cyclebutt

A few days ago I was riding my usual 30 mile ride ( macca123 I know thats not enough for you!) when at mile 24 I was approaching an intersection, and having the green light keep rolling at approx 19mph. Up ahead looking to turn right is a young oh I don't know 20 year old in a pick-up extendacab. He's looking left and inching forward......I'm getting closer and thinking surely this guy see's me. As I enter the intersection hands on the hoods ready to hit the brakes he waits .......and then goes!! He was definately looking to T-BONE me, but I avoided him. Now I'm right along side him but slightly behind and I can see his face in the rear view mirror. Yep he's laughing with his three other buddies in the truck (all young). I yell out (explitive) probably not a smart move as you never know if the guy has a gun. He slows down and starts yelling back and fliping me off. I tried to get along side him but he kept his vehicle ahead the whole time. personally I think his young buddies said dude if this guy is f*****ng with a truck full of guys he must be able to handle himself...and they took off. The problem is this kid was looking right at me and decided to screw with me not even knowing the consequences. bottom line we are failing as parents if we raise our children to go through life without understanding the consequences of making horrible decisions. Sorry not trying to preach to anyone about raising their kids but this seems to be a common problem today.

Jakey

This kid is the perfect example of why they should allow the 60th trimester abortion.

Bontrager

1. Get license plate
2. Call the cops immediately

No sense in engaging the idiots - like you said - who knows if they had a gun.

BillyD

You should have got the license plates and called the cops. Chances are they were/have been drinking, and if the cops stop them that will fix their smart-ass real good.

Markio

Do you... seriously... think that was the case?

Oh man.

Mariner Fan

Frigging bastards. Yea, you should have gotten his licence plate and reported him.

alxra

A truck weighs over 4500lbs, and any one of us weighs 150lbs-300lbs including the bike. A SMART PERSON WOULD ASSUME THE DRIVER DOESN'T SEE US EVERY TIME. Forget principal, machismo, or whatever. You're going to lose that battle every time. And you could pay with your life. That's just stupid to think any other way.

Sirrobinofcoxly

It's hard to believe that people that that even exist. Damn, what happened...

macca123

Lol you are sook buttface.

macca123

Pity about those little C's that tried to kill you though.

Barcelona rider

Guns and America man!! Dig it!!!

patentcad

Exactly. If nothing else getting a cop into this young moron's face may make him think twice about doing this next time. I have the occasional run-in with some 20 year old idiot about once every couple of years - and the next jerk that thinks it's a riot to scare me with his vehicle gets threatened with reckless endangerment charges by me and a police officer. Whether or not the charges would get filed or stick is not my concern. Hopefully it will drive home the point more effectively than me yelling at his stupid ass. I've had it with these punks. If they're lucky the next time they'll KILL me. Because if they don't they're going to get a knock on their front door an hour or two later from me and a peace officer.

My concern is that if I engaged in a shouting match with a jerk like this I'd be livid enough to put my bicycle through his windshield - which wouldn't help me of course. More importantly you NEVER know if one of these adolescent ******* has a firearm or tire iron to clock you with...

baj32161

Not to play Devil's Advocate here but, do you carry a cellphone with you when you ride? I always do for just such nonsense. I thank heaven I have not had to use it yet.

Hang in there and please be safe. Tangling with idiots in 3000lb steel cages is not the most prudent way to get through life on a bicycle.

Cheers,

Brian

Johnny_Monkey

LOL. Están locos.

Hipcycler

PLEASE PEOPLE....LETS PUT THE TESTOSTERONE ON HOLD WHILE ON THE BIKE...NOW!
I don't want to read about you in the papers or on the internet:

"Bicycler shot dead in road rage incident"

When someone does something stupid to you while riding, resist the temptation to do something stupid back. Ignore it. Be a bigger person by doing so, rather than swearing, flipping off, making the situation worse.

If someone does something beyond stupid to you that endangers you, get a license plate and a description and call it in. Grab a cell phone camera if you have one and snap a picture of the plate quick....or punch in the plate number so at least you remember that much.

It's too dangerous out there to be exchanging tough guy crap on the road.
Remember that tie goes to the vehicle.

galen_52657

Almost every cell phone now has photo capability. I try to keep the phone in the easiest rear pocket to get to while riding (not always easy in the winter). In situations like the OP described, try to retrieve the phone and photo the rear of the vehicle. Then dial 911.

The ONLY way to get to these types of morons is by getting them cited and thus raising their car insurance.

SAB

Naturally most of the time when you report the car and license plate to the cops nothing will be done. But maybe if you report every incident like this one or two drivers out of ten will get reprimanded - for that it's worth it. Who knows? You might be saving some future cyclist's life. In a battle of bike vs. car/truck the cyclist will always lose. Yes there's a chance the driver could go to jail for while, but you'll be dead or in a wheelchair. It is absolutely not worth it to test these guys.

Sometimes I wish I were a cop. Then if someone gave me a hard time on my bike I could call some buddies in squad cars and give the driver a reason to think twice next time.

merlinextraligh

+1 on calling police and not confronting motorists.

The following is a cautionary example posted on a Uk cycling advocacy website https://www.ctcforum.org.uk/MesReplis...cid=7&id=20895

"I am not a member of the CTC but belong to a cycling campaign group in
Sheffield called Pedal Pushers. After posting the message below a number of
CTC members on the list suggested I contact the CTC for help. I spoke to the
CTC today and the person I related my story to suggested I post this on the
CTC list.

Following my posting to Pedal Pushers,one of the debates it sparked related
to how to respond to inconsiderate or dangerous driving. I guess the debate
will have been had on this list, so I won't repeat what weas said here.
Here's my incident.

Hi All
I had a horrible incident this morning (Wednesday 7th) on my way to work. I
was travelling along Sharrow Streetin Sheffield towards Sharrow Lane when a
car came up behind me, sounded the horn and sqeezed by at speed nearly
knocking me off my bike.

When I got to the end of the road the car was at the junction as up and down
Sharrow Lane was gridlocked. As I passed I tapped on the window and said "Be
Careful"; I wasn't angry or aggressive and didn't raise my voice. In fact I
was in a good mood and enjoying a fresh ride to work.

What happened next is beyond belief: I heard the car rev behind me and,
bearing in mind I was travelling past 2 lanes of stationary traffic,somehow
squeezed through orround and rammed into the side of me. I just felt a
crunching sound and the next thing I knew I was on the ground, facing back
the way I came with my bike on top of me.

While I was laying on the floor, with everybody looking out of windows at me,
the driver then got out of the car with a sawn off golf iron and started to
attack me, shouting "I'm going to f***ing kill you!". Somehow, I manged to
get to my feet and run. He then chased after me (I wasn't too quick by this
time) and clubbed me at the back of the head. I think my shouts for help and
getting further from his car, made him turn back.

I couldn't get back to my bike, as each time I got anywhere near he chased
after me trying to club me. All the while loads of people stuck, in the now
major jam, just watched. And I kept on shouting for someone to phone the
Police. To be fair I think they were all scared. One lady looked really
shocked as she tried to had me a piece of paper with the registration number
on.

Unfortunately, my cries for help were heard and a gang of Asian youths raced
up the road. It was then I realised they weren't coming to help. I ran
through the entrance of Sharrow Junior School, but with a sore back and leg
they caught me outside the caretakers office and punched and kicked me
repeatedly, with cries of "Kill the white b**stard". I somehow kept enough
wits about me to realise if I fell to the floor they would just keep on. I
was close to losing consciousness and just wanted to curl up in a ball, but I
carried on shouting help (which I'd probably been doing for 10
minutes)and manged to break free and run into the school, blood pouring down my face and left eye closed.

I have to say, the staff at the school were wonderful and looked after me
with care until the police and ambulance arrived. Two of the staff even went
out to retrieve my bike. They later told me that the motorists who witnessed
the first event pulled into the side of the road to give statements to the
police. The lady I mentioned earlier was clearly very upset at what she had
witnessed and couldn't continue her journey for a while.

I was taken to the Northern General and I have no serious injuries. I've got
lumps everwhere, my left hip is sore where I hit the road and my left eye is
purple and nearly closed. My main injury though is mental. I feel really
upset. I can't believe that someone could drive a car into a human being (it
equates to someone trying to kill you)and then while you are lying on the
floor start clubbing you. Worse than that though, is that my cries for help
were answered by a mob who just wanted to beat me to a pulp while peope
watched.

The Police traced the car and have arested the driver and taken away his car.
A CID inspector spent 3 hour with me this evening and took a statement of 13
pages. They are taking the matter very seriouosly and a number of witnesses
have been able to give accurate descriptions of the attaker and events. They
are not optimistic about catching the gang who subsequently attacked me.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do when I recover. I don't want to drive but
I'm getting tired of running the gauntlet and I don't know that I have the
heart for it anymore.

I final word of warning, I've had a few near misses on Sharrow Street (a
recommended quiet cycling route). The road has parked cars on both sides and
there is only room for one vehicle. With care and slow speed a car can get
past a bike, but I've been unlucky to have a few agressive drivers who have
increased speed towards me and been close to catching me with a mirror. I
guess they expect you to pull in, which I would if space between cars
permitted, and get angry when you don't.

Cheers
Alan"

I'm not sure I believe this event actually happened, but it definitely illustrates the potential for bike motorist confrontations to head south.

patentcad

If one of these idiots kills me on the road at least I'll go out on an endorphin high. No consolation for my widow and daughter, but I have that going for me.

Don Cook

Check the "Do You Carry A Gun" thread.

Brillig

+1

I admit that I confront these people when similar things happen, but I'm also a pretty good judge of people. I think I would avoid three punks in a pickup.

But what I always do is note the license plate and call the police. The police don't always do something but I'm pretty sure it always does get recorded.

Last time an incident happened and I called the police they told me they would send a cruiser out to look for him. They actually called me back on my cell phone a half hour later to tell me that they didn't find him but that they recorded his license plate # and the incident.

The result being that if this guy ever goes to court for injuring a cyclist or a pedestrian (which is an actual possibility if he continues to be the asswipe that he is now) then this will show up as a prior history and he's in way worse trouble.

2manybikes

I bet you could easily get a grenade into the bed of a pickup truck!

SDRider

Because there are no criminals with guns in Europe...

sunninho

That's when a cellphone with a videocam would come in handy.

CanyonChaser

Thats what I thought too. But i had a very close call on the motorcycle this summer;

Apparently giving a friendly "be-beep" when the light turns green and the inattentive driver in front of you is off in la-la land is so offensive that it warrents getting out of ones car and chasing after the motorcycle, namely me, who did the beeping. I managed to evade and try to race away, until traffic stopped me and he got back into his car and almost rammed me with his car (by driving on the sidewalk) so he could tell me that if I messed with him again, he'd kill me.

I was so flustered that I did not get the complete plate - but when I called the local police two things happened - the first was most upsetting - another cop did witness a portion of the incedent and wanted me to come in so he could give me a wreckless driving ticket for my evasive manuvers - (no kidding). But then the cop I was talking too, blew that off and then began to run every combination of the plate that I did get hoping to get a match with the vehicle. He said that if I'd had a complete plate they would have most certainly followed up on the charge. Its assault and possibly assault with intent to harm or kill (or something - don't remember exactly).

In retrospect - and if anything like this happens again - I'll get the complete plate, then call 911 immediately. The officer said that if I had, they make "road rage" calls a priority and since the guy got on the freeway - they most likely would have found him within the next few minutes - and if not, they'd make every effort to find the individual - I was surprised.

But ultimately, I'm glad you didn't get hurt, but please - don't ever insult a moronic cage operator by yelling back or even flipping them off, you have everything to loose if things get out of hand.

dp