Over the last couple weeks, I've been reading about incidents involving a red Dodge pickup truck, the driver of which seems to have a thing about bicyclists being on "his" roads. Todd (coincidentally, a recent (ringer) student in the LBC New Rider Clinics) reported that the guy driving the truck came across the center line to play head-on chicken with him, resulting in Todd's departure from the pavement as a self-preservation move.
As the Oldham County Attorney is a cyclist (and a customer of ours at the store)--or perhaps regardless of her being a cyclist--the County is taking this seriously. There is now a blurb about it in the Oldham County Era newspaper.
Bubba truck driver has been warned, at least in public. It would be purely speculation to say that Bubba will read about his exploits and cheer about his notoriety. Perhaps his literate cousin will tell him he's doing a good job "scarin' them durned bikers off'n the roads!"
The ideal goal is to get Bubba (or whatever his name is) to treat bicycle riders as people, not as targets for stupid games of chicken. Of course, one can imagine Bubba saying to himself something along the lines of, "them durned bikers ain't got no reason to be on my roads, and any lawman who tells me otherwise is bullshittin' me."
Bubba is not alone. He has friends and other allies who would like me off the road, just as I have friends who want him off the road. I have a right to be there. He has the privilege to drive there--a privilege that may have to be revoked to get him to realize that aggravating cyclists is wrong. Even losing his license may not convince him--one can readily imagine Bubba blaming cyclists for his misfortune should he be jailed for harassment or terroristic threatening.
It'll be interesting to see what happens.
Boulder, Louisville, and press coverage of crashes
16 years ago
2 comments:
Since moving into town I've had fewer issues with drivers, but the hostile drivers come from all walks of life.
I had an encounter with a rude/irate/dangerous driver over the weekend in the downtown area. He was a well-dressed, middle-aged man driving a Honda sedan. Far from a 'Bubba'.
That said, I was passed on Eastern Parkway today by a huge pickup. I almost expected a problem, but the driver smiled and waved.
Yeah, I've been cussed by some snazzily-dressed dimwits, too. You'd think that if they knew how to earn that much money...no, wait! I've said for years that I get better treatment the further west I am within Jefferson County--the upper-crust twits who live near Lake Forest and beyond are some of the rudest drivers out there. They move "out in the county" to get away from the hustle and bustle of inner-city life (whatever that means), and find that it takes them FOREVER to get anywhere, so they get ticked off at anything or anyone they perceive as slowing them down as they hurtle along Aiken Road (speed limit: 35) at 55 or so.
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