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Tue, Nov. 18th, 2008, 09:08 am
Near Misses

So I've had two near accidents/incidents with my car within the past 24 hours:

a. Yesterday, at lunch, I was driving near the campus to go get a haircut.  I stopped at a stop sign, then started going and almost ran right into some chick on a bicycle who also had a stop sign and just didn't bother to stop.  She hadn't even been at the intersection when I started through, and then looked at me and smirked after the near miss.

b. I almost ran over a squirrel on the way to work, as it ran into the street, and then instead running back to the near curb, decided to take the longer route as I slowed down.  Couldn't stop, but there was no indication of flat squirrel on the road or on my tires, so I guess it made it.

Guess which one of these I would have actually been more upset about? (Hint: it's not which one where there would have been more legal/monetary ramifications)

Tue, Nov. 18th, 2008 03:32 pm (UTC)
[info]mmaresca

It kind of galls me that in a car vs. bike accident, even when the bike rider flagrantly ignores signs and rules of the road, the car driver is going to be held more liable for the accident. Especially since so many bike riders do just plain ignore the rules of the road.

Tue, Nov. 18th, 2008 04:06 pm (UTC)
[info]word_geek

I'm not 100% sure of the legalities of that. When I was a stupid high-school student, I did a dumb thing on my bike that resulted in my getting hit by a car. Nobody got hurt, but my bike was a total loss (frame got warped) and I left a dent in the car's hood. It was totally my fault, so the driver wasn't liable. My folks' insurance covered it, as far as I know.

Tue, Nov. 18th, 2008 03:38 pm (UTC)
[info]omglawdork

Honey, when we ride our bikes, we will respect the rules of the road. Stupid college student bike rider jerks.

PS - LJ's gonna be down from 10 am to whenever they get done moving the servers today, JFYI. :)

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