hillary dixon rust

1 st off I'd like to say this - 


Dear LA busses,
You are bullies. Just because you are big doesn't mean you can pull out without checking your mirrors. Especially not the 3rd time. That one I'm not going to let slide. Also, I'm not letting slide the part where you honk at me incessantly because there's too much traffic for you to pass and I'm not going fast enough for you even though we are clearly headed to a red light where you'll have to stop and then when the light turns green you gun it around me actually cutting off the driver in the next lane over and then you cut back over in front of me and slam on your brakes to make your stop at the bus stop that is just past the intersection where, I might add, there is no one waiting for you and sine I was trapped behind you I could clearly see that no one got off. Good for you busses. You guys are doing a great job.

So I'm officially riding to Mullholland Highway in Calabasas CA every day from our apartment near 3rd and La Brea for work for the foreseeable future. It's a pretty good ride I think as far as my "training" goes. 33 miles to get there and then between 32-42 on the way back. There are some nice climbs, good decsents etc. The time of day dictates the route I take home because Los Angeles traffic is dumb and certain roads end up being essentially a death trap during peak traffic hours (aka between 7am and 9pm) with lanes merging together in an apparently random manner which causes cars to change lanes often and rapidly and...I add on 5 or 10 miles to save my brain from feelings of certain doom.

One thing I've learned is that people in cars aren't "looking for bikes". Which sounds like a big load of horse BS (and it is) but it is apparently a viable excuse (sorry if this is a repeat story for some of you.). I was hit by a lady that blatantly ran a stop sign where the cross traffic didn't have one.  I was the cross traffic and got to do a sweet "Dukes of Hazard" over the hood of her car and she drove away . I was "lucky" and was basically unhurt. The bike was "ridable" but essentially worthless. The cops came, I had 6 witnesses and a the license plate number. The officer that was assigned to the case seemed bored and underwhelmed by the whole situation. He called me 2 weeks later after the daughter of the woman that hit me called in an insurance claim to her insurance company for the apparent hit and run damage on her sweet old mother's car and it through up a red flag from my police report. That's some good detective work if you ask me especially considering he only had the license plate number and make and model of her car. The officer went over her side of the story and told me "She just wasn't looking for bikes." and he seemed to find that to be a reasonable answer as to why after having hit someone with her car she drove away. Then the woman's insurance company called me to assess what type of settlement I should receive. The agent assigned to the case explained that "Motorists aren't looking for bikes.". I dare you to use this logic next time you get a speeding ticket. "Well, you see officer, I just wasn't looking for signs. And since I only see what I am looking for you really have no right to issue me a citation." The agent then offered me $350 dollars for a bike that was worth about $500 and explained to me that since I really wasn't hurt that it was "very generous" and "more than fair" and that I should consider myself lucky. And I do. 

I don't know about you, but I see things even when I'm not looking for them. I also am sometimes distracted by any number of things like multiple giant electronic flashing billboards (But driving with a cell phone to your ear is illegal?) and don't always see everything. Close calls happen to everyone for any number of reasons. Accidents happen more often than we would like. And completely avoidable accidents happen to the very best of us. Some people are fully capable of driving and talking on the phone at the same time. Some people can't even drive when there is only a radio to distract their attention. I think if we all make an effort to try to be a little more aware of what we are doing at all times instead of assuming that multitasking is a necessity we may all have the crap scared out of us less often and also think better of other people. Because as we all know, "Never admit fault". Yes that's right, it's ALWAYS someone else's fault. I'm going to go not look for trees now.


Chirp,
hillary