Mayday.JP

Was coming down West rd/Santa Gertrudes towards whittier blvd today and as i was descending, an escalade saw me and stopped at the stop sign then as i got closer, drove up a little and stopped in the middle of the road so I can crash into him. He then kept driving and as i was passing him, he stopped, rolled his window down and cussed me out. He drove a little bit longer, stopped again and then cussed me out again. he then stopped at the intersection of Janine and SG and waited for me pass him again just to give me one more piece of his mind I stopped at the chase bank and let him pass and got his license plate. Once I got home, I called some friends from Whittier PD and asked them what i can do and they told me since he did not chase me and try to hit me and since the original event did not happen in front of an officer, there is nothing I can do

Wanted to give a warning to all cyclists who ride that road to be on the lookout for a Cream Color, Cadillac escalade, CA License# 6NYR306. Male driver, short, bald, dark skin and was wearing a Red USC hoodie.

TrojanHorse

Well, that's weird. My house is a mile and a half away and I ride through there quite frequently - never experienced anything like that.

Thanks for the tip.

I'm starting to think I want a GoPro.

So which way was he going? You were headed south on SG and he seems to have ended up going the same direction - where did he come from?

calamarichris

Any idea why he singled you out?
I mean no offense when I ask this, but is that intersection a stop sign?
Some of the cyclists down here in North SD County are heinous stop sign runners, assuming the right-of-way when other people are legally stopped, and assuming the right of way that isn't theirs.
I'm surprised there aren't more stop-sign vigilantes down here.
Apologies if you didn't have a stop sign and this hothead is completely out of line. Be safe out there.

HBxRider

Was he just yelling out names/insults? Or was he saying anything in particular? ie get off the road!

I remember reading an article on how they are passing anti harassment laws in LA county to protect cyclists. So cyclists have some recourse in cases like yours.

In your case, I would have maybe said he was trying to run me off the road, and maybe that would have given them justification to at least make contact with the driver and give him a warning.

And if he made any kind of threats when he was yelling at you, that's definitely something they should follow up on.

Ns1

1) More reason for all of us to get GoPro's so we can
2) sue sue sue. https://articles.latimes.com/2011/jul...e-law-20110721

calamarichris

Another option is simply to pull out your cellphone and act like you're filming him, and recite a description of his vehicle and license number.
Even if your cellphone doesn't have a camera or video capability, they don't know that. I don't have a cellphone, but I shooed away some hothead in Oceanside with my MP3 player.

TrojanHorse

No, it's a pretty busy 4-way stop depending on the time of day.

Here's the google view of the direction the OP was heading (south). Look, there's a cyclist!

https://maps.google.com/?ll=33.94667...,191.99,,0,3.1

I can't figure out how to embed the image without copying and pasting a screen shot and I'm too lazy to do that right now. It sounded like the driver was going across the OPs original direction of travel but the bank is directly ahead so he would have had to stop in the middle of the intersection and then turn... unless they were both going the same way and stopped short. I'm not sure what happened.

Mr. Beanz

Doesn't add up that you'd "crash into" him if you had to stop for a stop sign.

Mayday.JP

Probably should've been clearer. HE had a stop sign. I did not have a stop sign. Which is why he was being malicious in stopping at his stop sign and then moving in the middle of my path i was in (which was the bike path). @trojanhorse, He ended up going down santa gertrudes to the mcdonalds on leffingwell. i was stopped at the light and he turned back onto sg and gave me another dirty look. He was saying "F*** you!" and when i told him he almost hit me, he said "yeah i heard you you motherf***er!" He had his teenage son in the car as well so idk if it was some stupid macho thing but whatever it was, it got me flustered.

calamarichris

Stopsign enforcers still suck. I was taking a long pull on last year's Breathless Agony when we came upon a red light in the middle of Nowhere. There was excellent visibility in all directions and not a car visible for at least a half mile in any direction. But I noticed some aging, potbellied turdbird on a road bicycle on the opposing side pointing a camera at the intersection. He had his bike parked in such a manner as to keep our light red for several minutes and he just sat there aiming his camera, waiting for us to proceed against the red light.
I have fantasized at finding out who this turdbird was. (Perhaps a member of this forum?)
There were nearly 50 people stopped behind us, backed up and asking "What the hell are we stopped for?!?!" and I mentioned loud enough for the gentleman to hear, "There is an elderly gentleman over there, with nothing better to do than compile evidence that this event should be discontinued." (I might have said "gentleman" or I might have said @$$h013, can't remember for sure.)
After more than two minutes, I finally pushed the pedestrian "walk" button and our light changed, and the disgusting specimen of gentleman didn't get the photographic evidence.

I might be completely wrong, but perhaps this SUV guy had previous problems with cyclists blitzing through that stopsign, and had now made a hobby of "proving a point" about all cyclists stopping at that intersection. I've seen such things happen.
In fact, I'm guilty of stopping at stopsigns (when there are vehicles waiting to proceed) in the middle of the bike lane, when I know perfectly well there are large pelotons approaching from behind, intent on speeding through that stop sign. I have plenty of blinky lights and give plenty of warning, but I know I'm still a b@$t@rd.
Stopping for stop signs is more important than our average speed at the end of a ride.

I'm curious though; am I completely wrong on envisioning the scenario at your intersection, Mayday? Even if you ran the stop sign, the guy sounds like the Topanga-area doctor whose fuse was shortened by previous encounters with irresponsible cyclists, and it wouldn't hurt to employ the cellphone (or faux cellphone) tactic on him.

calamarichris

Well in that case, I apologize for my wayward speculation!
I'd make a point of riding that same route, and have your cellphone or camera at the ready every time you approach that intersection. If it doesn't cool him down, take the footage to the police. And if the police still do nothing, put it on Youtube and spread the word about the intersection and the idiot's vehicle. Eventually one of us will get him, like they got that Topanga doctor.

TrojanHorse

So which intersection did he do this in? I obvoiusly picked the wrong one - i thought you said Santa Gertrudes & Janine, and then the bank is a little further on SG of course. Did you have to ride down Whittier to get back to Santa Gertrudes again? It's a weird intersection.

Rick@OCRR

I've ridden through there countless times and never had a problem. Don't remember seeing an Escalade, but mostly remember Mercedes and BMW's through that area.

Regardless, thanks for the heads-up and I will watch for this guy in the future!

Rick / OCRR

hendrick81

Cool story bro

Mayday.JP

@trojanhorse He was at the stop sign on Condesa turning onto SG. There is a stop sign on his side, but no stop sign on my side. I was slowing down because i was starting to come into more traffic and slowed down to let this guy go and when he didn't move, i assumed he was letting me pass so i eased off the brakes a bit and then he eventually moved forward into the bike lane and stopped. I did stop at the chase bank and looped through the bright medical building to the light on whittier/russell/sg and went that way instead of waiting with the guy on the light on SG/whittier.

I did consider taking my cell phone out but he sped off so fast i couldn't really take a pic. There was plenty of other cars there so there plenty of witnesses.

TrojanHorse

OK, that makes a lot more sense, thanks for clarifying. Condesa is a nice shortcut for most of us in that area so there are a ton of cars coming through there onto Santa Gertrudes and of course, it's easy to be going 30+ on a bicycle right there without even pedaling.

It really makes me happy to have jacka$$es like that for neighbors.

cdp8

Like Trojan said, thanks for clarifying. I ride up and down that stretch of SG/West at least once a week.

That is not a bike lane on SG/West. Notice how the line angles to the curb at cross streets and there are no labels or pictograms marking it as a bike lane. That is the fog line and everything to the right of it is street parking for cars. In my opinion it is very unsafe to ride to the right of that fog line going up or down SG/West.

On the way up SG/West I rarely ride to the right of that line because there are usually sporadic parked cars. This would cause me to weave back and forth over the fog line and would reduce my visibility to cars coming up from behind. On the way down SG I always take the lane, usually about 18-24 inches from the center line. Why? I'm descending as fast (if not faster) than the cars, it makes me more visible to cars entering SG from Condesa (they are looking for cars out in the traffic lane not for bikes along the curb), and if (when, actually) a car does pull out in front of me it gives me more options to react (usually if there is no uphill traffic, I'll blow by on the left). I've also had one car left cross me there. That's when I started using a bright white flasher facing forward. Apparently, LOUD colored lycra is not visible enough to drivers. My tactics (all legal) will not protect me against jack holes intentionally out to hurt cyclists, like you ran across, but they will help the vast majority of drivers see me and drive accordingly.

I'm always hyper aware on that descent, but it is just too fun not to bomb. It's a blast from Hillcrest Church all the way down to the stop sign at Janine, especially that blind right hand sweeper just past the church.

rooftest

Meh. Sometimes people are jerks. I live in that area too - we get a variety of people driving the streets here; so it's a really bad idea to verbally tangle with anyone. I very rarely get hassled by anyone around here - if I do, I just ignore 'em.

Strangely enough - I usually get hassled more in the nice areas of Orange County by middle-aged accountant looking types who have their kids in the car.

TrojanHorse

I don't know what it is about little white pickups, but that's who usually harasses me... and usually on streets that are PLENTY big (like Tustin or Lakeview) with hardly any traffic. Go figure.

Around here I'm more likely to encounter people who wave me through the intersection even though they're already there and already stopped and have the ROW. Frankly, I wish they'd just take their right of way because I usually don't notice them waiting for me until I'm half stopped and in the wrong gear anyway. Oh well, can't complain about courtesy I guess.

marquhar

Good chance that he was only in the area to pickup the teenager from La Serna High. Also adult males that are tribal enough to wear a USC hoodie will do stupid things when they think they should make an example in front of the teenager -- maybe that its a good time to act like a tough guy and punk-it-up for the kid's benefit.

I agree that Condesa/West, being a 3-way intersection, should be straightforward for both parties. For it to go wrong there shows malice and hostility that might reappear anywhere against cyclists.

I've ridden in this area nearly 100 times and find that (by and large) the locals are extremely friendly - enough so to call you over, do introductions, and chat. The folks that run the Hillcrest Church have offered to bring me water from their private office cooler.

In LHH I had some trouble with older lady drivers that have made unnecessary close passes.
----
I posted a year ago about an ambush in HH that happened to me twice.
https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...1#post14505107

Dunbar

Happens a lot here in Santa Monica too. Half the cars wave you through and the other half get pissed if you go out of turn. Hard to win in that situation so I just slow up as I'm approaching stop signs so it's always "my turn" when I get to there.

roadfix

Perhaps he was abused as a child by his father who was a cyclist.

iamtim

I ride that intersection several times per week, thanks for the heads up.

Dirk5

I'd also like to know how you got singled out. I know I'm new here, but have a bunch of riding experiences, mainly on beach paths. My observation is a lot of the guys in the clickety clik shoes and funny helmets tend to be kinda rude. They get pissed regularly at the mellower cruiser riders when we cruise the marked 8 MPH. They want to ride DOUBLE + the speed limit and get visibly angry at the cruisers doing the limit when they come up on them. I had one of those guys here on the street in my neighborhood almost run into my nice 1957 Pontiac while I was waiting for a light. When I tapped my horn the whole pack screamed profanity at me and tried to start a fight. Was I supposed to let him run into my vintage old car?

TrojanHorse

There's an elementary school a little bit east of there on Janine - On a daily basis I usually park near the Janine intersection of Santa Gertrudes and walk my son, my dog and my son's friend to Murphy Ranch and back... I've seen that car every day this week at about 8:07 am coming down Santa Gertrudes and turning left on Janine. I guess it's his wife driving though. No evidence of any attempts to run over any cyclists from her.