Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Motorists' courtesy

It is holiday-time. The whole of Christchurch now lives in a caravan park in Kaiteriteri. Not all of them have jetskis, but those who do have an exemption (I believe) from the law that forbids speeds above 5 knots inside the yellow 200 metre buoy. Daily I have to cycle past. I emailed Mr. Knight:

Want to know something incredible? - I was cycling out of Kaiteriteri on that narrow road, and one of the cars actually didn't cross the double yellow lines on the blind corners to overtake me. - There, I said it was incredible. I know you won't believe it, but I assure you it's true. He actually hung back and followed me. I was amazed.

Mr. Knight emailed back:  

Really Richard, have you been out in the sun today? That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. 
Just yesterday on my morning commute I had three (3) separate incidents where people flung open cars doors without looking as I'm about to cycle past. The most serious was coming down main north road into town. A truly horrible piece of road to cycle on at the best of times. The woman had parked in the bus lane just before the lights and right next to the no parking sign. The left hand lane of the road was occupied by a large 4WD towing a ship and the gap between it and her illegally parked car was slightly less than a door width. I slammed on the brakes and effectively pinned her to her own door without actually touching her or the car. She seemed quite surprised, this despite the fact that she had overtaken me not 20 seconds before. I believe I may possibly have voiced an opinion that she was a "****** ****". 
Actually now I think about it, I did have a car wait behind me before overtaking on the narrow, two lane bridge over the Waimakariri river. I think it was in 2007.

Soon however the whole of Christchurch will return to Christchurch. They will take their jetskis with them for another 50 weeks of unusefulness in a garage. Then it will be possible to swim again without periodically having to tread water, shout, and wave frantically.

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