StanSeven

A couple posts about guns were deleted. Let’s avoid those discussions because the talk never leads to anything good. That’s why the subject isn’t allowed.

rumrunn6

yes, you are not alone

Daniel4

I was honked at on Thursday. What did I do? What I normally do: held my line, took the lane and when I had passed all the parked cars, moved over to the right about a metre from the curb.

I didn't know if the honk was a 'I'm here' honk or a 'get out of my way' honk but I'm guessing the rear facing camera gave him some patience as he passed me when I allowed him to pass only for him to get into the left turn lane.

LarrySellerz

Had another incident this evening on my way home. I was on a busy street riding in the “door zone” and a car passed me way too closely. I was kind of perturbed, and saw another car looking like its going to do the same thing. The other car (suv) starts passing me kind of slowly and i reach over and bang on the side of the car a few times and throw a bird. Then we got to a red light and i banged on her car some more and gave her a look and threw up my arms to display exasperation. Im thinking that i should have politely knocked on her window and told her to give atleast 12 inches when passing cyclists because she could spook someone and cause a crash. Might go over better than banging on her car

jon c. 

It's possible these aren't random. Perhaps they know you.

LarrySellerz

Im pretty recognizable but most of the comments I get from drivers are encouraging

veganbikes

Apparently they are encouraging you to go to violence.

When drivers yell at me I tend to yell back "I love you too" because usually they are saying something unintelligible that I assume is potential anger or some stupid comment and also because it completely screws with their head.

Daniel4

That would be totally expected.

Don't ride in the door zone. Take the lane until it's safe to get back into the right lane.

LarrySellerz

Slapping a car that got too close to you is not "violence" in my opinion. I didn't hurt their car just got their attention. If I wanted to I could have damaged their car but I wouldn't do that.

JW Fas

1. Don't ride in the door zone. Make the cars wait until there is room to safely pass.
2. Your initial slap on the car was okay, because any vehicle that is close enough to touch is already way too close.
3. Your second round of banging on her car was too far, because the immediate danger was gone. If this had turned into a police matter, you would've been hammered for escalating the conflict when the danger had passed. If she tried to use her vehicle as a weapon or she got out of her vehicle to confront you, then it would be a different story, but neither of those things happened.

rydabent

When I was younger, I may have has an incident that I had road rage on a bike. I worked 50 years as a service tech for a large computer Co. I was on call 24/7/365 except when I was on vacation. But now I am retired, and dont have to be in a hurry to do anything. When someone cuts me off or some other infraction, I just tell myself well I guess he is in a hurry and thinks he is far more important than me, and just let it go. Being retired and relaxed is fantastic.

LarrySellerz

I prefer to ride as far to the right as possible, I try to look at all of the parked cars mirrors to see if someone is inside. I take liberties with the rules of the road and my main ethos is to stay out of the way. This means that I don't take the lane because I don't want to slow traffic, but in doing so I don't insert myself and force cars to change lanes to pass. I trust that cars will still respect my space and stay atleast 12 inches from me.

Daniel4

This kind of comment belongs to the "When will they ever learn" thread.

I think a lot of us thought that way until we realized that drivers don't care how courteous we are and just want us off the road or until we learned getting doored AND run over right after getting doored is more risky than getting honked at.

livedarklions

Are you trying to get shot? Knock that crap off.

livedarklions

You said you banged on her car when it was stopped--that's a threat in pretty much anyone's eyes because it has no legitimate purpose and it's freaking scary when you don't know what the person doing it is capable of. Slapping a car that's actually moving towards you or too closely to you is a whole different matter because that might be a legitimate way to call attention to your presence.

livedarklions

Have you ever driven? When you're in the door zone as you describe, you're in the way of the cars to your left, they just don't know it because you're probably in their blind spot. TBH, if I'm a driver, what you're describing doing as a cyclist is generally my worst nightmare.

JW Fas

I'm pretty sure I've seen Larry in the news before.

LarrySellerz

The purpose was so the driver knew i was displeased and hopefully she doesnt pass another cyclist that close

livedarklions

That's not a legitimate purpose for making contact with the vehicle. If you're actually hitting the car, you're possibly crossing the line into criminal threatening, and if you damage the car in any way you will definitely be criminally liable. If the driver wants you arrested, guess where they're suddenly going to "find" a new scratch on the car.

Generally, the law doesn't look kindly on shows of displeasure while operating on a road, especially if they include contact. If you keep doing this, you're being an idiot.

Daniel4

Let's put it this way.

Here you are in a discussion forum arguing anonymously with like-minded cyclists who may disagree with you what violence is.

When you actually meet people who are drivers in a real life situation, the best that can happen is that you get the results you want.

The worse that can happen is that they may retaliate and escalate into something I don't want to imagine.

When has drivers teaching each other a lesson ever resulted in overall better driving?

LarrySellerz

I slapped the car a few times when it was stuck in traffic and then went on my way, gestured to the driver throwing my arms up like "what the heck, why would you do that?" trying to look exasperated. The car couldn't possibly have retaliated besides taking out a gun and trying to shoot me, which frankly im not worried about.

Daniel4

Is there only one driver where you cycle?

livedarklions

A lot of people drive armed. You're a fool not to take that into account.

If you were just trying to send a message, stick to the gestures. You obviously aren't good at gauging how threatening people are going to find your conduct. Someone goes even a little bit out of their way to audibly hit my car, I'm absolutely perceiving that as a threat if I'm stuck in traffic. You want to set yourself up to be the test case on the limits osf a driver's right to self-defense, that's on you, but the only time I'm going to do ANYTHING that could be interpreted as a threat is to deter the occupant of the car from getting out of the vehicle to start something. I've had to do that a couple of times.

Geergirl

Once, right next to a school, where i had to turn left, so was attempting to take the middle of the lane when a car started going side by side with me, preventing me from making the left turn. He flipped me off, so I gave him one back, he yelled some obscenities and drove off, then finally I could turn left. That was a corner known for accidents (and the new bike lane hasnt really fixed the visibility problem.)

Daniel4

Bike lanes really need to have physical separation right up to where the pedestrian crosswalk starts. And then barriers in the intersection to force drivers into making wide turns. Keeping their cars from getting scratched will make drivers pay attention.