sharpsandflatts

Hey guys, I just wanted to share a crazy experience I had this week. So on Wednesday, I start my normal commute to school which takes me into downtown Portland. Once I get into downtown there's a point in my commute where I have to take a left so I usually get into the left lane a couple blocks before that. Because of the way the lights are timed, I almost always get stopped at the light one block before where I make my turn. At this point my strategy is to take the whole lane because it's easy to keep up with the pace of downtown traffic for that one block. This particular day, however, a car pulls up behind me while I'm waiting at that red light and once the light turns green, he guns it, spinning tires as he passes me, coming within inches of me only to get stopped at the red light one block up. At this point the adrenaline is really flowing so I catch up with him and tap on his driver side window to give him a little piece of my mind. As soon as I do, I instantly regret it. The driver has at least 40 lbs on me and jumps out of his car screaming about how i touched his car. He immediately sucker punches me, shoves me to the ground, and drives off. I was clipped in and generally too dumbfounded by what was happening to really react. I did manage to get his plates and call the police. The police arrived but were not particularly helpful. They said that since his plates were registered outside the city of Portland, there wasn't much of anything they could do. Fortunately I made it out with only a few bruises and a scuffed saddle.

For the past couple of days I've been replaying the incident in my mind trying to make sense of what was a terrifying experience. It's frustrating to think that someone could just attack another human being and get away with it. I suppose that sort of thing happens all the time but I never thought of it happening to me. Especially in broad daylight in uber bike-friendly Portland. Part of me wishes that I had done more to stand up for myself. I'm not a big guy and certainly not a fighter but I did have my ulock in my pocket that perhaps I could have done some damage with. Or at the very least, pitched it at that car that he loves so much as he was driving away. But after having had time to process all of it, I think that anything I would have done to defend myself would likely have gotten me more hurt and in the future I need to be more conscious of what my fellow humans are capable of. I think that it can sometimes be tough to find the line between riding assertively (especially in an urban environment) and being aggressive in a way that can lead to confrontations such as the one described above. So moral of the story: Be safe you guys! There's a lot of crazies out there.

eippo1

That sounds like a terrible experience. The cops lied btw. It happened in their jurisdiction, so it doesn't matter where his plates are from. I'd still file a report and come down harder on the cops. They're just trying to get out of doing work.

dnuzzomueller

I entirely understand your predicament, we sometimes run into crazies on the road and there really is nothing we can do and sometimes law enforcement can do nothing to help us.

My dad one time ran into a drunk guy in a car who pulled a gun on him after he tried to door him.

Sometimes the best thing is to count your blessings and if you really want to pursue actions against him try looking up the city he is from (If that is even possible).

Sorry to hear about that.

sharpsandflatts

yeah, i guess we'll see. i filed a report but the portland police said that the best they could do would be to transfer the case to his local PD to knock on his door for a follow up. But it wouldn't be guaranteed that anything would come of it. i kinda got the vibe that it likely wasn't going to be worth anyone's time.

MegaTom

Think twice before giving someone a "piece of your mind" next time. The guy was obviously a complete jerkoff, but you weren't hurt after he initially passed you and would've been best to leave it at that....

Essex

You will find crazies all over the place. All over the world. Sorry that you had to run into one. I imagine that this person who assaulted you has done something like this before. In short - a repetitive action by someone who is violent.

You did the right thing by reporting it. If you choose to pursue it you'll be spending a fair amount of time doing the initial legwork. Once in gear justice will hopefully come? That said - justice does not come without a price. An amazing amount of time, money and aggravation will be all part and parcel of correcting people who do wrong things.

Glad you are OK and sorry that you had to run into a crazy person.

Essex

p.s. As a note - people who do things like this often count on people not following up. The molding process occurred somewhere in their childhood where they were given the message they could get away with things.

botto 

TLDR. get a blog.

rjones28 

kthanksbye

cowtown_cowboy

Have to agree. I've been in your situation before, and I gave the guy my best salute. He immediately slammed on his brakes, and tried to grab me off my bike. Scared the S*** out of me.
As much as you want to tell someone off, the next guy could have 100lb. on you and thinks he's the UFC champ of the world or something. Worse, he could have a weapon and no conscience about wanting to use it.
I know that it's easy to say "stand up for yourself" but the reality is just ignore it. Ride away, swearing under your breath if you need to, but it isn't worth it.

tagaproject6

That is a horrible experience to have. Sometimes giving somebody a piece of your mind is just not worth the trouble.

sharpsandflatts

cool story, brah.

IknowURider

Try this:

When you pull up to a light and you are the first "vehicle" there, pull back about 15-20 feet from the corner and look back for cars who want to make a right turn on red. Wave them up. Smile, make eye contact.

Remember that cars are in a hurry because they can be, because they have engines.

The fact that you are riding a bike means that you can take your time, right?

Many times they want to turn right but don't signal. So use hand gestures and "ask" them . This will also guage what kind of mood they are in. Are they arguing on their phone? Angry girlfreind in the car?

Let one car go straight across as a "blocker" like in football. Just be careful of cars making a left from the oncoming, as they might not see you behind this "blocker".

If someone is in front of you and you are back and to the right and in their "blind spot", You have the advantage.

As a combat example, smart cops approach vehicles from the passenger side blind spot when they pull you over so they can dodge a firearm assault. (It's hard to shoot over your right side and through the back windshield and chassis. The back windsheild tends to deflect bullets downward by ricochet).

The fact that you are in the blind spot will make them think twice. Use his passenger side mirror to keep an eye on his intentions.

If a vehicle suddenly pulls up next to you as you are stopped at a light to start trouble, say nothing, and move BACKWARDS into their blind spot. Works great, when there's a vehicle behind them, as to continue their BS they'd have to back up. Most won't bother, even if there's no one behind them . Get on the sidewalk if you have to. This will prevent him from backing into you. Hopefully the curb will be 6" high.

Get their tag number, note the type of vehicle.

If you are riding along and let's say a huge drunken redneck (or whatever, use your imagination) zooms up beside you to start trouble, slam on your brakes. (If you don't have someone tailgating you).

You can stop on a dime. They cannot.

I did this last night as a matter of fact. For him to stop it will take 30-40 feet at least, with all that weight. This is great fun. I did this once to a huge pickup with a Bad Boyz sticker. Boy was that kid frustrated . He probably wanted to brain me with a beer bottle. He rolled his passenger window down.

Carry Mace, but use it as last resort.

Do NOT go to their driver's window, great way to get shot.

I just realized also that you could have been run over, lying in the street.

Yep, expect the cops to do nothing unless they witness the whole thing.

Kudos for being mature and sharing that. It does help other cyclists.

I'm glad you are ok, Most of us have gone down Adrenalin Alley.

BTW, if you are 20 feet back from the intersection and the vehicle that's going to squeal and smoke, you won't have to breathe the fumes.

colombo357

In civilized society, the victor of a battle isn't the stronger one, but the one who has less to lose.

roadiejorge 

Over the years of commuting and dealing with all sorts of motorists I learned that if you're going to tap on a window and start giving someone a piece of your mind then you should be ready for the possibility of an altercation. Let the minor things go, more serious things should get reported to the police as futile as that may seem it might save you the added insult to injury.

Henry III

In a larger city like Portland I'd imagine they'd have camera's at a lot of intersections. You should go back and check and if they do then check with the city about reviewing footage of when that happened. That really sucks to hear about but good thing your alright.

rlevine

just stopping in to say...wow that's a $hitty thing to happen. glad you're ok.
it's a tough in-between, situations like this. on the one hand, you may not want to put yourself in personal danger just to make a point, but most of us realize that some people need to be told that they're doing something wrong. this is not a black-and-white situation.

be safe out there.

BayAreaUser

I went through something similar yesterday. I was cruising down a two way street with a single lane in each direction (there is a bike lane for each direction). I usually stay alert and when I hear engines approaching from behind, I ensure i'm not invading their lane. Well, I hear this car, and just felt it/hear it come really close from behind. I moved, all the way to the right edge of my lane as a precautionary measure and it passed me about a foot away. The side view mirror was even closer, i felt the wind against my left elbow. Had i not moved, the side mirror (if not the car) would have certainly clipped me.

As soon as it passed me, I gunned it and started chasing it. At that point i was thinking, this mofo, I'm gonna tap on his window and just tell the driver off. I was furious but decided against it at the very last second, as my fist was about to contact their rear window.
I looked inside the cockpit and see two older asian women who were just clueless about what had just happened.
I quietly cursed them and just went on my way.

Unfortunately, sometimes you just have to be ready to face the consequences of your actions. If I scream at someone, i expect them to retaliate and this may involve a physical altercation.
So although I have a VERY short temper, I evaluated the situation, I can barely walk with road shoes, much less fight or run away if needed.
And the way i see it, if they pull a bat or knife against me, then I'm pretty defenseless too. I don't think a plastic water battle would do much damage.

Though I would not hesitate confronting most people in my everyday life, we are pretty defenseless against someone enraged with plenty of time to either look for an object to inflict damage, or simply clip you from behind with their 3 ton monster and driving away as you start to move forward.


Be safe out there!!

icyclist 

Another vote for letting such incidents go. All you did, OP, was let someone who was already acting like a jerk inflame you enough to make him act like more of a jerk.

c_bake

I'm glad you're okay and I think your 'strategy' was fine except the part where you tapped on his window and gave him a piece of your mind. There are a lot of irrational people driving motor vehicles. Please be careful and think twice if it happens again. Having said that, there is another option: Once on a ride my buddy had an incident like yours except instead of giving him a piece of his mind he simply rode up to the car, which was stopped at a red light, dis-mounted, then proceeded to puncture the sidewall of the car tire with his knife and simply rode away. Viewing all of this I couldnt believe he did it but afterwards as we talked it became humorous. Personally I wouldnt do that, I would just ignore the fools on the road.

gunner65

In my three years of commuting I have come to this conclusion...I do not care what the idiots in the cars do so long as they do not hit me.

downtube42

File a report, if nothing else to have it on record in case you or anyone else has another incident with him.

I try hard to never retaliate, for many sane and rational reasons. Rarely but sometimes I fail - and always regret it afterwards.

Nerull

Making sure that, when the cops show up, you'll be the one they arrest is not really a smart idea.

Sixty Fiver

My friend was hit in an intersection when a car rolled through a stop sign and after my friend said he and his bike were okay the driver of the car chased him down, ran him off the road, and punched him out because the bike scratched his car.

What is astounding is that my friend is being charged with mischief for intentionally damaging the car (when it hit him).

wtf ?

Portland is a nice city and I am aware of the rather excellent light timing... but it has it's share of *******s too.

Many people tie a lot of who they are to their vehicles and if you damage that they take it personally so you need to be prepared if you are going to touch a vehicle or tap on the glass as you did.

Same thing would happen if you walked up to someone's bike and started kicking it... it's owner might respond in a less than desirable way.

The response of the police to what is clearly assault is not acceptable.

HigherGround

Two whole paragraphs? No wonder Twitter has caught on.

dnuzzomueller

I start to debate now if there really are two optimal routes of action.

First is to let it go.

Second is to smash something then make sure they can't follow you.

Otherwise it seems like middle ground gets you closer to a dangerous scenario.