Argentine drivers...

I think I have commented before that Argentine drivers are less than stellar when it comes to their ability to adequately and safely control a motor vehicle. As proof, I was hit today while riding my bike.

I'm fine, as well as my bike, and I'm thankful that it wasn't worse. I was on my bike and circling a round about, on the outside part of it, while a car was on the inside of the round about, clearly circling, and acting like it was going to keep circling to take one of the later roundabout exits. As I am riding, I am watching the drivers and passengers of the cars near me, including the car on the inside of the circle. I always try to watch drivers here, to see where they are paying attention to, if at all, so that I can anticipate any stupidity.

Anyways, in the car on the inside of the roundabout, I see this woman point to the immediate exit of the roundabout to her husband/boyfriend that I am now crossing, and I say to myself, uh-oh. I figure out quickly that he is leaving the roundabout, and so I reacted by turning my bike towards the immediate roundabout exit to try and avoid any side impact, but knowing impact is coming. After she pointed, he starts steering toward the immediate exit, not looking to his right, I guess just assuming that any car there would be leaving the roundabout at that immediate exit. And so he runs straight into me from behind, and propels me into the curb, where I hit front tire first, and then proceed to flip over the front of my bike and land in the grass. This narration took much longer than the actual event, it happened much faster than that.

The thing that surprised me the most was that he stopped the car, got out, and was sincerely concerned about if I was ok or not. That is fairly rare for a Buenos Aires porteño I would have to say. What didn't surprise me is that he stopped in the middle of the road after hitting me, and so cars were backed up behind him, and those drivers all proceeded to honk their horns impatiently, even after having witnessed this guy hit another guy on a bike. Oh Argentine drivers...