A Close Call

Nick Griffiths is a bike commuter who pedals along Bruce B. Downs Blvd. to his job at Moffitt Cancer Center and he's one of the most conscientious and safe cyclists I know. That's why when Nick contacts me about yahoo-drivers pulling stunts that emperil his safety, I take Nick's words seriously.

I'm passing along a report from Nick regarding one harrowing experience this week. In Nick's words:

"Yesterday when I was riding home from Moffitt with my friend Becky, we had an incident with a vehicle at BB Downs and Highwoods Preserve Pkwy. We were crossing BB Downs heading west. There is a right hand turn only lane, so we avoid that lane and wait with the traffic to cross at the light. As we started to cross, a black SUV gunned his motor and sped across from the right hand turn lane. To avoid hitting us (which the vehicle almost did) the driver drove through the pedestrian cross walk before aggressively pulling back in front of us, almost striking the curb and other vehicles. We chased after the SUV and found it parked in Bennigan’s parking lot. And get this…it had a fireman’s decal on the back window and had a fireman’s tag. We couldn’t tell if the driver was still in the vehicle as all the windows were darkly tinted. We took down the tag number and called the police. We were told that unless we were struck they could take no action and they couldn’t issue a ticket for the illegal move without a policeman witnessing the infraction. Their advice was to call the fire department and give them the tag number.

"I was just angry about the incident, but Becky was still shaken today recalling how reckless and close the driver came by us."