Originally Posted by jfowler85

…in the yearsI 've been cyclocommuting I have had maybe 1 honest close call and that was half my fault. The past two days back on the bike have yielded for me:

Yesterday a SUV-wielding suburbanite cut me off while I had the clear right-of-way…We caught up at the next stop light, of course, and she had her window down so I engaged with intent to keep my cool. I asked her what in the world she was doing and she immediately proceeds to blame me for being on the road with cars...at that point I unwisely lost my cool and attempted to rip her a new a**hole. She was taken aback by my language - literally a sailor's dirty mouth permy time in the Navy. I rode off feeling like an a** hole myself but shrugged itoff. Hopefully she doesn't take it out on the next cyclist.

This morning while commuting in I once again had the clear and obvious right of way going through an intersection with a full green…thankfully impact did not occur, she smashed her brake pedal at the last freakin second…She was terrified and the passenger was apologetic, I kept my cool and explained that she did not have the right-of-way and pleaded with her to be more careful in the future.She asked if I was hurt and I said no we're all good let's move along.

I don't really have a point to make that hasn't been said and more aptly andconcisely by others. I felt much better leaving today's near-hit than yesterday; the two encounters happened so closely together that I can't help but juxtapose the two in memory and acutely recognize the disparity in my post-incident attitude. Today I did the right thing and utilized a teaching moment with a young driver which may impact her driving habits (probably not,but we can hope). The other idiot, conversely, may just hate cyclists that muchmore now which is disservice to other cyclists. Or maybe none of it matters at all and everyone is just going to continue to drive as if their time is obviously more important than the lives and limbs of others.

Originally Posted by Jim fromBoston

…How to get the message out? I find threads about what to say to a driver futile, since these are brief, often emotion laden encounters, and often the cyclist makes a bad impression.

I have in the past posted about giving “bicyclist curses,” and “bicyclist blessings”;about 5 blessings a day, and about 3 curses a week. See also the sign below, on my commute through Brookline. Finally, guys, I will admit to the following quote about recruiting fellow cyclists to our commuter caravans: