RT

Righteous and correct.

mister

A couple years ago I had something similar happen. I was riding home from work at night and got a Big Gulp of ice thrown at me. I was alert enough to get the make, model and license plate of the car and called 911 to report an assault. I gave the dispatcher the direction of travel, let them know I wasn't injured and that I'd be moving on.

I got a call later that night from a deputy saying he went to their house, and gave em hell for a bit. Since the assault didn't take place in his presence and I wasn't injured it was a stale misdemeanor at best and nothing was done. I didn't expect that anything would be done, but hey, I'll take it!

sadsack

I once had a couple of kids in the back of a dump truck chuck rocks (shot put size) towards me. I was just very grateful they were bad aims.

eja_ bottecchia

I carry a fully loaded Glock. Last time it happened, I blew out the punk's wheels. It was fun watching the punk and his SUV careen down a canyon, off Decker Canyon road and burst into flames....

Oh sorry, that is what I would have liked to have done.

Last time it happened to me I just ignored the little miscreant, safe in the knowledge that by riding an SUV and eating fast food he was working himself into an early grave.

531phile 

Golf Balls? Billiard Balls do more damage.

Greyryder

Ah, the good old Magic Hate Ball.

cradduck

You should start a bike gang. Go around randomly punching people in their cars. Get a reputation, you know?

In reality, just let it go. These morons are going to do something stupid and mommy and daddy are going to deny them keys to the SUV or stop paying for their gas money or something like that...they'll be on bikes getting crap thrown at them soon enough.

KD5NRH

Double benefit:
1) If someone else had the same happen to them, lost control and got hurt, and only had a vague description of the vehicle, your information and testimony would help pin it on them
2) The deputy almost certainly made that clear to them, so they'll be extra sure not to try it again

dynodonn 

Highly unlikely, and the only way that's possibly going to happen is if the local authorities step in and take the teen's license away.

I took an Airsoft round from a carload of teens joyriding around on my commute. I would have taken a second round if I hadn't taken some evasive action. I notified the local authorities when I got home, but nothing came about it until a couple of months later when a 16 year old boy was arrested for shooting several pellet gun rounds at the side of his neighbor's house.

The 16 year old's home just happen to be a couple of blocks from where my incident occurred.

mister

Some of my friends that ride street bikes carry marbles with them and drop them in front of cars that nearly hit them. A couple of them have been known to knock of side mirrors with their fists also.

BTW... I'm not advocating any of the above.

KD5NRH

Our sheriff likes to occasionally remind the kids who might be inclined to cause mischief with Airsoft and paintball guns that anyone mistaking their toys for real guns would be justified in shooting them. Seems one of them complained after he got proned out and held at gunpoint by a passerby who saw him pointing what looked like a shotgun at passing traffic.

dynodonn 

Here in Cali, it's a little more dicey issue in shooting some for that very reason. One of the reasons why I don't own any firearms.

CptjohnC

^^^^^ +1

Don't be tempted to throw anything back. In Virginia, at least, this is a felony, as a young man of my acquaintance found out to his great misfortune. For the same reason, though, it is one you might actually get the cops to move on, depending on your locale, and how much information you can deliver about the 'perpetrators'

aley

This.

It's an elegant solution - you can carry it as far as you like (you can pretend to phone the cops, or you can really do it), and rather than leaving you wondering whether the cops will take any action, it leaves the perpetrators wondering if they'll get caught.

john423

I live in kind of a dicey neighborhood, and I was petrified someone was gonna start shooting fireworks at me when I rode home from work the night of July 4. I'm not sure I wanna ride my bike on the night of Oct. 30, when most everyone will be celebrating Halloween. I've yet to have anything chucked at me, though I'd say my time's coming.

kekkiumai

cattle prod or stun baton. your new best friend... in a situation like that you'll have to provoke them to get them to come out of their car so you can teach them a lesson or two. i don't promote violence but i do promote divine justice...


https://www.stungunscheaper.com/_Mona...php?ref=stbtns

for the safety of night riding from jackass teenagers or jackasses in general...

KD5NRH

The standard here is reasonable belief - and any belief held by a Californian is presumed unreasonable

Spire

+1!

vol

It's the vehicle that is weaker than theirs. The person who is driving the car (i.e. sitting in the car) is more than likely weaker than the one riding a bike.

bentstrider

CA is pretty much the pitts when it comes to owning firearms of any type.
Rifles, pistols, shotguns all require a 10-day waiting period, then there's other restrictions in relation to the mechanical workings of the weapon, primarily 10 rd magazine limits.
Then there's also the registering of ammunition everytime you buy that.

However, like the UK and other areas with restrictive gun laws, crime still runs rampant because crooks aren't scared of laws.

All of that withstanding, I'm looking into purchasing either an xD-9, or Sig P226 for CCW in my area.
With the ex-con transplants and meth-heads that like to barrel down the streets in this area, I'd like to have an equalizer in case they want to pull the usual "1 vs. however-many-are-in-each-vehicle" tactic.
In the meantime, I just try to ride along the streets that nobody cares about, or ones that would give a carload of brigands something to cry about.

diff

I will tell you a funny story. It was a few years ago and we were parked on the side ofa a street. Probably smoking weed or something, it was 3 of us. A jeep cheerokee with teenagers drove by and egged my buddies car. This is not the kind of kids car you wanted to egg. He followed them own and they finally got stuck at a red light behind cars. The kid got out and kicked his foot throw one of the jeep windows and pulled one of them out. I don't I have ever seen someone so scared, he kept saying it wasn't him that threw it. His friends just sat there and watched.

So don't even worry, they will eventually mess with the wrong person and get what's coming.

B. Carfree

I got the food treatment a few years ago. I was on a bike path when someone threw a gallon-jug of mile from a second-story balcony. Fortunately, I saw it coming and avoided it. That would have hurt and then I would have had to decide whether to let our local anti-bike PD handle it or deal with it myself. I still wonder what I would have decided.

asforme

I never advocate escalating a confrontation. I agree with the above, call the police if you deem it necessary and ride on. This is how I behave riding or otherwise, partially because I have a concealed handgun permit and I carry everywhere. I carry a gun in case the other party decides that the situation will be violent, but I never want to be doing anything that could be considered to be escalation while I'm armed. Anyone who thinks that carrying a gun is a good idea because it'd allow you to escalate the situation should never carry one. It is a last resort for life and death situations. If you are the type of person who would be tempted to use it in other situations, don't carry one.

Zeake

Very very well said.

Spire

Well said, but isn't it difficult (and quite obvious) to carry on a bicycle?