Was doing a ride the other night, and got targeted by a carful of teens at a red light. For some reason they started shouting at me "get the f*" off the road repeatedly, though I hadn't even had any interaction with them. I ignored them, then made my turn. They followed, and repeated the same tactic, with the passengers yelling "get the f*" off the road and giving me the finger. To me this is utterly ridiculous since cyclists have a right to the road, and this was totally unprovoked. Eventually the driver behind them laid on his horn and they sped off. Should I have made a call? Should I be wearing a camera for people like this to cover myself in these type of incidents?

Dave

If you live in Mayberry, perhaps calling the police and reporting the make, model, year, and license plate number, along with a description of the miscreants, might get some action. In most places, they won't so much as return the call. They are surely not going to send an APB/BOLO, 'I-Adam12, see the man' out on a call.

Beyond that, what can you, as a 200-pound package, do to kids acting like kids or *******s acting as *******s wrapped in a 3000-pound package?

Probably the most effective thing is to make sure you don't let them live in your head rent-free.

In these times, though, you should carry pepper spray. If you have panniers, get a Trunk Monkey.
https://www.rwest.com/wp-content/upl..._HD_2018-1.mp4

Welcome to the reality of bicycle riding. Teenagers with nothing else to do, showing off their bravado. I'd try to make a mental note of license plate and car type, maybe the driver of the vehicle, and if it happens again with the same 'perps' maybe contact the local PD. If no physical harm, just taunting, consider it a 'no foul' situation and let it go.

"Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words will never hurt me."

Thread moved from General Discussion to Advocacy and Safety

These teenagers have been conditioned by toxic car culture and their entitled parents behind the wheel. This isn't just coincidence or random. This is the result of behaviors that encourage egregious behavior behind the wheel.

As I was riding around the same local park I mention above yesterday, a "bad-ass" looking BMW sedan with illegal tinted windows pulled up to the red light, and, of course, OVER the limit line and into the crosswalk. (Again, very busy park with peds, kids, etc.) This driver sat there for about five seconds, and then just blew on through the red light.

Three days ago, I'm driving my mother home from an appointment. We are waiting at the red light where crossing guards are found when school gets out. A pedestrian is waiting at the crosswalk about to cross in front of us. A driver in the right-turn only lane comes up and just BLOWS THROUGH THE RED as they turn right. This ped MAY have wanted to or have stepped off the curb to cross. Luckily he didn't.

This running red lights while making right turns is EPIDEMIC. In my busy commercial district, pedestrians are everywhere. I got to the corner in front of our popular theater and intended to cross with the green crosswalk sign when a ******* just blew on through the red light as I made my intentions clear.

This **** needs $1,000+ fines and vehicle impound!

Red light, stop sign running and egregious behavior behind the wheel is so out of control. I'm SO SICK of it. It's mostly the criminals driving unregistered cars as they prey upon society IMO. I live in an area where unregistered and stolen cars are common. Despite being a great, vibrant neighborhood in the SF Bay Area.

Wanna read another example?

Even the "good" drivers are scofflaws behind the wheel...

A year or so ago, I happened observed in the left-turn center lane, a motorcyclist was stopped. In the right lane, a nice, shiny Mercedes SUV was stopped and blocking the lane. Upon returning about 30 minutes later, I noticed the motorcyclist was still on the side of the road. I had my suspicions, so I pulled over to ask the motorcyclist what happened. I first asked if he was ok and he was.

Then he confirmed my suspicions. The driver of the Mercedes SUV (big, black shiny and expensive) pulled out of her diagonal space as the motorcyclist was approaching. She then stopped in the right lane, the motorcyclist assumed she saw him, so he proceeded to drive past her in the #1 lane. Well, this was his mistake. Instead of seeing him, she instead pulled an ILLEGAL u-turn into his path! He was knocked off and bruised, but otherwise ok. But his motorcycle wouldn't re-start, so he was waiting for a tow.

Luckily, this driver was responsible and stopped and shared her ID & insurance information. HOWEVER, she then said she should rush off to see her physician to get a check up! Why? Because she was PREGNANT! She was worried that maybe the collision could have affected her developing baby, so she was off to the doctor.

Hey! Maybe CHOOSE to drive responsibly in the first place and not break the law and then endanger and HIT other people! And about a million times more when you're PREGNANT!

Nope, the selfish "me, me, me!" driver does what they want. That's driver entitlement right there.

This street is "littered" with "NO U-TURNS" signs every block. Yet drivers disregard it with habitual impunity.

My answer to this is always yes. It's best when the camera is conspicuous so that it deters this kind of behavior. It won't be perfect, but running a camera and not needing the footage is far better than not having a camera when the footage would've been needed.

Below is a personal example of harassment from teenagers. On this group ride the kids in question threw trash at both my group and the one behind us (out of sight on a previous road). No one in the other pack had a camera, but luckily I did. Since the juvenile court system is tight lipped, I don't know the ultimate fates of these teens, but I do know the detective recommended assault charges. Regardless of the criminal outcome, the social fallout was pretty heavy. One of the friends I shared the video with has a daughter who went to the same school as the offenders, and all of them (including my friend's daughter) were on the wrestling team. The video spread like wildfire throughout the high school, and the perps were made fun of relentlessly by their peers.

I've been running a helmet cam since 2014, but I haven't had any interactions with cars worth sharing with the police. There have been a few encounters with "urban campers" where the video has helped...not with apprehension, but with the clearing of the homeless encampment where the incidents occurred...physical threats, uncontained fires, impassable debris and corporeal roadblocks.

When drivers become verbally aggressive I point at my helmet cam and that usually stops them. One summer day, years before my helmet cam before smart phones, but when flip-phones started coming with cameras I had a driver stop after passing me on a side street. He had honked, and I honked back with my Airzound air horn. He screeched to a stop, got out of his car and started walking back to me in an aggressive manner shouting threats. A woman got out of the passenger side and begged him to get back in the car. I grabbed my phone and held it up in front of me as if it had a camera. He saw it, turned around and left.

I like to think having a helmet cam can stop aggressive situations from progressing, but there's always the possibility that the aggressors will want to destroy any evidence of their behavior and try to take the camera at which point they would be free to wreak havoc.

Teens and raging hormones are always a bad combination.

Didn't you also do stupid stuff when you were a teen. Or were you a goody-two-shoes?


I don't know that I'd ever report such, unless perhaps the same offenders repeatedly dogged me on multiple occasions.

Sport cameras, body cameras and other such might be useful. Assuming you can get footage of the event. But only after the fact. And hopefully not for your heirs. But I wouldn't go out of my means to buy such or worry that it's a necessity.

"Karma is a beeyotch!""

Can you have teens *without* raging hormones?
I did some crazy ***** when I was a teenager, but never anything that could result in someone getting hurt. Maybe my hormones weren't raging enough.
The behavior in the video is worthy of being reported because of the potential for harm, which *could* happen the very first time the behavior occurs.

I wasn't commenting on the video. Nor have I even watched the video.

I was only commenting on the OP's original post.

Teenagers in a group being dicks - News at 11

I just disarm them and confuse them by saying love you thank you so much, have a great day and smile and wave. It sometimes just pisses them off because they want a reaction and you aren't giving them that reaction but they usually just buzz off at that point.

My favorite one was while I was biking on my touring bike with panniers and wearing total non-cycling clothing (including a bigger coat) beyond a helmet like not even close to looking like a roadie and some kids (I assume but I call just about everyone kids these days) yelled "get outta here you roadie" and I found it funny as I was going to buy Twizzlers, melatonin and some other stuff for some upcoming non-bike travel and I also mountain bike and wasn't even on my road bike (my touring bike was pretty upright). I was so stunned that I just laughed after being bewildered for a bit.

Though truth be told I can usually barely understand people yelling at me from their cars typically I am playing music (not on bike paths or around other cyclists) and most of the time if I can understand them it is "great music" or something to that effect. I once happened to be playing a somewhat obscure Scottish band someone liked and they also happened to be coming to town so I gave him the quick details for that and it was a great encounter. I find disarming them is better these days then getting riled up but sometimes my bad side comes through and I say stupid things but I am way better than in previous years.

The teenage stuff is cyclical and peaks every Spring. Kids pass driver's ed and get their permits and then road tests. Then the weather gets nice, Then it's prom and senior prank day and senior cut day and graduation. Things will settle down in a couple of months.

I don't get hassled too often, but sometimes I will be on the receiving end of a crass comment at a stoplight. I will look at them, let my eyes get really big, then smile and say "Dude! Hey! Say hi to your mom for me! Later!"

They get so confused.

I was passed by a car load of teenage boys on a 2-lane road near my home. One of them called out, "Hey, Big Butt!" as they passed.
I caught up to them at a stoplight and said, "I see you're an expert on guys' butts." There were howls of laughter from the kid's friends.

As many above said in different ways, it's spring hormones. If you can't impress by bragging about a conquering relationship, harrassing biyclists might be the next best thing.

Teens doing stupid things is as old as time. I don't suppose all teens do stupid things, but my money is on most teen males doing stupid crap like this. I know I did. Nothing too bad and in this case, they yelled something at you a few times. Not fun, and maybe legally it is some sort of harassment and a violation of the law.

Now at the time, I fully get how concerning it is. You don't know if they're going to escalate something and do something physically stupid. Like just "tap" you with their car. They think it's fun and games, and you end up dead because they're too stupid to understand the danger.

So, it's definitely not right but not something I'd call the cops about just for yelling something.