hueyhoolihan

i ride everyday here in the east bay for about 2-3 hours for the last 6-7 years. haven't had ANY hostile drivers. i've been lightly hit, by a couple that weren't watching where they were going or talking on the phone or whatnot, but none i would call hostile. not to say that a few weren't disappointed in me though, and would have liked to holler out, "Get off my lawn", "Get on the sidewalk" and "Get a haircut", or some such thing, or all three, as i occasionally blunder.

as ye sow so shall ye reap...

joeyduck

Despite my list of run-ins with bad drivers I find most drivers give me enough space and are friendly. A smile and wave of thanks really helps from my standpoint.

I do get annoyed when drivers go out of their way to be courteous. Such as in a round about when they have the right of way and I was planning to stop for them. Or when I plan it just right to track stand and not unclip at a four way stop and then they just do not go and insist I go. By which point the several seconds makes me need to unclip and do a hard start.

The other day I almost witnessed an accident in a round about and it helped me understand why drivers yield unnecessarily. I was second in line after letting a guy pass. We approached westbound to a round about and I noticed the car which cleared it to the south was not going, meaning a northbound car was coming down the narrow two way street. The northbound car had the obvious right of way, and was well into the circle and just starting on the arc back in to get straight through when the guy in front of me just kept going. I thought, god this is going to be ugly. Thankfully the car saw the guy and stopped. The cyclist threw up a WTF hand and kept going. I just sighed and shook my head. There is a greater need of situational awareness (know the car is coming and reading the other traffic) and not being an entitled idiot just because you are on the bike lane.

fietsbob

jyl is in PDX , half the whole state lives in the Metro Area.

jyl

Reminds me. A few weeks ago I saw one car cut another off and almost cause an accident. I was behind them and after that I rode up on the left of the nearly-a-victim car and that driver and I had a nice chat, through his drivers side window, about how some drivers are clueless.

Hostile drivers are pretty uncommon on my commute. Fortunately.

RPK79

I'm not a fan of round-abouts which being up in Minnesota I like to call them round-aboots.

mgw4jc

Last September for me. I had a lady slow down just enough on her passing of me to yell, "Get off the road!" I would have liked to have informed her to take it up with the NC Department of Transportation. They post signs displaying a bicycle and stating, "Share the road."

Andy_K 

It's pretty rare for me to encounter hostile drivers, but as it happens the last time was yesterday.

I was riding on a side street (NE 28th Avenue in Hillsboro) and there was a bit of road construction with flaggers limiting traffic to a single lane. I got stopped before the construction and when they let us through I didn't quite keep pace with the car ahead of me but I was still going about 18 mph through the construction zone. As I came out the other side and slipped into the bike lane a woman in an SUV honked and flipped me the bird as she passed.

Ordinarily I don't do well with the smile-and-wave thing, but this time her actions were just so incongruous that it genuinely made me laugh.

tjspiel

It's been awhile since a driver's hostility has been directed towards me while I've been on a bike. A couple of years ago I did nearly get hit by a van that was being driven in a hostile manner though I don't think he was being hostile towards me in particular. He was just a maniac.

I saw an altercation between drivers a couple of weeks ago when one driver thought the driver in front of him was too slow to make a left turn through an intersection. He just laid on the horn. When the first driver eventually did turn, the second driver cut in front of him, stopped the car, got out and walked back towards the first driver yelling obscenities. At which point a 3rd driver rolled down his window and yelled at the 2nd driver for blocking traffic.

enigmaT120

Do you ever worry that some people may perceive you as smug? Actually by the OP's definition I have never encountered a hostile driver either. A couple of honks, a couple of unintelligible hollers probably complementing my legs -- that's about it. So I guess I would have the same answer as you. But I would have used a smaller font.

acidfast7

No

It's their worry, not mine, such as you illustrated.

Sullalto

Yeah, it's all residential, downtown or a MUP for me, with the exception of maybe half a mile, out of 13. But that's within a mile of the big community college, several large bus stops(5+routes), near a large park, public hospital, a huge homeless shelter, and the speed limit is 30. So lots of pedestrians obscuring traffic and bicycles aren't uncommon.

I started commuting in Januray, none yet.

Saving Hawaii

Your MUPs must be nirvana.

Mine are great during low-use hours but they're not even worth the bother if they're at all busy. Salmoning peds on cruisers are worse than salmon peds on foot. But hey, glad you're riding at least.

Dzrtrat

your'n Portland...I live in the redneck capital of the world... insert bicycle insult here...

Pibber

yesterday, for me.

had just climbed up 15th beside Meridian park and realized my left crank arm was getting loose. it's a one way street and has bike lanes on either side for a bit of the road up the hill. i was riding on the left hand side of the lane when the bike lane ended and stayed on the left so i could turn at the next intersection to go home. i was alone, for most of the climb and only passed by two or three cars. as i was slowly pedalling along i hear a honk and i moved over a little closer to the left. cars are parked on either side of the road and i was now a little closer to them than i'd like to be. the suv rolls by and the driver yells that i'm supposed to be in the bike lane. he keeps driving and i pointed at the road to say that i had the right to be there. he waves out his window and keeps driving. the car following him decides to pull up beside me, while we're rolling along to yell that i'm giving the other guy a hard time and i'm supposed to be in the bike lane. all i could say right then was i'm not required to be, by law, and that he should read the law before trying to run me into a car. he then swerves a little closer to me and drives off. both drivers stop at the intersection ahead, which was a quarter mile up from us, and the suv moves to block me off on the left. i was able to avoid both cars by swerving around them. i didn't go back for afters, i just coasted through the crosswalk, onto the sidewalk and down 16th towards my house.

Mr. Hairy Legs

It's been approximately 30 years for me. People are pretty cool here.

El Cid

I once had someone lay on the horn while she was stuck behind me -- I was at a green light, out in the left lane, waiting for oncoming traffic to clear so I could finish a left turn. Maybe she didn't like the idea of a bicycle making a left turn, or maybe she just didn't like waiting. Other than that, I can't recall any hostile drivers in the last four or five years of commuting by bike.

Northwestrider

It happens far less frequently than it used to when I was young. But just last week I was riding along 6th ave near Tacoma, doing a good 15 mph, riding about 2 feet from a raised curb, and a fellow in a pickup truck pulls ahead of me in my lane, then proceeds to brake hard, then took off and then braked yet again, while turning his head , showing his pleasure. IMO he wanted me up on the side walk. I remained safely in the lane.

Northwestrider

Threads like this always remind me of this youtube video

Why do people hate cyclists? - YouTube

acidfast7

I miss the saloon doors, domino playing and real getting pitchers of beer.

cvskates

Good to hear, I'm moving to Delta next month.

Been riding and commuting on Vancouver Island for 3 years, I have yet to experience an aggressive driver. Lots of dozy drivers, texters, and a couple oblivious drivers, but generally I feel better treated by drivers when I'm on my bike than in my truck.

Mr. Hairy Legs

Whereabouts in Delta?

There are lots of aggressive drivers here, but not what I would consider "hostile". And so much space on the little rural roads... life is good here.

fietsbob

He is the bike Hip bourgeois capital of the west . its not so bad out here on the fishing port on the end of the river ,
where Portlanders go to to get away from all that wealth and power.

we have lots of places to eat and drink and 3 micro breweries..

(& a DA DUI department, but 3 taxi companies to haul you back)

rumrunn6

I guess they had water pistols not water bottles? scroll to 48 seconds


& I can't make out the plate anyway ... kids these days ...

unterhausen

commuting, it's been quite a while. Recreational riding, a week ago. On my commute, I went for a long time and then had 3 incidents in a week, and then nothing for over a year or more since. We get a lot of out-of-towners here and I blame them for a lot of the bad stuff, so they generally aren't here for commuting hours. The university is an attractive nuisance for the surrounding area.

RPK79

536 lmj