]

Yikes!

I'll say this for Boston: it has encouraged me to drive as if I"m playing a game of Frogger, & something unexpected will come at me when I least expect it.

[majortumbleweed]

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