Scared some motorcylist
On the way into work today I think I scared a motorcyclist. It was partly my fault for being in the wrong lane (not that I had much chance of being in the right lane given the lack of signs until the very last minute—I went a different way to work this morning, along a road I’m not entirely familiar with), but the fact that I gave him a fright was his own silly fault.
I was trying (carefully, I might add… there was never any danger of a collision) to push into the lane he was in. I think when he noticed this happening at first, like a lot of people he decided to be bloody-minded and to not let me in. Which is both rude and awkward, but a lot of people do that kind of thing. Anyway, as a result, he ended up alongside me, with me slightly impinging on his lane and I think assumed then that I hadn’t seen him, which wasn’t true. All I wanted was either (a) for him to slow down and let me in (which, given that I was ahead of him at the time would have been sensible… when I started to move over, there was even a small gap), or (b) for him to speed up and go past. I got the result I wanted in the end, but not without him honking his horn at me and gesturing at his eyes.
I find these kinds of things, which happen to me rather rarely, somewhat upsetting. Not least because he will doubtless tell all his friends that some stupid car driver nearly knocked him off because he wasn’t looking, which is totally untrue—as I say, there was never any danger of that happening. It’s the kind of incident for which there isn’t really any blame to apportion, because nothing actually happened and nothing ever would have. It’s still frustrating though. Ah well…
I'm a motorcycle rider, and I don't think you should worry about it. Of course, any driver should make space for you if you signal for a lane change. Too many people try to prevent other drivers from getting in front of them, and I just don't get this. But every motorcycle rider knows (not just should know, but knows) they're going to be the looser if they play this game. A good rider will expect you to change lanes in front of him without signaling, and will know how to avoid you without much thought. It happens often, and shouldn't have been a big deal. He was probably a new rider that got scared.