wildergeek

I love what bike commuting has done for me. I am getting fit, I feel great, and it has slowed down my pace of life.

There are moments though, that negate every calming effect biking has on my life. Twice in the last six months, some ass-hat in a BMW climbs up my ass, tailgating me while revving his engine, and then he aggressively passes me (too close) and blaring his horn.

The police can do nothing until they witness him doing it (fat chance of that) or I can stay focused long enough to get his plate number. There are many others but he is the only offender that I recognize as a repeat.

What I really need is some advice on how I can manage MY rage against this guy. I swear, if he ever gets stopped at a traffic light and I can catch up to him, I'll drag him out of his car and give him some proper feedback.

I don't want to be like that. I don't want to even think that way because it makes me just like him. I need an outlet for this frustration. I have tried talking to city "leaders" but it falls on deaf ears. They think of cycling as a recreation and refuse to spend any money on motorist awareness.

The HUA motorists seem really bad this year. Any suggestions for me to deal with my desire to rip this guys spleen out?

TonyS

First of all, get his plates. I don't know about Ohio, but in Missouri we can mail in a complaint and the driver will be mailed a ticket from the highway patrol if they get like 3 complaints, and a warning and literature before that. Maybe he doesn't know you can be off the sidewalk, and that's why he's angry.

Secondly, good job on not getting into a bitter "us vs them" mode with motorists. I see that too much here. Just try to keep in mind that he's probably ignorant of the law.

And I know how you feel... A guy ran a stop sign and almost killed me yesterday.

thehick

Carry ONE ball bearing. Drop it when he's behind you. Surreptitiously. Don't look back. Next ride don't carry anything. Alternate until problem goes away. Deny. Deny. deny. Problem solved.

I'm just saying that in case I'm on your side. If you're one of those who love "takin' the lane", I'm not. Only so much room. My time is important too. On the other hand, if it's a bad stretch of road and there's no room to pass, well, I'd be upset whether I was the cyclist or the driver. Just the way it is. Sometimes there's no solution.

desertb

File a report with the police, they'll go see what ass-clowns problem is. That's how it works where I live.

snorkel

When this happens my thought is this.. Right now this guy has me upset, but it will pass and I will go back to enjoying what I'm doing. The D-Bag driving the BMW however will continue to be a d-bag and will continue to allow stupid small things to completely tick him off. I mean really.. How lousy must your life be that something as simple as having to slow down a bit to cautiously drive past a cyclist gets you so enraged that you have to be a total dick about it? How much of his day does he spend being furious over nothing? Normally I think someone is either a jerk by nature or having a lousy day. If this guy is a repeat offender then he is a jerk by nature. Feel the appropriate amount of pity for this tool and then move on.

wildergeek

I only take the lane where required to be safe, either the lane is too narrow for a car to squeeze by safely or there is debris/storm grates, etc. over by the curb. Even then, I only take the right tire track.

The incident this morning was at 6:30, no other traffic in either direction and the guy had five lanes but chose to pass 20 inches off my left ear lobe. He clearly did it intentionally.

I don't know about the ball bearing idea. On one hand, I would LOVE to hear the ball bearing bounce into his radiator or windshield. On the other hand, this guy has some serious anger management issues. I think he might ram me if he so much as perceived I was trying to damage his car. There's a fine line between being within your right and being dead right.

I'm thinking I might research mini video cams today. Video cameras don't blink when horns honk.

ItsJustMe

Helmet cams start at $20. I have one of these:
https://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.32022

Talk to the police, ask them if video of the event would at least give them enough evidence to send an officer to talk to the individual about the rights of bicycles on the road.

There are people here who have cooperative police departments which have written citations and had fines and points imposed based on citizen-provided video evidence, so that's a possibility, but if not, the lesser bar is to have them talk to the person. If the police show up on the guy's doorstep, tell him that what the cyclist is doing is totally legal and within his rights and what the driver is doing is absolutely illegal, and if a cop witnesses it he'll be facing charges of assault, reckless driving and endangerment, he might decide just to drive on by next time.

colleen c

Do the video. Even a fake one is better than nothing. It may not stop them from doing the lesser agressive stuff, but it will make them think twice before they do anything that may result in bodily injuries. I ride with my P7 on my helmet, and I leave it attached even during the day time. I had one motorist ask me at the light was that a camera. Bicyclist here seldom ride with anything attached on the top of their helmet. It gets their attention when they think it is a camera.

jimlamb

+1

Check to see if your municipality has a road rage hotline (many do nowadays as this has become such a common issue). Use that to report the a$$hat and don't bother to mention that you're a cyclist - it's not relevant.

gazer

A couple of things:

Take a LAB bike class. You probably know most of what they'll teach you, but I've found having a little certificate saying that you've been "trained" to be a nice thing. You can even mention it to law enforcement if you have to report an incident, and you'll actually gain a little cred with them for it. (At least in my experience). Looks like there is one near you this weekend: https://www.metroparks.org/cycling. I took the course in San Francisco a few years ago, and it was well worth my time, even though I had far more cycling experience than the rest of the students. More class schedules available here: LAB Search

Carry a camera (or video). When you feel like yelling back, just start taking pictures. It takes a little practice to get the camera out quickly, but it totally freaks out drivers. It can also help your memory of license plates. Video is even better, but the action of taking out a camera and starting to snap pictures can have really good effects.

Find your local police non-emergency number and use it to report dangerous drivers who don't quite rise to the level of a 9-1-1 call. Call 911 when necessary. If a commercial (or municipal) vehicle is giving you trouble, contact their place of work, or give the information to the police to do it.

rhm

That sounds like good advice.

I also like the helmetcam suggestion. I've never had need for one, but it sounds like this may be the occasion that calls for it.

But why are we calling this road rage? OP hasn't done anything to provoke, annoy, irritate, etc. The BMW'r is being a jerk, and there's not much more to it than that.

gazer

2nd thing: the reason to report everything (particularly with a plate number) is that you're establishing a pattern of the driver's habits.

In the unfortunate case where the driver later hits someone, that history can be used as evidence that it wasn't an "accident."

ItsJustMe

It's road rage. The guy is clearly in a rage, whether he was provoked or not. Most road rage isn't provoked, at least not intentionally. The car in front of you is driving "too slow"? Hang a foot off his rear bumper, blow the horn, pass too close, cut him off, brake check him. The guy wasn't doing anything wrong, he was just not speeding quite as much as the rager wanted to.

wildergeek

Kind of discouraged. I called my local PD and told them about the incident. They explained that unless an officer actually witnesses the incident, they can't (won't) do anything.

I asked them if video evidence would be enough for them to pay the guy a visit. I even clarified my question to state if the plate number was clearly visible as well as capturing the aggressive behavior on video. I was told they would not act on that "because video can be doctored." They advised that if I can get the plate number, to pull over and call them so they can send a cruiser out. How is me SAYING the plate number and SAYING something happened more valid than video evidence?!

Are you frickin' kidding me?! This doesn't seem to be an issue with the traffic light cameras and dashcams they use. All of a sudden I'm getting the feeling that the city in which I live is consciously trying to be bike unfriendly.

I think my next step is to stop a bike cop and talk to them. Maybe I need an advocate inside the department.

Suddenly the ball bearing solution is sounding more viable. I can buy a whole lot of ball bearings for the cost of a helmet cam. Besides, unless the cops actually see me smash his rear window, they won't do anything about it, right?

Sigh.

JeremyZ

What good is a ball bearing going to do? It'll just tick him off and he'll "give you a push".

He's just being a bully but he has the power to seriously mess you up. We ran into this kind of thing on motorcycles all the time. On motorcycles, there is sometimes an option to outrun the guy. On a bicycle; never.

I think your best bet is maybe to try to get other cagers to act as a witness on your behalf.

genec

You have just cited my biggest frustration with being a long time cyclist (over 40 years on the road)... no matter how well I ride and how proper I am, these jugheads exist and chose to be buttheads. I have had it happen on quiet Sunday mornings on streets with no other traffic and lots of empty lanes that they can use.

I have taken both LAB 1 and 2 (and actually got honked at in the LAB 2 class by one of these clowns)... the classes, while good, do nothing to alleviate the road of these clowns... (actually sometimes they are not "clowns" but single minded frustrated motorists that simply "won't see" the next lane over).

The fact is they exist, they have the potential to be dangerous and no amount of ignoring them will fix the problem. Get the cam and document what you can. In the end, it may mean that you have to "take it to the people" yourself... like Jeff Frings.

rhm

If you're going to escalate, don't post about it on the internet, and don't buy anything to create a paper trail. The roads are covered with debris that is likely to be hitting his car all the time anyway... that stuff is dangerous, someone should be picking it up anyway, might as well be you.

Did you get the name of the helpful officer who answered the phone? It's probably a good idea to record that type of thing; when you called, and what (s)he said. Try calling another time, and talk to a different officer, see if you get a more useful reply (and whatever they say, write it down).

Anyway, police are not the final arbiters in such matters. Once you have a list of police officers who have told you complete nonsense, talk to your city council rep, your mayor... get creative.

If not a helmet cam, I still think some kind of camera would be good, to record BMW'rs license, car, etc.

genec

And here is the classic case of rude motorist... honking at the wrong cyclist.




That cyclist is a COP!

Here is the whole story: https://commuteorlando.com/wordpress/...re-honking-at/

Bikehead

Wildergeek: I also travel the Kettering streets, everyday on way to work, from
Centerville. By the way od Hempstead station road to Valleywood, in the
afternoon around 2:00 p.m.
I encounter a few honker, and people trying to get close. The intersection
of Hempsteat station and Strrop road is the worse. I get in left turn lane
so the right turn lane isn't held up. About twice a week someone will
pull up behine me and get close or honk, for me to get out of way, I
am inside the line of left turn lane and the light is red.
The streets of Kettering are full of potholes, it seems, and I have broken
5 spokes, this year, on rear wheel. So I know what your talking about
This last week a Kettering cop, on a bike run a stop stop from a side street
on to Valleywood,and just kept going like it was noting. I think maybe he had been
to the donut shop and his eyes was grazed over fron the donuts.
I have heard of things like that happening out on Stroop road near the Greens Shopping center, near Dorthy lane.
Be safe out there, and have a great summer riding

TonyS

Yeah I'm kind of disappointed and surprised that there are folks asking the OP to escalate... the other guy is in a car, and you're on a bike. He's already pretty far ahead in the physical power arms race, and he's already proven that he's not a reasonable man... escalation of physical violence will not end well for anyone involved.

wildergeek

I'm not going to do that. I'm just pissed that the police are not being more helpful.

Now if someone comes up with something I can throw at the car that prevents these type from breeding, then maybe we'll be onto something. ;-)

neil

Instead of the cops, have you tried contacting bylaw enforcement? I've always found that city bylaw enforcement officers, whose entire job it is to hand out tickets for minor offenses, are more interested in stuff like this. Cops want murderers and thieves...if you don't have one, they're not interested.

There's no legal reason why you are a less dependable witness that a police officer, so no reason a ticket can't be issued based on your testimony. My bylaw enforcement just sent me a witness statement to fill out, and they issued a ticket based on that. It wasn't a cycling issue - I had a longstanding problem with a city department breaking their own noise bylaw, which went away after I contacted bylaw enforcement instead of just the department manager - but I can't see why the outcome would be different.

However, if it gets fought in court, you'd need either a corroborating witness or video evidence or something similar.

AdamDZ

Defensive cycling people!

I alter my routes to avoid trouble traffic areas, I don't want to prove anything at the cost of my life, health or even damage to my bike. I won't be able to make any significant difference: jerks and idiots will remain such. Even if they get punished they will still remain jerks and idiots and their behavior won't change much, it won't suddenly change them into nice drivers. I may argue with another cyclist (even thought I try not to any more) but not with an enraged imbecile in a car. I don't have the time and the money for lawyers and I like my limbs attached and in one piece. I'd rather ride.

Adam

AlmostTrick

Find out where he lives and leave him a note. Write it as a third party so he doesn't think it's you. Something like this...

On *date* I witnessed how you treated a cyclist on the road with your *color* BMW. Your actions were highly dangerous and illegal. Please be advised that cyclists do have the right to use the road, and you have a legal obligation to interact with them in a safe manner. In this neighborhood we look out for one another. I trust that for everyone's sake, this behavior is corrected immediately.

I would then include compliments on what a clean paint job his car has, or how nice his house is, worded in a manner that could vaguely cause him to be concerned for the safety of his property or even person. Knowing that he is no longer anonymous, and that someone unhappy with him knows where he lives, would scare most anyone straight.

Then, as before, it is important for you to totally ignore him in any future events. After all, you didn't write the letter. Just keep an eye on his position, and always keep bail out space on your right to move into at the appropriate moment.

Ride On!

dwilbur3

+1 Well said.