I’m going to try to contain my ranting (just imagine extra expletives as you read and you should get the gist) about the cyclists and skaters I have had the unfortunate experiences of this week.
To the skater who decided I was in his right of way as I drove south on Main St, intending to turn onto High St: No, actually, skating down the middle of the lane is actually not your prerogative. You don’t get to give me attitude, you need to get your helmetless self out of the way of my car.
To the bicyclist who decided that I was in hisway as I drove up Elliot St, intending to turn onto Church St: No, actually, skating s-curves in my lane as the setting sun blinded me was not a particularly good idea. You’re not funny, you’re not clever, you’re an idiot who’s really lucky I saw you at the last moment and took my foot off the gas. Or perhaps you noticed the fact that I wasn’t slowing down and being in awe of your skating skillz. But hey, whatevs, I’m sure they will stand you in good stead the next time you decide to do something stupid in traffic.
To the skater who skated down Green St: stop doing that.
To the cyclists (of which there are many) who feel that cars should look out for them, but don’t follow the rules of the road themselves: STOP KIDDING YOURSELVES. Especially you, cyclist, whom I nearly ran over at Malfunction Junction this summer, because you chose to ignore the red light (while cycling illegally on the sidewalk). I was turning left onto Main St, thus paying attention to the cars oncoming from Hinsdale, not to speeding cyclists coming from the right. Thankfully I saw you at the last moment and slammed on my brakes. You didn’t even notice. Helmets won’t matter much when the rest of you is broken, so you might want to pay more attention.
To the drivers turning out of the Co-op parking lot: STOP RUNNING THE WALK SIGN. For the love of common sense, when people are walking across the (*&$% street, you WAIT, and turn when the light goes green. I don’t know why so many of you seem unable to comprehend/remember this, but I’ve seen it too many times to hold silent any more. Seriously, are those extra seconds you don’t have to wait that important? [see also: talking on the bloody phone while driving]
Finally, to the pedestrians: throwing shade at drivers who have the green light makes the drives want to run you over.
/steps off soapbox
#endrant
And now, I shall leave you to the rest of your Sunday.
Giving way
There is clear frustration and concern in this driver-centric diatribe. All of us who have cars have been there.
Given that the infrastructure is so poor for non-motorized vehicles here, it might be useful to look at both ends of the spectrum of options.
1. Institute a stomp your ground law- so that all skaters, cyclists and pedestrians, posing a threat to the security of drivers, can be run down at will.
2. Realize that town roads are not interstate highways, and perhaps, consider yielding to the more vulnerable, and easing off the gas in all circumstances.
–
These are the extremes, but consider that the happy medium does not exist in all cases. Until the town gets serious about providing options for non-motorized pedestrians, I’d hope people would err on the side of tolerance.
The skaters were skating
The skaters were skating towards me. As in, the wrong side of the street. Neither one was wearing helmet – hey, they’re prerogative, but should a driver hit and injure them, they’re not the ones going to jail.
Town roads are definitely not interstate highways – but here’s the thing, if you’re using a road in non-pedestrian fashion, that means you’re traffic too, and thus must obey the rules of the road. Skaters and cyclists aren’t special, they’re traffic.
Whether driver, pedestrian, skater or biker
There’s a frustration in trying to travel in or around this town (the one and only!) and I have been in all modes except skating. As a bicyclist (when first arriving here) I quickly gave it up out of concern for my personal safety. As a pedestrian, which I began to avoid around 5 years ago out of concern for personal safety. As a driver, I try my best to get through and then out of town using the most courteous of manner, and planning my exit in a way that would use as little of Brattleboro roadway as possible. I cannot imagine what it would feel like to have to skate into and around town, but can assure everyone, I just don’t have that level of risk-taking within me.
I have learned, since moving here, that horns are not emergency mechanisms.. they are meant to show the emotion of the user.. impatience, anger and sometimes pleasure.. but only once in the past 13 years has anyone used their horn to wake me up while daydreaming at a traffic light. The remaining times, the use of the horn came with the use of a certain body part. I will never understand.
My most recent experience was making a mistake of going the wrong way in a one-way enter/exit situation. My bad luck was having someone meet me in the middle, where I was able to pull over enough to let them pass, only to have the driver (a woman about my age) roll down her window once next to me, and scream obscene words while making obscene gestures. Only a week earlier I was in a rather large parking lot, but had stopped on the far-right side of the travel portion to take a picture of the moon. No cars around me, parked or otherwise, for the few seconds it took me to snap the camera. As I went to climb back in the car, an car who had just entered the parking lot made a sharp left turn, spun around like a madwoman, and came right up to the rear of my bumper and laid on the horn. She too, yelled obscenities, screaming at me that I was blocking her exit (but, she had just entered and went out of her way to find me.. but she had plenty of room to buzz past me… but… but she spared nothing in yelling at me while laying non-stop on her horn, until I asked her to please call the police before she sped off)
There is something about a car that brings out the absolute worst in people in terms of intolerance, impatience, and anger!! At least, I hope that’s as bad as it gets!
The one behavior I cherish most from these dopes is the way they will actually speed up to see how close they can come to a collision if they aren’t parting the seas while on their way to buy another coffee at Dunkin Donuts. Result there is I will not budge until the road is clear for several hundred yards… while the impatient angry driver that pulls up behind me starts laying on the horn!!!!
Traffic Safety Committee
You might want to check in with the Traffic Safety Committee and their Ad Hoc Bicycle & Pedestrian Committee. Earlier this year they were going to work with Local Motion on similar issues. There was talk, if I recall correctly, of plans to educate the public about issues around pedestrian and bike safety.
Meets the 4th Tuesday of the month.