In article ,
writes:

no, she was just plain old stupid, she went into the other lane to
pass me then braked making a sharp turn right in front of me; I was
doing about 35kph when this happened; there was no reason she had to
pass me

When many people see a bicycle ahead of them, they've just
gotta get ahead of it. They've /just gotta/. It's all
really quite predictable and expectable. It's like some
sort of innate instinct people have. Even fellow cyclists
aren't immune to this effect -- if you're stopped at a red
traffic light, some of them will butt-in in front of you and
the stop line, to wait out the light. And if you're walking
your bike on the sidewalk, pedestrians behind you will bust
their asses to get ahead of you.

I don't know why it is, but so many people see bicycles as
obstructions and obstacles, even if you're going faster
than they are. Even if they're riding bikes themselves.
When riders realize this, we become armed with an enhanced
ability to interact with, and even predict the movements of
surrounding traffic.

So, there actually /is/ a reason she "had" to pass you --
it was pathologically hardwired in her psyche.

I fear the tone of my posts might sound like I'm calling
you stupid; please believe me, I have no such intention.

The driver who cut you off was being stupid, because she
was acting in a thoughtless, "reptillian brain" mode. I'm
just saying: that's how a lot of people act on the streets.
It doesn't hurt to be aware of that. We can often even use
it to our advantage. I call it "reading their minds" but
it really isn't anything so esoteric. In fact it's dirt
simple. People are so predictable. That's how advertising
agencies and casinos make so much money.

That said, there certainly are occasions where synchronicity
works against us, and we wind up as sitting ducks for
inescapably imminent consequences that seem to be aimed by
Fate directly at us.

I'm glad you came out of the incident unscathed.


cheers,
Tom

--
Nothing is safe from me.
I'm really at:
tkeats curlicue vcn dot bc dot ca