dmarkun

Driving home tonight around 11p. A main road, two lanes each way, a bit of traffic. About 30 mph. Very dark, not many street lights:
What is that? ... Holy cow a bike! I hit the brakes. No reflector. No tail light. The man is in the middle of the freaking lane - Invisible blackness.
I change lanes and pass. At the next intersection there's a street light so I pull over. The man on the bike passes and I shout to him: "Get a tail light!" No high beams, no menacing, no expletives.
Of course I get the finger. I don't use that gesture. But if I did I probably would have done the same thing.

wolfchild

Interesting... Isn't there a study which proves that cyclists are better people than drivers ?...

Kai Winters

cyclists and vehicle drivers are people and many people are just plain a ss..les...don't worry someone will get him sooner or later, just be glad it wasn't you.

jadmt

I believe studies have shown sudden flip of the finger in an angry gesture releases endorphins that make you feel better...well maybe not real scientific studies but I always feel better followed by a loud ATHOL for some reason in my neck of the woods ATHOL gets better results....

I-Like-To-Bike

What are the "better results" that a loud ATHOL produces over any other angry (or no) gesture response?

jadmt

the offender usually busts out laughing.....try it sometimes....

I-Like-To-Bike

Luckily I do not encounter offenders very often, even though I ride daily around town. On those rare occasions when I am offended by another user of the road I have found that no verbal response or physical gesture from me produces the desired result of soonest returning me to the right frame of mind to continue enjoying the ride.

jadmt

I don't know much about Burlington Iowa, heck I don't anything about it but sounds like the kind of place ATHOL would work, give it a try next time even if the middle finger doesn't go up....some times it takes practice to get the right inflection in your voice so I would suggest saying it out loud several different times until you have mastered it....

Iride01 

Seems that you saw the person in time to avoid them. Isn't that good enough? Or do we need to force everyone to do exactly as we all expect they should behave?

Though I wouldn't be riding at night without a tail light and head light as well as reflectors and other stuff, I don't know that I should get enraged over someone that chooses not to and gets away with it.

Chuck M 

I take it he had a helmet because the absense of one was not mentioned.

rumrunn6

lots of ppl have written "if they can't see me, they can't hit me" there's no helping some ppl

Roughstuff

Yes, the same studies show that swearing, especially prolonged blue streaks, releases chemicals which relax the part of the brain. You will notice that most swear words contain a lot of "explosive consonants" like K, F, G and B.

I economize on my blue streaks by saying just the first letter of every word: hence, "GDSMFKADFB!" Ma
kes you sound insane but less offensive.

jadmt

I bet that takes some practice to get that out so it rolls of the tongue...once mastered I can see how that is relaxing....

Paul Barnard

Do you make a practice of verbally engaging other road users who violate the law? I think you'd find that they'd often reply with a one finger salute. You'll often get that when you use the horn too.

Two truisms identified in your comments. Motorists for some reason or another feel like it's okay to shout at cyclists. Motorists think cyclists are more contrarian than other motorists.

I-Like-To-Bike

And nothing raises the hackles of a nattering nanny with a need to vocalize more than a bicyclist without the de rigueur headgear.

SpedFast

As long as I didn't hit him or cause myself damage avoiding him, I could care less. I feel for the poor soul that hits him eventually, and one will, and they will feel bad and possibly responsible for some idiots poor judgement, or not.

rumrunn6

Wifey has taken to moaning about the house. I ask what's wrong, she says "nothing, but it makes me feel better" um, OK Honey ...

rumrunn6

I have been known to say the words: "stop your car" "just stop your car" as I cycle toward a T intersection, where I have the right of way, & the driver has a stop sign, but they just keeping rolling, on a collision course w/ me. as-in "hey, I'm cycling here"

trivia, that line was ad-libbed by Dustin Hoffman

njkayaker

I guess you ride like this person.

One stupid person doesn't really represent an entire group (many of whom try not to be "contrarian").

njkayaker

Clearly, statistics isn't your strong suit.

(Who knows if that study is valid but one stupid person doesn't invalidate it.)

I-Like-To-Bike

Anyone who took a look at the cited study abstract and its dependence on the definition of better people as measured by their "orientation towards the (alleged) common good" does know about the validity of its conclusions.

njkayaker

Missing my point.

I-Like-To-Bike

Your "point" that nobody knows if the so-called study about the superior righteousness of bicycle riders was valid?

njkayaker

No.

If that was the point I was trying to make, I would have posted in the other thread.

Leisesturm

Very occasionally, flipping off the offender has unforeseen results ...