Advocacy & Safety - Is it the weather? A subconscious thing? Or did I not get the memo about the race?

An observation I have made for many years is that almost immediately after Labour Day, when vacations are pretty much over and everyone has returned to the hustle and bustle of worklife and schoollife, there is a tenable and glaring shift in the attitudes of motorists. It seems they are all in a GREATER hurry to get where-ever it is they are going, which, during (ahem) 'rush' hour, seems to be about twenty-five feet up the road where they'll crawl for ten minutes before they can make another desperate dash to the next jam another twenty-five feet up the road. During these moments of insanity, god help you if you are a cyclist, pedestrian, child on the way home from school, elderly or an animal, because they are all fair game (pun entirely intended). But what causes this shift in thinking and results in wildly reckless behaviour? I can tell you it is not reserved for one gender over the other nor is it age-based, income-oriented, vehicle-type-related or time-of-day reserved. It crosses all lines and may be a phenomenon our scientists haven't yet acquired a multi-billion dollar grant to examine yet. Any thoughts? Surely, I am not the only astute observer. Surely I am not the only one who now has vehicles who, the rest of the year, generally make a somewhat noticeable attempt to pass you at a safe distance, brush past you with scant inches between you and their mirror. Surely I am not the only one who sees trucks, cars, minivans and SUV's (all curiously single-occupant, I might add) bearing down on you from behind with no intention of stopping. So, my fellow cyclists, help me to understand this seasonal psychosis.

Gotta get the kids up for and off to school... Starts the whole day off on the "wrong foot."

I don't really notice a seasonal trend, although when summer temps are 110+ road rage and agressive driving are on the rise - the news reports the phenomenon as well.
Al

I have observed something similar, and posted it a few weeks ago. I can go a whole year without being yelled at by cagers, then in one week get yelled at several times. These are young motorists yelling some variant of "Ride on the sidewalk!" I think a lot of kids start driving alone for the first time when school starts in September, and this probably accounts for some of the problem.

IMO, high school students should not be allowed to drive to school. And whoever is making the decisison to build new schools outside of town, where most are built these days, should be run out of office. Building new schools several miles away from where most students live is a big cause of pollution, traffic accidents, and urban sprawl. Even worse, this move is one more way they brainwash young people into falling for our moronic auto-dependent lifestyle.

If I ran the world, high schools would be built in downtown areas. Kids would walk or ride their bikes to get there. They would spend their lunch money in nearby restaurants, supporting the local economy.

If I ran the world, high schools would be built in downtown areas. Kids would walk or ride their bikes to get there. They would spend their lunch money in nearby restaurants, supporting the local economy.

in my world they wouldn't leave heaps of garbage in the park next to the school i pass by on the way home.

but it actually stopped soon after i walked into the high school administration office at 4:30pm with handfuls of garbage and explained how dissappointed i was

they were very nice and sympathetic, and better yet i've hardly seen any trash!

i can speak only for myself, but when it turns into fall the shorter days and earlier sunset makes it feel as though i'm running out of time. since i get off work around 6:00, i feel the urge to make it out of the office before the sun starts going down. if i don't i feel rushed. i wonder if a lot of other people feel this way too and the cumulative effect is more hostility on the roads.

If I ran the world,
Whoa!

Let's not go there...

Some motherf'er in a pickup buzzed me on an open road last night. So yeah, based on all the evidence available to me, you are right.

I have noticed what you describe. Traffic is a lot worse, too. You'd think it would be worse in Summer when tourist season is upon us. But it's worse now.

I have noticed what you describe. Traffic is a lot worse, too. You'd think it would be worse in Summer when tourist season is upon us. But it's worse now.

I can't speak for Santa Barbara, but here in Toronto during the summer, of course, most people take vacations away from home so the traffic tends to thin noticeably with 1/3 or more of the workforce absent. Just two hours north of the city is a vast region we commonly refer to as 'cottage country' and populations there expand expotentially to the decrease here in the humid city. The influx of tourists tend to use public transit, tour buses or their feet to get around. Parking rates and availability can be at a premium here. But in the fall, workers are all, generally, back to work and students are commuting to school, so there is always a tremendous increase in traffic. Perhaps people drive more aggressively because they are adjusting from the previous three months of sparse traffic to bumper-to-bumper traffic. But that still doesn't explain the sheer recklessness of many of the motorists as it pertains to cyclists and pedestrians.

You're right that the driving population of Toronto is always increasing. Hence, each fall there is a progression of particular days on which the traffic conditions get dramatically worse, and aggression increases accordingly.

I watch apprehensively for the following:

1 - First Day of School; everyone is back on the road at once.

2 - Second day of school; they are all late to drop the kids off already.

3 - First Rainy day. Everyone is at least an hour late for everything.

4 - First dusting of snow. (We haven't got it yet) God knows how this is going to go.

5 - First snowfall. Might as well stay home.

And today I had the non-privilege of taking the car out in the afternoon after riding in the morning. Reinforcing my observation that drivers, in general, are way more aggressive towards each other than ever are to bikes. Scary, but true.

I had to laugh today. Riding on Dufferin near Bloor, a tow-truck operator (a kid perhaps 22 with attitude and an ego as big as his truck) yells at me and my son to get on the sidewalk. That was the first time I've heard someone yell that in perhaps ten or twelve years. I looked at the guy and calmly advised it's illegal to ride on the sidewalk wherein he questioned whether it was legal for me to take up a lane (I was riding my trike on the way back from shopping) going so slow and I advised indeed it was legal and that I was entitled to the entire lane. He seemed genuinely awestruck, but evidently not being a bright boy he responded with 'says you!' With a placating smile I shook my head and said 'not me, the law. As a professional driver, I'd have half expected you to be familiar with the Highway Traffic Act.' The kid (about 14) in the seat beside him starts mouthing off about getting a real bike and sticking objects in places where I don't generally like things stuck in). I simply waved, told him to have a ncie day and enjoy his reading. Ahhhh, life in the big city. Too bad I couldn't get my digital camera out in time to take a picture before they cut us off and sped through a red light.