I seem to attract Death himself whenever I ride my bike. Yup, I’m finally fit enough to ride my bike again after my brush with death a month ago. But here’s a small nugget into what goes on in my ‘dangerously exciting’ life.

I had (finally and a decade overdue!) gotten my L’s last week, and the knowledge was still fresh in my mind. Riding home along Garton Street (one of the little streets between Royal Parade and Lygon Street) at 11pm last night, I was accelerating towards a roundabout when, off the corner of my eye, I saw a car coming rather quickly from the left.

Previously, I would have assumed the car would stop for me and I would just speed off. But for some strange reason, I found myself re-enacting one of the questions in the L’s test. “That car has to stop, as there’s a line across the road. But it doesn’t look like the car’s going to,” I thought and began slowing down.

Good thing I did. The car did not see me at all, and at the last moment, just when I had almost come to a standstill, the lady driver saw the flashing lights of my bike, braked hard. So hard, the tires screeched and all you could smell was burning rubber. She was not twenty feet from me. Experienced drivers would know that twenty feet is a dangerous distance to keep between you and other drivers while driving.

The driver looked quite stunned, but relieved. I gave her a weird “what the fuck?” look and rode on.

Thank you VicRoads, your bloody L’s saved my life.

Note to all inexperienced drivers: Drive slowly man.

Related posts:

1. What is it about Melbourne drivers
2. I almost certainly would have died…
3. Agressive drivers.
4. Tram drivers
5. Critical Mass Tomorrow