Road rage

Robbi

Robbi

Barefooters
Dec 1, 2011
131
133
43
Cape Town, South Africa
#1
I've switched to running mornings now that summer's here, and I've found myself occupying the same streets as crazed parents driving their kids to school. They speed on residential streets, they don't stop at stop streets but rather coast on through one after the other and are generally oblivious. Ihave escaped several incidents where inattentive drivers almost hit me, and it's been getting highly aggravating.

Anyway, this morning a lady honked behind me as I was occupying the left lane a bit obliviously myself. I wheeled around and angrily motioned for her to go around me as there was no other traffic on the road. Immediately I felt like an ass - she had every right to alert me to the fact that I was wandering in the road and warn me she was coming. In my irritation towards legitimately bad drivers I ended up becoming as obnoxious as one of them. BTW the sidewalks are terrible where I run, there either are none or they're hard tarmac with a layer of loose sharp pea-gravel, so I can't avoid the road.

I'd really rather not become famous as the ornery barefoot curmudgeon, so I guess I'll be getting up 20 minutes earlier to avoid the stress of schooltime traffic and regain my composure :).

Anyone else struggle with the morning commuters while you're out running? How do you retain composure?
 
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#2
Well first of all, in South Africa do you drive on the right side or the left side of the road? Nevermind I see it on Street View - left side. So if you're in the left lane that means you're on the same side running with traffic. It's really safer to run on the opposite side, against traffic, so that you can see cars coming toward you.

It's a rule I learned when I was pretty young - ride a bike with traffic, walk or run against traffic. We drive on the right here, so I always run on the left side, facing oncoming traffic. Sometimes I get out toward the middle of the road, but when I see a car coming I'll move over the left gutter, carefully though as that's where more of the debris is.
 
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#4
Robbi said:
Immediately I felt like an ass - she had every right to alert me to the fact that I was wandering in the road and warn me she was coming. In my irritation towards legitimately bad drivers I ended up becoming as obnoxious as one of them. BTW the sidewalks are terrible where I run, there either are none or they're hard tarmac with a layer of loose sharp pea-gravel, so I can't avoid the road.
Click to expand...

I just want to stop and admire the fact that you acknowledge your own road mistakes.
Everyone at some point spaces out or makes a driving mistake/traffic mistake/etc. We rely on each other to a certain extant to not hit one another.
 
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#5
Robbi said:
I guess I'll be getting up 20 minutes earlier to avoid the stress of schooltime traffic and regain my composure :).
Click to expand...
I run early, mostly because I need to leave for work around 7A. It's not too bad if I start around 5:30A. I have a regular circuit that I run around the neighborhood that is relatively free of cars, and I know where the more dangerous spots are. I don't mind jumping on the sidewalk for a 50-100ft to let cars pass. The extra adrenaline probably helps a bit. I can usually hear the cars coming behind me, though once a Prius snuck up on me in electric mode. I know where the hybrids are located in the neighborhood now.

Ideally, I've found 3A to be best (on the one occasion that I woke up really early and couldn't sleep). Nothing, no one, nada. I could be jogging backwards, blindfolded and not encounter a single car.

Oh yeah, I live in Florida, the most dangerous state in the union for drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians. I'd rather re-engineer my schedule than get run over.
 
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#7
PatrickGSR94 said:
Well first of all, in South Africa do you drive on the right side or the left side of the road? Nevermind I see it on Street View - left side. So if you're in the left lane that means you're on the same side running with traffic. It's really safer to run on the opposite side, against traffic, so that you can see cars coming toward you.

It's a rule I learned when I was pretty young - ride a bike with traffic, walk or run against traffic. We drive on the right here, so I always run on the left side, facing oncoming traffic. Sometimes I get out toward the middle of the road, but when I see a car coming I'll move over the left gutter, carefully though as that's where more of the debris is.
Click to expand...

I usually do run against traffic, just as it happens the right hand side of the road is particularly unpleasant at that section, so I track to the left. However I'm generally good at defensive running; pedestrians are typically fodder for cars in South Africa, it's not like the US where people are scared to hit you :).
 
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#9
Hope'sMom said:
DH used to run in the mornings, until he heard a kid waiting for the bus say to her friend, "Look at that OLD MAN!!" (DH is 46.) Now he waits until after the buses have gotten through the neighborhood.
Click to expand...
I've heard once or twice, look at that fat man with no shoes jogging with the stroller... That was very disheartening too.
 
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#13
I have been hit several times by drivers pulling a "California stop" (turning right @ stop sign without looking). One time was by an unmarked state cop - slid across the hood of his cruiser and dived like a European soccer star for the full effect. The look on his face was priceless!
 
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#14
NickW said:
Well, the one time it was a couple of old bittys....
Click to expand...
I have kids say...."hey look at that guy running without any feet on"
but I guess that was cute and sad, not blatantly rude....
 
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#15
Zetti said:
I have kids say...."hey look at that guy running without any feet on"
but I guess that was cute and sad, not blatantly rude....
Click to expand...
Zetti, I think when people get old they lose the filter and things just come out of their mouths. My grandmother-in-law for example, since her stroke, she just let's loose her anger on everyone, just because they did something that irritated her. She used to love going to Blazers basketball games, so the first year after her stroke we bought tickets and took her to a game. There was an old man with a cane behind us and he kept pounding it on the ground when everybody would yell. This set her off. She also couldn't understand why everyone was yelling... which then irritated her. Needless to say, we have not taken her to another game which is really sad. My grandmother, which has not had a stroke or anything, figures now she can just say what she wants, she's earned that right. It's funny, but not when she does it. At the time she says things we all usually hang our head and wonder what the heck she is thinking. In any case, my point being that old people just lose that filter, they are kind of like little kids in that sense, you just have to take it with a grain of salt.
 
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#17
theshortwhiteguy said:
I have been hit several times by drivers pulling a "California stop" (turning right @ stop sign without looking).
Click to expand...
What makes Florida extremely dangerous is that drivers are actually trying to kill you! While getting ready to make a right turn, I've stopped for pedestrians in the crosswalk. Other drivers have tried to go around me, and I've had to position my car to block them from doing so and running over the pedestrian.

However, if people are visiting Disney World and staying at one of their resorts, they have buses that take you everywhere. Rent a car, and you're on your own.
 
#18
NickW said:
Zetti, I think when people get old they lose the filter and things just come out of their mouths.
Click to expand...
and how this is true.....was with my grandma at the supermarket one time and she says...."Oh good lord, look at how dreadfully fat that woman is"
"that woman" was about 10' away from us......o_O
 
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#20
Zetti said:
and how this is true.....was with my grandma at the supermarket one time and she says...."Oh good lord, look at how dreadfully fat that woman is"
"that woman" was about 10' away from us......o_O
Click to expand...

Someone start a thread about stuff grannies say.
This is fascinating.
I'm not around my old peeps enough to get this full on no filtration system observation.
 
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