Wow, scary story! I roadbike 30-40 miles a week, and I'm not one of those belligerent cyclists that ride 8 feet out. I am doing strength training lately, so I spin on a very large gear on a mid 80's pro bike, which puts me at times close to 30 mph depending upon the grade.

People have little expectation of how fast you can / do go; I had a Ford Exploder slowly come up along side of me, travel at my speed for 1-2 minutes, then pass me at maybe +10 mph over what speed I was going. After he was 50-75' ahead of me, he then sharply turned right into my path and into a restaurant driveway, very nearly having me T-bone him. He then lingered for a second rather than pulling in, causing me to have to pull way out into the lane, and nearly got picked off by a passing car. It's amazing how alert you need to remain to keep alive.

Guys, while riding roadie please be careful. I used to trudge along near the edge of the road minding my own business, and deal w/ idiot drivers now and again while narrowly escaping. Then I was hit by a woman on the wrong side of the road making an illegal left hand turn. I fractured my hip, tore my spleen, and was in a coma for 8 days. The driver was never prosecuted for her traffic violations, although the police did initially cite her.

Now when I ride, I find myself slowing down for every major intersection and slowing when I can sense idiot drivers are near. I know it slows the pace of your ride down, but you really have to be extremely preventative in your maneuvers if you want to stay safe. Please be careful out there because you number can come up, mine did.

I was talking to my neighbor last night and he told me of a recent experience he had. He was riding (motorcycle) up PCH one day just enjoying the day. He caught the smell of weed comming from a riced out Civic in front of him but being his day off(LAPD) didn't give it too much thought. He was sitting next to this car at a light and the passenger tried to entice him into a race. The driver followed by revving the engine and doing a burn out when the light turned green. My neighbor didn't play into thier antics but when stopped at the next light the passenger started in with the trash talk calling him a pussy and other ethnic slurs. Drawing on the thick skin attitude that one rely's on in his business he just ignores them. He continues to observe these guys act like idiots for a while. Darting in and out of traffic, speeding, passing a joint between them and just being general idiots.
When they got into Malibu the civic decides to pull into a liquor store. The driver, with out signaling turns right from the center lane crossing in front of my neighbor causing him to come to a complete stop and nearly dropping the bike. My neighbor gives a short blast of his horn to signal his dissapproval and they respond by flipping him off. So he goes up the street just a bit, pulls out his cell phone and calls the local cop shop for some assistance.
These clowns exit the liquor store to find my friend leaning on the Honda with his gear (helmet and jacket) firmly planted on thier hood. He said the look on these clowns face was priceless when they first saw him and then noticed that the exits to the parking lot were being blocked by Malibu Sheriffs Dept. cars and 6 Sheriffs were walking up on them from behind. The front seat occupants were arrested for a variety of charges, one back seat passenger had a warrant (he would have walked if it weren't for the warrant) while the fourth occupant was allowed to walk away. The civic was impounded and the store was cited for selling beer to a minor.
Sometimes the good guys really do win!

A while ago a good friend and I were riding home on a rural highway north of Seattle. A line of cars/trucks were in front of us and after a couple of opportunities of passing that were not taken by any of the cars, at the next opportunity we zip by and clear off from the cars. We had dialed back to the speed limit and I notice a full size Ford pickup coming up fast behind us. This truck was the first in line in front of us and now he has passed the other cars and in making a beeline for us. He gets about 5 feet off my friends rear wheel and I am getting concerned. We slide over and are riding on the white line giving him the entire road to go by and he slides over and straddles the white line, still 5 feet behind our wheel. Now I am very concerned so I give a big twist and dial up to about 100 to get rid of this guy and he comes along with us. By now, I am full blown freaked. We are in the middle of red-neck land being followed by a truck with a maniac driver that could easily flatten us and bump us into the weeds never to be found. As a last attempt, we quickly jet off down a side road while this guy flips us off and honks as he goes by.

Even now, years later, I cannot fathom what I could of done to piss this guy off so bad to warrant that reaction from him. It may of been just the fact we were not of Harleys. Certainly the biggest "Deliverance" moment of my life.

After commuting for the last year + by motorcycle, I'm all for a complete ban on cell phone use while in the car. Period. You wanna talk, you find a parking lot. And the studies back this up. If you're going to allow people to talk and drive, then you might as well allow them to drink and drive, because the results are the same...

+1.

Stats just released say cell phone use is the same as .08

You ride a bike in SoCal, you've known this for quite a while.

Just saw the headline about a teenage girl, at a speed of over 100MPH sideswiping an Exploder in San Mateo and killing the three occupants, two of whom were members of the Tongan Royal family.

She was talking on her cell phone at the time. She was unhurt in the ensuing crash.

Absolutely. I no longer commute on my bikes because I simply got tired of the risks involved, increasing as they have with the advent of the cell phone. I have already had a truck bounce me off a guardrail at some 70-odd mph, and that was long before this latest distraction.

My last close encounter had me kicking the driver's door on an Escalade piloted by a young lady on a cell phone, as she was merging into me on a 35 mph four-lane. She flipped me off, gunned it, then cut me off. I followed her home. Her husband was waiting in the driveway, holding the collar on their large Doberman (she had apparently called him). I had an easy 100 pounds on him. A couple of small kids were watching from inside the garage. He looked really nervous as I put the kickstand down, took my helmet off, got off the bike and approached the two of them. Neither one said a word.

So I kneel down in front of the dog, let him sniff my hand, and his tail starts wagging as I scratch him behind his ears. I looked at the young lady and said, as politely as I could, "you know, I have a dog, too. I have a wonderful wife. I have two kids, just like you. Please be more careful; you almost ran me over back there." She actually appologized, and genuinely looked like she meant it. I appologized in return for kicking her door, then got on the bike and left.

Why'd they bother calling the cops? Should've killed her and dumped the body.

I bicycle and motorcycle. Two weeks ago, two guys about 100m in front of me on a group ride going downhill at 35 mph were left turned by a motorist who wasn't reckless, just blinded by the setting sun and maybe inattentive.

Both bought a chopper ride. The younger of the two left 4 in of his scalp in the junction between the roof and windshield, and is still on a vent. At the scene he had several obvious skull fractures and a crushed orbit. The "lucky" guy was 55, and only had a minor head trauma, both upper and lower jaw fractures, 8 broken ribs (morphine city), fx clavicle, wrist and 4 processes along his vertebrae.

The image of these guys lying there flashes me at random times. Nonetheless, I had a great motorcycle ride today, and maybe 150mi on the bike this week. It was so damn random it was like a lightning strike.

Ride like they're trying to kill 'ya, cause they are. And yes, ban cell phones if not bluetooth/voice rec dial.

I agree with Todd. The cell phone is the single most dangerous item a driver can have, even worse than a blood-alcohol level that exceeds the legal limit. Studies have proven it.

It is quite amazing how fast one can go on a bicycle, particularly with today's cassettes approaching 10 speeds. In some cases, 50 mph is not out of the question.

The issue is, few drivers realize this and think we hamper traffic, but are truly amazed when they're continually caught up with at signals and stop signs - that is if they notice a cyclist at all.

Cops? Jeez! They seem to care less about cyclist unless it's a motorcycle cop - they seem to feel the cyclist's pain when in traffic.

Once, while cycling in Venice, I was pushed off my bike by a pair of hands that extended out a car window. I was doing about 30 mph, and hit directly into a lamp post. Adrenaline, however, was my friend, and I chased the *******s down only to find they were two pitbull-mean looking black dudes. So I instead (as would probably anyone), I got their license number and car make, and then found two cops. The cops gave me a simple "So what!" look. I had the lacerations, bruises and busted-up bike to prove the case, but they weren't budging from the 7-11 parking lot where I found them.

It was an unfreakin' believable scenario, and in a way, has ever since then tainted my view of the LAPD.

I think some people's problems with bikes - is the occaisional anti car protests staged by people, whotry and clog up all the roads with cyclists at once. I love to ride mine - but I try to keep it to places I'm not messing with traffic. Often there are alternative routes to get somewhere, that the car's don't take due to lower speed limits, yet are not any longer to get somewhere.