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Re: [ST] RE: [ST] Re: Laugh or Cry / lane splitting



I commute into New york City and I split lanes on a regular basis. I 
have had to deal with a$$holes while splitting lanes. A large portion of 
the people that swerve to block me have a #3 sticker in the back window. 
A large portion of those vehicles are black pick-up trucks. But it seems 
that for every jerk that I encounter there are many more that will move 
out of the way.

However, you never know who you will encounter when lane splitting. In 
July 2001 I had one of those odd meetings in NYC. The following is a 
post I made on another list:

Yesterday at about 5pm on my way home from work I had a very interesting
encounter.
     I was traveling west on Worth St. when I came upon a long line of
traffic waiting for the red light at Church St. I had plenty of room to
ride down the right side of traffic, so I decided to take advantage of
the situation. (Note: I will not do this if the light is green or the
traffic is moving. I've learned my lesson.) I proceed at about 5 mph.
Suddenly this Buick Riviera with NY plates cuts to the right, into my
path. I squeeze the breaks. No harm done, no problem. I look at the guy.
He's a wiry man wearing a tie, in, I would estimate, his late 50's. We
establish eye contact. He's not moving. The line of cars is still not
moving. I begin to move and he moves in closer. I stop again. We
establish eye contact for the second time. But now I'm pissed.
     "TRY USING YOUR SIGNALS, YOU F^CKING MORON." Suddenly, the contagion
of tempers kicks in. He pulls slightly forward, and while still blocking
my path, throws it into park and jumps out.
     "What did you say?" he asks as he's walking toward me.
     "I said 'Try using your signals.'"
     "Look," You know when someone starts a sentence with "look" as an
interjection the lecture is about to begin. And he was doing it so fine
in a nasally voice! "Look, I was getting out the the way of the busses."
Ironically, he was the only vehicle that had to make a path for the
eastbound busses and he did it all while looking at me! "And you're not
supposed to be passing when there's only one lane." By now the traffic
is moving and I am completely dumbfounded by Father Freakin' Flannagin's
little sermon.
     "And you're blocking traffic. Come on, let's make some progress
here" was the best line I could come up with. But apparently that was
enough. Silently he turned and headed back to his car. That was when I
made a startling observation. Neatly tucked into his belt was an
automatic. "Oh great," I say to myself. "I get some dick on a bad donut
day."
     By now the light is back to red and he is the second vehicle in
line. Again I have plenty of room to get on his right side but I fear
that history will repeat itself and I like my fairings just the way they
are. Thank you very much. That was when I see him doing something evil.
He's dialing on his cell phone! At that point I figure, let me just get
some distance here. I take the right on to Church and the next left,
then right on Hudson. Just before I get to the Holland Tunnel entrance
at Canal I see him in the lanes to continue up Hudson. Once again we
establish eye contact. With the visor up I mouth, "You're a dickhead."
     The light goes green but I'm unable to get through the light before
being held up by the traffic cops. I watch the Riviera start to signal
right. I figure he's going to give me another little sermon. Nope. He
pulls into the side entrance to the tunnel that LEOs are allowed to use,
thus confirming my suspicion. Once I got through the light I fully
expected to see him at the guard shack. Nope!
     But what really surprised me was that I didn't even see him sitting
at the Dunkin' Donuts on the NJ side of the tunnel!

- -- 
Steve "Devil Dawg" Lawler

2001 Sprint ST "Blue Devil"

"Only the mediocre are always at their best."
                        -- Jean Giraudoux


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