Getting nearly-killed is such a routine part of my commute that I hardly notice it anymore. This time, though, was difficult to ignore.
Every day, I ride my bike home west on Spring Garden street. For anyone not familiar with the area, Spring Garden street, from 33rd-38th streets, is one-way for vehicular traffic, but is equipped for two-way bicycle traffic. It’s weird and not really intuitive, but it’s between my house and the library, so I use it daily.
From time to time, a driver will use the two-way bike lanes to turn. This is illegal, wrong, and dangerous. This Driver in particular was going really really fast and nearly hit a couple of pedestrians, stopping just a few meters shy of hitting me. So I stop my bike, take up as much space in the lanes as I can, and I stop the Driver from going forward. They pound on their steering wheel.
Pedestrians: Yo, this is a bike lane!
Me: Hey, this is a bike lane. You can’t turn here.
Driver, rolling down their window: What did you say?
Driver sounds like there’s a hint of reasonableness in their voice, so I lower my tone and slowly approach their window.
Me: This lane is for cyclists. It’s not safe to use it for turning. Someone could get hurt.
Driver: Fuck off, there wasn’t anybody here.
And Driver speeds off, still in the bike lane. Because I had approached them, the path was clear for them to continue being an asshole.
Me, Pedestrians: Fuck you!
There was another Driver directly behind them, doing the same thing. After seeing me stare down that first motherfucker, they carefully merged back into the lane they should never have left.
Me: Good driver.