2015-06-02 - Harassment, Following Too Closely, Undertaking and Nearly Hitting Two Cyclists BLF 158
Channel: RJ Lalumiere
Date: 2015-07-10

White GMC pickup Vermont License plate "(trk) BLF 158". This older white male was a serious menace :(

* Begins with honking at me while I am lawfully occupying the lane. I give him a full hand wave to let him know I know he is there, although of course I already did well before he tried to intimidate me.

* Then he proceeds to follow too closely, another attempt at intimidation.

* While I am stopped at the stop light he then proceeds to undertake literally inches away from me, in the very same stroke nearly striking yet another cyclist who is using the pedestrian infrastructure.

For all of this unsafe operation he gained exactly ZERO SECONDS. None. Nada. Zip. Zilch. We both waited at the exact same successive traffic control devices.

Today's Relevant Statues -

Title 23 : Motor Vehicles
Chapter 013 : OPERATION OF VEHICLES
Subchapter 003 : USE OF ROADWAY

§ 1033. Passing motor vehicles and vulnerable users

[...]

(b) Passing vulnerable users. The operator of a motor vehicle approaching or passing a vulnerable user as defined in subdivision 4(81) of this title shall exercise due care, which includes increasing clearance, to pass the vulnerable user safely, and shall cross the center of the highway only as provided in subdivision (a)(1) of this section. (Added 1971, No. 258 (Adj. Sess.), § 3, eff. March 1, 1973; amended 2009, No. 114 (Adj. Sess.), § 2.)

§ 1034. Passing on the right

    (a) The driver of a vehicle may overtake and pass upon the right of another vehicle only as follows:

    (1) when the vehicle overtaken is making or about to make a left turn;

    (2) upon a street or highway of sufficient width for two or more lines of moving vehicles in one or more directions and with unobstructed pavement not occupied by parked vehicles; or

    (3) upon a one-way street, or upon any roadway on which traffic is restricted to one direction of movement, where the roadway is free from obstructions and of sufficient width for two or more lines of moving vehicles.

[...]

§ 1039. Following too closely, crowding, and harassment

(a) The driver of a vehicle shall not follow another vehicle more closely than is reasonable and prudent, having due regard for the speed of the vehicles and the traffic upon, and the conditions of, the highway. The operator of a vehicle shall not, in a careless or imprudent manner, approach, pass, or maintain speed unnecessarily close to a vulnerable user as defined in subdivision 4(81) of this title, and an occupant of a vehicle shall not throw any object or substance at a vulnerable user.

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