driving rant

twice today i almost got smacked while driving. both times, it almost was caused by jackholes passing me on my right.

the first occasion was this morning, on my way home after teaching my morning class. i was headed toward freeway 41 on fresno street. i was about to get in the right hand turn lane so i could turn onto bullard, and get on the freeway when this truck pulls past me...on the right. huh? i'm in front of you. neither of us is quite to the turn lane yet, and i'm starting to move that direction. that means you wait your turn.

the second time was as i was getting on 180 after my afternoon coaching. the onramp is two lanes, then goes to one, then back to two, then to one as you actually get on the freeway. i was already in the final section where it has gone back to one lane, and was behind a car. the lane is wide at this point, although it is clear that it is only one lane. and as i'm driving behind this car, a s.u.v. comes flying up past me, forcing me to slow enough to avoid a wreck and allow jackhole number two in.

during both of these incidents, the other driver happened to have their window down, so i'm pretty sure that they heard me yelling "what the hell?" at the them. i also know that they both realized that they were in the wrong because both did the hands locked on the steering wheel, eyes locked forward, no way i'm looking over when i pulled up next to them after being cut off.

and it's not like there's any chance that they didn't see me. i'm 6 ft tall, and when i'm sitting on my bike i'm not that short. add in the fact that i'm about 250 lbs, sitting on a 600+lb cruiser bike it's even harder to believe that i wasn't seen. and it's not like my bike is quite, even if it isn't bone rattlingly loud. these jackholes saw me, figured they could cut by, and i'm lucky neither took me down.

sheesh.