mlh122

I was riding around my neighborhood yesterday and came upon 5 kids probably 10-15yrs old. They were all on xmart bikes. They were sitting on their bikes side by side blocking both lanes of the road. Cars would come up but the kids wouldn't move, they would just laugh very hard because they thought it was funny the could back up a huge line of cars like that. I slowed down and went up on the sidewalk to pass them.

I watched them from a distance for a little while, the many of the cars were honking. One car did a long honk and lurched dangerously close to the kids and they let him pass, but quickly closed the line to keep blocking cars. I didn't have my cell phone or I would have called police. Is there anything I could have said to them to get them to move? I couldn't think of anything because I'm sure they understood the dangers of what they were doing.

slowandsteady

I would have just called the police. They outnumbered you.

Wulfheir

"Red Rover Red Rover, we call wulfheir over!".

kjmillig

Unfortunately they were playing with potential road rage. A car is a lot heavier than a bike, and faster if they tried to make a getaway. Or some dude might come up and knock one over and throw the bike out of the way. I'd like to think that kids in Houston would know they'd get the losing end of that game.
Maybe it ended safely when someone did call the police.

le brad

xmart is the new fixed gear.

recursive

How awesome would an xmart-brand fix be?

Very.

slowandsteady

Yeah, and just $14.95.

AlmostTrick

A teenager driving a hopped up Camaro came upon a similar situation in my neighborhood. Two kids were pretending like they were going to jump in front of cars just to try to spook the drivers. Camaro guy aimed right at them, opened up the four barrel carb, and laid on the horn! With the dual glass packs and horn a blastin' these kids couldn't jump out of their skin fast enough, even though the driver never even got close to them.

Just because I was the teen driver doesn't mean I recommend doing this.

jjvw

I probably would have tried to scare those kids out of the road.

Jolt

Yeah, probably my first reaction as well. Maybe ride real fast toward them to make them get out of the way, then tell them what a bad idea blocking the road like that is.

AlmostTrick

Ride fast and scream loud and they'll most likely move, but it's still risky because they could put up an arm or something else as you go by. I'd try depending how old/tough they looked.

ellenDSD

Where are the parents of these little delinquents?! Speaking of parents, these are probably the same spawners who allow their children to wear those sneakers with the hidden "roller skates". Have ya'll seen these? *rolling eyes* Call me silly but I think it's unsafe to allow a child to skate thru a store or a parking lot or a restaurant. Arrggghhhhh! Sorry for the rant but stupid parents get on my last nerve!

recursive

Silly.

I want some of those.

Jolt

That is true. You'd definitely need to be prepared to stop short, swerve or duck.

Zeuser

Why yes you could have. Stop by and give a "nice bikes" and a thumb up. Ask them if they race or something. Just B.S. talk to get them on your side.

Then just do a "Ok guys... I gotta get going". They'll most likely let you through. And just as you're leaving: "oh... by the way: You guys should get off the road. There's some crazy ass drivers out there. You don't wanna die just yet!"

Yelling at them won't get you anything. Being nice will.

noisebeam

I think most everyone (the affected drivers) will recognize this as a kids thing vs. a bikes thing.

Al

trackhub

Ditto. If you said anything to them, yelled at them, etc, they probably would have reacted loudly and possibly violently. You might even have set yourself up for some sort of bizarre lawsuit by clueless parents. In short, if you had confronted them, you would have been the one in the wrong. Strange world we live in, isn't it?

maximan1

OR if you're driving a car, stop at the end of the street...rev the engine...peel out, and don't stop.
Scare the crap out of them and crush their bikes if they don't bail

StokerPoker

You did the only intellegent thing you could have done at that point. Since you didn't have a phone you couldn't call the police and that would have been the only other decent option in your case. A year ago I might have said something to the kids, but I've grown up quite a bit since then. I still don't always bite my tongue when I should, but hey, no one is perfect.

Ellen: Those shoes bother me, but not because kids are crazy with them in public places. They piss me off the same way the Air Jordons and all those other crazy expensive shoes did. I go to a community college so I have many classes with all types of people. Nothing bothers me more than a single mother or father talking about their 3 kids "healies" or whatever they are called and 5 minutes later complaining about being short on money. I don't understand getting a 6 year old $80 shoes unless they are specifically designed to help with a medical condition. Some kids that I went to school with had shoes that cost $120. I don't get it. They out grow them in 2 months so what's the point? If someone wants to throw money away like that I really have no business saying anything but please don't let me hear them complaining about money problems.

AlmostTrick: I had to do similar things in my Chevelle when the Anti-Abortion activists would not allow me to turn off of my street. I tried honking the horn but that didn't help so, Left foot on the brake right foot to the floor and instant Firestone Wilderness AT smoke cloud. Good thing I worked at a gas station and got free used tires. My next comment is not an agreement or disagreement with the opinion of the protestors or their right to protest, but I do find it Ironic when a parent has their 5 year old child step out into traffic holding a sign that says "abortion kills children" SO DO CARS!!! so keep your kids on the grass if they are going to participate!!

End of rant(s) sorry...

KnhoJ

[sarcasm]Or just fire a gun over their heads! That'd teach 'em, I bet they'd cry for a week. Hahahaha!!!![/sarcasm] Seriously, it would be safer for those kids. Although you'd go straight to prison for a while, rather than taking, at most, a 1 in 10 chance of getting a moving violation. But that's a whole 'nother thread...

So what's with all this vigilante crap? Save it for the psycho drivers, in this situation you've got some great alternatives. If it's a neighborhood, chances are at least one or two of the group live there. Start knocking on doors until you find someone's mommy. At the very least, one of the neighbors will probably call the cops to break up the group before some sociopath tries to menace them with a tirespinning mulletmobile and someone gets killed.

sgtsmile

You are assuming that max is not a psycho driver

StokerPoker

Both people who made "mulletmobile" (which more accuratly describes a Trans Am) comments were not actually recommending such behavior, and both were done back in the "stupid teenage years" They also don't really apply as the OP was on his bike. Oh well Carry on.

sgtsmile

But we all share roads with people currently in their stupid teenage years... even though we would never condone such behaviour as adults, some teens at times lack the judgement to see risk through before taking chances with their and our lives.

mlh122

Yep many different situations crossed my mind. I could have just said "WTF are you kids doing? get outta here!", Or i could have tried the nice route "I'll give you each $1 to leave" or stop in the middle of the line and start protesting "bikes are vehicles too! hell no! we won't go! bikes are vehicles too!" but with all the recent stories i've read in the news, groups of idle teens/preteens can get remarkably violent because they simultaneously believe that they are 1) immortal and 2) above the law, so i just opted to let the cars and kids settle it. I don't have good people skills, I probably would have ended up dragging the kids out of the street by their collars then being sued for assault or something.

It reminds me of a video i saw on a school bus where 2 10 yr olds were brutally beating up another 10yr old without provocation. The bus driver demanded they stop, then went back there and tried breaking it up but then the kids started hitting him and he kept telling them to sit down and shut up and they were just shouting "you can't do nuthin, i'll say you hit me! you can't do nuthin!" so the driver (an older man with a texas accent) apparently had enough and said "if you're gonna say i hit you then i might as well" the kids eyes got all wide, he brought his hand up like he was going to slap them but he didn't, instead he picked both of them up by their collars and dragged them to the front of the bus. He ended up getting fired.

slowandsteady

I find it ridiculous that this type of behavior is deemed acceptable. When two people assault another person, they need to go to prison. And if you are trying to break up a fight and perhaps save the life of the innocent victim you deserve a medal, not a pink slip.