Dillingham Haggblom

Commute—09/03/10

Way in, Kanakanak Road sidewalk at the Seventh Day Adventist Church drive.  A woman with black hair and at least my age (which is 47), drove her small white SUV (anyone notice a recurring theme of SUV drivers on this blog?) squarely onto the sidewalk from the church drive, stopped, and blocked the entire thing.  She was looking to her right (towards town) as she did this.  She did not see me, less than 50 feet away, and as my life flashed before me (I’m glad I tell my dog I love her every morning before I leave), I yelled, “Hey, hey!” so she would know I was there and about to hit her rear driver side door head on.  She turned her head to the left, saw me, her eyes widened, totally SURPRISED to see, horror of horrors, a bicyclist on what I’m sure she considers a “bikepath.”  I swerved to the right to avoid hitting her car, and I don’t know what way she pulled out onto Kanakanak Road.  I yelled, “Stupid” and kept on riding.  In retrospect, I should have stopped, opened her passenger door, read her the riot act, and gotten her license plate number.  My fight response this morning was limited to yelling, but next time, it won’t be.  I was still shaken up when I got to work, so acting on the “strike while the iron is hot” principle, I called the church, got answering machines, and left messages, which included liability facts.  I called 911 afterwards—there has to be documentation that motorists do not yield to non-motorized traffic at the sidewalks, which is illegal, and bicyclists are at high risk for getting killed because of it.  

Make up your minds, motorists—if you want bicyclists on sidewalks instead of road shoulders, then don’t try to kill us when we’re on them.  This is exactly why adult bicyclists who follow the rules of the road should ride on road shoulders, where they are 100% visible to all traffic.  Visibility means collision avoidance.