I had an incident with a snow plow on Jan 26th. I didn’t write about this back then because I was hoping this would have ended in a fashion in which I felt acceptable. It didn’t so here is the story.
My typical commute in the morning is roughly 3.5 miles to the train station. At which point I lock my bike in a bike locker or bring my folder with me. This morning was a light snow and I had my larger bike with the snow stud tires. When I got to the train station in an uneventful ride I realized I had forgotten my locker key. So I turned around to go home and get the key.
Before I begin for those without my familiarity in riding in the snow, the most important thing you can do is be smooth and do not have abrupt actions. As long as your motions are fluid you can ride in almost any weather.
On my way home I had a good experience being over taken by a plow driver. He stopped plowing, gave me enough room, then continued on in front of me. No issues with him he was great.
After the next intersection another plow driver pulled in behind me. He honked his horn at me, but there was no where to go so I kept riding. He became quiet at which point I thought he turned off, no such luck. Next he kept honking again and got real close. I figure the curl of the snow was only a few feet behind me. He would rev his engine and honk. He did this for about 100 feet on a two lane each way road with about a 10 foot shoulder on each side. A nice wide road with plenty of room for everyone. At this point he lifted is plow and switched lanes to pass me honking on the way. Once he was just about to pass he dropped his plow and threw snow up on me.
At this point I was pretty shaken. All I could do was keep riding. To change course, slow down, or do anything other than be predictable could have put me at a greater risk of falling. So I kept riding through it.
About 150 yards down the road was a cop just sitting there. I really thought about going to get his help, but didn’t for what ever reason. This was my key mistake. In hind sight I really wish I had done this.
Instead I contacted the head of Newark public works, Rich Lapointe. At first he asked a bunch of questions about when, where, and what the truck looked like. He seemed really helpful and concerned. I respected that he was busy with all the weather and gave him a few days to respond. At which point he did…
He started off saying they weren’t able to pin point the driver of the incident. Ok… It was a shot in the dark and they have a lot of drivers, but really? Its not that big a town and they only have so many trucks that match the description I gave them….
Then he apologized on behalf of the city….. Ok.
Then it takes a turn for the worse… “In saying that, I would also like to state that a snow removal operation is a very hazardous operation with impaired vision due to snow blowing from plows and operation of large vehicles under hazardous road conditions.”
Really?? This is what upset me. He now starts to imply that this was all my fault and that “I would recommend a more passive approach to such situations and get temporarily off the road for safety purposes.”
I’m not doing this for fun. This is my transportation. Plus this was NOT a case of poor visibility. His driver actually saw me. He saw me so well he decided to mess with me.
I then composed a response reminding him this was not a case of poor visibility. This was in fact a reckless act. I reminded him that cyclists use the roads for transportation just like cars and that this particular day not even the schools opened late. I asked him what he did to educate his drivers regarding incidents like this.
What I got back was a statement saying they have discipline procedures for avoidable accidents and his drivers really don’t like to drive in bad weather….
At this point I really don’t know where to go. I feel the response was pretty lame. I understand that they may not have been able to find the exact driver, but the city is trying to place the blame on me. Which is clearly not correct.
In response to this I’m now taking a new approach. I have just purchased a ContourGPS helmet mounted camera. This would have come in handy three times now. The other two times were regarding Aetna Hook and Ladder fire company. Twice I’ve been brushed or almost hit by their drivers.
I will now film my entire commute. If something funky should happen, I’ll have video evidence along with GPS tracks to show who is in the correct. I’ll then use this evidence to have whoever performs the reckless act prosecuted. In the future I’ll be backed up by hard evidence.