Foot Traffic

As anyone who uses a bike as a form of transportation knows, biking about town can be somewhat hazardous. Although I have been remarkably lucky, for the most part, in my traffic encounters, today I had a near miss that got my heart going.

Normally, when biking, the thing to be worried about is cars. Which is why today's close call was so startling. I very nearly got into a wreck, not with another vehicle, but with a pedestrian.

It happened on my way to work, which is mostly just a swift coast down a long gradual hill. There were no cars around and I (on my glorious Fuji) was a little bit late, so riding a little bit fast.

Into this scene via the left side of the street, (no intersection or cross-walk to give her the right-of-way) a girl stepped. This girl glanced left and right, and then lowered her head and began to walk. She continued to walk, seemingly oblivious to me, right across the yellow line and into the lane down which I was barreling at a formidable pace.

I would like to say I reacted with a comment along the lines of, "Excuse me, miss, but if you and I both continue on our current trajectories, we are going to collide in a most painful fashion. As you will note, I have a great deal of built up momentum and slick tires. There is no possible way for me to stop. So, if you could, please, let me pass before you go further."

Sadly, in the heat of the moment my thoughts didn't form quite so eloquently. Instead, I said, "Woh," loudly, several times, while slamming on my brakes and beginning to skid on my rear tire.

Luckily, my exclamations had the desired effect. She stopped walking, and I barely, barely, barely missed her. I believe I then uttered the word, "Jesus," at a rather loud volume, and rode on.

She said nothing. She made no apology or excuse for nearly sending me into a scratched up heap of stinging skin and spinning wheels. Her expression didn't even change. This made me want to go back and run her over just to be mean.

But I didn't. I went to work.