Ride for Saturday, 03 November

Went down to the Farmer's Market early to avoid the onslaught of Noel, did my shopping, and on my way back in a slightly unusual turn of events, I hit a car. I was heading along Morris Street towards the intersection with South Park Street and slowing down as the car in front of me was stopped when the car behind me decided to overtake me and stop right in front of me. Being loaded with 40lbs or so of groceries I was unable to stop in time, and had the option of either using the back of the car that had just overtaken me to absorb my excess speed through careful application of a boot, or to veer to the right in front of another car that was turning right ahead. Without any real sense of guilt I chose option (a) and was mildly surprised to see the car shift forward a little. The driver leapt out almost immediately, and upon my questioning him whether he was a sexually active soft toy demanded to see photo id. I refused, since I'm not obliged to show such information (97 para 3 of the NS MVA for those playing along at home), and he failed to ask me my name or address so I didn't volunteer them. He did, however, threaten to call the police, and I think he was somewhat surprised when I told him to go ahead:

"I'm going to call the police if you won't show me your id."

"Please do", I said.

"I mean it, I'm going to call the police. You hit me!"

"No, you overtook me and failed to give me enough room. Please call the police."

"You had a ton of room! If you won't show me id, I'm going to call the police!"

"No, you cut me off. Call the police or get the fuck off the road, I've had enough. Are you going to call the police?"

"I know my rights! You hit me! I'm going to call the police!"

Then, just as I thought I was going to have to call the police myself, a driver who had been behind us all coming up and was in the left hand lane got out of the car and shouted, "you cut him off! I saw you do it! It's all your fault!" - I was somewhat surprised at how vehement she was, almost as if she took it personally!

I thanked the driver as Mr Muppet shouted back, "he hit me! he had plenty of room! I'm going to call the police!"; the other driver again called back "you cut him off! You're at fault!"

I turned to Mr Muppet and said, "so, are you going to call the police or what?" He just stared at me, and got back in his car without saying another word. I thanked the other driver profusely and continued on my way. At least there's some drivers out there paying attention to what's going on around them!

Distance logged: 27.060km
Time: 91:11
Average speed: 17.8km/hr
Max speed: 49.2 km/hr
Temperature: 3C-8C, cloudy, breezy
Cumulative distance: 3944.854km
Cumulative cost per km: $0.22
Monthly distance: 74.469km
Monthly cost per km: $0