Long post - sorry.
Last Saturday, my wife had arranged to go shopping with a friend outside the city. She was going to travel in the other woman’s car to help with her (the other woman’s) twins.
At the last minute I decided to follow on my bike. The plan was to carry on past the shopping area, check out the roads near the coastline and meet them back at the shopping centre for lunch.
We made it out of the city and traveled 20 or so kms on the expressway. A kilometer or so before the appropriate exit, I moved out of the high-speed lane and into the far left lane preparing to take the exit.
I was in the left portion of the slow lane traveling with traffic and was moments from exiting when a Mercedes station wagon blitzed past me, in my lane. I routinely scan my mirrors and I never saw this idiot coming. He blasted past me and exited the expressway ahead of me. He went by so close (easily within a foot) that he would have normally forced me to swerve, except he went by so fast I had no time to react.
I stayed calm and decided I wouldn’t let that idiot get to me. I slowed and when I saw which lane he was taking at the tollgate, I ensured I took the lane farthest away from him. I paused a bit longer than normal at the tolls trying to get my money out of my jacket with gloves on.
I left the toll and now had to merge with another roadway. My wife and friend were now well ahead of me (they never witnessed the first encounter when I was exiting the expressway).
I matched the speed of the traffic and merged without incident. A short distance after this, I had to merge into another lane to avoid going back onto the expressway. I again matched my speed with the traffic and did a couple of shoulder checks. I noted a car behind me (in the lane I needed to merge into) and observed that I was slowly outpacing it. There was also sufficient distance for me to safely merge in front of it. I did one last shoulder check and started to change lanes. I had just crossed the line when the car screamed past me, this time passing within a couple of inches. I immediately swerved to the right to avoid the car. This was the closest call I’ve ever had. Sure enough, it was the same silver Mercedes wagon. I had been outpacing him moments before, he must have pinned the throttle to the floor to blow past me – all in order to carry on straight.
Our friend driving ahead of me saw the second near miss in her rearview mirror. I guess she thought for a second that I'd been knocked off the bike. Luckily my wife didn’t.
Traffic was stopping for a red light ahead, (including our friend’s car with my wife). The Mercedes was in the lane beside them and was at the head of the line. I had let the first near miss go, but after the second one within a minute, I was pretty mad. I lane-split and rode up to the car.
His windows were up but I pointed at him and cursed him out. I also indicated that I felt he was #1 in my book. He looked at me in utter confusion like he’d done nothing wrong. That actually made me madder – he was that bloody oblivious to his surroundings. After awhile he got mad and reciprocated his belief that I was #1 in his book. He even opened his door to get out but then reconsidered. This may have had something to do with our relative physical statures.
Anyway, the girls in the car wrote down his plate info and we’re thinking about lodging a complaint through the Japanese government.
WHAT I LEARNED:
1. I guess I shouldn't have confronted the idiot - however in Japan it's relatively safe to do so, compared to say, anywhere in the USA.
2. It doesn't matter how defensive you are when riding, we need eyes in the back of our heads.
Last Saturday, my wife had arranged to go shopping with a friend outside the city. She was going to travel in the other woman’s car to help with her (the other woman’s) twins.
At the last minute I decided to follow on my bike. The plan was to carry on past the shopping area, check out the roads near the coastline and meet them back at the shopping centre for lunch.
We made it out of the city and traveled 20 or so kms on the expressway. A kilometer or so before the appropriate exit, I moved out of the high-speed lane and into the far left lane preparing to take the exit.
I was in the left portion of the slow lane traveling with traffic and was moments from exiting when a Mercedes station wagon blitzed past me, in my lane. I routinely scan my mirrors and I never saw this idiot coming. He blasted past me and exited the expressway ahead of me. He went by so close (easily within a foot) that he would have normally forced me to swerve, except he went by so fast I had no time to react.
I stayed calm and decided I wouldn’t let that idiot get to me. I slowed and when I saw which lane he was taking at the tollgate, I ensured I took the lane farthest away from him. I paused a bit longer than normal at the tolls trying to get my money out of my jacket with gloves on.
I left the toll and now had to merge with another roadway. My wife and friend were now well ahead of me (they never witnessed the first encounter when I was exiting the expressway).
I matched the speed of the traffic and merged without incident. A short distance after this, I had to merge into another lane to avoid going back onto the expressway. I again matched my speed with the traffic and did a couple of shoulder checks. I noted a car behind me (in the lane I needed to merge into) and observed that I was slowly outpacing it. There was also sufficient distance for me to safely merge in front of it. I did one last shoulder check and started to change lanes. I had just crossed the line when the car screamed past me, this time passing within a couple of inches. I immediately swerved to the right to avoid the car. This was the closest call I’ve ever had. Sure enough, it was the same silver Mercedes wagon. I had been outpacing him moments before, he must have pinned the throttle to the floor to blow past me – all in order to carry on straight.
Our friend driving ahead of me saw the second near miss in her rearview mirror. I guess she thought for a second that I'd been knocked off the bike. Luckily my wife didn’t.
Traffic was stopping for a red light ahead, (including our friend’s car with my wife). The Mercedes was in the lane beside them and was at the head of the line. I had let the first near miss go, but after the second one within a minute, I was pretty mad. I lane-split and rode up to the car.
His windows were up but I pointed at him and cursed him out. I also indicated that I felt he was #1 in my book. He looked at me in utter confusion like he’d done nothing wrong. That actually made me madder – he was that bloody oblivious to his surroundings. After awhile he got mad and reciprocated his belief that I was #1 in his book. He even opened his door to get out but then reconsidered. This may have had something to do with our relative physical statures.
Anyway, the girls in the car wrote down his plate info and we’re thinking about lodging a complaint through the Japanese government.
WHAT I LEARNED:
1. I guess I shouldn't have confronted the idiot - however in Japan it's relatively safe to do so, compared to say, anywhere in the USA.
2. It doesn't matter how defensive you are when riding, we need eyes in the back of our heads.
