my blood is still boiling... my heart is still racing

this morning on my very short bicycle ride to work in downtown DC I had a nasty encounter with a car...

I was rolling down Columbia Road through Adams Morgan passing Atomic Billiards when a car behind me leaned on their horn and passed me obnoxiously fast and obnoxiously close
the driver was going so fast that there was no time for me react
the driver was going so fast that there was no time for her to stop at the Stop Sign 20 yards ahead
there would have been no time for her to react had a pedestrian stepped off the curb
luckily she was able to stop in the line of traffic that was 20 yards past the stop sign

with her stuck in the queue just ahead I knew i had a chance for a rebuttal

I had flipped her off when she passed me... she flipped me off when I approached her
there she was in her car stuck behind a line of cars at a red light... which waited for the green light only to move forward to get stuck and held behind the line of cars waiting at the next light
good thing she showed her Lexus goes 0-60 in seconds flat!

after we exchanged one finger salutes
the driver of this car mouth something about me having to be over to the side or our of her way
she was not bold enough to roll down her window so her message was not entirely clear... she was bold enough to sit in her metal cage waving her finger at me as she made a phone call
maybe calling the police
maybe calling her anger management support group
I hoped that she called the police... because that was something I had considered doing

this did not go well... it did not go as planned
it is hard for a person to turn the other cheek when that cheek nearly got run over seconds earlier
flipping her off the pointing the camera in her face may not be the way to turn her around to appropriate behavior
but... more than likely I am not going to get her to conform to civil behavior
for some reason this woman feels a greater entitlement to the the road than those around her

my heart rate still has not dropped
she is a menace to the roads
she is a danger to herself and others
her actions behind the wheel would qualify as reckless driving
if a police officer had seen this... he would have clearly thrown the book at me
as the car culture does not see things as the cyclist sees them
while in actuality she should have her license revoked
in fact.. three violations at one time equal enough points to take someone's license

SPEEDING! (maybe doubling the residential speed limit)
PASSING CROSSING THE DOUBLE LINE!
FAILURE TO STOP AT THE STOP SIGN!
FAILURE TO YIELD TO BICYCLE TRAFFIC/UNSAFE PASSING!
there has to be another law broken there
IMPROPER USE OF THE HORN?

again... Submissive Cycling enables Aggressive Driving

yes... I could have handled my side of this encounter better
but it is tough to be rational when you have just had your life threatened
it is tough to give others respect when they are showing no respect towards you

it is a crappy way to start the day... I wonder how she tells the story at the water cooler?
I bet she is going to the once bicycle commuter in her office and giving them a piece of her mind

tonight I will check out the images of her... and maybe post some more words
I may even run her tags
in the past I spoke with Police on this matter... I may even send her vehicle and tag information to the DC Police... let her get a warning... she needs to realize that her aggressive driving style could result in DEATH
the word accident would not apply
VEHICULAR MANSLAUGHTER

her reckless behavior is far from justifiable
she is a terrorist!
terrorizing the streets of our city
not just threatening my life... but a threat to any and all that encounter her
where she ran this stop sign is right in front of a toddler park/rec center
I would not have liked to see what would have happened if there had been a few strollers rolling into the cross walk as she blazed through that stop sign at 45-50 MPH

MAN! I AM FRAZZLED AND FREAKED OUT!