Living Car Free - Some motorists remain steadfastly hostile

I vote post # 36 best post on LCF.

On a second read, I agree that it's an excellent post. Tom Vanderbilt made a similar point in his book Traffic, but not as eloquently.

On a second read, I agree that it's an excellent post. Tom Vanderbilt made a similar point in his book Traffic, but not as eloquently.

all that kind of stuff is pretty amazing.
I'm always blown away with it.

on a personal note. I'm a combat vet, my dad, my mom, and my 2 grandfathers.
I'm 1/2 Filipino. my mom the filipino, my dad Anglo (or is it white?)
anyways...
I was a very rigid and uncompromising young man. I was young, ignorant, and Uncle Sam told me exactly what i needed to know. (which is still by large the case, look at the Public School System)
My dad's dad, is a ******* child. he grew up with no family, in Kiowa, Ok. His grandmother part Cherokee. He was born 1919. Never even made it to HS. He jumped on trains, traveled. His dad a drunk, died in a hotel, i think. No one ever gave my grandfather a break (so he says).
then came WWII
he was a cook attached to an AAA battery (Anti Aircraft Artillery), was on duty 0700hrs 12/7/41, on Ford Island.

my mom's dad (my Filipino Grandfather) was part of the 2nd Filipino Infantry Regiment (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippine_Department).
(by the way... most decorated unit of the South Pacific!)
my filipino grandmother has 1 index finger, and 1 thumb that is fully intact.
the rest of her fingers have been cut off. (altho when i was a child she told me that roses from thorns infected them) I'm pretty sure the remains of those digits are somewhere in Leyte, close in time frame to the Bataan Death March, or Battle of Luzon.

I was station on Ft. Ord, Ca. Jan 88 to Dec 91
deployed for Operation Just Cause.

i grew up homeless with my vietnam vet hippie dad, after my mom left for our family doctor.

ya... the world is a trip

I grew up in Ventura surrounded by gangs.

in these days, I seriously doubt HA would let any of these hispanic gang problems go on.
(another bigoted rant)

so there's my dad living in a trailer with bladder cancer, living in his dad's back yard.
my grandpa is 90.
it doesn't take much to realize that he's stuck on Bouganville (in his head)
he hates just about everyone. except Howard Jarvis

he loves his 1979 Cadillac. on the surface, it may seem that he loves his "things" more than his family. But thats not really true. its probably not true with anyone. its just that he never was taught how to nurture anything. he abides by that age old technique of wicked techniques of advanced husbandry, where things are placed in their stalls, things are put to pasture, rows hoed, the staff made to produce a yield. very much to the likes of veal.

the 60's came, vietnam, etc... my dad did all those things, never paid taxes, did a ton of dope, smokes cigarettes until he passes clots of blood in his urine.
screwed up his life to the point where he cant work, etc... and the only place to hide (from the DA, delinquent dad, and IRS) is in his dad's backyard. its all an effort to get his dad's attention, etc...

its violence.
its negative reinforcement, its self mutilation, etc...
between myself, my dad, and my grandfather, the only thing we have in common is that we killed people for our Country. Gee... thats just great. And we say we Love our Country. And we are quick to adopt personal policy that excludes a vast majority of Americans. Especially in today's times.

what percentage of Americans, do you think are Veterans?
what percentage of Americans, do you think are incarcerated?
what percentage of adult Americans, do you think drive cars?
what percentage of adult Americans, do you think, feel that driving a car is their right?
what percentage of cars in America, do you think are American?
what percentage of goods in America, do you think are American?

its ignorance and bigotry

the interstate system was largely designed for military use. that is to expedite the movement of troops and equipment.

once upon a time, a household had 1 car.
1 person maintained a job
a garden was part of the household
people hung their laundry out to dry
kids rode their bikes to school
(norman rockwell-esq painting of your choosing... insert scene)

but the world was not that purdy... as we all know
ignorance and bigotry is always popular.
heck... ERA (http://www.equalrightsamendment.org/era.htm) is not that old, and it definitely was not mainstream only until fairly recently.
in my ignorant young mind... ERA is at the place on the time line as Unleaded Gas, Smog Pumps, import cars and Mary Tyler Moore... at least she drove a yellow Mustang. (no doubt it ran on Unleaded)

all I'm saying, is that this kind of stuff is all around us, every day, all the time.
I must be getting old, because, at some point, I had wondered what the heck is going on.
so i tried to figure it out.
i started with myself
and discovered what a bigot I am
what an ignorant, insensitive, SOB, I can be

you know...
one day... when i had a job
that job, I was an ICU Pharmacy Tech, for 14yrs
no one rode bikes to work
but it started to catch on
slowly... and i do mean.... S L O W L Y
then one day we got bike lockers!
OMG! a freaking gift from the gods. as if mana from heaven. holy crap! lockers?! wow!
of course placed in a Parking Garage (for cars)

so we used to leave our padlocks inside the unlocked lockers... being that not many people used them
if a person used the locker, simply place the unused padlock up top the lockers so that if that person were to come to work, they have their lock to use in a different locker.

so one day, of course, someone uses the locker, and locks everyones' locks inside.
it goes on and on
until i decide to leave a nice note, in my best non-confrontational, socially acceptable etiquette, complete with full name, department, point of contact info, etc...

then shows up the guy
with a big ol beard
nicotine stains
a dirty ol kitchen uniform
all sweaty, stinky like sourdough, and you wonder... OMG... this guy prepares meals? god!
so he nails me to the wall, in the hall way, on a rant.
me being an athletic male, combat vet....
i laff
and he gets even more pissed off...
he rips me a new one in front of all the VP's as they are passing by, and i stand there with my back against the wall...

cuz you know what?
who the heck am i to blow sunshine up someone's brown star?
there am I am
happy go lucky, good looking guy, with a solid job, and plenty of girls to flirt with
meanwhile this guy is a victim of a DUI, and he hates his bike.
victim of a DUI?
well... thats me being an ignorant bigot
just because I see him drinking beer 1/2 drunk while riding his bike, and make it a point to stop and chat, make peace, etc... all the while he wreaks of beer and cigarettes.
maybe he didn't get a DUI, and maybe there is more to it than what i see...
maybe...

you know all those guys whom have made millions building dams?
i tell you what, i bet they thought they were the best dam thing since god knows what.
what about all that logging... same thing
all those Fords...
all those roads...
all those songs.... "son you're gonna drive me to drinking if you don't quit drivin that hot rod Lincoln"

heck... look at Vietnam... bikes are being replaced with motor scooters.

you know, we're really not that smart.
we only have 5 senses (some may argue that point)
the "sense doors", thats all we've got
thats all the input our brains recieve
then there is the mind...
and don't forget how self centered we are...
(i.e. I want Diablo Canyon to be up and running full tilt, charge up all those new electric cars, new loans, and let my buddy's tribe out there on Pine Ridge, SD... let them store the waste, and let them have casinos or whatever it is) <--- not being serious of course.

i don't know what the answer is.

i do know this.
we are ignorant
we are bigoted
and anything that allows us anonymity and or gives us disposable use of power, we are grossly apt to screw things up.

you know those silly sayings... "the devil is alive and well, down in (insert your preferred area of slander)
when i was a kid, we'd say, "flush twice, LA needs the water."

i go around with a Cars-r-coffins patch glued to my Chrome Kremlin Messenger bag.
well... i bet the day i need to get to the ER, I'll be in a motor vehicle.

personally... really, on the for reals, on the up and up...
I really do honestly think that Donald Shoup is onto something.
can we afford to put a parking meter on every space in America?
can we afford to make every parking lot a "pay to park" lot?
i dont think so
i think we are simply screwed

heck... today i went to Safeway
parked The Big Dummy at the bike rack
came out
and what the heck is blocking me in?
blocking me in?
ya... blocking me in.
aint that something... double parking on a bicycle rack... ya!
imagine...

The City of Seaside fire engine, parked in the no parking, fire lane, zone
double parked
blocking the bike racks
for what?
to go get pre-made dinner at the deli of course.

meanwhile...
the lines are ridiculous
tomatoes on sale at $1.89/lb
self check!
ya... self check

you know, often times, I honestly can relate to Jack Crab of Little Big Man
"you know, sometimes the world is just too ridiculous"

but don't let it get you down
go ride your bike
I've been known to grab my junk, load up the bike, and go to the top of the nearest peak, and HIDE!
go sulk... get out of your system, and remember your friends and family.
go back to the world of Townies and all their mis-doings.
go back to the world of "civilized society" and stare in wonderment of things like... frozen orange juice

i don't know...
cars do suck
so does cancer
so does an over flowing septic tank
so does a million other things...

well... if you guys liked #36...
god only knows what this one is like...

:-)

but thanks for the... "ata boy"?

i say, ride your bikes, document all those stupid car things, file police reports when people cut you off with their cars, and support bike related legislature.

if you're really hard core... remember that saying that goes something like, "the way you spend your money is your most powerful vote."

so don't buy gasoline
don't pay for car insurance
don't drive a car
don't go into debt
ride your bike
try to buy local (i guess)

and maybe even try that Gandhi thing, "be the change you want to see in the world"

$2 rant... off

all I'm saying, is that this kind of stuff is all around us, every day, all the time.
I must be getting old, because, at some point, I had wondered what the heck is going on.
so i tried to figure it out.
i started with myself
and discovered what a bigot I am
what an ignorant, insensitive, SOB, I can be

i don't know what the answer is.

i do know this.
we are ignorant
we are bigoted
and anything that allows us anonymity and or gives us disposable use of power, we are grossly apt to screw things up.



meanwhile...
the lines are ridiculous
tomatoes on sale at $1.89/lb
self check!
ya... self check

you know, often times, I honestly can relate to Jack Crab of Little Big Man
"you know, sometimes the world is just too ridiculous"

but don't let it get you down
go ride your bike
I've been known to grab my junk, load up the bike, and go to the top of the nearest peak, and HIDE!
go sulk... get out of your system, and remember your friends and family.
go back to the world of Townies and all their mis-doings.
go back to the world of "civilized society" and stare in wonderment of things like... frozen orange juice

i don't know...
cars do suck
so does cancer
so does an over flowing septic tank
so does a million other things...

Thanks AsanaCycles! I liked the whole rant but I only quoted a couple of my favorite parts. I wish I could write as freely as you do, and sound crazy on the surface while making total sense on the sly. Kerouac in the 2000s and carfree! :)



What kind of music do you listen to?

Thanks again! Reading this was the best thing to happen to me all week.

Kerouac, Thoreau...Whitman
all post HS... in my deluded sense of understanding
living in Monterey, i once aspired to attend some seminars at Esalen, particularly aimed at Huxley
so i read the course description, and suggested reading. i done read those books, and read some more, and decided why do i need someone to tell me what Huxley said.

aint that how and why Twain wrote how he done wrote those things, so that you aint gots to have someone tell you what he ment...

Kerouac (monterey, big sur, SF, etc...)
Dharma Bums, and also check out Dharma Punx (of Santa Cruz)
steinbeck... the joad family, a stereo type, of exactly my Okie grandpa's ways.
Krishnamurti (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jiddu_Krishnamurti) for those whom do not know... i was a teen living in a van then trailer with my dad, in Ventura and Ojai. Ojai being the home of KFA (http://www.kfa.org/)
in 84' received the UN Peace Medal

music? PIXIES

plus a ton of other stuff too...

I'm one of those people who's mind is going all the time.

I also very much dig Buddhist Society of Western Australia (http://www.bswa.org/)
podcasts, all that stuff...

one day i bought an apple laptop, and my mind made this huge shift
a paradigm shift in learning...
not to mention, i had worked in a hospital for 14yrs. I've been deeply intrigued with The Human Experience.

books: right now I'm into Dian Fossey
when i was on tour in Humboldt I was into "Where BigFoot Walks (http://www.amazon.com/Where-Bigfoot-Walks-Crossing-Divide/dp/0395857015)"

i keep a journal, etc...

by default of my old job, i've developed a typing skill...
and by typing all the time, my thoughts just flow...

its a trip...


lates...d

Fingers don't scare me....... ........CELL PHONES do! ;)

We recently had an F4 tornado rip through our town, and everyone has been really good about helping each other out. Unless you're on a bicycle, that is. People seem to have become more hostile toward my brother and I since this happened, and they appear to be driving crazier than ever, if that's possible. I simply can't understand this mentality.

Fingers don't scare me....... ........CELL PHONES do! ;)

Yeah, and people who quote me... :innocent:
http://www.bikeforums.net/showpost.php?p=8516569&postcount=7

It's not just the bicyclist that are the scourge of the road.

1.) I was crossing a street in a crosswalk one night, on a street with one car driving down a side street, and I was almost run down by the drunk behind the wheel. It was one of those intersections that didn't so much require that the driver turn the wheel, since it was a forked intersection. So the guy completely crossed onto the wrong side of the road in an attempt to avoid having to actually turn the steering wheel as much as possible and almost took me out.

I was a tad annoyed and I yelled something at him, I don't remember exactly what, but it wasn't that bad. Anyway, he stopped and backed up his car, again on the wrong side of the road. We than got into quite a heated argument. His main point being that I had some nerve being a pedestrian in an automobile world. He actually said to me at one point, "wait....you're that guy that walks/bikes all over town! You just wait you son of *****, YOU'LL GET YOURS!!! :eek:

Imagine the nerve I have, living car free and obeying basic traffic laws regarding pedestrians. I'm a *******.

2.) I actually took a ride on the hood of a pick up truck. Again, I was walking down the road and I crossed the entrance/exit for a local business, which had a stop sign on the exit side. As I was crossing the entrance side of their driveway, I had noticed a medium size pickup driving towards the exit, but I didn't really think much of it, since the exit had a stop sign posted. Bad idea. The next thing I know, this truck is pulling out of the driveway, to the point that I was nudged in the leg by the front bumper. And the driver, who wasn't even looking in my direction, was still accelarating.

It reached a point that I was actually running backwards with my hands on the hood pushing off, but eventually I couldn't keep up, so I dropped my knees onto his front bumper and held onto his bug screen that was mounted on his grill for all I was worth. At this point, he's going approximately 25 mph and STILL hasn't even looked my way. I managed to pull myself up onto the hood of his truck with a massive belly flop, he still didn't see me. Now we're going around 40 mph. So I slammed my open hand down on the hood, which produced a loud "bang", and he finally looked at me, slack jawwed. After he stopped, I hopped down from his truck and gave him an ear full the likes of which he'd probably never heard. Most of which concerned the fact that he was so oblivious to his surroundings and yet he was driving through a heavily settled residential area, which had quite a few kids living there.

He's lucky that he didn't hit someone smaller, like a child.

3.) I commute along a somewhat heavily traveled rural route and it never fails to baffle me when I get passed by a long line of cars and the one jackass who beeps at me is not anywhere near the front of the line. Soooo.... the first twenty cars had plenty of room to pass me, but suddenly I'm taking up too much of the road.

3.) On that same rural route, people constantly illegally pass on right when the car in front of them is turning left. I've been side swiped a couple of times by people doing that and just the other day an SUV drove passed me than tried to pass a car on the right, which wasn't more than 20 feet in front of where I was biking along at 15 mph, and than Mr. SUV driver realized that they couldn't fit between the car he as passing on the right and the guard rail, since it was only a single lane road. So he had to lock up his brakes. First he cuts me off, like he's merging into a traffic lane on the highway, than he stands on his brakes, leaving me with no where to go, which caused me to slam on the brakes.....IDIOT:bang:

4.) I was stopped at a traffic light one morning, which had a gas station on the opposite corner, the light changed to green and I started to ride. A few cars pass me as I'm riding through the intersection, but just as I'm about to pass by the entrance to the gas station, a full sized pickup who was behind me guns his engine, bolts passed me, and turns right into the gas station, RIGHT in front of me. He was going so fast that he almost slammed into another car already parked at a pump. If he had waited all of 2 seconds I would have been by the entrance, but nope that was an incovenience to him, the King of the road.

Ever heard of Henry David Thoreau? He is a writer, among other things.

The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation. From the desperate city you go into the desperate country, and have to console yourself with the bravery of minks and muskrats. A stereotyped but unconscious despair is concealed even under what are called the games and amusements of mankind. There is no play in them, for this comes after work. But it is a characteristic of wisdom not to do desperate things.

Explained:
"Quiet" and "desperation" fit uncomfortably together, and yet everyone has experienced the sick feeling that things won't get better and that no one cares. Sometimes desperation turns violent: vehicular assault, attacks against spouses and children, and drive-by shootings attest to a hidden rage.

http://www.kenkifer.com/Thoreau/economy.htm

Basically, those motorists have miserable lives. They see you enjoying yourself, and they want to kill you because they are unhappy and jealous of you.

Not a hybrid but a guy in a freaking smart car called me a ****** cyclist on a very early morning. I went to catch him at the next light to tell him that is probably driving the gayest car on the market. luck has it that the light turns red on him, he sees me catching up with him and blows the light. and just as he blows the light a bright flash appears. City of houston just made $70.

Smart car, dumb driver. :lol:

Yeah, and people who quote me... :innocent:
http://www.bikeforums.net/showpost.php?p=8516569&postcount=7


That's awful--a total cut & paste, right down to the icon. Your intellectual property was pirated!




http://tbn3.google.com/images?q=tbn:Do0jpth71QIhUM:http://smhill.net/media/images/images/scott_the_pirate.png

Most drivers where I live are pretty tolerant of bicyclists; however, not everyone plays nice. In particular, I've noticed that drivers of pickups, especially very large, diesel-driven pickups, seem to go out of their way to be somewhat hostile to bicyclists. Just today, two such drivers, completely independently of one another, gave me very dirty looks and flipped me off, which I did nothing to provoke, at two different intersections, and made a point of "peeling out" at the green lights for no particular reason, leaving me to breathe the extra exhaust, even though I was pretty much just minding my own business. Any idea as to why, besides the obvious one about teeny packages?

Mind you, dirty looks, nasty sign language and a cloud of dust is not much compared to what I once endured elsewhere in the US, but still, I have to wonder: what causes some people to be hostile just because you're not using the same machine as them?

I don't recommend this...but...in certain situations when they threaten your life on purpose, why not carry something small, yet sort of heavy, that you can throw at their window? Being on a bike you are way more mobile then they are and there's hardly any chance of you getting caught.

A rock or tire iron should work.:)

Seriously, they do it because they know they can and there's nothing you can do about it....

I don't recommend this...but...in certain situations when they threaten your life on purpose, why not carry something small, yet sort of heavy, that you can throw at their window? Being on a bike you are way more mobile then they are and there's hardly any chance of you getting caught.

A rock or tire iron should work.:)

Seriously, they do it because they know they can and there's nothing you can do about it....

If they're threatening your life on purpose, your best bet is to de-escalate the situation and get out of there.

If they're threatening your life on purpose, your best bet is to de-escalate the situation and get out of there.

It's not a bad idea for cylists to practice some simple evasive maneuvers. A bike doesn't have the speed or mass of a car, but it is more maneuverable and can go places a car can't go.

Panic stop, panic turns, quick u-turns, curb hopping, riding on dirt and grass. These are fun to practice and could help you escape an ugly situation.

Some people just never leave high school. They were the best years of their life and want to keep reliving them. It's not a lot more complicated than that.

Personally when I'm on a bike, the act of riding so much fun I don't notice them. That and girls that bike are hotter so I win. ;-)


"in certain situations when they threaten your life on purpose"

The discussion was about annoyances and jeering, not real physical threats. These are two separate issues. I wouldn't throw anything heavy at someone's car if I felt they actually threatened by life - if it's a threat to life it's either flight (preferred) or responding in a way to stop the threat. I have a license to carry where I live and a loaded .38 Chief's Special airweight is always in my pocket. For something nonlethal, certain brands of bear spray (big cans of pepper spray) fit nicely in a water bottle holder - not a bad option for loose dogs too. Always follow the laws but don't get cocky and unnecessarily escalate a situation. You're on a bike. They're in a car. Like Jeffree says, de-escalate and get safe when you can.

Tim