Almost Hit a guy on a bicycle today

[Mr Nice Guy]

Had a bit of a scare in my Z on the way to work this afternoon. I was making a right hand turn from the main road on to a smaller road that has no light for right turns becuase there is no road that directly crosses it. It does, however, have a sidewalk that runs along the main road. Just so you know I was not speeding or anything like that. Anywhooo... as soon as I start into the turn this guy on a bike comes off the sidewalk and across the road right where I'm turning. Didn't even look or anything. I slam on the brakes (thank you ABS) and he finally sees me and stops directly in front of me. I miss hitting him by maybe two or three feet . What a moron! On the drive to and from work I have to drive through a pretty ghetto area and I've noticed more and more of this. Especially on the way home which is at 12:30-1:00AM or so. I've had people running across the street right in front of me so that I have to slam on the brakes(no other cars on the road). People on Bicycles riding all over the road, going the wrong direction. I actually had to pretty much stop because of two guys riding the wrong direction, one in the middle of each lane, the other night. When I blew the horn they started yelling all kinds of unintelligible stuff. Almost always they are wearing dark clothes and are almost invisable in the poorly lit area. Jeez, what the hell is wrong with these ghetto people. Aren't they worried about getting hit?! I don't know if they are stupid or just don't care but it's really frustrating. The guy today is just lucky I had my Z and wasn't driving my old '90 Fullsize Bronco with the 38" Swampers. He'd have been dead for sure. Oh well just thought I'd rant a bit.............Later

[zwrangler]

lol, i remember this one time drivin in my old slightly modded ford falcon (v6) these teenagers on the side of the road were drinkin and doing all sorts of stupid shit. They were daring each other to jump in front of the oncoming cars for as long as they could...................... Now, at the time i had no exhaust on my car so it was bloody loud and scary when you'd rev that engine..........As i'm approaching these teenagers I could tell what they were going to do so as soon as one of those little brats jumped in my lane ahead in front of me I put the engine in neutral as i got closer and revved it really high up.......................Let me tell you she musta jumped a meter or two in the air when she heard the engine revving thinking that i was flooring it to hit her it was absolutely priceless

Living in the UAE right now and guys this bike story is nothing. Here the women will start crossing on a main road with speeding cars without even looking. They just walk onto the road without looking sideways and the cars slam on the brakes and the emergency indicators so that everyone knows to stop for these idiots. Serously, no bull, they just walk onto the street without looking here and you can't shout at them because they're women, all yuo can do is slam the brakes and pray the guy behind you doesn't come and slam into you.

[TODD 2000 V6 CAMARO]

That actually sounds like here. I am from Dallas...which means when you cross the street, even at a crosswalk, you wait for a clearing in traffic, then haul a#$. I guess the law here is, if a person at a crosswalk steps off the curb then the oncoming traffic has to stop for them.....but people take that way too litterally and will step off the curb and start walking when the traffic is only a like half a block away and will have to slam on the brakes.
Even worse, they do that in the middle of a block where there is no crosswalk, then walk lazily across the street! Geeez, if people did that in Dallas, there would be alot of road pizzas smeared along the streets. What pisses me off is that people in one lane will stop for these people when they are on the curb, so the person will start to cross the street, but when the person who stops is in an SUV or truck, anyone driving up in the other lane can't see that there is someone walking across, and may or may not stop too. I swear, somebody is going to get killed because someone tried to be nice and stopped to let a pedestrian cross the street where there isn't a crosswalk.

[Mr Nice Guy]

Jeez that sounds like a good argument for Jay walking tickets. People just don't realize what a few thousand pounds of moving steel will do to a person. Here in central FL they have those crosswalk lights so you can cross safely. Problem is in these ghetto type areas people just walk/ride bikes all over like there's no street or lights or cars anywhere. With the way people drive nowadays I think these people have a death wish or at least very little survival instinct. I am very careful when driving through this area since I don't want to be the one to run over one of these mental midgets. Anyone know what happens if you hit someone on a bike or a pedestrian and it's their fault? What if the guy dies? Do they try and charge you with vehicular manslaughter or something? What if they are Ok but damage your car? Do they have to pay for your repairs? I imagine a bike could do a good bit of damage. Some old homeless guy on a bike ran into my friends Saturn and rolled onto the hood denting it. Not much he could do. That would seriously tick me off since I have a $500 deductable on my insurance. Oh well guess I just have to watch out for idoits on foot and on bikes as well as in vehicles .....Later

[xxRillixx]

Haha, try living in Las Vegas... if your anywhere near the strip on the weekend, plan on an extra 20 min to get to your destination!! People Jaywalk all day long... What i hate worse is they just take their sweet time, slowly walkin / playin in the middle of the street.