[Case] But you have crossed the line with your slight on minivans. I love my minivan.
[Arlo] OK, amigo. Don't take this personally, I don't like painting with broad strokes, but this is one of my peeves. Nearly every single one of the "dangerous" situations I've encountered while on my cycle involves a minivan. Not an SUV. Not a sports car. Not delivery trucks. Not 18-wheelers. Not even sea-green queen-size family truckster station wagons. But minivans. I don't know what it is, but I've learned the most important lesson for riding is... give minivans a wide berth. Avoid them. Slow down and just stay away. They cut you off, they pull out in front of you, they tailgate you (which is insanely dangerous to do to a bike), they drive 85 in 25 zones and 25 in 65 zones. Beyond this, I can relate my top 10 worst moments (won't do it all here), and every one of them starts "so there was this minivan..." Random top ten encounter. Around 10pm driving home from library. Small country road, very twisty. Clear, but dark. Posted speed limit, 20. I find myself being tailed, to the point where I could almost TOUCH the front end of the car behind me. With my left hand, I turn and signal "back off a bit". This is immediately followed by the horn. And again and again. Now this moron is riding my tail AND blasting his horn. We hit a small straight-path and I slow down and pull over a bit to let him pass. Horn blasting he guns the engine and ONLY STRADDLING THE CENTER LINE, he flies past. I see a middle finger in the window. I was just flipped off. Then to top it off, he cuts in EARLY, nearly pushing me off into the dirt. Now I'm pissed. And ready for a fight. So I follow at a slight distance, and pull into the driveway and dismount. Fists clenched and ready to scream, as I see this 55-60 year old woman step out, with a shopping bag and then she opens side door and a small kid steps out. She glares at me. I just shrug and drive away. While this would be a sad but unique encounter in normal conditions, it has played out repeatedly over the years. Four times I was nearly run off the road. All four times... minivan. Twice I had someone DEAD STOP in the road ahead. Both... minivans. I come to realize that the overwhelming majority of minivan drivers are bitter, rage-filled people and seeing me (and others) on a motorcycle just brings out all the frustrations about their own lives that have built up over the years. I'm sure you are different, Case. :-) PS: By the way... 18-wheelers and sports cars are the NICEST company on the road. Never had a trouble with either.... moq_discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/
