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The Cut Off |
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Written by Zach Magoon
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Thursday, 01 June 2006 |
The cut off. This has to happen at least a couple times a week if not more. Let me describe it--the cyclist is riding straight along with no intention of turning when an auto, driving parallel, decides that they need to beat the cyclist to the next right-hand turn. The driver then passes the cyclist and realizes (or not) that in slowing down for the turn, they will hit the cyclist so they stop, or half stop, in the intersection, blocking both the traffic behind them and the cyclist from getting by. This is sometimes followed by a horn and/or screeching brakes and in my case some form of explicative--my favorite at the moment is PG rated--"Nice work CHUBS."
I just don't get it. Usually this happens with no more than 50 feet left to go until the turn. Would one do this to another auto?? No, of course not, they might get into an accident. But for some reason, folks don't seem to care if a cyclist bounces off their rig. I did on one day take it to the extreme because it was the 3rd time ON ONE DAY that it happened so I decided to slap the side of a monstrous Tahoe (yes she was that close). Well this made things worse because no only did she slam on her brakes, but laid the horn as well. Somehow I was the ahole in this scenario.
Right before a would-be cutoff, I like to stare down the driver over my left shoulder for two reasons--to make sure that they still remembered passing me .64 seconds ago and to give them the "are you freakin serious?" look. It's a look I've perfected and here are some pointers to creating your own:
Head tilt--gatta to have this. It's essential to making the driver understand that you have no comprehension of how idiotic they are.
The head shake--when used in conjunction with the tilt, oh man, it really lets them know of your disapproval.
Mouth open--small detail but a good one--you might want to try to smile a bit, it helps convey that sort of laughing "you are a piece of work" sentiment.
And my last addition, totally optional, is to congratulate them with an overly sarcastic thumbs-up. I believe in ASL it means "llllllick-me!"
So far, these gestures have, at the very least, calmed me down after nearly getting hit. Whether or not they work on the drivers is another story. I would say the most important part is to be aware that this phenomena happens quite frequently, so it's best to react quickly if you need to get out of the way. My best advice if you think the car is going to hit you is to make that same right as the auto instead of continuing straight. This will at least get you out of harms way of being broadsided.
Be safe!!
Zm |
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