Advocacy & Safety - How About This For An A$$hole Driver!

So I am on my nice peaceful ride today, it was nearing the rush hour time and teenagers are out and about at these hours with their "pimped out" rides. On my ride I sometimes see people not understanding that you bike/run with traffic not against it. So I am biking along with traffic today and I see one car pass 2 cars, I just look at the car zoom by the other two in disgust. A few minutes later I see another car, be aware that I was on the shoulder which was a wide shoulder. So this car attempts to pass 3 cars in a row, with a car coming the other way! So this driver slams on his brakes and pulls onto the shoulder right in front of me, still going pretty fast. I have to completly drive off onto the shoulder into the gravel to dodge the car, and the car didn't even stop to see if I was alright, he continued on down the shoulder where he turned down the next road. My bike and I are both alright I managed to see him and his idiotic move in enough time to get off my bike fast and grab it and just jump right off the shoulder. Only if I would have gotten his plate :mad:.

Only if I would have gotten his plate :mad:.

... you could've shoved it up his **** sideways.

... you could've shoved it up his **** sideways.Oh how I wish I could have gotten my hands on that jerkoff.

For therapy:

> organise a cardboard cut-out of a child star
> find a part of the road where a child may cross the road (a school, mall etc) and lay the cutout down
> rig it up so that by pulling on a string attached to the cutout you can make the cutout suddenly stand upright
> at random intervals, when a car nears yank the string
> repeat the last step until sufficiently calm on the inside or police arrive

Good luck!

(please don't actually do this :) )

For therapy:

> organise a cardboard cut-out of a child star
> find a part of the road where a child may cross the road (a school, mall etc) and lay the cutout down
> rig it up so that by pulling on a string attached to the cutout you can make the cutout suddenly stand upright
> at random intervals, when a car nears yank the string
> repeat the last step until sufficiently calm on the inside or police arrive

Good luck!

(please don't actually do this :) )You sir are my new buddy.

... you could've shoved it up his **** sideways.

With the way he is driving I somehow doubt there would be any slots available down there.

--J

For therapy:

> organise a cardboard cut-out of a child star
> find a part of the road where a child may cross the road (a school, mall etc) and lay the cutout down
> rig it up so that by pulling on a string attached to the cutout you can make the cutout suddenly stand upright
> at random intervals, when a car nears yank the string
> repeat the last step until sufficiently calm on the inside or police arrive

Good luck!

(please don't actually do this :) )

Why not?

In all seriousness, the original incident is one to call the cops on, it's a shame you didn't get his plate. It kinda reminds me of something I saw a ute driver do on Sunday at West Tweed Heads. This guy took off down the shoulder trying to undertake two cars in a row, only to find that he couldn't quite make it because a parked car was in his way. He had to slam on the brakes and wait not only for the two cars he tried to pass, but also for a couple of more vehicles that were following those.

I muttered the words "169% owned, buddy" and let out a short laugh. The reason it was a short laugh is because a magpie then came a long and cut it off by means of taking a pot shot at my head. :(

I had one today too...I was crusing down a slight downhill grade, movin along at a good clip. Road was free of traffic, along the side of there road there was a ton of debris, so I moved a little left just enough to avoid it all and let people see me. I hear honking behind me...Just thought someone was being nice, letting me know they were there. So i move a little right to be nice too, still avoiding the debris and big rocks. More honking, more honking...dumb woman flys up next to me and starts screaming "GET OUT OF THE ROAD A**HOLE!" So I just kinda looked at her with a little death stare and kept on going...she flys past and makes a right not more than 100 ft ahead!!!!! CUTTING ME OFF TO BOOT! Luckily I anticipated this move, but come on. I wish people understood that we have just as much right to the road as they do. They certainly wouldn't ride over big rocks with their cars. Comes with the territory I guess...

You should've had a 9mm on you. After you jumped off your bike, whip it out and start firing, don't forget to hold it sideways for the cool factor. ;)

For therapy:

> organise a cardboard cut-out of a child star
> find a part of the road where a child may cross the road (a school, mall etc) and lay the cutout down
> rig it up so that by pulling on a string attached to the cutout you can make the cutout suddenly stand upright
> at random intervals, when a car nears yank the string
> repeat the last step until sufficiently calm on the inside or police arrive

Good luck!

(please don't actually do this :) )

When I was in Japan about 20 years ago they had cutouts of kids, elderly folk, and policemen on the side of the road. Every once in awhile there would be a real cop. This kept everyone on their toes. This was way up north in Misawa.

Why not? That was exactly my reaction. People who do what the OP described should have the ***** scared out of them, not as punishment, but as a way of making them sufficiently aware of the potential consequences of doing something like this that they won't do it again.

BTW, something like this happened on a residential street a year or so ago. We were on a Critical Mass ride, and this pizza delivery car zooms up behind us, gets impatient, passes us in the oncoming lane, only to find himself face to face with other cars. So he goes to the CURB LANE on the OTHER SIDE of the street to pass them. And he was on his way BACK to the pizza joint, NOT delivering a "30 minutes or the world ends" pizza. Upshot is, it's a local pizza joint that is very supportive of our local bike advocacy group. Someone told the owner about it, and he reported it to the cops and fired the driver.

When I was in Japan about 20 years ago they had cutouts of kids, elderly folk, and policemen on the side of the road. Every once in awhile there would be a real cop. This kept everyone on their toes. This was way up north in Misawa.

If they did this in the US, the cutouts would all have bullet holes within a week.

If they did this in the US, the cutouts would all have bullet holes within a week.

The police in my area have been using a plains clothes officer, with backup nearby, to cross streets in crosswalks. Drivers that don't yield have been pulled over and ticketed.

We were on a Critical Mass ride, and this pizza delivery car zooms up behind us, gets impatient, passes us in the oncoming lane, only to find himself face to face with other cars. So he goes to the CURB LANE on the OTHER SIDE of the street to pass them. And he was on his way BACK to the pizza joint, NOT delivering a "30 minutes or the world ends" pizza.

The way he drove is wrong, but I have to say that I don't think people being upset behind a critical mass is at all the same as people honking at a biker or group of them obeying the laws and not taking a whole lane if unnessesary. I must say that I'm glad critical mass is not done in my town and as a bicycle commuter and regular rider, I would definitly give them a piece of my mind if they did do it here. It's just another reason for drivers to get even more impatient with every biker they see, and it's not acting like responsible traffic if you ask me. The whole argument that it let's drivers be aware that bikers exist is true, but it also makes drivers aware that bikers feel above the law and dont care to share the road. (which is not true for the most part)
OK, that's out of my system
:)

On my ride I sometimes see people not understanding that you bike/run with traffic not against it.

Actually...you're supposed to bike with traffic, walk/run against traffic.

Why the distinction between critical mass and a "group...obeying the laws and not taking a whole lane if unnecessary"? Where is the assumption that the CM riders were not obeying the law? And given the sheer number of riders, taking the whole lane was absolutely necessary. The multiple stunts that driver pulled were not.

Why the distinction between critical mass and a "group...obeying the laws and not taking a whole lane if unnecessary"? Where is the assumption that the CM riders were not obeying the law? And given the sheer number of riders, taking the whole lane was absolutely necessary. The multiple stunts that driver pulled were not.

You're right, I was a little quick there to speak, but from what I have read and reaearched about critical mass in its current form (I heard about them a while ago and was excited, until...) It is a lot of people that want to fight back against cars, not ride safely and responsibly. A parade of bikes would be fine, but you can't just disrupt traffic like that for a cause (extreme disruption) with out permits is how I see it. But I recently went through a bunch of old CM threads, so this wasn't meant to start debating them again. (but I'm not against that :) )
Again, just my opinion of them, not all involved are band I'm sure though, it's just the idea of how and why they do it now.