On Monday, the 25th of October, I was riding down Venice Blvd for my normal commute. The ride was going well, no real problems on the way, just typical things - cars veering into the bike lane, dealing with Metro buses that can't always see me, awful road conditions in some parts. But then it finally happened - I rode into someone's side-view mirror. Although its not at all the worst thing that can happen on my bike ride, its definitely not a good thing.
As I was approaching Western Avenue, there was a 550 line bus turning right onto Western Avenue ahead of me with its signal for the right. Because its illegal and clearly safer to pass the bus on the left, I signaled to veer to the left, and as the light turned greened, I thought I was going to easily make it through the bus on the right line and the car on the left lane. But the closer I got, and as the bus was going to make the right, it had begun to creep to the left just to make the wide right. In reaction, the car in the left lane that was supposed to have just gone on her green light, decided to suddenly brake, thinking the bus was cutting into her lane. But thats when it happened.
I realized in that instant that there was no way I was going to make that tight space, and pressed on my brakes as hard as I could, but it was too late. Luckily, my handlebars had first contact and I was holding on tight enough that even when my arm hit the mirror, I was completely stable and unhurt. I was noticeably angry, and yelled on over to the driver to stop up ahead.
I was glad that she was initially worried about me, although she blamed me for the incident. Her point was that she had no idea I was coming because she could not hear or see me because I'm a biker -- whats new. Anyways, the moral of the story is the same as its always been - never trust anyone else on the road.
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