Originally Posted by
I-Like-To-Bike
Maybe I missed it but where did the OP reveal that he was buzzed or bullied by the city employee, or as others have assumed, violated any traffic regulation? The OP has been sparse with details about his own part of this incident other than he was cycling in the left lane and later after hearing blowing horn which perhaps was provoked by his own cycling left lane riding action, he caught up with the motorist and cursing and bad cycling advice ensued. What if anything occurred with the catching up other than the other guy was vulgar has not been stated.
Obviously some feel that regardless of what the cyclist said or did he must be protected from a wayward horn blast or mean words.
OK, so I actually reread the OP very carefully. He's in the left lane because there are parked cars in the right lane--it's so stated in the post. This is definitely correct procedure in pretty much every state in the Union--you're not supposed to ride too close to the parked car, and FRAP moves quite a bit to the left. The driver did not like that the cyclist was taking the lane as allowed by applicable law and engaged in harassing honking, gesturing and swearing. Your claim that this was likely provocative riding is complete nonsense and only reveals your bias here.
Frankly, I think your idea that someone in a city vehicle can act like this with a complete sense of impunity is utterly indefensible, and you've staked out a ridiculously extremist "the cyclist is always to blame and just has to lump the abuse" position for yourself.
And yes, I have no trouble crediting the OP's account of this because I've had drivers act worse when I refuse to put myself to the right of a right turn lane that happened to be the lane for an entrance ramp to a restricted highway. All I did there was make myself highly visible so no one would hit me, and if they had to slow, it was for a fraction of a second. They didn't happen to have vehicles that were labeled with the name of their employer, but I would definitely have contacted that employer if they had. The snowflake driver will just have to deal with it.