"SCENE:
Cyclist riding cautiously along the curb in accord with law.
He is alongside cab in middle of block. Three women are in the back seat. None of them is paying, suggesting the door might open. The turn indicator is not on which would suggest the door might open.
All of a sudden woman opens door into cyclist.
CYCLIST: Hey!!!
Woman says nothing.
CYCLIST: Let me teach you a word: ""I'm sorry.""
WOMAN: That's O.K."
Real life street dialogue between cab passenger & cyclist
Fri, 10/28/2005 - 5:07am
Fri, 10/28/2005 - 5:35am
#1
The appropriate response
We need to move beyond apologies, my fellow cyclists. Oops, sorry I killed you -- or, in this case, slammed my door in your groin.
The appropriate response is to say that it is a NYS law to look back when opening a door of a vehicle -- cab or otherwise -- in traffic. (Most cabs never pull over.) Then go up to the driver and repeat that again.
Asking for an apology almost always elicits a dumb expression.
Check out: http://bicyclesafe.com/
Fri, 10/28/2005 - 10:05am
#2
Yes, but...
For once, I was writing here with only a lilt in my heart. Don't you think it droll she thought *I* was apologizing to HER...and she accepted? (A friend of hers straightened her out pretty quickly.)
And it seemed an effective way to communicate to her what she did was wrong.
However, in defense of my usual curmudgeonlyness, I assure you, reasonng with miscreants, including citation of the NYS Vehicle and Traffic Code, is a metier not unknown to me.
Sat, 10/29/2005 - 9:24am
#3
Yes, but . . .
I'm sure it never once crossed her mind that *she* (or he) may be at fault until, of course, someone is hurt.
