Originally Posted by
big john
I don't know if it's due to the pandemic or what but motorists have been more kind lately around here. Sure, there are still jerks but their numbers seem fewer recently.
Saturday there was a freeway closure and traffic was diverted onto the normally quiet road we were using. There were suddenly hundreds of cars and trucks but everyone was cool. People let us through when traffic bunched up and one guy held traffic back when we went through a tunnel.
I don't like flipping off drivers because they can kill us if they choose. A friend flipped off a driver who then circled the block and hit him with his car, knocking him into a parked car. He wasn't badly hurt, luckily. Another friend had a similar experience but he was knocked unconscious when the car hit him. A group of about 5 friends were riding along and got into it with a driver who then jumped out with a cane and started swinging it at the riders. One of the riders is a martial artist and subdued the idiot until police arrived.
I was riding with a friend who is a Viet Nam vet and will fight anyone, anytime. A kid in a diesel truck did the rolling coal thing to us and got slowed by traffic ahead. My friend gave chase and the stupid driver made a right turn and almost hit some kids in a crosswalk. It was very close and left all of us shaken.
Yep, no accounting for stupid people. Theres no winning either way unless you give up riding.. Some say just let it be, don't acknowledge them. The problem with that is it emboldens the behaviour. They take it further and further, until someone pays the price.
Stand up to them and they might run you over. Give em the finger (Mines on a hair trigger) they might kill you.
IF all it takes is my giving them the Hawaiian good luck sign for them to run me down, it's just a matter of time anyways.
Sorry to say, the cops are worthless unless the guy (or gal) incriminate themselves. They didn't see it. I've called 911 a lot never done any good. Maybe twice and I had to go to court, write statements, etc. It blows.
The pandemic has made things way worse here.. people are just looking for pots to stir. Last year I had problems that I called 911 every day during my vacation. In response to an officer telling me that's what I'm supposed to do. A woman pulled a 2ft length of pipe out on me after she road raged at me for riding my bike in the street. People say I look for problems. I'm just riding my bike. Doing what the law says I can do.