Accident Prone

Yesterday, a minivan. One of those brand new, huge elephants of transportation. Grant Road, in front of the hospital. Pulls up beside me, then accelerates, finally swoops right in front of me into the driveway to the facility. I slammed on my breaks and barely stopped in time to curse the driver, who couldn’t possibly have missed me.

Whenever I see a police car stopping a biker, as I frequently do on Foothill over the weekends, that’s my only thought. The danger we face is not our behavior, it’s other people’s inattention. Of course, bike lanes that suddenly fizzle out, or even worse are made right turn lanes at intersections, do not help.

What do you think: should I carry a video camera and sent the police all the ‘crimes’ I witness every day? Should I send the cities I commute through a letter kindly requesting they do something about traffic lights and intersections that do not detect bikes and won’t switch to green until the next car arrives?