bikelif3

If you care about your local neighborhood from crazy drivers, PUT EYES on them. If you're walking or biking and you hear/see a car violently passing by, look directly at their license plate. You probably won't be able to read their license plate, but make them think you did. If a driver of a car feels like they're being "watched" they tend to behave.

njkayaker

???

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychic_staring_effect

Roughstuff

I doubt this would work very well. I think the best way to calm down other drivers is to calm down yourself. Next time you are driving a car/truck/SUV on a local roadway where drivers are speeding and swerving, simply and calmly continue to not exceed the speed limit (or a prudent lower number if circumstances merit it). I rarely hear my fellow cyclists suggest this as a solution, which leads me to suspect that when THEY are driving a car/truck/suv in these locations, they are just as crazy as the other drivers are.

base2 

That we need speed limits & stop signs to beg people to please be compliant and do the right thing is a failure of road design. People will operate their vehicle within their own perception of risk/safety regardless of what any sign posted anywhere happens to say.

If drivers are driving in a manner not consistent with the actual risk presented to others by their actions, then the road design needs to change until a safe speed in that streets context can be achieved.

Don't stare at their license plate.
Do go to your towns traffic, transit & development planning meetings. Meet & shake hands with the relevant city engineers. You'd be surprised at how receptive they can be at implementing infrastructure that meets the needs of more than automobile only.

jack pot 

holding up your iPhone as if your filming would seem to be more of what you're trying to accomplish ................. but bicycling provocateurs aint getting much slack these days

Roughstuff

Yikes! those eyes on Ben Franklin make me type more slowly.

But seriously....I think the signs are there for legal reasons, not just to "tell" drivers that limits have changed. And many signs (arrows, road narrows, etc...) make it clear to drivers that road conditions AHEAD are changing...by the time you enter the curve or whatever, it is a bit too late. Traffic cams can help too, but of course that gets hackles about Big Brotha'!

indyfabz

I live in PA. Unlike neighboring NJ, PA does not require a front plate, so it seems unlikely that a driver will notice you looking at their plate after they have passed you.

DonkeyShow

Or just stay alive; all that extra **** is dumb. Everybody be like omg I got ur license plate and it mostly never amounts to anything.

bikelif3

Amazing how the cyclists who could benefit from this simple suggestion are crying the most about how ineffective it would be.

Btw, I didn't just make this up. It's something this guy has pointed out in one of his videos:
https://www.youtube.com/@NotJustBikes

Also, there's a lot of ways you can implement this strategy. My favorite way is when a barrage of speeding, tail-gating cars pass me up only to be forced to stop at a red light. I just slowly creep up on them and look at all of their licenses plates. You can FEEL the tension in the air, lol...

base2 

Amazing the judgement call you have made about other cyclists or the supposed benefits derived by them from your hallowed words of wisdom.

Oh, please tell me, Wise Man of the Mountain: Why would a hurried, impatient, entitled motorist who is unaware they did anything wrong feel guilty about a harm they are unaware they did? They're just going to sit there and wonder what is wrong with you, if they even take notice of you at all.

Life lesson time: You sir, are not important.

That tension in the air? That is your own smug sense of superiority.


Try harder.

bikelif3

MAX IRONY

Did you even look at any of the videos on:
https://www.youtube.com/@NotJustBikes

bikelif3

max irony...

bikelif3

You probably drive like an a**hole. I can tell...

base2 

I am both a Patreon supporter & a Nebula subscriber.

Never said I was. Which is why I am aware that staring creepily at a license plate is unlikely to have the effect upon a driver you suggest it would.

They don't just give away Commercial endorsements, you know. Maar ja tegen andere automobilisten. Want andere automobilisten zijn letterlijk per definitie amateur. Part & parcel to being a professional literally means doing the right and appropriate thing in alles conditions.

But you do you. Jij bent jij. Think what you like. Drive up your post count.
Try harder.

njkayaker

Drivers in NJ aren’t noticing anybody looking at the front (or rear) license plate.

The OP is absurd.

njkayaker

WHAT specific video on that channel talks about this nonsense?

Homebrew01

Ok. Everyone chill a bit.

BillyD

Pretty much uncalled for, did you and this guy butt heads before or something? (No need to answer.)

work4bike

I have to admit, even before this thread, I tried to train myself to quickly look at licenses plates and memorize. I was kind of a game while riding, but I knew it also could have real benefits just in case.

njkayaker

The OP is claiming that looking at the license plate works to intimidate or chasten the "offending" driver.

work4bike

I don't make that claim, I'm just sharing my two cents.

njkayaker

I said the OP made that claim (not you).

(That claim is the elephant in the room.)

bikelif3

I'm not 100% if this is true or not, but I've heard of drivers receiving tickets in the mail based on traffic violations "witnessed" by others. I think they testified under oath in court against them.

njkayaker

This seems to mostly occur for accidents. Outside of that, it seems not really to occur.

For "minor" ("low stakes") alleged violations, not many people (cops and witnesses) are going to take the time for something that isn't likely to hold up in court. Somebody saying they saw a violation (without anything else) is very weak.

https://starherald.com/opinion/colum...1c6de731c.html

https://www.newyorkcriminalattorneyb...violations_ca/

bikelif3

The specific mail-in violation I remember was of one car cutting off another car. Admittedly, pretty minor, but if true, they DID get a ticket in the mail. Again, it probably comes down to putting in legwork in the the courts.