AJU

I've been commuting for several weeks now, but yesterday had my first two confrontations with cagers:

1: a car heading opposite me does a U turn into the shoulder ahead of me. There's another car in front of him in the shoulder that pulls out. I'm headed down the lane about 4 or 5 feet behind him. I watch him turn around in his seat and look at me and start heading moving out into the lane anyway. I start ringing my bell frantically as I pass him, but he doesn't back off - still heads out into the lane. I got past him, and over into the shoulder in time for him to pass me within inches! I got past him at a light and he again passes me with little clearance.

2: a really conservative driver refuses to pass me as I'm doing about 20 MPH. Once he finally does there's a decent line of traffic behind him. A woman in a car about 3 cars back opens her window and yells "Use the sidewalk"!

DataJunkie

Congradulations! Wait....wrong thread.

#2 happens every so often even in our so called cycling enlightened areas. It annoys me as well but I just need thicker skin.
As for #1, people are plain stupid. I have no words of wisdom.

2manybikes

That's normal behavior. Expect it every single day.

GTcommuter

Bells are for pedestrians and pets only. Get a horn or be prepared to yell your lungs off. And if you see a bad situation occuring then slow down and stay out of it. Just let him infront of you and then don't worry about him any more. The guy probably didn't see you and just looked in your direction. Don't filter at lights for exactly the reason that someone will just pass you close again.

I make constructive criticism to educate, not to discourage. Glad you weren't injured in either case.

Lurker1999

I think in this situation it's best to regard yourself as if you were driving a car, a very expensive, shiny new car that you don't want scratched. Which means, slow down, realize the guy is going to do something stupid and let him get in front of you.

Basically you were playing chicken with a car when you were on a bike. Now your approach of not yielding, then passing him at the light would work if you're driving a 10 year old land yacht that has rust and dents on all the door panels and screams 'Go ahead, make my day' but not on a bike when the first thing that'll hit him is your body.

squeakywheel

I got that one today. Jeebus, there was no sidewalk on that road! Makes me want to carry a paintball gun velcro'ed to my top tube (with hydrochloric acid in the paintballs). Does anyone sell those?

I'm usually trying to stay out of the way. I want to turn left cause it's a less traveled route, but no, cars backed up forever and I can't merge left. OK, I'll just go straight and turn at the next light. One dumb ass cager passes me close. The finger. I move left into the lane more. Second dumb ass gager'es passenger yells "use the sidewalk". There isn't one. The finger. Third dumb ass cager passes close. Jeebus. It's 4 lanes and not busy. Use the other F'ing lane. Why pass close when you have 14 feet of vacant asphalt to your left. Dumb ass. The finger.

I want the paintball gun with the hydrochloric acid filled balls.

mihlbach

Of course you should avoid physical confrontation with cars and or their drivers, but after about 100 or more verbal confrontations, like "get off the road", you won't even care, or possibly even notice that someone is yelling at you. You might even begin to develop a twisted sense of satisfaction when someone gets pissed at you for being on the road. Most importantly , just don't let it phase you...always be firm with your position in the lane when you get verbally harassed.

It also helps to look serious when you ride..like you are doing some serious training. This may or may not work for you depending on your riding style, but it tends to intimidate would-be harassers. I used to commute in regular clothes on a hybrid and got yelled at occasionally. Now I commute in cycling shorts and jersey, on a road bike and I ride fast and hard, usually in the drop position. People now basically leave me alone, and I'm convinced it has to do with the fact that I look more intimidating.

ghettocruiser

You'll get used to it.

How "used to it" you ask?

This morning I had a unpleasant incident where I was nearly run-down from behind by a tractor-trailer running a red I had already come to a full stop at.

I'd completely forgotten about it until I read this thread. Now that I think about it, I don't even think I bothered to give the guy the finger.

agarose2000

Don't use the finger. It's counterproductive, and doesn't accomplish anything. In fact, it probably hurts the reputation of all of us bikers out there - the next time that cager runs across another biker, they'll make it a point to "avenge" that finger you gave them out of spite and cut us off.

I'm not saying what they did was right, but the finger just proves that you're even smaller than they are.

I find my best defense is to slow down, and if someone really cuts me close, I glare at them and slowly non my head back and forth. Usually after that, the cars behind that oaf are quite respectful of my space, and I go no further honks or cutoffs - in fact, they give me TONS of space, knowing that I handled the situation.

Also make it a point of smiling and waving at drivers who do the right thing. I've started using the thumbs up and smiling to encourage good behavior. Nobody on this board ever comments about when cagers do things RIGHT - remember that we are the 1-2% minority commuter, and that even good drivers can be usnure of what to do when coming across a biker for the first time. Help 'em out by pointing out the things they do right!

markf

I've been tempted to give the finger lots of times, and I've given in to temptation more times than I should have. But the truth is that it's not only counterproductive, it can provoke certain low lifes into physically attacking, and bicyclist being attacked by a motorist is at a severe disadvantage. This happened to me in about 1980, and it was truly scary. I don't think I gave anybody the finger for about 20 years after that, at least not while I was on my bike. Also, some states include obscene gestures in their definition of harassment, which means that you can be issued a summons if you flip someone off. Finally, if the encounter/confrontation reaches the point where the police take notice, your case will be much weaker if you made any obscene gestures or responded in kind to the other guy's bad behavior<

Ricardo

Smile and wave. You will feel better and will REALLY piss them off.

RR.

Munchkin

Move to Vancouver, BC. We love bicyclist (mostly). At least, in my six months of commuting, 1/3 on downtown city streets, I haven't experienced anything like that. I take my lane when nesecary, and ride accordingly otherwise. And cagers give me no crap. Some pass too close, and you have the usual right hook, left hook, dooring elements to watch out for, but over all, I think Vancouver is one of the better cycling cities.

But don't let such silly things get you down. Remember how you feel when it's just you, the bike and the road.

Chris L

This post says it all. Once you've been out there for a while you'll develop the arrogance that will prevent these things from bothering you, as well as the cynicism to allow you to anticipate and deal with it. I haven't given anyone the finger in years, not because I have any respect for them, or because their behaviour has improved, but just because I can't be bothered anymore.

bike2math

#1 Keep evil to the front! ease up and let him go. Especially if you are not certain you were seen. Never rely on a drivers hearing, or on your ability to accelerate out of a situation. My grandfather drives a car, my grandfather also has no battery in his hearing aid.

#2 This is annoying. But I will use it to either wave and smile (big ear to ear dumb ass grin!) and watch the lady's face explode with rage or I'll yell "Jesus loves you to!!" and watch her roll up the window quickly and drive away not making eye contact. The other thing I've been tempted to do is go on some sort of crazy rant. These types of drivers I want to leave wondering whether I'm crazy, developmentally disabled, or both, I have a dumb idea that this will make them less likely to say anything to a cyclist in the future.

pgoat

I'll add, in general: expect anything, breathe deep, stay safe first......then worry about the confrontation.

Bekologist

In AJU's first scenario, if i pass an asshat that cuts ME off, I then engage the full lane and cut them of while harassing them mercilessy over my shoulder. i am positive it pisses the drivers off. but hey, they just narrowly avoided hitting me.

a couple of weeks ago, I rode up on a lady harrassing two bicyclists as she was passing them... she was doing the 'slow and swerve' threatening move i am sure some of you are familiar with.

that got my ire up, so i pulled around the cager, stopped her vehicle by placing myself squarely in front of her vehicle, read her the riot act for a full minute or so about bikes rights to the road and how cars have the responsibilty to pass bikes safely (3 feet in Washington State) regardless of the cager's impression on the correctness of the bicyclists lane position, then took the full travel lane and "Critical Massed of 1" her car for about a mile before letting her pass me by.

did it make her into a better or worse, more or less concientous driver, one more aware of bikes rights to the road? possibly. i do know it gave her 'food for thought.'

i also proactively make eye contact with drivers passing bicyclist opposite my direction, to let them know others are watching them. Sometimes i like to punch my palm with my fist while staring down drivers going opposite me if they look to be disregarding bicyclists safety in the opposing lane....

DataJunkie

When I am well rested I actually do what I say and ignore those yelling at me. However, when I am tired all hell can break loose. Middle fingers flying, curse words, arguments, etc.
No one is perfect. Least of all me.

truman

+1 on the big, toothy smile and wave.

ghettocruiser

I've done the "fake ignorance" wave thing more than a few times too. As observed here, it usually makes people just as mad as being flipped. Hence I have wonder why one is taboo on BF and the other is recommended.

But as I mentioned, the longer you ride, the taller the threshold for incidents worth reacting to or even mentioning. Tractor-trailers blowing red lights no longer makes the cut.

O-Town

I heard somewhere there are 5 types of drivers

1) competent drivers
2) distracted competent drivers
3) Incompetent drivers
4) distracted incompetent drivers
5) drivers who want to kill you

Sounds like you found #5 and #3

pgoat

after years of cajoling my wife finally joined me for her first ever commute yesterday.

when I asked her how she liked/hated it afterwards she mentioned the 'adrenaline' factor. I realized I hadn't had it (at least not in noticable degrees) in a long time.

Not that I am not still careful, etc but yes, your tolerance goes up and your patience too. But as posted , a bad day, fatigue, or just that certain special awhole doing something extra brilliant designed to kill you will get the unavoidable response. We've all been there, I am sure.

again, just concentrate on priority 1 - staying alive. worry about who's right & who's wrong later (eg, write letters to the DOT, local pols, etc). Anticipate stupid cager behavior and react accordingly. just my 2 cents.

legot73

I noticed this, too. I switched from a mountain bike and gym clothes to a road bike and cycling clothes, and had far fewer incidents. I don't think of it as intimidating, but that it somehow makes me appear more competent than I did before. More people give me space, and don't harass me as much.

Smile and wave works! A real "asshat", to borrow from Bekologist, will fume, and probably convey that you're an idiot. If you can live with that, it's a lot of fun, kind of like tormenting an angry sibling.

bike2math

My experience has been that I get fewer incidents if it is obvious I'm commuting/running errands, i.e. with full panniers or grocery bags tied to the rack. If i'm just out for a fitness ride without the commute gear I tend to get hasselled more.

Sawtooth

Get an MP3 Player and blast away. I hate to say this because I know it is taboo here, but I have not had one cager yell at me since I began using my mp3 player on my commute. Instead, they just drive by and seem to mouth words at me, but I can't hear what they are saying. I am too busy rocking out and cutting them off instead of the other way around. I have found that agressive music makes me ride more aggressively; and a big part of me really likes that. In truth, I find that it is much more satisfying to be the agressor than the victim (within the confines of ethical behavior, of course).

Of course, I try not to do anything that might get me killed as they pass me back in a couple of miles. I still try to mind my manners. I just don't see myself as their whipping boy any more and don't care what they have to say now that I have my little friends AC/DC or Foo Fighters whispering in my ear that I am the master of my commuting domain. Metallica has become a voice in my head that convinces me that cars are in my way and I am going to get around them any way I can without getting killed or getting a ticket. Heck, that is why I ride a bike in the first place.

I would have to say that getting an MP3 player has added more enjoyment value to my commute than any other accessory I have bought. Sure, I know I have reduced my hearing, but it is still there. Would you argue that a deaf person should not ride a bike?

ekimeno

Was going to start a new thread after my fiasco today, but this one seemed appropriate enough...

On my way to work this morning I was passing through a particularly congested section along my route and was riding along the dividing line that separates the two opposite directions of traffic - pretty dangerous, but no choice really unless I wanted to sit stuck in traffic.

Suddenly a blue Audi pulls into the traffic from a side street on the opposite side of the road to try and get into the stream of traffic I was going - so basically cutting across both directions of traffic, and he was hooting continuously to try and wedge his way in. Of course he managed to pull right in front of me and I came to a skidding stop, almost crashing into him.

Since he hadn't noticed that he'd almost killed me, I decided to point this out to him by banging on his bonet (front of the car) with my open hand and shouted "hey" to get his attention while free wheeling around the front of the stationary car. The driver was a fairly big guy - about 250 pounds - he looked at me once and just exploded - the driver door flew open and this beast came lurching out yelling in anger. It looked like he was ready to kill me with his bare hands.

Survival instinct kicked in and I quickly clipped back into my bike as this madman started giving chase on foot with his car blocking traffic in both directions. I quickly pedalled down the middle of the road through the traffic jam and looked behind me after a few seconds. The guy had stopped running but was shouting something at me and waving his arms angrily.

I continued my commute with adrenaline pumping, laughing hysterically - mostly from relief that I wasn't caught!