Cranky Driver

So as I was riding to work the other day, I had an experience with an
impatient driver. I would say about 99% of drivers are tolerant of my
breakneck speed of about 17mph in the road, but every now and then you get
someone who just can't slow down and go around you when it's safe.

I was on a 40mph road and, for a while, traffic was stacked up behind me
until most of them were able to pass me when traffic from the other
direction cleared up. I was acting completely within my rights as a driver
on the road and as safe as possible making myself visible, but of course
someone was displeased traveling below the limit, which I can understand but
hey, that's life. Anyway, a woman in an SUV passed me and shouted something
to the effect of, "Get out of the road a**hole!" and mashed the gas angrily.
What happened next is funny to me because I'm sure she had this picture in
her mind of shouting at me and then speeding off just leaving a cloud of CO2
for me to choke on and feeling pleased with herself the rest of the
day...but that didn't happen. She shouted at me and gunned it (presumably
to show her anger and smoke me out) and immediately hit a red-light. HA! I
cruised up, right next to her car and nodded for her to roll down the
window. I have to imagine this wasn't in her plan and she got flustered at
the confrontation and sputtered out that the guy in front of her almost hit
me as if she were trying to help out by yelling at me. I laughed at her and
mentioned that he wasn't close and I appreciated her concern. Then I rode
off past the other cars waiting at the red-light which I guess was the best
equivalent of speeding off that I could think of. I felt pretty good about
the way things went down. I didn't flick her off or yell or anything, but I
think I made my point. To sweeten the whole experience, I noticed that
about one minute after that confrontation she found herself stuck behind me
again, HA!

Anyway, it was a minor altercation, but I got a kick out of it.


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