I once saw someone reference this time of year as the silly season. At the time, I thought it was funny, but did not really think about it. The events of the past couple of days have brought some of that back to the forefront. Silly is one of those words that has many meanings, and in this context, it can mean most of those.
The reason, is that people seem to act a little more silly during this season than most. What scares me, is that much of this silly behavior exhibits itself in the form of anger on the roads. A couple of days ago, someone that a I barely know, posted a terrifying story that sounded earily familiar on one of the message boards I frequent. The synopsis is simple. He was riding his scooter just a little over the posted speed limit. Car behind him rides is rear wheel until oncoming traffic eases and then races around the scooter on a double yellow line. Car and scooter meet again at the next stop sign, where both are turning left. Car turns left, scooter checks traffic, begins to turn left, only to find that the car has come to an abrupt and unnecessary stop in front of the scooter with malicious intent. Scooter rider attempts to panic stop, but damp pavement in the middle of an intersection sees the scooter hit the ground. Car driver then speeds away.
Everyone that rides a scooter sees this type of scene at some point. Too many angry people in cars using them as weapons. Their fragile egos cannot cope with the small efficient scooter and the owners sharing the road with them, and no matter how fast the scooter is going, it isn't fast enough. Here in the middle of the silly season it seems to be even more prevalent. You see, his wasn't the only story along these lines I'd heard in the last two weeks. I've heard similar stories from several riders, and though my own wasn't as serious, it was just the normal 'nail the gas and yell out the window at the "Fag on the scooter"', the frequency of these incidents seems to go up during this season.
The incident that stands out the most for me right now though, is the one I saw at the Mall earlier this week. I was headed to the mall, and watched a guy on a scooter zip in, right up front and pop his scoter up onto the sidewalk near the mall entrance. Hop off and head inside. I parked in the designated motorcycle parking about 40 feet away, and the guy in the truck that the scooter pulled in in front of, parked several aisles out, walked in. By the time Ihad stowed my gear, and started walking in, I watched this piece of human fecal matter, walk over to the scooter and push it off the side stand on over onto it's side before cruising into the mall. So I called security and tailed the guy through the mall. Security found him and asked him about it and acted all innocent. Fortunately, security had video, and I saw the whole thing, so in the end, he was forced to deal with it. Luckily for everyone, where he pushed it over it landed in the grass and did no damage, but the whole incident just illustrated how silly people can be this time of year.
So for those of you, who like me are still riding, be careful, the silly season is upon us. Oh, and remember, that sometimes, taking a bad parking space isn't a bad thing if it means that some angry shopper doesn't push your scooter over because you got such a primo parking space. Most of all, be careful out there. We not only have to watch out for the elements, but also for the silly people.