... Something nice! I'm used to drivers screaming at me or laughing and I've long since stopped caring. But yesterday I was coming home and pulled across a major road behind traffic and took my place in the auto turn lane. It saves a ton of time and is safer than using the ped xings there. A guy pulls in next to me and yells out how cool it is that I'm riding. :D

How pleasant. :)

If that happened here, I think I would be in a stupor too long to formulate a response.

Last week a guy shouted obscenities at me when he saw me pull ahead of him at a stop light. He had the bad stoplight mojo that day. I passed him at every light and every time he screamed. At first it was "Obey the traffic laws you *****.....".
(Often polluters scream things like that when you are obeying the traffic laws they don't know the laws.) At the first two lights he went on and on with the obscenities but we were both heading downtown so his screaming fits got shorter and shorter. For the last two lights before we parted ways he just sat there screaming "TRAFFIC LAWS!!!, TRAFFIC LAWS!!!" He also stopped his car at a 45 degree angle at the lights to keep bicyclists from passing him. It didn't stop us we just pedal in the oncoming lanes anyway. In DC if you don't scare pedestrians and don't interfere with the flow of cars the cops don't bother you- usually. The driver was from out of state. The guy seemed to spend more energy screaming at me than I spent pedaling.

What was he driving that allowed him to wind down his windshield?

But yesterday I was coming home and pulled across a major road behind traffic and took my place in the auto turn lane. It saves a ton of time and is safer than using the ped xings there. A guy pulls in next to me and yells out how cool it is that I'm riding. :D

Yup, it seems to be about a 1 in a million sort of thing, but I've gotten compliments on a few occasions. Even at 1 in a million, it still helps to revive my faith in mankind. :)

... Brad

What was he driving that allowed him to wind down his windshield?

hahaha :D

I've always called them that. It may be regional variation, or it may be that I could give a crap what you call them.

typically "windshield" is used to mean the thing in front and the rest are windows. Not that it matters one way or the other.

What was he driving that allowed him to wind down his windshield?
There's a older US-made model of car (like, from the '60's) that has a duck-tail rear roof, and tha rear window in them rolls down. I can't recall the make/model, but there's two of them in my area.
~

Last week a guy shouted obscenities at me when he saw me pull ahead of him at a stop light. He had the bad stoplight mojo that day. I passed him at every light and every time he screamed. At first it was "Obey the traffic laws you *****.....".
(Often polluters scream things like that when you are obeying the traffic laws they don't know the laws.) At the first two lights he went on and on with the obscenities but we were both heading downtown so his screaming fits got shorter and shorter. For the last two lights before we parted ways he just sat there screaming "TRAFFIC LAWS!!!, TRAFFIC LAWS!!!" He also stopped his car at a 45 degree angle at the lights to keep bicyclists from passing him. It didn't stop us we just pedal in the oncoming lanes anyway. In DC if you don't scare pedestrians and don't interfere with the flow of cars the cops don't bother you- usually. The driver was from out of state. The guy seemed to spend more energy screaming at me than I spent pedaling.

Generally speaking, I don't pass cars at stop lights; I wait in line along with the other vehicles, unless I'm turning at the intersection. It's not polite to make a motorist pass you more than once, especially if there's no shoulder.

Generally speaking, I don't pass cars at stop lights; I wait in line along with the other vehicles, unless I'm turning at the intersection. It's not polite to make a motorist pass you more than once, especially if there's no shoulder.

Why do this? In DC if the lane is too narrow to pass a bike safely the car is not supposed to pass, if it is wide enough to pass safely there is no problem. If a motorist passes me more than once when I began the journey behind him then I had to pass him more than once too. The number of passes will always be the same plus or minus one unless the motorist has driven a segment parallel to me. This seems like car centric thinking to say it is impolite on a cyclist's part to pass a car, while a polluting car driver isn't being impolite by passing the cyclist. Here in DC there are so many cars it would be impracticable for a cyclist to note every car and make sure that each and every car won't pass "more than once". Even for a single car delaying my trip, I can't see into the future to determine whether or not the car will turn off the road allowing me to obey your "not more than once" rule.

Why do this? In DC if the lane is too narrow to pass a bike safely the car is not supposed to pass, if it is wide enough to pass safely there is no problem. If a motorist passes me more than once when I began the journey behind him then I had to pass him more than once too. The number of passes will always be the same plus or minus one unless the motorist has driven a segment parallel to me. This seems like car centric thinking to say it is impolite on a cyclist's part to pass a car, while a polluting car driver isn't being impolite by passing the cyclist. Here in DC there are so many cars it would be impracticable for a cyclist to note every car and make sure that each and every car won't pass "more than once". Even for a single car delaying my trip, I can't see into the future to determine whether or not the car will turn off the road allowing me to obey your "not more than once" rule.

He didn't mean you can't ever pass a car; he just thinks it's impolite to filter forward at red lights. Just courtesy, not autocentric at all. Just saying that cyclists should follow the road rules like everybody else does (or should).

He didn't mean you can't ever pass a car; he just thinks it's impolite to filter forward at red lights. Just courtesy, not autocentric at all. Just saying that cyclists should follow the road rules like everybody else does (or should).

Roody, I don't get it. Drivers have no problem passing cyclists at red lights. If I'm first at the light they blow right by me, they honk and tell me to get out of the way so they can make a turn. I don't mind moving aside to keep the traffic moving, its such a small thing to cut off to the side so they can pass. Not only that, the road rules are clear if its safe to pass you can pass. In DC we're supposed to pass slow cars on our right for safety reasons. It is autocentric when car drivers get more privileges in such a symmetric situation.

Roody, I don't get it. Drivers have no problem passing cyclists at red lights. If I'm first at the light they blow right by me, they honk and tell me to get out of the way so they can make a turn. I don't mind moving aside to keep the traffic moving, its such a small thing to cut off to the side so they can pass. Not only that, the road rules are clear if its safe to pass you can pass. In DC we're supposed to pass slow cars on our right for safety reasons. It is autocentric when car drivers get more privileges in such a symmetric situation.

I don't agree that it's autocentric, but I do sometimes filter ahead at lights too. In fact (don't tell anybody on Bikeforums!;)), I sometimes just run the red light or stop sign.

There's a older US-made model of car (like, from the '60's) that has a duck-tail rear roof, and the rear window in them rolls down. .....
Looks like a 1959 Lincoln Continental:
http://images.google.com/images?num=30&hl=en&c2coff=1&safe=off&q=1959+lincoln+continental&um=1&sa=N&tab=wi
~

By most definitions, the back window is no more a "windshield (http://www.google.com/search?q=define%3Awindshield)" than a side window.

Look, the f'ing windshield, window, windscreen or whatever the hell you want to call it has NOTHING TO DO WITH ANYTHING.