No left turn for you. Not yours.

Another bicycle commuting anecdote. This one is kind of funny and I promise that I didn't do it on purpose.

I was at 45th and Boundary, east-bound on 45th waiting to cross Boundary. I was looking north, trying to see if there was a break in the traffic. If there are only a few automobiles coming up the hill I will wait for them to pass before pressing the pedestrian-walk-button. Because I'm such a nice guy. Note however that if there is a mini-van in the group then I press the button immediately and repeatedly with a sneer on my face.

OK, so I'm watching south-bound traffic when I hear some honks from the north-bound traffic to my right. There's some dumbsh*t in a truck waiting in the left lane to turn left (that is, west) onto 45th avenue. This T-intersection is one of those ones that is "traffic-calmed" in such a way that right-turning cars may enter 45th, and cars turning right or left from 45th onto Boundary may do so. But left turns from Boundary onto 45th are prohibited. There is no sign; a sign would be redundant. You'd have to put your automobile through some elaborate contortions to accomplish such a left turn because of the shape of the concrete median.

Of course, if I hadn't been so considerate towards the south-bound traffic I would already have pressed the button, light would have gone yellow and this arsehole would have been hurtling down 45th avenue lickety-split, traffic-calming median be d*mned.

Looking back I don't know what I was thinking. When I saw the situation I reached for the traffic-control button; I guess I was feeling generous on this crisp Friday morning. I was willing to give this poor idiot a break. But it was too late. He gave up waiting. Quite thin-skinned, that one: just a couple of honks and he crumbled, probably simultaneously peeing his pants and pressing on the gas pedal to go straight through the intersection.

So there ya go, Vancouver. I inadvertently kept a weak-minded fancy-truck driver from speeding down a designated bikeway.