Bicycle Riding in the Villages
 

I just had my third incident with criminal automobile drivers in the villages. Yes I say criminal, because what she attempted to do is criminal. On sun 12/3 I was riding my bike northbound on Buena Vista in the right lane as close to the side of the road as possible. A silver Nissan maxima 1989 or so came up behind me and started to lean on the horn. I turned and saw that there were no cars in the left lane, so this car had plenty of room to pass me, but instead proceeded to pull along side of me and tried to swerve into me while blowing her horn and waving her hand at me. She forced me over onto the grass, and I must say I was quite shaken up. I was unable to get a plate number as she drove away too quickly. All I know is that it was a woman approx 75 driving an older 1989(?) silver Nissan maxima. she also had a female passenger with her. This was about 2:30pm. It's a shame because one would think that at that age and gender this would not be proper behavior. I'm sorry I was not able to get a plate number to report to the police.

Buena Vista is a dangerous place to ride a bike. Not sure if I'd want to take that risk even though it is legal. There are lots of crazy drivers on that road.

I understand and do not usually ride there because of that,this was different she deliberately tried to hit me.

Probably a worker in the Villages. I have encountered some of them in my car that behaved horribly. It would have been great if you could have gotten her license plate. I'm glad you are ok.

Why not ride on the multi modal path?

You get golf cart drivers yelling at you to get off of the cart paths. I have lived in the villages for seven years and find that the roads are safer than the cart paths for a biker.

:agree: Except I've been here for 31/2 years!

I see you're from worcestor, my mother was born and raised there

Quite a chilling report! I've been fortunate to not have such experiences here, yet. However, I did have one occasion where a woman auto driver thought she should instruct me that biking is not permitted on "her" roads (Buena Vista, again, was the venue), although she did not threaten me with her vehicle, as you were. Ironically, that same day my group was riding on the multimodal path and a "gentleman" in a golf cart screamed at us to get off the cart path.

I find that, in many cases, drivers and cyclists are not aware of vehicle laws and privileges that apply to riding a human powered vehicle (HPV), including bikes and trikes, etc., on roads, despite several newspaper articles by The Villages Public Safety Director, Mike Tucker. The most common being that HPVs may ride on the roads and are entitled to the same rights and responsibilities as cars. Cars are required to give at least 3 feet clearance to an HPV when passing. If it is not possible to share a lane because it is too narrow to do so (usually 13 feet or less), the cyclist is entitled to use the full lane.

In the case that Collection6 describes, it is clear that no law would matter. The auto driver acted with criminality by harassing him and threatening him with a deadly weapon. Fortunately, she didn't carry through with that threat.

At an age of about 75, why would you not think she is a resident?

File a police report please
 

There are not that many 1989 or so silver Nissan Maximas still on the road. Your knowledge of the approximate age and gender of the driver, the type of car and it would be helpful if you knew it was a Florida plate would be enough for local police to do a computer search for all such vehicles registered to persons living here. Are there going to more than a few?

I would tend to think that if she wanted to hit you she would have.

Oh come on!

Good point! :agree: I hope that Collection6 decides to report the incident to the police. Maybe nothing will come of it, but just maybe we'll all be lucky enough to have one less dangerous person marauding our roads.

Been thru this myself and with other bike club members. Police say they can not do anything unless they see it themselves. Even with eight witnesses.