Originally Posted by
Velo Dog
I understand your frustration and even your fear, but after 40 years of cycling as an adult, I dismiss most stories like this as crap. As a newspaper columnist who often wrote about bike issues, I got dozens of letters a year about cars that "tried to run me off the road" or "tried to hit me" or something similar. There are certainly bad and inattentive drivers out there, but they can't all have bad aim. If that many drivers were trying to kill cyclists--a ridiculous supposition--there would be a lot more dead cyclists. I've ridden nearly 100,000 miles in most parts of the country, big cities, small towns and rural areas, and I've had ONE bad experience with a motor vehicle, when a couple of drunk kids threw a beer can at me.
Of course you have to be careful, but it's a mistake to think drivers are out to get you. If it happens more than about once every 10 years, I'd look at my riding habits. Maybe you're doing something to piss them off.
No one here said they were trying to kill cyclist. They are bullies, they see cyclist as easy targets for their cowardly behavior trying to puff out their chest. They try and pass cyclist close to scare us - haha funny. But they know if they hit a cyclist, they are in trouble. I have gotten 2 of these guys successfully prosecuted. One of the 2 misjudged and hit me; of course he ran.
No one has said there are huge numbers of these cowards out there. In fact, most threads get around to an estimation that the number of these drivers are extremely small.
Some areas of the country have almost none of these cowards, willing to commit such acts. Other states/cities make up for that with a higher percentage. From 1982 to 1996 of daily commuting in CA, CT and HI I had no incidents of such behavior. But during 2 years (1989-1990) within the same period of riding in Washington DC, I had about 20 incidents. Four of them were from the same guy in a red van. The last incident with this guy, I caught up to him and warned him that the police, my friends and coworkers all had his description, plate #, etc. and if I ever got hit, they were looking for him first. I never saw the guy again, he changed his route.
Now since 1996, drivers in HI have gotten progressively meaner. It is still very small percentage of drivers, but it is happening. 1996 to 1998, truckers were the worst, until the insurance companies threatened to drop their insurance if the did not fix their behavior. Since 1998, HI truckers have treated cyclist here extremely well.
Since you bring up your mileage, I assume you think that is very important and proves your point; since I have over 220,000 miles of commuting, utility and recreational riding since 1982, does that mean my experience is more accurate/valid than yours.
By the way, I have ridden the same VC way the entire time. So your idea that it must be the cyclist fault due to riding style is pure BS.