Comments on: Commuter Story: Score one for the cyclist!

By: wtf

wtf — Wed, 27 May 2009 03:24:29 +0000

WTF sort of douchy move is that? Some old lady honks at you and you overreact and stalk her? Come on man, this is why people think people who ride bikes are weird. You sir are an idiot.

By: Surly Bee-anchi Lady

Surly Bee-anchi Lady — Mon, 05 May 2008 16:42:14 +0000

I like the send-a-letter idea. Where I live the home address info is public information. And I believe it was helpful to mail a copy of the rules of the road. It it makes one feel more empowered to spend time and energy following up, go for it.

I don’t have the interest or inclination to get involved in attempting to correcting someone, but I certainly support someone who does. For my own blood pressure’s sake, it is better for me to overlook and forgive but I certainly support anyone who wants to take a more activist stance.

By: rick

rick — Mon, 05 May 2008 14:22:32 +0000

Oops Drew from response 14 and 15 rather.

By: JiMCi

JiMCi — Mon, 05 May 2008 14:20:07 +0000

Memorizing plate numbers, digging (legally???) for addresses, sending anonymous little notes? Come’on, life’s so short, is this really worth your time? Forget about them as soon as they disappear from your sight and enjoy the bike ride!

By: rick

rick — Mon, 05 May 2008 03:05:46 +0000

Drew # 13 you are absolutely correct. What you focus on expands.

By: Blue

Blue — Sun, 04 May 2008 19:20:59 +0000

I appreciate everyone sharing their views on dealing with traffic.

However, I find comments that the biker was “harassing” the driver to be without any merit.

On the other hand, as some have pointed out, his educational letter didn’t change her attitude toward cyclists. Which is very valid point.

I think it should be noted that “road rage” also happens all the time between cars.

There are plenty of drivers out there that think the whole world should somehow get out of their way automatically.

So I think an interesting question to discuss would be, “If you only had road rage folks honking at cyclists, how much less would we get harassed?”

By: Patrick

Patrick — Sat, 03 May 2008 13:33:42 +0000

Drew, props to you for your change in attitude on rides. I agree, if you put the vibe out there, people will naturally attract towards negative or positive vibes. Choose one!

It was still a great story about the cadillac. How many times in your life could something happen like that? Pretty cool.

By: tad

tad — Sat, 03 May 2008 13:32:44 +0000

I also agree with Jacques. Maybe it’s because I ride in the suburbs but I’d like to think that most motorists are courteous to me in large part because I aim to be completely obvious. For example, I use a rear facing led blinky almost every ride (even in bright daylight), and I engage my super bright front blinky when I approach busy intersections. I suppose they think something like “they make lights for bikes? hmm… he must be allowed on the road.”

But anyway, this Nancy chaser guy has balls of steel. It makes for a great anecdote but I’m not sure if scaring her did the trick. The letter didn’t even ask her to be more courteous next time. I think most motorists will respond nicely once they see you are in a fact a real human with a face, feelings, and a family. That means asking her nicely not to blast her horn.

On the other hand, you could fight fire with fire. Buy an air horn, install it on your bike, wait for Nancy to pull up to a stoplight, then let loose the power. I’m kidding of course.

By: ragged claws

ragged claws — Sat, 03 May 2008 13:07:02 +0000

Count me in with Jacgues above, if I were to spend my days making home visits to leave creepy letters to people who honked their horn at me on my commute I would have to quit my day job. Hell, if she is honking the horn, then she sees you. Relax. It’s the ones that don’t see that you need to worry about. Even more troubling than the amount of energy that was put into illegally obtaining the woman’s name and address though (yikes) is the implied physical threat that your letter must have held for her–a threat that you acknowledge when you point out her terror when she saw you: “All she could do was grip her steering wheel, look straight ahead, and figure out how she was going to get the poop off her panty hose once she got to work.”

Nice…

By: Jacques

Jacques — Sat, 03 May 2008 10:44:43 +0000

Gezz, you must ride where there is maybe a car every hour. Try that in a real city like Chicago.

All of this “I’m going to do this or that to get even” mentality is pretty funny. People in cars for the most part are in a world of their own. No-one on a bicycle is going to change that. Get to stupid and they will use their car against you. You may have been right, but hit is hit.

Instead of the I’ll get you back mentality try this.

Act like you belong on the street.

Own your lane, ride in the middle of it if you must to be safe.

Move over and let them by when you can do so safely.

BE SEEN !

Yea I know the lights weigh sooo much, and the safety vest just doesn’t look cool. Flashing lights ( if they are legal in your area ) are a huge help. The reflective vest will also “catch” their eye.

I commute 22 miles each way to work. There aren’t any “bike paths” so all of my commute is in the street. I get honked at once in awhile. I get curbed ( cars pulling all the way to the curb at red lights) once in awhile. BIG DEAL. Their Karma doesn’t and won’t become mine.