Virginia is for Lovers

While it is true that Virginia is for lovers, Maryland however is for crappy drivers. It might as well be said that DC is for everyone else. There of course is no shortage of bad drivers in DC too. Given it's proximity to Maryland and the fact that many of the latter's residents drive into Washington to work one must expect that like a rat carrying the plague these drivers would spread their disease all over the city.

Worse than people from north and east of the city, DC's single biggest problem on the roads is the presence of unregulated, untrained and irresponsible cab drivers. Today, in a two hour ride only 30 minutes of which was done within the reach of this breed of cockroaches, I was nearly killed 4 times. That is a little too frequently for my tastes. I prefer to keep near death experiences to a maximum of once a week.

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So, I knew this would happen. I took a break from blogging for the evening and in my 10 minute bike ride commute home I found myself getting hit by a car. I guess my luck had just run out. Thankfully it wasn't bad and I didn't get hurt that badly. However, to add insult to injury, literally, the police who responded gave me not one but two tickets. One for failure to yield the right of way and the other for failure to use a turn signal.

This is how the accident happen. JRA (just riding around) I cross an intersection while I have a green light. I'm riding in the right hand lane and as I get to the far side of the intersection a pedestrian steps into traffic. In an effort to avoid that person, I move slightly over to the left while still remaining in my lane. In a simple 1 foot move to the left I come into contact with the leading edges of a car passing me in my lane. This sends me right to the ground.

So this is my fault how? Should I have signaled to indicate that I was moving over in my own lane? When I asked that was clearly the officer's theory. So from now on should I signal with each pedal stroke because inherently I'm likely to get a little lateral movement each time. Or is there a de minimis movement that I don't need to signal for? Kind of like the 12 inches I moved over before getting hit. Should I always give up the right of way to cars that are driving behind me? I mean that makes sense right? By doing that I imagine that I should just stand on the side of the road in my kit and watch cars go by for a couple hours and call it a good ride.

The officer was nice, given that she didn't know the "bike statutes" and had to phone a friend. I didn't know that we were living in the real-life version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire. I guess the next time I have a question about an objection at trial that I should request a recess or poll the audience. I think I might be challenging this ticket.