Skankingbiker

Road Rage Incident Is Inexcusable | Wisconsin Bike Fed

Madison, WI

genec

Too bad the cyclist sunk to the same poor language and "signaling" skills as that motorist... it implies road rage on both their parts.

You have to just smile and wave boys, smile and wave.

Skankingbiker

The driver literally ran him off the road on 2 occasions. I'd be scared for my life and swearing as well.

trailangel

I suspect here is more to this video than is published. The rider sees red car on left and looks to left several times like they have just had a previous encounter on another street.
I don't know about how you ride, but when I go past a car at intersection, I don't keep looking back at it.
Plus... rider not yielding to car.....riding right in the middle of the road.....and I don't car if there on Sharrows painted in the street.

genec

The red car was pulling out, then came to a stop, well into the street... I think I might also keep an eye on a motorist that had done that... In fact, I would likely also honk at said motorist just to indicate that "I see you."

The actions that follow are quite aggressive on the part of the motorist... passing on the wrong side of the road to try to cut off the cyclist, twice... not exactly "sharing the road" behaviour.

The motorist shows no acknowledgement of the sharrows, nor the cyclists right to be on the road... and instead demonstrates classic road rage.

If not for the return F U of the cyclist and the finger, this vid would be great for a courtroom.

prathmann

Sure - if the driver of the car at the intersection appears to be following the vehicle code and is therefore not a threat. In this case the driver went well past the Stop sign and into the intersection before deciding that he couldn't zip into the street ahead of the cyclist. Given that behavior by the motorist I'd be keeping a close eye on him as well. Note that the GoPro and similar cameras give an extreme wide-angle view. As the warnings on convex mirrors say "objects are much closer than they appear." And the cyclist is not riding anywhere near the middle of the road but rather in the position recommended by the Sharrow placement. Any farther to the right would put him dangerously close to the door zone where an unexpected opening could throw the cyclist right into the path of a car that happens to pass at that moment.

CB HI

You have start to finish video and YOU still want to blame the cyclist for the motorist hate. Simply unbelievable, you even take it farther than most anti-cyclist cyclist here have done before.

CB HI

From the video comments section:

CB HI

This motorist drives around constantly mad, because the only car he could afford is a small Scion.

Milton Keynes

This is where pepper spray would have been a good option.

CB HI

The video camera stopped the motorist as soon as he saw it on the cyclist. At time :53 sec the motorist sees camera, stops dead in his tracks, shuts his mouth and goes straight back to his car not saying another word.

genec

And then proceeds to run yet another stop sign... f'n just amazing...

genec

Of course on the flip side... nobody was hurt, so the police just are not going to do a thing...

drlogik 

My opinion....

Both are in the wrong to varying degrees. If one encounters a situation like this it is best to not escalate. Ignore and get out of the way...or go the opposite way if threatened. If it were me, I would have gone up on the sidewalk and stopped, waited and then see what the motorist did. If he came at me in a threatening manner and I hadn't done anything then it is get out of there while dialing 911 with the GoPro rolling.

That rider (maybe) had no idea what that driver was going to do, unless of course they have a "history". What good comes from losing your cool, cussing, etc? None.


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Skankingbiker

The driver had a stop sign. The cyclist didn't. Its a designated bike blvd. and there was a line of parked cars on the right. he was keeping 3 ft to the left of the cars, which is allowed under state law.

CB HI

Bullies love you. Sadly your ideas encourage them to keep on bullying.

drlogik 

No. Bullies don't love me. The last time something like that happened to me was, heck, a long time ago. And no, getting away from a nut case is not "encouraging them". I have far too much to lose to risk me and my bike going up against a 2,000 lb steel car and a driver with an attitude.

I ride assertively and safely. I don't get bullied on the road but I do give way to traffic when needed. I used to commute to work every day and rarely had something like that happen to me. Not even remotely close. The more prevalent issues were drivers not paying attention so I pay attention for them. That's called assertive safe riding in my book.

Suppose that red car had a gun and used it just to "show him a thing or two"? What if that red car hadn't judged the distance right and squished him against the parked cars? Is it really worth sticking to your line when an automobile is threatening you? No, it simply isn't worth it.

genec

Gee, assertive safe riding on a bike boulevard is exactly what the cyclist was doing... just before the motorist almost ran the stop sign, was part way into the street, and then AGGRESSIVELY pursued and cut off the cyclist, twice.

drlogik 

Precisely my point!!

Get the he11 out of there!! The guy was a nut case. Dial 911 and give a good description so that the 911 operator has it on record if it gets to that point. My point is, if one is threatened on a bike by a car and motorist and you have done nothing wrong, get the heck out of there so you aren't injured.



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Skankingbiker

When one's life is threatened, one does not often behave calmly and rationally.

drlogik 

True enough. I watched that video three more times. If the rider gave the red car the finger, as stated above, it probably happened at 0:08 in the video.

Ok, I'll admit in my younger years I was known to give that one-finger salute on occasion; however, a friend of mine who I respect highly said just don't do it. He said all you'll do is infuriate a rational driver, pi55 off a hot head and make a nut case go postal. The issue, he said, is you don't know which one you're dealing with so why take the chance? I stopped giving the finger decades ago and have rarely had any issues since.

CB HI

No it happened after the motorist pulled along side and started to tell the cyclist to get out of his way.

After this encounter, the motorist is the one who will think twice about how he behaves around cyclist. Probably will not solve his dangerous stop sign running though.

And according to your dire claims, you should already be dead from your finger flipping. So I guess you are wrong.

KingCat

yup, smile and wave at the person trying to kill you.

drlogik 

Ok, I'm wrong.

I wouldn't "wave at the person trying to kill me" but I wouldn't continue down the street after they dangerously cut me off twice before and then got out of their car to threaten me. I'd get myself out of that dangerous situation as fast as possible.




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wphamilton

Exactly, plus "rider not yielding to car" what did he mean by that? A bike should always yield, no matter what? That's fine if someone wants to ride that way, but he shouldn't for a NY minute believe that it's the best or safest way for everyone else.