rrg

Post removed.

SkippyX

Holy Mackerel.

Time for a concealed carry permit.

making

Close calls were much more common several years ago here in Indy. Now we have several more bike lanes and drivers are more aware. But...I think there are still some things we can do ourselves. We I start getting buzzed more often it is usually be cause I am too for to the right in the lane. If you stay on the far right tire rut people dont think you "want" to share the lane with them. If you give them almost enogh room to get by they try to. And get awful close sometimes. I also have altered my route several times to avoid extremely dangerous intersections. OF course, people getting out of their car and beating you is a bit over the top. It sounds like we probably should discuss this further.

acidfast7

i would move. honestly.

Ozonation

Wow... sure you can't take an alternate route? Maybe change the time you're riding? Are you hitting peak rush hour? My sympathies... getting knocked unconscious is no fun.

making

Yea, I have been knocked out a couple of times, I was normal before that. But I do think we might be able to help rrg out some. Have you considered reworking your route? Can you tell us more?

Darth_Firebolt

+1,000,000,000,000,000,000

chriskmurray

I second the concealed carry permit, just make sure if you go that route you get some quality training as well.

Police are generally worthless when it comes to helping cyclists, drivers are not aggressive here but bike theft is horrible. I know people who found their bike locked inside a fenced in yard, called the police and they just told them they are not coming.

I would also look for an additional route, even if it is longer but you may have already tried that. People in the south generally do not handle cyclists well and get pissy whenever someone challenges their car based lifestyle, it is part of why I moved out of TN and that was not even the deep south like you are in.

I have seen some commuters mount a go-pro camera on their bike for video evidence when people run them off the road, etc.

Either way good luck to you.

acidfast7

i still think moving is a viable option. cycling in the southern US is hard compared to the northeast (ME/NH/MA/VT), in my experience.

you'll be fighting an uphill battle the whole way, which you may/may not want to do.

what's keeping where you are anyway?

tjspiel

How does concealed carry keep people from buzzing or harassing you? The only time it helps is when things have already gotten waaaaaay beyond what I would consider tolerable. Can't imagine it would make the OPs commute any more enjoyable.

I've never been much for cameras, but in the OP's situation it might help. That I agree with.

SweetLou

Why the recommendation for a concealed carry permit? Wouldn't open carry be more of a deterrent?

making

I think a 12ga pump slung over your back would give a motorist about to buzz you pause, but to avoid getting this thread sent to P&R or trollheim maybe we should work on other resolutions. Do we have any other commuters in his area? Are they dealing with the same sorts of porblems?

MichaelW

Fit a video camera to your helmet and start filing assault charges.
If someone beats you up and "nothing can be done" then you need to talk to some cops who will listen, do you have cycle patrol cops. Challenge the professionalism of the cops for not acting, they hate that.

If someone starts following you, double back and you force him to stop if he wants some action. Go slow enough so you are not running away. You have siezed the initiative and he is now reacting. Then force him to walk a distance from his vehicle, maybe 50m before he can address you. You have eliminated a "self defence" as a reason to beat on you
Then keep a shackle lock handy on the top of your rack. I was taught to strike the lower leg from knee to ankle in a low passing strike. Aim high as a diversion but duck and hit low. Use the bike as a fence if you want to be more defensive, this has worked for me once.

Open carry may bring out the southern gentleman in passing motorists.

acidfast7

These are some really good ideas.

In the OP's case a GoPro cam is not a bad idea. If the Police prove ineffective again, which sounds like it may happen based on the OP's report, mailing the video the local/state news agencies will get a lot of attention (both good and bad).

Maybe you need a combined "We Support Our Troops" / NRA cycling jersey.

SkippyX

It won't stop people from buzzing him. For that he needs an alternate route - and all that will do is reduce the number of people buzzing him.

I was referring to the lunatic that beat the OP unconscious and the nut that chased him through city traffic.

If people want to shout obscenities at me that's just fine. It means nothing to me. "So's your mother" is a fine response. I can think of a bunch of others - and I use them on the "tour de **** ***".

The OP was talking about people attempting to cause him serious bodily harm and one guy who actually did kick the living stuffing out of him. I have a right to live my life w/out fear of such things. If someone decides that he's going to attack me, I have a right to take any and all means available to me to protect life and limb.

If the OP had simply shot the guy that chased him down and beat him senseless he'd have done society a favor. If the police in his area were even remotely interested in taking care of situations like this it would be a different story. However, since those put in place by society to protect society seem disinterested in doing their jobs, it's up to us to protect ourselves.

I would feel bad for the families and friends of someone who got shot under such circumstances, but I'd have no pity whatsoever for the guy shot under these circumstances.

Mithrandir

Move away from the south. Seriously.

ricardoespsanto

Learn a martial art. Besides allowing you to defend yourself better it will teach you self control so you will remain calm when everything around you is in flames

acidfast7

+1

SkippyX

That will help. My brother studied the martial arts for years and was certainly proficient. I would not have wanted to become involved in an altercation w/ him. He could have kicked my head back so far I would have looked like a Pez dispenser.

But, you have to admit that becoming proficient takes time.

You tube vid: Shaolin vs. Gangsta (WARNING - language inappropriate for the youngsters)

The OP shouldn't have to wait several years to feel safe while riding around his town.

Ubik

Wow OP, that's some insane drivers. Last week I was purposely cut off in a curve by a sport Mercedes, the driver wanted me to crash into his door, very scary and totally unprovoked from any sane point of view. I felt very intimidated but flipped him off and quickly went the other way, like you say the police don't care and this driver obviously wanted to make a scene on my behalf.

I have also considered buying a bike camera (Contour HD or GoPro), it seems like the only way to prove what happened when a bicyclist meet disbelief and blame after accidents, and I'd sure like to send a video of some of my city's taxi drivers to their employers. Also a good way of catching car registration plates. If only I could afford one.

treadtread

Can you get some reporter interested? If he/she rides with you, this may get some publicity and that might help. A TV reporter would be better than a newspaper reporter, I think.

dynodonn 

Sad to hear that type of response from a dispatcher, especially when it involved a collision. As long as you're a resident of the area, I'd still call law enforcement regardless of what response that you might receive, at least your incident is recorded. Add one or two video cams to your bicycle accessory list, get a cam or cams with the best resolution that you can afford, since the more info that you can gather and report to law enforcement, the greater the chance that you might have in resolving/recording your current dilemma.

With video cams on board, motorists still tend to cause the same issues while they are at speed, but at signal lights and stop signs, motorists seem to be a little more savvy at spotting a lens pointing back at them, since incidents at these locations have dropped tremendously after I installed them.

I-Like-To-Bike

Following an individual motorist to his house to give him a piece of your mind is always a BIG mistake and is likely to provoke or escalate a bad situation as the OP has sadly learned. This new information provided by the OP is presumably the answer to the police dispatcher's question "What did you do to make them mad?", at least in this specific case.

acidfast7

gotta agree.

this is either total naïvety or not the full story.

for one, how does someone follow a motorist to their house? either the incident happens extremely close to the motorist's house, the OP lives in the middle of nowhere (i.e. in the countryside where like 3 people live on a dirt road), or the speed limit is 20 mph all the way between the incident and the motorist's house.

PaleoFloridian

Lot of South hatin going on in this thread. You'd think Robert E. Lee had risen from the grave and attacked this cyclist to hear some of the responses.

NRA, marine corps tshirts? Really? OP probably would do better with a TuPac tshirt and a Rasta tam.

rrg needs to change his route, his rig, and strap a baseball bat to the handle bars.