Strange Driver Interaction

Strange Driver Interaction
or
Shit People Say

I had a strange driver interaction downtown Monday.  I was northbound on 5th street.  It’s a one-way three-lane road.  There are lights every block.  The right lane is parking and right turn lanes.  I ride the middle lane.  I do this regularly with no issues.

Monday, while I’m riding my new bike, an older woman very politely asked if I had the right to “ride in the road like that?“.
Yes, ma’am” was my reply.
… but without a license plate?” she mumbled.
I told her she should “look up the Kentucky State Statutes” for herself.
“I will.” she replied and drove on.

I’m glad the conversation was civil.  There were no threats.  She didn’t tell me I wasn’t allowed to do something, she asked.  I’m frustrated that road users don’t understand the laws governing them.

It’s not just drivers that are like this.  There are hundreds (thousands?) of people in Louisville who ride bikes on the sidewalks or the wrong way, through red lights.  I honestly think that at least half of them don’t know that the laws apply to them too.