This Ding-a-ling came close to causing an accident just because of stupid. His stupid.
On West 49th Avenue right in front of Langara College, a man on a bike rode south on Manitoba Street toward the campus. It was Saturday night just before 7 p.m. He reached the intersection and slowed down to time his crossing between on-coming vehicles. Not well, I should say. At the user-controlled light, he had a stop sign and could legally go when the road was clear. His stupidity (and hubris, let’s be honest) prevented him from being patient — or safe — and he very slowly pedalled into traffic.
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Dressed in head-to-toe black, his near-hairless white head the only contrast, Ding-a-ling rolled across 49th Avenue against the flashing green light and right in front of an SUV. The vehicle came to a halt in the middle of the intersection, half a foot from Ding-a-ling. The driver’s other choice was to plow through the man and his bike.
I was on the sidewalk where I'd hit the pedestrian-control button. (The light was still flashing green.) I gasped at Ding-a-ling’s behaviour. And, classy lady that I am, I also shouted that he was an idiot. His next move was just as stupid.
Ding-a-ling kept slowly rolling in front of the SUV but then changed course and doubled back to ride alongside the stopped vehicle. He rode along the length of the SUV, then behind it and then onto the sidewalk on the south side of 49th. I saw he had a small red light under his seat. He rode along the paved pathways of the campus before locking up at a covered bike rack. I saw him a few minutes later inside the Langara gym at a high school girls basketball tournament, cheering on his daughter.
— Megan Stewart
Ding-a-ling is a semi-regular column that appears on occasional Fridays. Know a ding-a-ling? Witness one or confess to being one yourself? Reach the Courier sports department through [email protected].
