acidfast7

You act like it's not without merit.

PaleoFloridian

Please tell me about your experiences in the South!

acidfast7

I can't man, I'm heading out to the store to buy some Skittles. Be back in a few.

drjunkie

It's kinda cold right now, maybe you should wear a hoodie or something?

nelson249

CC might be useful in a situation where the OP is being assaulted but not terribly effective when getting buzzed at 50 mph. Unless, of course, one has access to a AEGIS combat system

prathmann

I'd expect a visible video camera to be more effective than a CCP. In my experience the typical harasser is relying on his assumed anonymity inside his vehicle. Just taking out my cellphone and pretending to call 911 has quickly ended a couple incidents where motorists were tossing things at me or shouting threats. Fortunately such cases have been very rare in my area and most motorists here seem quite friendly toward cyclists.

nashcommguy

Amen! My recommendation would be a Ruger LCP. 1+6 w/a .380 shell. I'd get full metal jackets or hollowpoint. https://www.ruger.com/products/lcp/models.html

It's not a target pistol. It's a business pistol.

Also, I'd invest in 2 video cameras. One facing forward and one rearward. The one forward may be best placed on your helmet as whatever harrassment you experience you'll want a video record of what you actually faced in case your CCP comes into play.

That being said, Wow, I really feel for you in your situation and hope things lighten up for you. And I'll echo another poster, don't count on the authorities for any help. You're a PITA to them and they'd just as soon you disappear. It's unfortunate, but true.

BassNotBass

Haha... so cold but funny!

howeeee

are you really going to shoot to kill someone cause you both have some road rage?

2 Years ago I left my house and a few blocks away I felt something like a bb gun shot,,I have experience as a kid being shot by freinds with bb guns so I knew right away what it was,,but I couldnt figure out where it came from,,,

I went home took a look at it,,got back on bike and rode again,,then I got shot again,,this time I saw where it came from,,it came from a couple of teens in a car.

So I thought about a permit to carry which is very easy to get in Michigan, but then do I really want to shoot to kill a couple of teens being stupid, like some of me an my freinds were when we were kids? I dont think so.

There are a lot of things you can do to reduce confrontations with motorists,,,I dont choose to do that much myself lol but you can and on occasion I take some of those actions lol...if you ride a road bike, consider a different kind of bike so you can jump up on a curb without hurting yourself,,I have a few road bikes but I prefer riding a Schwinn Cruiser 5 that I can take to the gravel or jump a curb when I have to.

And you are right police hate bikes as much or more than the public,,when I got shot by the bb gun the second time I called the police,,they said it was a very rare occurance and did I do anything to cause it.

anyway dont stop riding try to find away to reduce the tention .

BassNotBass

rrg, I spent sixteen years in the South (Georgia) and finally moved away because it just wasn't the place that I felt was home because I didn't share the same morals, values and outlooks as the majority of citizens living there. If maintaining a bicycling lifestyle is very important to you then I would honestly suggest moving to a more accepting/tolerant place... and I know that can be difficult given everything that entails regarding family, job and financial considerations. But if the hazards of bicycle commuting are the only downsides to staying in Baton Rouge then you have the choice of either commuting by car or hoping that you have enough backing to make biking and martyrdom worth the effort.

twc5964

May not be the best advice from me but the next time someone tries to physically assault you-defend yourself and fight back and dont ever let someone knock you unconcious again.I am very sorry you had to endure this.I live in a somewhat small suburban area in Alabama and have had to deal with several hotheads.

FunkyStickman

rrg: First off, sad to hear it. You should consider a camera, and definitely changing routes if at all possible. I live nearby, I know how the drivers are here, I used to live in N.O.

You adapt, or go crazy.

And leaving the south isn't an option for a lot of people... sounds nice on paper, but not in the real world. Maybe long-term, I could see, but he needs a solution now.

curbtender

If you can't deal with close encounters then bike commuting may not be for you. Some people are just lousy drivers. As far as following people to blow off steam, it just doesn't help.

dynodonn 

I cannot deal with close encounters, but that won't stop me from commuting, just makes me call out the ****ers that do it deliberately.

SkippyX

There's a heckuva difference between a couple of kids (who resemble female hygienic products w/ hoses & nozzles attached) shooting you in the rear end w/ a bb and some lunatic beating you unconscious in the street.

The weapon isn't for the idiots that buzz you because they think it's funny.

The weapon is for the guy that intends to cause you serious bodily harm. Unfortunately as he is approaching you cursing, shouting and obviously over the top out of his head enraged, you can't know how far he's going to carry it.

If he has any sense at all, when he looks down the barrel of the .380 (or whatever you have), he'll realize that his road rage isn't worth a trip to the hospital - or the mortuary.

If he doesn't figure it out, well...Darwinism is brutal but honest.

You're right. Best to avoid confrontation if possible. Sadly, it's not always possible. Better to be armed should it come to that.

BassNotBass

I lived in Georgia for sixteen years and traveled all over the South during that time. Aside from personal experiences, historical events alone support my view that the majority of the South is primarily occupied by people who are intolerant to 'foreign' ideas and hold to a to very narrow interpretation of what is considered by them to be the 'norm'.

chriskmurray

That is not for stopping people from simply buzzing or harassing him, it is for when the situation gets way out of hand and they are actually chasing him trying to beat him up. A gun is not something you pull out for little things, you have it there when you honestly feel someone is trying to badly hurt or kill you on purpose like these people did to him.

cycronin

A gun may help when the situation has gotten out of hand, but the OP also needs to avoid situations getting out of hand to whatever extent he has control over. He may live in a hostile and unfriendly place to cyclists, but his own actions, yelling at people and following them to their home, accomplishes exactly what he should be trying to avoid... escalating hostility. I'm pretty sure anyone in even the most bike friendly city would eventually get assaulted if he was yelling at people and following them home. Frankly someone who is inclined to this behavior isn't the best candidate for a concealed carry.

Myosmith

I'm not from the South and have only been there once in my life, so I'm not qualified to make statements about the culture in the OP's area. I'm also aware that there are just plain bad areas scattered throughout the country, urban and rural, where cyclists get more grief. But I have also observed that no matter where you go you get a certain number of people who are constantly having more problems interfacing with the general population than are being experienced by other cyclists in the area. How you present and conduct yourself will have a huge impact on how many problems you have, no matter where you live.

Sure, anyone can be the victim of a random act and all of us have to deal with arseholes once in a while, but when you are repeatedly the target at a much greater than average frequency, you might have to evaluate your own attitudes and conduct. It may be cliche' but life is 5% what happens to you and 95% how you react to what happens to you.

crankbait_xl

Honestly, if some pissed off stranger followed me home after an encounter on the road, I would feel totally justified in beating them with a tire tool until they stopped moving...Home is where my family lives, my wife , my kids....don't follow me home, I'd take that as a threat on me and my family.

achoo

Bull. "The south" is no more intolerant than any other grouping of philosophically homogeneous populations - all across the political and social spectra.

OP needs a camera, as posted.

And he also needs to stop escalating his encounters. Following somebody home is a good way to get beat up or killed. And if the OP thinks the cops aren't helping him now, wait until he or his heirs has to deal with them after he's followed someone to his home. Then they'll treat him like the criminal.

chriskmurray

I completely agree there, I somehow missed that part of the story.

fietsbob

Yup, unless you start commuting in an M1 Abrams Battle Tank.
but you need a crew for those ..

MijnWraak

Hm, I see a lot of "police don't give a crap" in this thread. Just recently, I had someone throw an egg out their window at me, I called 911 after getting their plate and a local officer promptly came and attempted to find the suspect. Then a few days later a couple of kids were harassing me and there was a cop on patrol right near me, so I flagged him down and he attempted to pull the car over (but got the wrong one). I don't know if it's just where I live but the police here are very helpful to bicyclists.

twc5964

Better to have a gun and not need it rather than need it and not have it.