Originally Posted by
cavernmech
What is it going to take to educate urban car drivers that bicycles are a relevant mode of transportation and we have rights on the road? Congestion is not going to get any better, and as it gets worse, people seem to be in even more of a rush to race home and watch Idol on Tee-vee. Every time I am confronted with some selfish jack-ass like that I lose a little more calmness and just want to pull these arses out of their cars and give em a beat down.
Well, they won't be rushing anywhere, luckily. I had a couple of chimps leaning on the horn behind me as I was turning onto the Danforth from Donlands. This with a) a car ahead of me and b) pedestrians using the crosswalk. They informed me I should "get out of the way". This is a bad corner to get right hooked and I've seen a few cyclists, generally after undertaking a car on the right, just about get hit so I tend to take the full lane for this turn. But they weren't going anywhere. There was a car ahead of me. So this is purely a proprietary thing, not a "hey I can't get to where I want to go because of you" thing. I was a little bent but then I realized that a) I enjoy being on my bike b) I don't pay ~$150 month for a car whether I use it or not c) I'm not polluting and d) I'm maintaining a modicum of fitness. I win.
And don't worry about phone in comments on CBC. Those things are like internet forums except it takes less intelligence to operate a telephone than a computer.