Stupid motorist tricks

Looking at prior posts, I realize that it's been almost two months since I posted here. I sometimes wonder whether I need to continue posting, as I never get any feedback anymore.

Anyway...

I ride Washburn Avenue on my way to work. I'm on Washburn for about half a mile, and there is a rail crossing at the 2/5s mark from where I turn onto it. A tenth or so of a mile before reaching it, a guy in a red SUV passed me with little room to spare so that he was going well over the 25mph speed limit to do so (which is sadly common on this street).

My lane position was what you'd expect from a CSI on a two-lane street: left of center, but not quite in the left tire track, so I had plenty of shy room in case he decided to cut his return to our lane short on me.

I crossed the railroad tracks several seconds after he did, thinking to myself that if he was trying to "send me a message**," the message I received (that he was a bigger jerk than he thought me to be) was probably not the one he might be sending.

There is a traffic light at Westport Road, and it's often red for a long time in the mornings. I sort-of hoped to pull up behind him at that light. There was a longer-than-typical queue at the light, and I could see from two tenths of a mile away that he would have gotten caught by the red, except that he passed the car in front of him *in the wrong lane fifty feet from the stop bar* to make his left turn on the now-red light. The motorist that had been in front of him waited until it was safe to make a right turn on red, and proceeded on his or her way, leaving me at the head of the queue.

Several more thoughts went through my head, among them that, had a conscientious LEO seen him pass me, and followed him to see what else he'd do, he would have gotten about nine points worth of tickets (twelve points and your license gets pulled). I also figured that his stupid pass before the rail crossing was less about me on my bike and more about him and his "I'm too important to obey traffic law" attitude.

**When a motorist "sends me a message," I have found that I often interpret the message as indicated above. I'm even happy to stipulate to how >I< interpret that message without the motorist having to prove such. As it happens, I get such yells or swerves about once every several thousand motorists I encounter, which is FAR less than one percent of the motorists I encounter. I get wave-backs from motorists who let me change lanes (and to whom I offer thank-you waves without fail) more than half the time. I get wave backs from motorists I invite to pass me (when it's safe for me to encourage such passes) more than half the time, and this is something that happens more than once per day.

The large emblem on his back window suggested that he was either a student or a supporter of a local parochial school, the tuition for which is high enough that students at that school are generally assumed to be sons (male only school) of jerks and/or jerks themselves. I was only a little saddened that he didn't get to defend his actions to a police officer, as it might have rattled some dried pea in his addled brain.