Commuting - Kinda unnerving - someone TRIED to run me over

First off, I'm physically OK, just shaken. Just popped a Guinness...

Well, I never thought this would happen. I had been home for work about an hour and decided I'd better run up to the LBS for some Mr Tuffy's and tubes. No problem, short ride, kind of nice. Luckily, I wasn't loaded down with gear for a commute. So I got to within a block of my house and I'm approaching an intersection, a stop sign. These are low speed residential type of streets...This car coming the opposite direction gets to the stop sign first, no problem because I'm about mid block. And then I got the strangest sensation...I knew he was going to gun it for me. I just ******* new it. As the car went through the intersection he started wandering over - and then he gunned it! Because I had that weird anticipation I had already mapped my "escape" in a split second...It was a car load of what seemed like kids, I couldn't believe they were trying to do this to me! It happened so fast, but I felt awash in fear - and then anger. I gathered up all my energy as best I could and coiled up on the bike...as they got to me I sprung off the bike and grabbed it by the mid tube and flung it as hard as I could as I was flying through the air – second baseman double play style. I wasn't sure if I was going to clear them, so at the last second I extended my arm as far as possible and flipped them a big ole bird! If I was going to get run down by some punk, it was going to happen with a big F YOU on my behalf! It was a blur after that, it seemed like I was airborne for minutes, I actually saw a portion of the car pass below me. I landed in someone's yard right on my ass and right next to my bike. There was a guy on his front porch, and he was already on the phone with the police. He came down and was like "that was some crazy Matrix like sh1t there man!" I guess my contortioning rated a 9.5 on the Keaneu meter to this guy. My shoulder felt a little cranked form hurtling the bike, but other than that I was OK. I also called the police and filed another report, too. I hope they find those sons of *****es so they don't kill somebody!

Anyway, I was kinda freaked out and typing that all out helped settle me considerably. Be safe everybody!

Scary. Keep in tune to your intuition, it seems very accurate and definately worth cultivating. Hate to say it, but car-loads of kids will do all sorts of weird stuff that none of them would do on their own and you do have to watch out for them.

WTF?! Dude, I had cars trying to scare me by passing really fast and close, or at worse try to clip me, but literally trying to hit straight on a bicycle is really lame. Plus, that would leave obvious proofs(dents, blood, etc) on the car for the police to spot.

They must've been high on some new drug or something...
That's unbeleivable...

First off, I'm physically OK, just shaken. Just popped a Guinness...


well, i guess you deserve that guinness! crazy story - glad you're okay for the most part. that's cool that the other guy was calling the police though, i'm sure he'll be a good witness if it comes down to that.

Dude I had almost the same thing happen to me today!! Must be a full moon?

I was coming home from work, was in the right lane making a right on the green arrow, when all the sudden a GTI in the left lane swerves into the right just as I am entering the intersection. Comes VERY close to hitting me, but no big deal yet. I then make my right, which is into a very poor section of road on a one lane hill. I always ride in the center due to the bottomless potholes on my right. This GTI flies up behind me and sits there revving his engine. Just as I move right (as soon as I possbly could), he SWERVES into me pressing me to the curb as he revs it flying past me. In disbelief I raise my finger and give him the "one way to Jesus" salute. Takes him a minute but he slams his brakes on, and when I catch up to him he pushes me into the curb. I was gonna bunnyhop onto the sidewalk but I was so irate I was gonna stick around for this one. The guy is about 30, 220lbs, and looks like he should be in a Whitesnake cover band. Asks me if I want to flick him off again, so I ask him if he wants to try running me over again.

He starts to get out of the car and I tell him if that door opens then I'm through being peaceful about it and that I have no hesitation calling the police and filing assault charges... this slows him down as it sinks into his cranium... he then informs me that I shouldn't be in the middle of the road... I ask him if he goes around potholes in his car, and he doesn't say anything because he knows where this is going... I then ask him to think about going over those same potholes on a tire thats maybe an inch wide. He then tells me to to go procreate with myself, to which I reply that being the expert he'd have to show me how thats done. His girlfriend/wife/whatever was trying very hard to keep a straight face on that one. Anyways he then burned rubber and took off.

Bottom line I shouldn't have reacted like I did but gee golly was I mad.

You answered your own question when you said it looked like kids. We had a some guys in a car try to run over a mail carrier legally crossing the street, and the police didn't do anything because the kids said they were just trying to "scare" him, not actually hit him. USPS didn't press for charges to be filed.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Kids should not be eligible to drive, period.

However, I have to say the saddest part about all this is that it doesn't really surprise me all that much. In fact, I had some jerk try to run me over in Surfers Paradise about three weeks ago. They were coming the other way on the opposite side of the street, turned their headlights off (it was dark at the time) and aimed right at me. I saw them coming and slammed on the brakes with maybe half a second to spare. Unfortunately, the fact they had no lights at night meant I couldn't see their number plate.

I have, in the last two years, reported at least two drivers who deliberately tried to pull this trick on me. Then there was that jerk in 2001 who ran a red light, missed me by inches and smashed into a signpost at the other side of the intersection. Good job the impact caused his engine to cut out at that very moment.

Of course, it's not just drivers. Only a couple of months ago I was stopped at a red light and was attacked by a punch-throwing yobbo on foot. Yeah, I reported him to the cops too, but unfortunately, pedestrians don't have number plates. Then, of course, there are the projectile hurling morons, well, fortunately it's been a while since I encountered one of them (apart from the water pistol moron last year).

Yes, it's a crazy, f*cked up world we live in.

He starts to get out of the car and I tell him if that door opens then I'm through being peaceful about it and that I have no hesitation calling the police and filing assault charges... this slows him down as it sinks into his cranium... he then informs me that I shouldn't be in the middle of the road... I ask him if he goes around potholes in his car, and he doesn't say anything because he knows where this is going... I then ask him to think about going over those same potholes on a tire thats maybe an inch wide. He then tells me to to go procreate with myself, to which I reply that being the expert he'd have to show me how thats done. His girlfriend/wife/whatever was trying very hard to keep a straight face on that one. Anyways he then burned rubber and took off.

I'm amazed you even bothered to speak to that moron, I would have just called the cops without even bothering to warn them.

Did you or someone else get a license plate # and a good description of these guys and their car???

Well, I'll have one Red Stripe for each of you. Glad you're ok. On my uneventful ride today I was thinking about calm ways to respond to sub-moron drivers. The after-ride Guiness ought to be for relaxing muscles, not the mind; the ride's supposed to do that.

This happened to me a few years ago. The dumb kids were too busy messing with me to notice the police car behind them. Just one of lifes little victories that doesn't happen often enough.

Of course if there were no witnesses and you were hit and killed it would go in the books as an "accident", or maybe some lame "careless driving" charge, and they get off with a slap on the wrist. Just the price of being outside of the "mainstream" in the USA.

Bicyclists really stoke some people's sense of insecurity for some mysterious reason. I have relatives who can't resist flying into a tirade of lame insults as soon as they see a bicycle on the street, even if it isn't anywhere near them. (these same people couldn't pedal their way over a speedbump if they tried, hmmm....)

I didn't get the plate, but the guy on the porch did. We'll see what they can come up with. I honestly couldn't tell; we're on the state line of Missour and Kansas and in the flurry it was hard to see what state it was from.

Luckily the bike is alright - POS that it is but it's still my steed for riding to work. The cop that took the report seemed to think they'd 'run into them' sooner or later, but I don't think the pun was intended, lol. Anyhow, I put all the new junk on it and tuned her up for being a courageous little bike, lol.

That stout was a good idea, too lol. Thanks all for your concern.

I didn't get the plate, but the guy on the porch did. We'll see what they can come up with. I honestly couldn't tell; we're on the state line of Missour and Kansas and in the flurry it was hard to see what state it was from. Well, that's a helluva lot better than most plate ID's. In most cases, people get just a few characters of the plate number. That usually translates to thousands of possible values, narrowed down by make and model to tens of possiblities. In your case, you've got only two possibilities. One will match the make and model, the other won't.

Bicyclists really stoke some people's sense of insecurity for some mysterious reason. I have relatives who can't resist flying into a tirade of lame insults as soon as they see a bicycle on the street, even if it isn't anywhere near them. (these same people couldn't pedal their way over a speedbump if they tried, hmmm....)

One word: "Bigotry".

Let me get this straight....you kinda bunny hopped over the car? you utter legend.. Matrix style indeed! Glad you are ok. I have heard of a messenger here in Auckland bunny hopping the front of a car.....

Dude I had almost the same thing happen to me today!! Must be a full moon?

I was coming home from work, was in the right lane making a right on the green arrow, when all the sudden a GTI in the left lane swerves into the right just as I am entering the intersection. Comes VERY close to hitting me, but no big deal yet. I then make my right, which is into a very poor section of road on a one lane hill. I always ride in the center due to the bottomless potholes on my right. This GTI flies up behind me and sits there revving his engine. Just as I move right (as soon as I possbly could), he SWERVES into me pressing me to the curb as he revs it flying past me. In disbelief I raise my finger and give him the "one way to Jesus" salute. Takes him a minute but he slams his brakes on, and when I catch up to him he pushes me into the curb. I was gonna bunnyhop onto the sidewalk but I was so irate I was gonna stick around for this one. The guy is about 30, 220lbs, and looks like he should be in a Whitesnake cover band. Asks me if I want to flick him off again, so I ask him if he wants to try running me over again.

He starts to get out of the car and I tell him if that door opens then I'm through being peaceful about it and that I have no hesitation calling the police and filing assault charges... this slows him down as it sinks into his cranium... he then informs me that I shouldn't be in the middle of the road... I ask him if he goes around potholes in his car, and he doesn't say anything because he knows where this is going... I then ask him to think about going over those same potholes on a tire thats maybe an inch wide. He then tells me to to go procreate with myself, to which I reply that being the expert he'd have to show me how thats done. His girlfriend/wife/whatever was trying very hard to keep a straight face on that one. Anyways he then burned rubber and took off.

Bottom line I shouldn't have reacted like I did but gee golly was I mad.

did this happen in that sheet wearer neighborhood?

has anyone thought of carrying a brick with them in a little holster on you bag and a sign on the bag that says "if you try to run me over i will brick you. i ain't joking" ?

has anyone thought of carrying a brick with them in a little holster on you bag and a sign on the bag that says "if you try to run me over i will brick you. i ain't joking" ?

No one can read that fast heh.

No one can read that fast heh.

that statement didn't even make sense.


oh! yes. demented people would have trouble reading wouldn't they.

has anyone thought of carrying a brick with them in a little holster on you bag and a sign on the bag that says "if you try to run me over i will brick you. i ain't joking" ?

Only every time I read one of these posts. Most of what I get are people who just don't understand that I need space, and that they shouldn't pass when there isn't enough space. And, yes, Chris, I take the whole lane in situations like this. ;)

I'd really like a rock that also has a homing beacon in it, so that I can track the perp down and do something illegal.

has anyone thought of carrying a brick with them in a little holster on you bag and a sign on the bag that says "if you try to run me over i will brick you. i ain't joking" ?


Fill an old waterbottle with concrete. Fits in your bottle cage.

has anyone thought of carrying a brick with them in a little holster on you bag and a sign on the bag that says "if you try to run me over i will brick you. i ain't joking" ?

That would mean physically carrying the brick everytime you ride. I, for one, can't be bothered. Then of course, there is the "try it, punk" crowd, who would only be egged on by such a sign.

that statement didn't even make sense.


oh! yes. demented people would have trouble reading wouldn't they.

If I were gonna run you over at 90mph, I don't think I'll have time to read that sign.

I'd really like a rock that also has a homing beacon in it, so that I can track the perp down and do something illegal.

Small squirt bottle of paint. ID's the car for the cops.

Small squirt bottle of paint. ID's the car for the cops.

DOT Brake Fluid is even more fun!!!

:) Originally Posted by slvoidSmall squirt bottle of paint. ID's the car for the cops.


DOT Brake Fluid is even more fun!!!


It happened to me as a young adult skateboarding, head-on including crossing the center lane.
An ADULT - well, compared to my 19 yrs @ the time.

To the above posts, best use foe\for the crescent wrench yet. Carried one in the back pocket for years after.

Hey, bro...don't worry, the deranged driver missed you. :) That kind of stuff is not personal> bike or no, you crossed paths with a sick\ violent animal, and lived.

I didn't get the plate, but the guy on the porch did. We'll see what they can come up with. I honestly couldn't tell; we're on the state line of Missour and Kansas and in the flurry it was hard to see what state it was from.

Luckily the bike is alright - POS that it is but it's still my steed for riding to work. The cop that took the report seemed to think they'd 'run into them' sooner or later, but I don't think the pun was intended, lol. Anyhow, I put all the new junk on it and tuned her up for being a courageous little bike, lol.

That stout was a good idea, too lol. Thanks all for your concern.

Where in KC did this happen?

Oh yeah-you probably know this, but front plate=probably MO, none=probably KS.

When you need to move into a lane to avoid something then you need to be aggressive about it and take the whole lane. By law when the lane is reduced or narrow you can take the lane-- at the cyclists descretion. I'm extremely aggressive in situations like that, say road construction where they close to lanes and split the other 2 going each way. If you don't someone will squeeze by you.

I got in this big discussion about self defense on the singlespeed forum the other day but the way i see it, the guy attempted to kill the first poster with a lethal weapon-- a car. The 2nd was probable at least reckless endangerment.

I used to flip people off but that's not the right response, i now believe. You can flip off a buddy, someone in school when you're a kid, but you can't flip off some road raging freak because it could get you hurt.

I have decided to go right to self protection mode, the guy tries to run me over, i get on sidewalk, he follows me onto sidewalk, i have fled all i can and i will gut him like a fish.


The law would be on my side, 100%, as i have only defended myself from a serious threat.

Where in KC did this happen?

43rd and Holmes. As for the front plate, it was one of the last things I noticed. I think the guy on the porch said it was an MO plate.

When you need to move into a lane to avoid something then you need to be aggressive about it and take the whole lane. By law when the lane is reduced or narrow you can take the lane-- at the cyclists descretion. I'm extremely aggressive in situations like that, say road construction where they close to lanes and split the other 2 going each way. If you don't someone will squeeze by you.

I don't know if this was directed at my specific situation, and I don't know if you read the original post but it wasn't a case of staking the lane, the car was oncoming and pointed directly at me. It was a deliberate and unprovoked attempt to run me over.



I used to flip people off but that's not the right response, i now believe. You can flip off a buddy, someone in school when you're a kid, but you can't flip off some road raging freak because it could get you hurt.
Oh, please, you’re preaching to the choir! :p I don't usually flip people off (when driving as well) but again, this was not under normal circumstances.



I have decided to go right to self protection mode, the guy tries to run me over, i get on sidewalk, he follows me onto sidewalk, i have fled all i can and i will gut him like a fish.
Again, not sure if this is directed at me or not, but this was not your normal squeeze - it was a blatant attempt to run someone over..

43rd and Holmes. As for the front plate, it was one of the last things I noticed. I think the guy on the porch said it was an MO plate.
I know that area; it doesn't seem like the kind of place that should be dangerous to ride in. Idiots everywhere, I guess.
I'm in Lexington, BTW, but spend most of my life in KC.

Reminds me too well of an incident a couple of weeks ago on Dundas West in Toronto. I'm doodling along about 25km/h in the right lane of a four-laner with streetcar tracks in the middle two lanes. The guy comes revving up behind me in a newish grey cavalier, pulls up beside me, matching speed, has his girlfriend/wife roll down the window and yells at me that I'm taking up too much of the road (riding within 12" of the curb except when passing parked cars - leave 2 feet for those bastiches). I look down to see that he's manically shifting the automatic between D and N so that he can 'rev' the 4 cyl in that car. I laugh at him and ask his gf/w if she prefers his little 1.6L or would she rather ride a pair of thighs like these... hilarity ensues as he tries to escape me - stop and go at each light and I handily keep up with the traffic.

Why don't they test for "moron" at the DMV?

Myrcurial

Patrick A - did you get the name of the officer you reported it to? my friend neil got hit one night a bunch of us were out (we were all pedestrians but i think this still applies). we were all starting to cross the street, he was the first one to cross and this car hits him hard enough so that he had to roll onto the hood. the driver gave him the finger and drove away. he was actually the one to get the licence plate # and there was a payphone across the street so he reported it right then. a cop came and took statements from all 6 or 7 of us. he wasn't seriously injured, he was limping but not enough to interfere with a night of drinking, so finally we all went on our way. on our way to the bar neil was telling random people on the street "i just got hit by a car!" or he'd poke his head into a pita pit and go "everyone be careful...i just got hit by a car!" lol.

anyway, you'd think this would be a pretty straight forward case, right? we got the car model, the licence plate, descriptions of the people in the car, and lots of witnesses! so a couple months go by, and neil had to go to physical therapy (ah the realizations you make when you sober up). so he called the police and it turns out the officer never reported it! the person neil talked to said that if we had got the officer's name then he'd be off the force! so moral of the story - get the name of the officer who takes your statement!

I carry a .380 in my handlebar bag. I am of the opinion that assault with a deadly weapon can be replied to in kind.

Evidently you're one of the fortunate ones who's never actually been the target of such an assault. As one who has, I can tell you two things:

1. It's highly unlikely that in the split second (at most) you'll have at your disposal in such a situation, you'll be able to get out your weapon and take aim.

2. Even if you can, I doubt that the car will even flinch on it's approach.

Evidently you're one of the fortunate ones who's never actually been the target of such an assault. As one who has, I can tell you two things:

1. It's highly unlikely that in the split second (at most) you'll have at your disposal in such a situation, you'll be able to get out your weapon and take aim.

2. Even if you can, I doubt that the car will even flinch on it's approach.

3. If you avoid 1 & 2 but end up killing the driver, the legal system may not see things the same way as you do, and proving that the car was TRYING to run you over would be difficult, meaning its likely you will be charged with manslaughter or worse. Assuming of course that there are no witnesses, which I think is likely in many cases. You might also get charged with carrying a concealed weapon (if you don't have a license).

Most cars are far more deadly that a .380. You might do better with an RPG, every time I check out CNN those appear to be effective against motor vehicles. Seems kinda heavy though. I think I would just try to ride defensively.