What you had was an inexperienced driver (not good at looking at different things at once), and not a good one, driving a wide vehicle (his or his Mom's van -- the older woman was the passenger).

I'd think twice about trying to drive a van like that in Manhattan, with 32 years experience behind the wheel.

As I said I got off with a few boo boos and I think he learned his lesson. Hopefully he'll stick to 20 mph.

He was stopped at a red light at 16th in those congested 2 lanes. A cyclist in front of me was squeezing narrowly between the truck in one lane and another car stopped in the adjacent lane. I was behind the cyclist, doing the same thing.

Before the cyclist got as far as the truck's driver door, the driver opened the door (in his path) and screamed at him, "are you @#$% crazy, you could scratch my truck!"

I am not kidding.

The other cyclist just smiled and kept going, but I couldn't help yelling, "yeah? did either of us scratch your fragile truck? I hope you drive responsibly, you psycho." My tone was surely not useful, but I was right, regardles... He yelled some stuff at me too as I rode off.

A block or two later I thought, "wait, why aren't I calling the phone number on the truck and saying that this driver deliberately opened the door in the path of a cyclist, a potentially, and often truly lethal move?" I headed back to get the number but, astoundingly, he had actually moved enough to be gone from the area... Next time, buddy!

Just want to say though that those circumstances don't seem to me to mitigate the driver's fault.

It's not that driver's responsibility to keep moving so a driver behind him doesn't rear-end him. I mean, that's what brake lights are for. In fact, in examining car-car rear-end "accidents," law enforcement and insurance (wisely) have an near total prejudice against the rear driver.

I'm sure that doesn't help you a great deal, Larry, but it's worth repeating for general consumption, I think...

Riding like that will get you honked at more but hit less. Steel yourself to ignore the honking and cussing with the consolation that they're not running into you.

Read more of my take on taking the lane at http://www.transitmiami.com/2008/05/29/taking-the-lane-with-florida-bicycle-laws/, as it regards Florida laws. I'm not familiar with New York laws, but Google probably knows.

Sarah, I peeped at bikewise, and it looks pretty interesting, but I would like to reinforce the old canard about how most accidents happen within a couple blocks of your home. The stretch of road that you most frequently travel (mode-independent) will be the stretch of road nearest your house.

I think the furthest away from home I've ever had an accident was 15 blocks.

This area is way too unsafe and long overdue for serious traffic calming and cycle track; where the Fourth Avenue buffered bike path going north ends at 14th Street.

Probably one of the worst dangers are the private garbage trucks recklessly racing around this area about 11 in the evening doing collections; wherein the city is totally negligent allowing this dangerous situation to persist in this extremely high-density area.

One aspect of having people pay a modest cost for a permit to park their cars overnight on the street in NYC, which I favor, is that it could be limited to cars licensed and insured in NYC. Parking would get a lot easier, I'd bet.

Just to clarify, you don't have to know how to Twitter to use http://bikewise.org, that's just where I found out about it. You do have to register, though.

And as for those North Carolina plates: http://www.streetsblog.org/2007/06/27/carpetbagging-drivers-head-to-north-carolina-for-plates/

I mention it only because it was the type of crash guide books and blogs say is very unlikely -- I was hit from behind while riding in a straight line on the right.

I was riding at a modest steady pace (say 10 mph as I was approaching a light) adjacent to parked cars, when a passenger van came up from behind, and passed at perhaps 20 mph a few inches away. His mirror clipped my handlebar, dumping me over. This was northbound on Park Avenue South, near 16th Street, adjacent to Union Square.

There were 'mitigating circumstances" however. He said he was being tailgated by another vehicle, and thus couldn't slow down without risking being rear ended. I'm not saying that makes it your fault, he conceded.

I've got some scrapes and bruises, but if someone does that when I'm 78 rather than 48, it could be much worse, so it's worrying in that sense.