Posted on 05/09/2013 1:57:32 PM PDT by servo1969
Driving along at 35 MPH on a 2-lane avenue around 10 PM, a single headlight appeared in my car's path. I swerved onto a side street, shaken and uncomprehending. Leering down at me, astride a high tech bike, I could see in the light of the street lamp the person responsible for the near-miss. I rolled down the window and said -- remaining surprisingly noncombative -- "Hey man, I barely missed hitting you. You could have been killed."
Expecting a thank you or an apology, instead I was the victim of an insane tirade, to the effect: "Hey buddy, you couldn't kill me. You don't know my strength." Taken aback, I realized he had been "playing chicken" by pointing his bike at my car in my lane on purpose. My dander was up. "Are you crazy?" I asked.
He replied: "You old people in your gas-guzzlers need to die."
A week later, I narrowly missed a jogger, once again in my lane, heading right into me on a curve. I swerved and looked back. The runner had stopped 30 yards behind me, hands on hips, defiantly gesticulating, as if to say I was at fault for the near-miss. I opened the car door and asked, just what did he think he was doing running right into me? "I could have killed you," I explained.
(Get ready:) He said," You old people need to die." He pulled on his bright green T-shirt. "Can't you see this?", as if he had done all he should do by donning a loud item of clothing. So it was my fault he said, although he was running into me. I fired back an expletive. He began walking my way, screaming: "You want some of me, buddy?"
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
There are MANY who act like this.
I'm just going to let the teenagers on their cell phones sort it out...
Got dang FreeCreditReports.com slackers.
The first is that you want to avoid confrontations if at all possible. As for the biker, don't get into a discussion with him, note the make, model, color and if possible license plate number and report it to the police. Getting into a discussion with the guy is likely to end in a road rage incident and he may be armed.
As to the jogger. Yes, make sure the jogger is OK, but again, don't get into a discussion with him.
Most of us need to understand that too many people no longer value life and are looking for fights to pick. If you are looking to protect yourself from danger you need to avoid confrontation where you can and not blindly step into it.
I ride a Motorcycle. I was out riding one day with a group of friends on a old 2 lane road when we came up on a pack of cyclists riding 3 abreast. We thought they would form a single file and share the road as there was no passing in that particular stretch... after about 2 miles the lead honked his horn and got the finger... really was a shame about them... I hope they made it back to civilization.... its hard to ride a bike with no spokes....
> “Militant bicyclists want the rights and privileges of both cars and pedestrians but the responsibilities of neither.”
There are jerks in all large groups, of course. Riding a bicycle, though, is a mode of transportation that’s in between walking and driving a car. In my opinion safety requires sometimes acting like one and sometimes like the other (or in a similar way).
I occasionally ride a bicycle, and to increase my chances of survival — remember in a collision with a car we bicyclists stand a good chance of being killed, not just having a dent in our vehicle — there are times when I switch from the road to the sidewalk. I’m careful about not endangering pedestrians, though.
Some bicycle club members and serious bicyclists make a point of obeying the same rules that drivers of cars do. On heavy-traffic roads with narrow lanes, though, that means taking the whole lane, and delaying cars that can go much faster (the delay for the driver to change lanes may just be ten or fifteen seconds, but some drivers are quite willing to risk killing you to avoid it).
On low traffic roads, or roads with low speed limits and wide lanes, I ride on the side of the road itself. On roads where I’d seriously delay cars, and risk being killed for it, I get on the sidewalk and ride slowly. So far I’ve managed to stay alive that way (though in recent years I just ride short distances on known roads), and I’ve never hit a pedestrian either.
Except in high traffic areas, riding a bicycle is a good way to travel short distances on a nice day, and persons who do that aren’t necessarily evil. Neither are the ones — more foolish ones, in my opinion — who risk traveling longer distances in the proximity of high-speed car traffic. Even the jerks don’t deserve the death penalty.
Here in MA, a bicycle is supposed to go with the flow of traffic - for good reason.
Asshat bicyclist demand the right to use roads like any other vehicle yet they don’t want to abide by the same traffic laws, and they pay no registration/licensing fees to give them the “right” to ride on public roadways.
“My first concern is always for my safety, second concern is to be courteous to other road users.”
You can’t be from Boulder, Co. then.
Why don't you just run the red light, like most of the guys I see on the morning commute?
Certain lights won’t trigger for a bike. The sensors are not sensitive enough or not set correctly. If there are no cars to trigger the light, the only options are to get off the bike and press the pedestrian walk button or just run it. At my normal commute time of 5:30AM, typically it’s dark with no one around - I’ll just run it when it’s safe to do so (no cross traffic in sight).
Riding a bicycle should be illegal for anyone over the age of 16!!!!
My bicycle with a Whizer engine went in the trash on my 16th birthday and I graduated to a street racing custom 40 Ford coupe!!!!
Bicycles are madefor kids, STREETS ARE MADE FOR CARS!!!!!!
All caps and multiple exclamation points don’t necessarily make a statement true. What are you doing that’s so important that you can’t tolerate a few seconds delay? There are many places in which bicycles can be ridden safely and effectively (and much more cheaply than cars), and others in which they cause only minor inconveniences.
There should be room in this country for a variety of lifestyles — it’s called ‘freedom’ [imagine multiple exclamation points here]. In my retirement I drive a car I bought for $300 and ride a $50 bicycle, and am reasonably happy (which is probably more than can be said by most of the persons who can’t stand a few seconds delay). I don’t begrudge people the big luxury cars and SUVs that some of them have — else I wouldn’t be posting on a conservative forum :-) — but I expect a little tolerance for my lifestyle as well.
As for the bicyclists who are reckless and inconsiderate, just be thankful that they aren’t in cars. They’d be much more dangerous in them.
Well, ain’t you fine and dandy. Retired and everyone is just in your way. Imagine multiple injuries, by hard edged objects, that don’t have time for your meanderings. Then re-think your supposed retirement, from a hospital bed - that couldn’t less about your egoism.
> “...and everyone is just in your way.”
You’re confusing me with intolerant drivers of cars. As for your threats of injury, it’s true that bicyclists are at the mercy of jerks in cars (one reason I don’t ride much anymore). In addition to my cheap car and bike, though, I also have a gun, and will defend myself if I have the chance.
Good deal! Ride long, hard and continuously.
I’m referring to the guys who run lights and stop signs in rush hour. They have some sort of death wish.
Nobody would complain if a bicyclist runs a red when nobody is around, most everyone I know understands street sensors. I used to have trouble with them on a motorcycle.
From the observations above, there is a general non-respect of the traffic rules cars must obey. In most states, bicycles and cars need to follow the same rules. As a driver of a cage, I can say it’s pretty hard seeing someone where I don’t expect them to be, like riding the wrong way on a sidewalk.
Agreed. I hate to see cyclists blatantly running lights during normal hours with traffic around. I actually was almost hit (on my bike) by another cyclist running a light at high speed. It makes all cyclists look bad. I would shed no tears for a cyclist who got hit while blowing a light. Would feel bad for the driver. I do see cars running lights and stops signs occasionally, but it’s not as frequent as I see cyclists do it.
I sort of goes without saying that not every bicyclist is a certain way nor ever motorist. And for the most part the problems that I have seen are not with individual bicyclists - its when they get together in groups that the real problems show up.
What I would do? Make riding in those big groups illegal except during special races and events.
I'm in the Peoples' Republik of Kalifornia where no one stops at stop signs.
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