I almost ran over a young man riding a bicycle this morning.
I was driving south on Peachtree in the far-right-hand lane, making a right on red (which Brother Jimmy Carter made legal unless posted in all 50 states in 1977) with my blinker on.
Cycle Joe was riding his bicycle on my left, between my lane and the other south-bound lane of traffic. Where I didn’t expect him to be. And he was making a right in front of my car.
I slammed on my brakes in just the very nick of time and he snarled at me.
I rolled down the window and said these exact words, “Oh my God. I am so sorry. Are you okay?”
What he did was sneer at me and then position himself in such a way that he was both on and off the sidewalk, when he could have been crossing, but did not, nor could I make my turn. And he kept turning and sneering some more.
Now. I would have been devastated had I injured that man. Even though he was in the wrong.
And even though he was in the wrong, I apologized and was sincere about it. His failure to at least answer me was the most graceless act I have seen all year, and for a split second there, I wanted to get up there and nudge him a little bit.
This has been your manners moment for the day.
It is very difficult to rise above such awful behavior. I was making a left turn (on a one-way street) in Portland when this guy came blasting right at me through the crosswalk on his bike. I slammed on my brakes and he flipped me off. Jeez.
Good for you and yes, thankfully, no one was hurt.
What I really wanted to do was get out of my car and give him a lecture about social niceties, and then point out that, in fact, it was he who owed me an apology.