cc700

So I just got cut off by some guy in a conversion van... he stopped in time for me to get by but he was half into my lane as he merged right at a notoriously bad intersection.

Then as he was driving behind me in the curb lane, he reved his engine and got way too close to my back tire. I got pissed, and aside from an askance glance over my shoulder didn't do anything.

He passed me leaving maybe two feet off my shoulder, and then stopped in traffic.

I got in his face and told him to 'calm down' while motioning the same with my hand. I was a foot away from his window.

He did the "shh" finger over his lips until he rolled down his window and said, pretty calmly but quite rudely, "Shut up."

I stared at him for half a second, and then ripped out my U-lock and said, coldly - "Seriously." Next time I caught up to him in traffic I corked him, in the left of two lanes, at about 5mph and didn't let him pass, holding up traffic at five mph for two blocks. Pretty civil-disobedience and not really all that 'illegal' apart from taking a left lane and not yielding... which is basically what he did when he initially cut me off.


Apart from brandishing the U-lock that's all I did, and I'm convinced I didn't help 'discipline' him or promote respect for cyclists at all... but he was really pissing me off.

You should also understand that I'm about as close to a pacifist as a privileged white boy can get.
If he had hit me and I could have walked, I would have assaulted him.

I wouldn't have been so radically indignant or infuriated at such a light intimidation and endangerment... half cutting me off and stopping in my path is avoidable enough... though he DID see me and kept rolling forward... but in this case I had done nothing wrong and I was legally riding as safe as possible.

Does this ever escalate to violence in such a road rage situation, or is it just a myth?

No critical mass discussion(!!! normal, non mass street riding rage situations only !!!) or non-traffic stories please. I don't want to hear about a bum that jumped you in an alley, or a fight that broke out at a college bar.

and....... GO!

Squirrelli

It totally depends on the guy's attitude afterward.

I've had some guy cut me off in front of the bike lane on a big shiny Mercedes and he honked me like 3 times when he was behind me. I turned around and pointed to the bike logo on the lane. He ignored and he kept honking. I yelled out..."IT'S A ****ING BIKE LANE!" when he zoomed by me and we got to the a red light, and he was by my side...he rolled down the window. I was about to snap at him, but he was like OMG OMG I'M SO SORRY...are you okay, omg omg...then he gave me a can of cream soda to "make up" for it. Because he looked extremely frightened and apologized and gave me FREE POP. I just smiled, and gave him a it's all good gesture and we head our ways.

He felt sorry for it and apologized...so it was all good, but if he was a dick about the whole situation...I would have snapped...BIG TIME.

Scrodzilla

I did the same thing after being cut off by a dude with a tiny penis in a huge pickup truck - he floored it to pass me and made a right turn directly in front of me, pushing my heart into my throat and nearly causing me to crash. Pissed, I decided "I'll go that way too" and caught up to him at a red light where he began telling me he'd "get out of his truck and kick my ass" before I even said anything. I pulled my lock from my belt, smashed his passenger side window (literally) and dared him to step out (in language that isn't printable here). He didn't. Instead, he blew through the red light and nearly caused an accident. I'm usually pretty mellow about idiot drivers but sometimes it just gets to be too much...especially when some ******* nearly kills me and then starts verbally threatening me.

Luckily, I'm the guy who keeps the local Police Dept.'s bikes tuned up.

TejanoTrackie 

This thread has nothing to do with SSFG. Moving to A&S.

Scrodzilla

cc700

Hooray! How's it going A&S?

OHAI. I can has sympathy of public?

Joe_Mo

thats awesome.

Wonder if I should start carrying my ulock on my frame for just such an occasion.

Scrodzilla

I'm never one to be an advocate for violence of destruction of anyone's property but when it comes time to defend myself or deliver some justice to someone deserving, it's a different story. I literally turn into a werewolf when provoked.

Seattle Forrest

Which one?

Of course it does. There are seven billion people on this planet, and natural selection has seen fit to give us hot tempers. It probably doesn't happen very often, though, for a number of reasons.

I think the pacifist in you has it right, and I think there's a danger in confusing (in the heat of the moment) "defending myself" with "being really angry." On the other hand, I think taking the lane and inconveniencing somebody is entirely different from breaking their window and threatening them with a U-lock.

Scrodzilla

In my instance the guy threatened me - not only by intentionally cutting me off but also by telling me he was going to "kick my ass" once I caught up to him. It wasn't until after both of those things that I chose to retaliate to show him it wasn't going down that way.

Am I waving my U-lock around every time someone cuts me off? Of course not. But when someone wants to intentionally put me in harm's way when I am obeying cycling laws and then play tough guy as a result of his own stupidity, it's a different thing altogether.

I-Like-To-Bike

Does a bicycle riding dude get a big dick if he get's pissed over insignificant events that are already over and decides "go that way too" to stir up some doodoo?

Scrodzilla

Sure. I was absolutely stoked to have words with that idiot and there's nothing "insignificant" about someone intentionally trying to hit me with their vehicle because he's too macho (or whatever) to simply let the guy on the bike go first.

Are you saying that if some guy was standing outside throwing rocks at your house (or any other given example of someone causing you grief), you wouldn't confront him? Does it really have anything to do with your dick?

Seattle Forrest

I think once you start retaliating, it's too late to call anything "self defense," and "vigilante justice" ( or just -fun ) is more appropriate. There was a doctor in LA who cut off and brake-checked two cyclists. He's now an inmate, but a lot of drivers from his area stood up for him, saying things like "Cyclists flip people off - these two got what's coming to them." Drivers sometimes do all sorts of things to make our blood boil, and it sucks, but need to man or woman up.

If the guy says he's going to kick your arse when you catch up to him, don't catch up to him; take a side street, go around in the next lane, or whatever. Violence is the absolute last resort when you're in harm's way and it's completely unavailable. Being violent because you got caught up in a peeing match means you let the cager in your head, and lost the game. I think this is a lot like laws about having to yield, because nobody has the right to cause a collision, and it's everybody's responsibility to avoid one. Sometimes we all have to be the "bigger" person, even when it isn't easy.

Scrodzilla

I agree with you but at that moment, it happened a different way.

I-Like-To-Bike

You seem overly concerned with everyone else's dick. Perhaps you should knock some sense into your own head, especially about your jackbooted right to "deliver some justice to someone deserving" as determined by you. Maybe you and similar minded characters can go out and lynch some deserving loozers.

Scrodzilla

Oh shut up. You were the one who asked if I "got a big dick" by following the guy.

It has nothing to do with "lynching" anyone. The dude put me in harm's way by almost hitting me with his truck. I confronted him and he deserved to be confronted. He lashed out, I lashed back. Welcome to the world.

I-Like-To-Bike

Final observation with this Jack, read your own OP and your graphic description of the truck driver's allegedly inadequate anatomy.

Point being that such stupid gratuitous comments mark the rest of your "description" of the events as just being more loopy emotional ranting. Bicycling doesn't need "justice" administered by dingbats with a U-lock and an attitude.

Scrodzilla

My comment about the dude's man parts stems from common local humor regarding dudes who drive big trucks and rev their engines when next to you. I should have explained.

You're absolutely right. I enjoy riding my bike and don't view it as being involved in some sort of "battle" with cars. I explained that I'm not an advocate of violence and don't ride around waving my lock at people like a maniac, but this was one instance when I lost my cool (which is what the thread was supposed to be about).

electrik

Game over man! Game over.

OP that finger thing is creepy, I wonder if he does that to all his girlfriends after he assaults them, gotta wonder!

Standalone 

the "shh" thing before telling me to "shut up" would elicit nothing but gleeful derisive laughter at his lameness.

but watch out:

I "corked" a woman like only in front of her near fender to tell her that she beep-buzzed me at an angled and potholed rail crossing. She drove into my knee the moment the light turned green and took me out.

The cop that someone else called on my behalf threatened to arrest me for disturbing the peace and suggested that I was somehow illegally detaining her. That can ramp up to some pretty serious kidnapping charges.

But then things are different for us here on the urban east coast. That is, they suck.

Also, think about the word "brandish" and what kind of trouble that can land you in.

MaxSta

I was going to say that was a really ******** thing to do... However come to think of it, a guy did the same thing to me once, (except he simply parked next to a store on the corner, saving 4-5 seconds and almost running me down)... I was so angry I wanted to charge him and just fight in the street..

Honestly if someone almost kills you, I understand wanting to give them a piece of your mind.

cc700

I definitely knew I was 'brandishing' when I did it, and it was a reaction to his rude speech. I also knew it was going to escalate the situation, but as I have said, I was pissed off.

If this guy has pushed kidnapping charges on me with the co-operation of the police for 'corking' at five miles an hour I would have sued the city, plain and simple.

He cut me off at the intersection of Fairview and Broad, where the "Mercer Weave" starts after exiting from I-5. I was on Fairview, and he was on Fairview in the right hand turn "yield" lane to Fairview. I was headed North continuing on Broad that turns into Fairview before this happened, and I was through the intersection before he entered my lane. It continued up fairview and I five-mile and hour 'corked' the left lane after the light at the left turn continuance onto Eastlake.

There needs to be a way for people to be held accountable for actions taken directly against other road users. And I stand by my original post, which I wrote about ten minutes after this thing happened.

Dchiefransom

Go review the thread on the driver in Canada that reacted to a pissed off cyclist. The end result is what?

cc700

Such stories only make me more angry when someone tries to kill me. Doesn't make me want to hide my head.

In the future I'll try to talk some sense into people by politely saying that they should respect the right to safely share the road. Key word is 'try.' The problem is that if you look at it from the perspective of might makes right and no one gets justice from any system in place, it just makes the world worse to bike in.

MaxSta

link?