Here is the setup:

Early afternoon, weather not a factor.

Am riding south on a small, 4-lane arterial with no divider.  The posted speed limit on this road is 35 mph.  The shoulder of the road has a bicycle lane, so it is fairly wide.  There is a right turn lane up ahead that I’m planning on using when I get closer to the intersection I want to turn right on.

I’m riding my Savage (see signature).  I’m in the right-hand lane.  As I near the intersection I want to turn right on (which has a traffic signal....it is currently red), I activate the right-turn signals, wait two seconds, then begin drifting right in my lane so that I can enter the right turn lane that is just now beginning.  As is my habit (even in seemingly innocuous situations like this), I check my mirror and then do a “head check” as I prepare to enter the right turn lane.

I’m startled by a whoosh of air and a red blur!  A driver in a red Toyota pickup truck with a topper, Colorado truck license plate number 531-BSM, has entered the shoulder before the right-turn lane began and is travelling at least 20 mph faster than I am.  The driver is crowding into the right-hand edge of my lane.  I instinctively swerve to the left to avoid the truck and then enter the right turn lane behind the truck.

I’m not really mad, but I’m frightened a bit by the event.  We bikers run into situations like this all of the time where we must utilize our advanced skills and judgment to keep buffoonish cagers from becoming murderers.

The truck driver then rolls the red light (I’m not surprised by this) and turns right.  I follow the truck to the next stop light (a long one) and pull up to the left of the truck, in the adjacent lane.  I want to get a good look at incompetence.  The driver is a 50-ish looking guy on a cell phone who is intent on avoiding my stare.  I’m still in a good mood (just happy to be alive, I guess), and yell (in an informative manner, not a mad manner – his window was up), “You just scared the hell out of me!”

Not getting any acknowledgement, I roll forward a bit so I am now looking at him over my right shoulder and am definitely in his field-of-view.  I wave a few times to get his attention.  He is doing everything he can not to look at me.

I’m not a big guy, and he doesn’t look small, so I’m certain he is not afraid of me.  I sort of think that, in his eyes, I was just one of those dumb bikers with a death wish who did not exist in the same state of humankind as he did.  I was a nothing to him, scooter trash.

I start to get a little mad.  Not much (that is stupid and dangerous on a bike), but a little.  I follow him for a few miles.  I note that, although he does not appear to be speeding, he is an unskillful driver.  He is making a lot of mistakes.....not signaling his lane changes, swerving in his lane, following too close to traffic ahead of him, and rolling stop signs.  If he is not unskilled, then he is certainly incapable of multi-tasking, as evidenced by the high error rates observed in his driving.  By observing his driving, I am thinking he is a bit task saturated.

He is a hazard.

I give it up after getting his license plate number....Colorado truck license plate 531-BSM.

So, if you are in the Colorado Springs area and see a red Toyota pickup truck with a topper and those plates, give this guy a wide berth.

If you’re on a bike, he’s bigger than you are and seems not to respect the fact that you are a fellow American.

Yep, I know I could have done better to avoid this incident and will endeavor to do so in the future.  Even though I check the mirrors a lot when I’m riding, I did not check them enough this time and allowed someone to come a bit too close to murdering me.

Y’all be careful out there!

cell phones!... I hate'em!....

I'm having hairy scary's about twice a week now,... and 90% of the time, there's a cell phone involved....
...not to mention I got t-boned and totaled last year...

Good reminder Digger,.. glad you're o.k....

I am glad you are ok Digger.

A new law just went into effect (here in Oregon) that makes it illegal to talk or text while driving.  Unfortunately, if you are over 18 you can use a hands free device.  I am not sure how much of a difference that really makes.  I am picturing some boso trying to plug it in while doing 70.

Serowbot wrote on 01/05/10 at 21:51:23:

Hey that'll work! at least untill they figure out they can stick their head thru the sunroof.  

moma, why all dem people sittin' on top of the their cars and drivin' with their feet?

Excuse me sir?  I need to borrow your cell phone... I need to report a man driving recklessly while on his cell phone.

Way to go Digger, i'm glad you're ok.  I've gotten so pi$$ed off a couple of times I've thought about following a would be bike assassin.  It's easy to talk about taking the high road and ignoring some of the idiots that drive cars, but it's much harder to do.  It seems like every day there are more and more people on the road that are ready to explode, just looking for a reason.  The best we can do is identify them and stay clear of them.   Heads up ridin'   - stratman

Good job Digger ... you sir are a pro ... glad you're OK!

Here on "The Rock" yakking/texting on a cell phone is a ticketable and point accumulating offense, but I see idiots doing it every single day ... and I don't see the Fuzz doing too much about it either

Digger, looks like your head check might have saved your bacon. Good work. I picked up the habit while driving heavy vehicles of always checking the mirror on the side to which I intend to move before making the move. I do that as the final step before starting the move, even on roads where it isn't supposed to be possible for anyone to be there.

I sometimes listen to police scanner traffic, and every so often you will hear one of them asking another, or the dispatcher, to call them on the land-line (meaning their cell). Believe me, police use the cell phone while they are driving, too. Along with their other radios and often a laptop. Most of the proposed legislation I have seen exempts police from cell phone prohibition while driving. Ever notice police traffic refers to people as "subjects" instead of people? If asked, they will tell you "subject" is the proper English method of referring to the "subject" of the conversation. I think they really believe everyone else is "subject" to them.

Technically, the easiest way to keep cell phones from being used on the move would be to make it impossible to switch cells during a call. It wouldn't stop call initiation, but it would drop calls pretty shortly. Now, with new cell phones required to have GPS location in them so they can report your location to the 911 call center, it would be easier to program them so they wouldn't work on the move. Just imagine the joy of a bus load of passengers who couldn't tell their friends where they were. Probably more to the point, imagine the loss of revenue to the cell phone providers.