Re: RC: Re: Re: Road riding question

[Trishmare@aol.com]

    We have a lot of this <unrepeatable in polite company> behavior here, and 
like several others said, I live in an area where I must ride on roads as 
there are not enough nearby trails to do any serious conditioning.   I carry 
a small pad of paper and pen, and yes, I get the license plate numbers, call 
the police when I get home, give them the plate number, description of car, 
description of occupants (if possible), when and where the incident occured 
and my best estimate of the car's speed . . . which sometimes is merely "all 
I can tell you Officer, is that had the horse spooked in front of the 
vehicle, there is no way under heaven they could've stopped in time (which 
means they were not "under full control of the vehicle," as required by law) 
and you and your buddies would've been doing a lot more ugly of a job than 
taking a phone call right now."  The officer usually asks if I'd like to make 
an official complaint, or if I'd prefer he just pay a visit to the offender 
and explain a few things to him/her.  I have always opted just for the visit.
    In one instance I did take matters into my own hands.  This next story 
may rile some folks, but oh well; had a young fella in an extremely loud, 
jacked up hotrod who always used to fly by me and my darling, dancing, David 
as if he thought he were at Indy and the horse and I were his major 
competition.  David is 100% pure Ay-rab (if you know what I mean) and while 
not afraid of traffic per se', being passed on a gravel road by such a driver 
in such a fashion was enough to get the horse . . . and my own . . . blood 
pressure levels rather elevated.  No, neither of us would have passed a vet 
check!  I tried . . . on several occasions . . . signaling this driver to 
slow down, which only seemed to encourage him to drive faster.  I was never 
able to get his license plate number, as I was always too busy dealing with 
the horse to do so.  Rather than slow down, this guy seemed to take 
increasing delight in seeing how badly he could spook the horse!!!  He must 
have lived somewhere in the area, but I don't know where.  One day in fact I 
was riding at dusk, and this guy passed me, spooked the horse, turned AROUND, 
came back and spooked the horse again, and turned around AGAIN (at which 
point I dismounted and hung on to the horse as the idiot roared past us again 
. . . still wasn't able to get the plate number!).  That was it.  I wasn't 
going to put up with it again.
     Next time I was out and heard my "friend" coming, I waited until he 
reached the distance where he always began accelerating towards us, and moved 
David into the MIDDLE of the gravel road.   I thought, he's either gonna have 
to HIT us, or he's gonna have to STOP.  He kept coming, and coming, and David 
danced and danced, but, just at the point when I'd figured I'd made a really, 
really bad decision he slammed on his brakes and though David reared a bit at 
the noise of the car and gravel, it wasn't much worse than when the fella 
would pass us, spraying gravel.  I whipped out my paper and pen, and as the 
guy rolled down his window and yelled "What the <deleted expletive>do you 
think you are you doing you <uncomplementary adjective>?" I calmly (as calmly 
as possible, under the circumstances) trotted David around the car and said, 
"writing down your vehicle description and license plate number, so nice of 
you to stop so I could do so, thank you . . ."
     Needless to say, the problem was resolved.  
     Though it probably wasn't the smartest way to have handled it.  

<<  Anybody out there know what
 could be done if we were able to get license plate numbers?  Could we file
 a complaint and at least earn the offending parties a visit by someone in a
 uniform? >>

Trish & pretty David 
somewhere in the land of dementia


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