I had a glowing commute report all prepared in my head as I cruised in to work this morning. First commute since Dec 17 and with 1/10th the normal traffic levels as most people were still on holidays. Cool!

Then there was P-plater.

Bright blue morning light (for once in Melbourne) and he manages not to see me. In a novel twist, the side-street he was crossing Whitehorse Road from wasn’t on ‘my’ side of Whitehorse, so it wasn’t like I was obscured by the curb/bins/lights as often happens, this guy didn’t look at the road at all.

I didn’t think I was invisible, maybe I am?

You can kind of tell when a car is going too fast or has travelled too close to you to have noticed you. I thought this guy was going to turn onto my lane in my direction but he kept going ‘at’ me, heading for an opposite side-street I was riding past. I was on the brakes and had started turning away from his car when I realised he was going too fast to be turning.

He finally saw me and jumped on the brakes. Luckily he was going from standing start and his green Festiva actually stopped before taking me down. I gave him the use your frickin’ eyes gesture and continued. He was lucky the traffic was light as he ended up parked across the inbound lane.

Still doesn’t get the heart rate up like a good hill and it’s a pity about the glowing commute report.

Open your eyes drivers!