Advocacy & Safety - Chasing down a cager

I'm normally take a live and let live attitude when cycling but tonight a guy really got under my skin. I was riding on F St heading east directly towards the Old Executive Office Building. The previous 3 blocks are being resurfaced so traffic was having to pick its way around the construction and torn up pavement.

But the last block before the office building was clear. This is a typical wide one-way DC street with no lane markings. As I was going to make a left turn to proceed North on 17th I assumed the center of the left portion of the road. Finally on clear pavement I also was accelerating rapidly in order to make the light.

I was about mid-block going 18 - 20 mph when I heard a roaring car approaching quickly from behind. This was followed by a long blast of horn. Quickly turning my head I saw that the driver had run up on my back wheel and then braked hard to avoid actually hitting me (I just got glimpse of the nose of the car rising after the braking).

I gave him a typical one-finger salute for his driving skills and proceeded back to the task at hand. Next thing I know he again accelerates and passes me on the right. Not super close but certainly was crowding me a bit.

We both arrive at the intersection at the same time with him having about a car length lead. This is a T intersection so you have to turn either left or right. He makes a sharp left turn right in front me - I didn't have to brake to avoid him as by then he was moving much faster then me.

But I am really annoyed now and decide to chase him down. I follow him for several blocks and finally catch him at 17th and Connecticut. I roll up to his window intending to take task with him for his aggressive driving.

It is then I see that he is on the phone. He refuses to roll down the window and I see that he is laughing while carrying on his conversation. No amount of pantomime on my part can get him to roll down the window. Finally I start yelling at him to put the phone down. He just laughs more. In frustration I move to the front of the car and continue yelling at him to put the phone down.

At this point a Police Officer walks over and instructs me to leave. I do so hoping that the officer is going to write him a richly deserved ticket - it is illegal in DC to drive and use a cell phone without a hands free apparatus.

But as I roll away I see the officer lets the guy go. Another chance lost by Metro police to enforce the laws :(

In conclusion - I now regret having chased the guy down. I generally don't believe in confrontation for confrontation's sake. But there are some people who if you give them an inch they might start making a habit of it. I hope this incident has educated this driver that he can not wantonly use his car as an assault weapon and expect cyclists to roll over and play dead.

I hate to burst your bubble, you taught him nothing from the sounds of it and he will be re-offending quite soon. There really is nothing you can do for the poor sap. If you had so much as touched a fingertip to his ride he might have either shot you or driven you over in self defence, AND STILL have been let go by the police. mmmmmm I'm in my calm place, now where's my u-lock?

Giving the driver the "one finger salute" is a very stupid act. It could cost you your life.

Not more than the aggressive driving that was described by a long shot. Maybe the driver will learn when he is pulled from his car one day, or the biker rolls up beside him and flashes his badge.

Chasing down a driver is really, really stupid. And everytime I do it, I swear it'll be my last time.

Giving the driver the "one finger salute" is a very stupid act. It could cost you your life.

I agree and wish I hadn't done so now. For the normal day-to-day "pardon me" traffic situations I don't have any problem whatsoever as it clearly is unintentional. On this I just lost my cool.

Maybe I was more than normally keyed up as I had another incident this morning that angered me. Now before you get the wrong idea I usually go months and months without any acts of outrage at cars. 2 in one day is really just an anomaly.

Anyway - this morning I'm in the right lane of a large city block composed of 5 lanes. The direction I'm going has 3 lanes with the curb lane under a no parking for rush hour restriction. I tooling along and, of course, up ahead there is a car illegally parked. I turn my head to clear myself before moving into the next lane but quickly reject the maneuver as a large, large SUV accelerates to discourage it.

Now the SUV driver clearly could see that I needed to move over and all he had to do was simply slow down to allow me room to do so. Instead he accelerated to cut me off - willing to deliberately run me down as so he isn't slowed for 10 seconds.

To boil my last post down to its essence - he had a choice between 10 seconds out of his life versus ending mine. So sad the choice he made.

Well what I do then is catch up at the light and then position myself in front of them and crawl to the next block. I know this whole eye-for-eye nonsense only makes things worse but sometimes you just gotta. On a rare occasion I stand over my bike pretending I don't see the green light and let them go bananas behind me, leaving just as it turns yellow. Hey be a prick, and watch me be one too, I'm not the one in the weapon. Not that any of these cars jockeys would ever have the stones to run you over, but they sure like to try to be bullies....call 'em on it. :D

Im the most peaceful, non-confrontational person
in the world, or my little world anyway, and yesterday
I had a kid inna big American type car ride alongside me and blow
his horn then speed off. Im not in anyones way, not bothering anyone,
why is this necassary ? I still never get it.
But, disappointingly to me, myself....all I could think of for about 5 min's
was bad stuff happening to the tooting imbecile.

DC totally sucks for driving and I'm glad I didn't have to drive when I visited there in July 2001.

I was in line to get into Ford theatre when an almost fight broke out between a cager and a ped, both women! I guess the ped didn't cross the street fast enough. One would think with all the tourism going on in the nation's capital that these bastards in thier cars would give people a break.

I think any use of private non-commercial vehicles in downtown DC should be strictly prohibited! Screw 'em.

I try to play it as cool as I can most of the time too, but man traffic laws just DO NOT get enforced in DC for cars or bikes. I only ever went after somebody once, after he got real close and started honking at me IN A BIKE LANE on 7th street. When I met him at the light I tried to be polite and was met with a string of real fun words and a request that I not operate my vehicle on the road,(in a bike lane, with a blinkey), and then informed of some unpleasent facts about my mom. So I relented and let the guy pass and he started slamming on his brakes and speeding up over and over again and swerving at me. So while I agree that it's a bad idea to go after people, I sure understand the desire to. I like the green light idea though...

Giving the driver the "one finger salute" is a very stupid act. It could cost you your life.

Just waving & smiling gets you a better result then the middle finger. Giving the middle finger lets them know they got to you. Smiling & waving tells them you think they are an idiot & actually pisses them off. Next time smile & wave. You can still chase him down to confront him if you'd like, but smile & wave, instead of giving him the middle finger.

Just waving & smiling gets you a better result then the middle finger. Giving the middle finger lets them know they got to you. Smiling & waving tells them you think they are an idiot & actually pisses them off. Next time smile & wave. You can still chase him down to confront him if you'd like, but smile & wave, instead of giving him the middle finger.

I've started doing a lot more of that this year. Nobody wants to beleive that they're #1, so I don't bother. Smiling and waving is the best, especially when you keep passing them in traffic, or when you finally leave them behind in a 30 minute traffic jam. I like the whole, "leave on the yellow," move, but I think here in Houston, that'd get you killed. It's funny how many cars start running reds when they see bicycles doing it downtown. I still get a kick out of catching up to yeller/honkers at lights. They just don't know what to do. I think I'm gonna start carrying a cheap digital camera so I can take their pictures, I mean, we're out in public, right?

Blow them a kiss. Works even better if you're wearing lycra.

--J

The smile and wave can be fun too.... I love the blowing of the kisses, being nice really throws them sometimes. Maybe lift your short line a bit tease 'im with some thigh. Then he gets burnt for running the red....lol Just take pictures of plates and locations.

My fav by far are the riders that reach in and take buddy's keys and then drop em in the sewer, leaving them in the middle of traffic.

Don't confront, simply snap the radio antenna.

that's not confrontational? Be ready for a fight if you pull that.

I had to pull a "slow down to a crawl while taking up the center of the lane" to keep a lady in her expedition from going more than 5 mph today... she buzzed me 2 blocks earlier and I caught up to her at the next red light =) She got a shot at passing me and she went into the next lane... but at least I took 10 seconds out of her McLife.

Thats 10 less seconds that she'll have to run other cyclists down on her way to work..


G733 ! =)

I caught a honking motorist at a light yesterday where we both were going to make a left turn. The childish coward decides to pull out of the lane and go straight through the green instead, presumably to avoid having to talk to me about what grave danger he was alerting me to with his horn.

^^^ Ha Ha...When I would get that treatment on Rt. 30 in the
D-town / Coatesville area they would do this weird slouch and play
with radio knobs thing to avoid looking at the guy looking in thier window
smiling and shaking his head :roflmao:

that's not confrontational? Be ready for a fight if you pull that.

Or ready to sprint. I've snapped a few antennii in my day, although I reserve it for the most extreme countermeasure to aggressive driving. I really don't care if motorists curse and honk their horns, however when they swerve/ride up quickly then brake inches from my wheel/cut me off intentionally they put my life at risk and they need correcting.

Or ready to sprint. I've snapped a few antennii in my day, although I reserve it for the most extreme countermeasure to aggressive driving. I really don't care if motorists curse and honk their horns, however when they swerve/ride up quickly then brake inches from my wheel/cut me off intentionally they put my life at risk and they need correcting.

As karmically bad as this is I have to admit to doing this myself. When I was messing I've had a few combats. I've left a shattered mirror hanging from it's wire once after a few blocks of car vs bike dualing.
U-locks are the great equalizer.
;)


I still love to this day the look of shock and horror when you tap on their driver window and calmly explain what flippin' arseholes they've been on the road.

Slow Train -- What sucks about your story is how lame the cop was -- the Chief was just on the radio last week saying they have zero-tolerance for cell-phone violators. The thing to keep in mind is that the whole Metropolitan Police force, from the chief on down, is completely cowed by the White House and Capitol Hill. Since you were literally a block from the White House it's unlikely the cop is going to mess with someone who looks like he might be important. It sucks, but that's life. On the other hand, that street is plenty wide for sharing; if you're taking the lane and the car was able to pass you on the right there's no reason to take the lane.

To the bigger issue, I generally believe in calling people out when they are being obnoxious, and I will occasionally try to catch up to a motorist to give them a piece of my mind -- but I have never had a positive outcome from doing so. Usually the encounter just leaves me even more upset. Behavior like that stems from a fundamental lack of respect that is not going to be changed by a tongue-lashing.

I usually yell something like "Read the law Jacka$$!" but I admit that I think even that is stupid. My temper will get me assaulted one of these days. I am sometimes even tempted to through my beater bike through someone's windshield. OK.....breathe......back to my happy place.

bike through someone's windshield.
Now THAT would be something to witness
:D

Blow them a kiss. Works even better if you're wearing lycra.

Quoted For Truth

Slow Train -- What sucks about your story is how lame the cop was -- the Chief was just on the radio last week saying they have zero-tolerance for cell-phone violators. The thing to keep in mind is that the whole Metropolitan Police force, from the chief on down, is completely cowed by the White House and Capitol Hill. Since you were literally a block from the White House it's unlikely the cop is going to mess with someone who looks like he might be important. It sucks, but that's life.

Yes - what the chief says and what is actually put into effect are not the same thing. Fact of life is that it is so paramount to keep traffic moving that, short of a felony offense, police are hesitant to write a simple ticket and so hold up dozens of other cars. Last summer - right by the White House - I saw a car run 2 successive red lights at a very high rate of speed in full view of at least 6 - 8 police officers. They didn't make a move.



On the other hand, that street is plenty wide for sharing; if you're taking the lane and the car was able to pass you on the right there's no reason to take the lane.

I think the fact that the street is plenty wide is why I need to establish myself in a lane. This is a one-way street wide enough for 4 lanes. Lane 1 is curb parking. Lane 2 is used by traffic to make the right hand turn to proceed South on 17th. Lane 3 is used by traffic to make the left hand turn (as I was doing) to proceed North on 17th. Lane 4 is additional curb side parking. I see no other place for me to safely be but in the lane I need in order to safely make the turn.

Also I was clearly moving at a speed that proved to be of no encumberance to normal, reasonable traffic. That fact is proved that I easily caught up with Mr Agressive Driver a few blocks later without much effort. And I am no Cipollini :)

As karmically bad as this is I have to admit to doing this myself. When I was messing I've had a few combats. I've left a shattered mirror hanging from it's wire once after a few blocks of car vs bike dualing.
U-locks are the great equalizer.
;)


I still love to this day the look of shock and horror when you tap on their driver window and calmly explain what flippin' arseholes they've been on the road.

Rats - I didn't have my U-Lock on me. I could see that pulling it out would have added extra emphasis to my words and wiped the smurk off his face. :p.

But in the end I couldn't trust myself to refrain from making a modification to his steel exo-skeleton.

then it's good you didn't have it on you

Oh, do I ever know the desire to chase down a coward who uses a 2500 pound vehicle to intimidate (and possibly injure or kill someone)...and beat them senseless.

I've done it on occasion (chased them down, that is--haven't given into the beating senseless urge). As others have noted, it seldom results in a positive outcome. The smile and wave route seems to work well for me, too. Someone I teach with tells me that when someone honls at her, she smiles and waves as if she knows the person, and is returning their honk 'hello'. Works well, and it's fun.

This issue is something that cyclists discuss often, and a year or two ago I wrote an article on the subjest. Would be glad to hear your comments:

www.cyclingsolutions.ca/cyclingskills/irate_motorist.htm

Allan

This issue is something that cyclists discuss often, and a year or two ago I wrote an article on the subjest. Would be glad to hear your comments:

www.cyclingsolutions.ca/cyclingskills/irate_motorist.htm

Allan

Allan,

I agree 110% with your view point and my only defense is that I'm still human and thus less than perfect! I think my response to the incident that evening was the result of residual anger from the much more dangerous one that I encountered that morning.

Anyway - That night I went for a walk and tipped the wait staff at the corner take-out generously and helped some tourists find their hotel. I hoped that restocked some karma.

"Go back to New Jersey!" is my response.

Giving the driver the "one finger salute" is a very stupid act. It could cost you your life.

what do you think he should have done? I would have done the same thing, maybe a bit more. This jackoff needs to have his window busted or something

I've found that I've had better results since I got a cell phone with a camera. About a month ago, I was riding along in the bike lane along a street that was backed up at rush hour and a car started nosing into the bike lane ahead of me. I could tell that he was thinking of sneaking down the bike lane to pass all those people ahead of him on the right. When I got up past him, I gave him palm down and back so as to say "stay in your lane."

That pissed him off so he revved his engine and tried to sideswipe me. I caught up to him at the next light, like I knew I would. I swung behind him, took a picture of his license plate and rode up to his window and said "Say cheese!"

Oh, he was very apologetic then.

I had an incident many months ago where I was very close tailgated and honked at near continuously while in the right most very narrow lane of a three same direction lane arterial. We got stopped at the red light. I turned to look and she was both waving her arms and making the 'snowplow' motion with her hand. It (mostly the stupid snowplow symbol) unfortunately put me over the edge and my annoyance at all the other drivers who had done this came out and I went off on her verbally and with non-foul hand gestures (with me directly in front of her car). Shortly after the light she was able to pass (with a final honk) and get on her important way.

Anyway the reason for the story is that I totally regretted my actions and it made me feel bad. Because to all the other drivers, none of who witnessed the extent of the honking (with windows rolled up), I likely looked like a raving mad cyclist going off on some poor lady driver. It likely just helped solidify the motoist held stereotype of cyclists being raving self-centered lunatics.

Al

Giving the driver the "one finger salute" is a very stupid act. It could cost you your life.
This is why man invented the Stiletto Switchblade my friend.

At this point a Police Officer walks over and instructs me to leave.

If this driver rolled up on to your rear wheel why didn't you go straight to the officer on duty who was there at the intersection and report the driver instead of taking a huge risk to yourself? I would never get in front of a cager if they almost hit me. I dial the police number programmed in my cellphone. When drivers see you making a call relaying their license plate numbers to the police... that is a more effective tool of getting your point across! Glad your okay.

This is why man invented the Stiletto Switchblade my friend.

How would that work against an armed 17 year old meth-head with nothing to lose?

How would that work against an armed 17 year old meth-head with nothing to lose?
Then he would be fighting himself, a fair battle.
Al

I had a small anger problem once. I was finishing a 250k ride and coming back into the city, when a car almost hit me when merging. A block later she was passing me going maybe 5km/h faster than me, when she decides to finish the last swig of her water. She made a huge swerve in my direction, so going about 40km/h I bunny hopped up onto the curb, the car just barely missing me. So I chased her for a couple of kilometers, and when I " you almost killed me" she turned her head to the left and ignored me. So I got really pissed and pulled myself onto the roof of the car and repeated my self through the sunroof. Obviosly freaked out she gave me a good appology.
Never again

I had a small anger problem once. I was finishing a 250k ride and coming back into the city, when a car almost hit me when merging. A block later she was passing me going maybe 5km/h faster than me, when she decides to finish the last swig of her water. She made a huge swerve in my direction, so going about 40km/h I bunny hopped up onto the curb, the car just barely missing me. So I chased her for a couple of kilometers, and when I " you almost killed me" she turned her head to the left and ignored me. So I got really pissed and pulled myself onto the roof of the car and repeated my self through the sunroof. Obviosly freaked out she gave me a good appology.
Never again
:eek: :eek:

Stupendously badass.

Bad idea, but still, damn, that's intense.

I had to chase down a driver of an old suburban on the way home...

I had to go as fast as I could, over and overpass, with 20 mph head-wind... I caught him on the other side... he was first in line at the red light.. so I got in front of him and went 5 mph all the way to the next light !!!! WOOT !

He gave me a blank stare as I decided to let him pass... =)








edit.. oops... almost forgot to say what he did... he buzzed me. as usual. People seem attracted to yellow spraypainted schwinns.... lol

At this point a Police Officer walks over and instructs me to leave. I do so hoping that the officer is going to write him a richly deserved ticket - it is illegal in DC to drive and use a cell phone without a hands free apparatus.

But as I roll away I see the officer lets the guy go. Another chance lost by Metro police to enforce the laws :(

I've pointed out yakkers to cops before with no results. I've also told people that yakking was illegal and gotten everything from dirty looks to death threats.

I would've gotten the cop's name and badge #. Then I would've called in to the next "Talk to the Chief" deal,and asked him on-air why his officer didn't do anything.

I've pointed out yakkers to cops before with no results. I've also told people that yakking was illegal and gotten everything from dirty looks to death threats.

I would've gotten the cop's name and badge #. Then I would've called in to the next "Talk to the Chief" deal,and asked him on-air why his officer didn't do anything.

Like you I have, at times, tried to infrom motorists about the cell phone law. No success. Now, more and more, I'm seeing video ipods being used by drivers as well. :mad:

P.S. - I swear about 50% of the Police Cars I see are being driven by officers talking on a cell phone.

What I really could have done was inform the officer the real reason I was upset with the motorist. Maybe then he might have given a ticket as a small measure of justice. You live and you learn - keeping a cool head is paramount.