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Should I report this city employee?

Old 10-25-21, 01:27 PM
  #76  
Nanovanman
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Report Him!

Originally Posted by truthseeker14
I was in the left lane of a four lane road (2 lanes each way). Traffic wasn't very heavy. There were cars parked on the curb lane. A driver of a city government vehicle, came up behind me and started honking his horn. He passed me and then he started gesturing me towards the sidewalk. I caught up with him a couple lights later, and he shouted, "F*** you! get on the sidewalk". I got his license plate number and am debating whether to call the city about this city employee. I'm pretty sure he was the same driver that buzzed me earlier on my ride. Report or not?
You should definitely report that person. Very poor representation of a public employee. I know of no place where bicycles are required to ride on the sidewalk, although they are allowed to in some areas.
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Old 10-25-21, 02:01 PM
  #77  
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Originally Posted by truthseeker14
I was in the left lane of a four lane road (2 lanes each way). Traffic wasn't very heavy. There were cars parked on the curb lane. A driver of a city government vehicle, came up behind me and started honking his horn. He passed me and then he started gesturing me towards the sidewalk. I caught up with him a couple lights later, and he shouted, "F*** you! get on the sidewalk". I got his license plate number and am debating whether to call the city about this city employee. I'm pretty sure he was the same driver that buzzed me earlier on my ride. Report or
not?
Hell yes you should report. His behavior was very inappropriate. You pay city taxes so you do have same saying.
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Old 10-25-21, 03:49 PM
  #78  
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left lane?

Please clarify, you were in the left lane of the two lanes moving in your direction (fast lane)? or were you on the wrong side of the road going against traffic?

or were you in the UK?


Originally Posted by truthseeker14
I was in the left lane of a four lane road (2 lanes each way). Traffic wasn't very heavy. There were cars parked on the curb lane. A driver of a city government vehicle, came up behind me and started honking his horn. He passed me and then he started gesturing me towards the sidewalk. I caught up with him a couple lights later, and he shouted, "F*** you! get on the sidewalk". I got his license plate number and am debating whether to call the city about this city employee. I'm pretty sure he was the same driver that buzzed me earlier on my ride. Report or not?
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Old 10-25-21, 04:30 PM
  #79  
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Originally Posted by dkatz1
gosh. What if you dont' want to wear headphones? I sure don't.
To each, their own.

I don't give a damn
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Old 10-25-21, 07:22 PM
  #80  
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Do it. If you don't for sure nothing will be done. If you do, there is a small chance that something will be done. Years ago we got threatened by a nutcase in a car with the usual profanities. We reported him to the police. Evidently, so did others. He was charged with assault and we saw him in court months later. He was convicted with a probation. Although he didn't do jail time, his legal fees alone probably made him think twice about doing this the next time.
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Old 10-26-21, 07:19 AM
  #81  
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It sounds like a case of bad attitude.
If the guy had yelled 'sorry for buzzing you' instead of 'eff you, go ride on the sidewalk', this wouldn't even be an issue.
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Old 10-26-21, 09:36 AM
  #82  
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Truthseeker reply

No you shouldn't waste your and the City's time. You were in the wrong riding in the left lane and were a driver 'irritant" and should take responsibility for your actions (I'm sorry to say). By catching up to the driver and giving him the finger and yelling FU you have just created someone who is going to be hostile to riders like me. We all need to grow up and realize how we affect our fellow man. I am not excusing the driver's behavior but you had control over yours and chose not to exercise it. Just spend a few minutes thinking about what YOU did and reflect on it.
If you think I'm a new rider you are wrong. I bought my first 10 speed in 1955 and have been riding ever since (in Boulder, CO). I have toured in the US, Europe, Hawaii, and Mexico. I raced on both the Road and Track. I am Nearly 80 and in great shape. My one encounter with an car was back in Southern California when I was 16 and a woman cut me off pulling off Verdugo Rd (a main thoroughfare) and I was moving close to 30 mph. I ended up throwing myself up on the hood of the car with my bike still strapped in the pedals and started cussing a blur streak at the woman driver laying the blame completely on her. She got out of the car crying and said that "She didn't see me." I NEVER FORGOT HER WORDS "SHE DID'T SEE ME." I realized that she really didn't. I have lived by the rule CAR DRIVERS may or may not see me and I need to be careful. I am invisible so its my bad. You may be "right" but if you die it doesn't matter!
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Old 10-26-21, 09:44 AM
  #83  
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Say What! Too much tester one! Please read my reply to Truthseeker. Both are good unless a conflict is created by YOU. I ride up in Trump country north of Boulder County all the time with big pickups all around. I wear a jersey with a BIG American Flag and am the only one without a hostile story after riding all day. I simply assume I'm invisible and never have a close encounter with a mad driver. In fact they just wave and beep. Please don't create another mad bubba that I have to face on my rides. Remember we all use the same roads.
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Old 10-26-21, 09:48 AM
  #84  
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The codes also have you stoping for stop signs, giving hand signals, AND riding in the far right lane...how many cyclists do that. WE DON'T OWN THE ROAD!
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Old 10-26-21, 11:44 AM
  #85  
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There's a reason for the term "Share the road". Nobody owns the road.

And really, if drivers expect cyclists to obey the rules of the road, then they should expect cyclists sometime need to turn left.

Is it anybody's business to question all the lane positions of every driver on the road? All I care about them is that they are all driving safely.

Last edited by Daniel4; 10-26-21 at 11:48 AM.
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Old 10-26-21, 03:09 PM
  #86  
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Originally Posted by truthseeker14
I was in the left lane of a four lane road (2 lanes each way). Traffic wasn't very heavy. There were cars parked on the curb lane. A driver of a city government vehicle, came up behind me and started honking his horn. He passed me and then he started gesturing me towards the sidewalk. I caught up with him a couple lights later, and he shouted, "F*** you! get on the sidewalk". I got his license plate number and am debating whether to call the city about this city employee. I'm pretty sure he was the same driver that buzzed me earlier on my ride. Report or not?
Normally I would say that making people's lives miserable is not a good idea but in this case the person really needs to be "informed" of his bad behavior. Report him. That said, why were you riding your bike in the passing lane of a highway? Were you turning left at an upcoming intersection?
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Old 10-26-21, 03:47 PM
  #87  
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I agree that some clarification of the rider's lane position would help, but nothing excuses a car/truck/bus driver buzzing a rider. I can deal with someone yelling and cursing at me, and usually it just makes me laugh (which makes them even more angry), but a physical threat from a moving vehicle is another story.

Originally Posted by I-Like-To-Bike
"Vile behavior" Gosh, some folks must have led very sheltered lives and/or have a significant inability to moderate the over reaction drama when they ride a bicycle. Sure hope nothing seriously wrong ever happens when you ride your bike
By all means load up on cameras and microphones in order to capture every slight.
See above. I'm not sure what your problem is, but trying to bully a rider with a large motor vehicle is no joke. That's your life they are playing games with, and that is not OK. I've spent enough time on bicycles and motorcycles to have experienced this first hand, and it should not go unreported. Again, word are one thing (sticks and stones and what not), but it's not OK to put someone's life at risk.
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Old 10-26-21, 04:45 PM
  #88  
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Originally Posted by robertorolfo
I agree that some clarification of the rider's lane position would help, but nothing excuses a car/truck/bus driver buzzing a rider. I can deal with someone yelling and cursing at me, and usually it just makes me laugh (which makes them even more angry), but a physical threat from a moving vehicle is another story.



See above. I'm not sure what your problem is, but trying to bully a rider with a large motor vehicle is no joke. That's your life they are playing games with, and that is not OK. I've spent enough time on bicycles and motorcycles to have experienced this first hand, and it should not go unreported. Again, word are one thing (sticks and stones and what not), but it's not OK to put someone's life at risk.
Maybe I missed it but where did the OP reveal that he was buzzed or bullied by the city employee, or as others have assumed, violated any traffic regulation? The OP has been sparse with details about his own part of this incident other than he was cycling in the left lane and later after hearing blowing horn which perhaps was provoked by his own cycling left lane riding action, he caught up with the motorist and cursing and bad cycling advice ensued. What if anything occurred with the catching up other than the other guy was vulgar has not been stated.

Obviously some feel that regardless of what the cyclist said or did he must be protected from a wayward horn blast or mean words.
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Old 10-26-21, 06:34 PM
  #89  
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Originally Posted by I-Like-To-Bike
Maybe I missed it but where did the OP reveal that he was buzzed or bullied by the city employee, or as others have assumed, violated any traffic regulation? The OP has been sparse with details about his own part of this incident other than he was cycling in the left lane and later after hearing blowing horn which perhaps was provoked by his own cycling left lane riding action, he caught up with the motorist and cursing and bad cycling advice ensued. What if anything occurred with the catching up other than the other guy was vulgar has not been stated.

Obviously some feel that regardless of what the cyclist said or did he must be protected from a wayward horn blast or mean words.

While you're at it, why not assume he was eating a human baby while riding his bike?
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Old 10-27-21, 07:48 AM
  #90  
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Originally Posted by I-Like-To-Bike
Maybe I missed it but where did the OP reveal that he was buzzed or bullied by the city employee, or as others have assumed, violated any traffic regulation? The OP has been sparse with details about his own part of this incident other than he was cycling in the left lane and later after hearing blowing horn which perhaps was provoked by his own cycling left lane riding action, he caught up with the motorist and cursing and bad cycling advice ensued. What if anything occurred with the catching up other than the other guy was vulgar has not been stated.

Obviously some feel that regardless of what the cyclist said or did he must be protected from a wayward horn blast or mean words.

OK, so I actually reread the OP very carefully. He's in the left lane because there are parked cars in the right lane--it's so stated in the post. This is definitely correct procedure in pretty much every state in the Union--you're not supposed to ride too close to the parked car, and FRAP moves quite a bit to the left. The driver did not like that the cyclist was taking the lane as allowed by applicable law and engaged in harassing honking, gesturing and swearing. Your claim that this was likely provocative riding is complete nonsense and only reveals your bias here.

Frankly, I think your idea that someone in a city vehicle can act like this with a complete sense of impunity is utterly indefensible, and you've staked out a ridiculously extremist "the cyclist is always to blame and just has to lump the abuse" position for yourself.

And yes, I have no trouble crediting the OP's account of this because I've had drivers act worse when I refuse to put myself to the right of a right turn lane that happened to be the lane for an entrance ramp to a restricted highway. All I did there was make myself highly visible so no one would hit me, and if they had to slow, it was for a fraction of a second. They didn't happen to have vehicles that were labeled with the name of their employer, but I would definitely have contacted that employer if they had. The snowflake driver will just have to deal with it.
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Old 10-27-21, 08:58 AM
  #91  
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Originally Posted by ridelikeaturtle
Your local cop shop.
Maybe in Dublin. Here across the pond, we have very simples lines of authority. A public employee works for a department within a city. If it's a utility or service like trash or snow removal, it'll be the Public Works department, located beneath the City government web site. They will have a public comment "contact us" tab.
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Old 10-27-21, 09:00 AM
  #92  
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"I was in the left lane of a four lane road (2 lanes each way). Traffic wasn't very heavy. There were cars parked on the curb lane."

Perhaps somewhere this means that on a four lane road the right lane = curb lane, motor vehicles legally park in the right lane and moving traffic only travels in the left lane, i.e. only one lane is used each way for moving traffic.

I have never lived in a place where any road described as a "four lane road" is used that way, or where the right lanes of a four lane road are described as "curb lanes" to be used for legal parking, and only the left lane is used for moving traffic.

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Old 10-27-21, 10:19 AM
  #93  
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Originally Posted by Phil_gretz
Maybe in Dublin. Here across the pond, we have very simples lines of authority. A public employee works for a department within a city. If it's a utility or service like trash or snow removal, it'll be the Public Works department, located beneath the City government web site. They will have a public comment "contact us" tab.
A person verbally assaults (or harasses, whatever you want to say) another person, while in their car, which - when used in anger - is lethal.

Is the point being missed here? An employer (city or otherwise), given the chance, will bury this internally so nobody finds out.

Cops should take this seriously. File a report with the police, because it's not the first time and won't be the last. When people get angry behind the wheel, other people die. Without a doubt, if somebody behind the wheel screamed at a cop on a bicycle, the cop would be filing a report.
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Old 10-27-21, 10:28 AM
  #94  
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Originally Posted by teejaywhy
You think honking and swearing is a matter for the police?
You think bullying and intimidation with a motor vehicle is no big deal?
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Old 10-27-21, 10:46 AM
  #95  
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Originally Posted by I-Like-To-Bike
"I was in the left lane of a four lane road (2 lanes each way). Traffic wasn't very heavy. There were cars parked on the curb lane."

Perhaps somewhere this means that on a four lane road the right lane = curb lane, motor vehicles legally park in the right lane and moving traffic only travels in the left lane, i.e. only one lane is used each way for moving traffic.

I have never lived in a place where any road described as a "four lane road" is used that way, or where the right lanes of a four lane road are described as "curb lanes" to be used for legal parking, and only the left lane is used for moving traffic.

You need to get out more. This sounds to me like the right side of the right lane was parking, a very common street arrangement which places the remaining section of the lane in the door zone. FRAP takes you out of the door zone, so the FRAP could easily be the right margin of the left lane. See also right lane allows right turns, so in NH (a FRAP state), proper way to ride at the intersection is right in the middle of the right lane or further to the left (by law) so you don't get right-hooked. I'm not spending time going to look up Ohio law, but your repeated assertions that we're unreasonable in assuming the rider was likely riding lanes appropriately were goofy to start with. Lord knows, I've made mistakes riding that caused honking, I sure wouldn't be posting about them here to ask if I should go after the honker.
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Old 10-27-21, 10:57 AM
  #96  
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Originally Posted by ridelikeaturtle
A person verbally assaults (or harasses, whatever you want to say) another person, while in their car, which - when used in anger - is lethal.

Is the point being missed here?
It's not what you're missing, but what you are adding. The police are trained to gather facts. There is no evidence given in this scenario that the car "was used" in any way. Any supposition you may have about what the driver would have done, or may have intended to do, is simply that...supposition. Trained police would not likely be interested in this, unless the driver were a person of interest in prior crimes.
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Old 10-27-21, 11:05 AM
  #97  
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Originally Posted by Phil_gretz
It's not what you're missing, but what you are adding. The police are trained to gather facts. There is no evidence given in this scenario that the car "was used" in any way. Any supposition you may have about what the driver would have done, or may have intended to do, is simply that...supposition. Trained police would not likely be interested in this, unless the driver were a person of interest in prior crimes.
You wouldn't say this if it were a handgun instead of a motor vehicle. (Then again, if you're in the USA, maybe you would.) Until crimes in cars are treated with seriousness, people will die.

I suspect you also wouldn't have the same attitude if it was your kid on the bicycle. 100% "supposition" on my part.

After this (hopefully) gets reported, the next time - and there will be a next time - this person will now have a history, and maybe they'd think twice before doing it again.
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Old 10-27-21, 11:34 AM
  #98  
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Originally Posted by Phil_gretz
It's not what you're missing, but what you are adding. The police are trained to gather facts. There is no evidence given in this scenario that the car "was used" in any way. Any supposition you may have about what the driver would have done, or may have intended to do, is simply that...supposition. Trained police would not likely be interested in this, unless the driver were a person of interest in prior crimes.


Jurisdictions sometimes have general "nuisance" or "disturbing the peace" or "creating unsafe conditions" statutes that might be stretched to cover this type of behavior if you happen to do it in front of a cop, but there's no way they're going to put any effort into tracking the guy down after the fact. I think there's an implied threat with any excessive honking, but good luck proving that was the driver's intent beyond a reasonable doubt. Where I think the line is where brandishing deadly weapon type charges (different names in different states) should apply is ANY deliberate swerving to do a close pass of or cut off a cyclist. Comparable use of any other potentially deadly implement would rise to felony level in most places. Frankly, I don't see any real difference in intent and potential consequence between an intentional close pass and deliberately firing a bullet to just miss someone.
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Old 10-27-21, 01:18 PM
  #99  
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Lanes? What stinking’ lanes?

Originally Posted by I-Like-To-Bike

I have never lived in a place where any road described as a "four lane road" is used that way, or where the right lanes of a four lane road are described as "curb lanes" to be used for legal parking, and only the left lane is used for moving traffic.
Very common in my area is 44 feet of concrete with no lane markings and parking allowed/not allowed as announced by signs. Parked cars are sparse. Motor vehicles normally line up 2 abreast at stop signs.


This originally had solid yellow lines in the middle, now faded.

This is an ambiguous lane count street. Typically posted 30-35 mph (for comic relief purposes).

As a cyclist I FRAP so I take the lane when cars are parked. Motorist conflict is very rare.

As a motorist I have to be alert to others passing me on the right when I’m not breaking the speed limit sufficiently for other’s taste.

Last edited by flangehead; 10-27-21 at 01:23 PM.
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Old 10-27-21, 03:47 PM
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Originally Posted by ridelikeaturtle
You wouldn't say this if it were a handgun instead of a motor vehicle. (Then again, if you're in the USA, maybe you would.) Until crimes in cars are treated with seriousness, people will die.

I suspect you also wouldn't have the same attitude if it was your kid on the bicycle. 100% "supposition" on my part.

After this (hopefully) gets reported, the next time - and there will be a next time - this person will now have a history, and maybe they'd think twice before doing it again.
Note that no handgun nor kid was involved in this incident, perhaps that is one reason why the previous poster claimed that you were reacting to your own fabricated scenario rather than the scant facts presented in the OP.
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