salcedo

bobwysiwyg

Not worth the risk in my book.

raria

Me too. And god knows how some jury or judge will rule if he beats you up.

wphamilton

My last conversation about a close pass, in a convenience store:

Driver: "Was that too close, back there at the right turn?"
Me, after thinking back, "Naw, I didn't notice anything, you were fine."

Maybe he was to close for most bikers, if so he already knew it. No big deal as far as I was concerned.

FBOATSB

"Coaching" drivers at stop lights is usually taken as "road rage" by many.

rumrunn6

yup

caloso

I usually try not to, but the other morning I happened to catch up to one who brushed by pretty close. At the next light I caught her eye and held my hands about a foot apart and shook my head no, then held them 3 feet apart and nodded my head yes. She seemed to take it well and mouthed "sorry, my bad."

AlmostTrick

Yes, I curse 'em out real good. Then they apologize for their poor driving and promise to do better going forward.

no motor?

Last time I tried that was about 10 years ago when a guy tried to violate the 3 feet to pass law and the speed limit. He pulled up next to me at the stop sign and started telling me he was trying to protect me (I never did figure out what he would have been protecting me from that was more dangerous than him) when I pointed out he would have violated a couple of laws if he'd been able to do so. While he was telling me he was a cop I noticed he was wearing a pistol in a holster and quickly realized no good was going to come of this conversation and vowed to not repeat this mistake.

mcours2006

I really don't want to confront them, and am thankful that I don't have to most of the time, but when it's something really flagrant and foul and I am able to catch up at a light or something I do have a few choiced words. It's the adrenalin.

WNCGoater

Yeah, I did this weekend. I was climbing a hill with a blind peak. A pickup truck approached over the hill in the left lane and about that time someone laid down on the horn behind me. I was about 2' out in the lane. I realized the driver behind intended to pass between me and the oncoming pickup and was blowing the horn for me to get out of the way. Of course, at that point I took the lane completely. When I passed the truck, who had by now stopped, I moved right and waved the person past. She stopped at a light we were near and I rolled up beside her and told her, LOUDLY "DON'T try to pass BETWEEN a cyclist and oncoming traffic, it's DANGEROUS & furthermore, I had a little girl at home who needed her daddy and I'd like to get home alive, & I'd appreciate her not endangering my life! The light changed and she yelled "Then get off the road!". I yelled back "I have a right to be on the road" as she rolled away.

And that was the end of it. I never say anything, I just let it go but this one really rubbed me the wrong way & I didn't put forward my best foot. Dunno why, maybe the horn blowing. I lost an opportunity to gently explain "According to NC law, cars can pass cyclists in no passing zones but ONLY when it is clear and safe to pass. Thank you for not running over me and have a wonderful day." I was more angry at myself than the jerk with the horn. Almost always it's best to just let it go. Out here in the country where I mostly ride I may get one jerk out of every 200 passes, not worth getting all worked up over.

GrainBrain

I despise motorists using their horns like that! In our rural area right now there are plenty of farm equipment that rolls about as fast as a cyclist, yet no one would dare blast the horn like that.

The other day I had some older fat guy on a Harley bagger scream out "Use the sidewalk!" at me on a four lane divided road (kind of a boulevard) where the speed limit is 35. I was doing 28. The lane I was in ended in a 1/16th of a mile, where then my lane was required to merge left at an intersection with stoplights. There was no road to the right at the intersection. I was in the far right position, and the sucker passed by in the left tire track close to the line between lanes.

I was hoping to catch him at the light and squirt him with my water bottle but thankfully he was always a few blocks ahead.

Gresp15C

I've rarely had to deal with hostile motorists, but my usual tactic is just to gradually slow down enough that they lose interest in bothering me.

MoAlpha

Spoonrobot 

I've had motorists drive over curbs to avoid having me catch them in traffic at a light after they harassed me in some way. That's not the right way to phrase it, I guess "they perceived I was catching up to them" is correct. I've also seen them turn down a one way street and then come roaring back out just to keep moving, and so forth. It's really quite sad in a way.

I've not pursued a driver as I believe it's pointless as youtube and other anecdotal stories have mostly shown. Just keep riding my route the way I was before.

CB HI

I always confront dangerous drivers. Living on an island with limited route to commute to work, the confrontations have made the cycling safer.

Some I catch up to at lights and yell at them.
Some I catch up to at lights and talk to them.
Some I catch up to at lights and they keep their window up trying to pretend I am not next to them; even when I have moved to their drivers side window.
Some I spot their car/truck at their home and make it a point to ride by their house as often as possible. Lets them know I am a nearby neighbor.

Commercial vehicles, I call and talk to their boss. If the boss is uncooperative, I let the boss know that my next call is to their insurance company.

Some I can get their name from their license plate # because they have traffic infractions in the vehicle they endanger me with. From that, sometimes I have found their e-mail address and had a discussion that way telling the laws and penalties they are facing for their action.

One woman, I knew from youth sports and e-mailed her. She is a major drama queen.

Some I have reported to police and the cops talk to them.
Some I have reported to police and got them prosecuted.

Only one guy continued to try and harass me to scare me off as a witness to his hit&run. He got convicted and a big legal bill. His son did give me a shaka sign years later about when he learned to drive. So even if Mr. Hit&Run learned little, his son learned a lot.

One guy kept trying to endanger me, he got arrested in front of his work and lost his job because of it. He later got convicted of terroristic threatening. He had mental problems and was still living in his grandmothers townhouse at his age of 33. Seems the grandmother is unable to live on her own now and is in a nursing home or daughters house. The guy is likely homeless now.

One guy (23 year old) got out of his car to save face in front of his friend and fight the 50 year old cyclist. Dude looked very buff. He threw a 3 punch combo, I set down my bicycle, he charged me, he got kicked with a blind kick to his right thigh, followed with a left hook to his face and a right hook that did nothing because he was falling backwards. I got back to a defensive position and Mr. Buff Guy was begging me to "STAY AWAY FROM ME, LEAVE ME ALONE". His buddy told him "let's get out of here", walked him to the car and they sped off. If you cycle regularly, you really do have extremely strong legs that are great for self-defense kicks.

One cop got an internal affairs complaint. She did not get in trouble for the harassment but did get in trouble because she used her siren when she was not authorized to do so (unmarked car, no lights and not traffic duty). Dispatcher got in trouble for trying to cover for the cop and telling me I was breaking the law by riding in the narrow lane.

For me, I am still very much enjoying my cycling.

eja_ bottecchia

jack k

The last driver I "confronted" ended up in cuffs and I was given the options to press charges. He tried to run me off the road a few times for what reason to me remains unkown to this day; after the second attempt to run me off the road/run into me, I kicked the side of his car out of sheer fight-or-flight and took off standing on my pedals a few blocks away to work. I apparently left a considerable dent in his door skin - he was upset and perused me through 2 key coded doors (which he was able to pass through before either closed after me) into a secured government facility. I walked straight to the nearest phone and dialed the gov't police, who met the individual there within about 60 seconds, hands on their sidearms. The gov't cops pushed the man out the door and contacted local city pd who obtained statements and later that day, after viewing available cctv footage, offered to press charges on my behalf. I ultimately declined pressing charges, considering that although the driver attempted to hit me a total of 3 times, it was my kicking his door in that precipitated his action against me. I figured, he has a good reminder on the side of his car to not ever do that again.

Can't say I wouldn't do it again if presented with the same scenario...but then again I have armed in-building police just a phone call away.

Yikes. Good luck with that.

CB HI

It works extremely well. Motorist think they are anonymous to us, once they learn they are not, they quickly learn to behave.

jack k

Stalking a driver to their house is teaching them to behave?

Chris0516

Same here.

CB HI

How is seeing a car or truck in a car port days or months after they endangered me stalking?

You must think following the vehicle to the next red light is super stalking.

Seems the people that get the most upset with seeing a vehicle in a carport are the ones that have the most they want to hide themselves.

How dumb is it to harass someone when you are within a couple miles of your own home or work. The odds of crossing paths again are pretty high.

And the fact they stop all harassing is an indication they learned to behave.

You seem to be the type that would consider calling the cops on a hit&run, "snitching".

CB HI

jack k - does this female cyclist deserve to know where her harassers live?

https://www.bikeforums.net/20353231-post1.html

Seems they have a close idea where she lives.

Kristine29

thank you for bringing up this topic

Kristine29

I'm also facing the same problem