iconicflux

I have one section of road while I'm commuting my kids to school by bike that is always bad. It's only about 3 blocks but it always has the worst drivers.

Last week I had someone yell at me to ride on the sidewalk (illegal in MD), attempt to run me off the road, and then stop and threaten me. (My use of profanity towards them when they began swerving towards me probably didn't help.)

Today I had one car blow through a red light so badly that if I'd turned immediately at the green light (it'd been green for about 10 seconds) they would have hit me for sure. Then no more than 2 blocks later a car pulls into a right turn only lane and proceeds to go straight through an intersection on a red light.

I emailed the lieutenant for patrols that covers that area to ask what kind of video he needs from me to begin ticketing drivers. Hopefully he'll get back with me soon.

This intersection is bad but the other intersections to get under the freeway are even worse so I don't have much choice but to ride it. Any thoughts on dealing with drivers like this that have no problem violating the law even when it affects the safety of others?

ItsJustMe

Good idea on the video, especially talking to the police first. I was going to suggest video.

Digital_Cowboy

Maybe contacting your local media as well. Get them to come out and observe what is happening. If the police know that the local media is going to be involved they may step up their presence in the area as well.

Or maybe they can park one of those decoy patrol cars in the area. I seem to recall reading that doing so does have a positive effect on drivers.

That is until they learn that it is a decoy.

njkayaker

???

What's illegal? Yelling or riding your bike in the shoulder.

I know of no state where it's illegal to ride a bike in the shoulder (it's illegal for motor vehicles to travel in the shoulder in every state).

A few states require using the shoulder in certain situations.

iconicflux

I meant sidewalk. There is no shoulder at this section, just a sidewalk.

I fixed the original post. Thanks for pointing out the error.

CB HI

Bet you did not know that is was illegal to cycle on the shoulder in Hawaii up until a couple years ago.

unterhausen

Actually, I'm pretty sure there are some states that have a prohibition of vehicular travel on shoulders (almost every state, in fact) and also do not have an exception for cyclists.
Seems to me that the recent NJ supreme court ruling pointed out that cyclists are not given the right to ride on the shoulder in NJ, and I'm guessing it's illegal for vehicles to travel on the shoulder in NJ. Wouldn't mind knowing since I ride quite a bit in NJ, but I'm not going to stop riding on the shoulder there either way.