Originally Posted by homechicken

I can't believe all the talk about getting a gun, or even a fake one. If all that's happening is he's getting insulted or yelled at then flashing a gun will do nothing but get him in trouble, legally and physically. That's just irresponsible. Real or fake, its liable to get him shot or run over by a motorist that thinks they are in danger. At the least it'll probably get him arrested. The cyclist that pulls a gun on me in traffic is going to get squashed, although I can't imagine giving him/her a reason to do so in the first place.

I'm sure cyclist harrassment happens in my area, but I've never seen it. My job requires me to drive all over the metro area and while at times I get annoyed by slow cyclists, I have to remind myself they have as much right to the road as I do. I do get perturbed though, when they take the whole lane when there's no reason for them to. It makes me think they're doing it on purpose just to annoy the drivers. Whether that's their reason or not, appearances of such can give them a bad rep. My thinking is this: the cyclist is supposed to follow the same laws as, and is considered the same as a motor vehicle, but because they are by far the smallest and most vulnerable "vehicle" on the road, they should do all they can to safely stay out of the way of motor vehicles. That means staying as far right as is safely possible and giving proper hand signals when turning or stopping. It also means yielding to motor vehicles, even if they are in the wrong. Better to be inconvenienced than dead or injured.