Moving Targets (NYT)

"It seemed like a good idea at the time.

Save gas money, be environmentally correct, lose weight — just by biking to work. And so after two decades, Dan Cooley, 41, saddled up a silver 21-speed Raleigh in April to make the daily two-mile commute to his nursing job at a senior citizen center in Louisville, Ky. In four months, he lost 15 pounds. Way to go, Dan!

Friday morning, July 25, around 6:50 a.m., he was pedaling on a residential street, wearing his green hospital scrubs, when a Volkswagen roared out of a driveway in front of him. Swerving to avoid the car, Mr. Cooley cursed loudly and rode on.

The driver and his passenger cursed back. As Mr. Cooley pulled over to the sidewalk, the car turned onto a driveway, knocking him off his bike. In Mr. Cooley’s narrative, the passenger, swearing, jumped out and pummeled him. Then he got back into the car, which zoomed away. Mr. Cooley lay prostrate on the sidewalk, bloodied, with a concussion and a torn ligament."

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/10/fashion/10bikewars.html

Unless they just happened to be lurking there for their next victim.

I consider myself pretty lucky, with only one major intersection to cross on a 4½ mile commute and the rest quiet residential streets. The closest to poor attitude from motorists I generally experience is the occasional pool of broken glass in the bike lane. Now, the inattentive ones who tend to drift back and forth are the ones I worry about. I actually saw (while driving my normal route) a woman on a cell phone drift into the bike lane twice, almost striking the curb one time.