wooleybugger

Let me begin by saying that I am open to the fact that I may be completely wrong on this one. I don't think so, but you tell me.
If a car cuts me off in traffic due to blatant carelessness, i will from time to time let anger get the best of me and honk, give the finger and/or scream, an obscenity. That being said, I have no problem giving a biker the same treatment if their own careless behavior warrants such a response. I will wait until the biker is far enough away from me to not cause the biker to feel in danger, but I want them to wake up and ride the road with some respect and courtesy.
We as bikers are constantly preaching about "share the road" and biker awareness, but then we sometimes get right out on our bikes and ride like the careless a**holes that we are trying to educate. I think share the road should mean exactly that. It has to go both ways.
Fortunately for the rider in the black coat who was hauling ass and cut me off at 9PM tonight, I saw him and was able to swerve to avoid him, only to get the middle finger. I wish I could tell him just how invisible he was out there and that his reckless behavior gives us all a bad name.
Just because were "entitled" to be on the same road, doesn't mean that we don't have a responsibility to be safe and to be gracious ambassadors for this sport we all love.

Blue Order

And if you were on a bike and he cut you off with his hummer, he'd probably give you the finger then too. He's just a jerk. Unfortunately, the jerks on bikes don't give a rat's rectum if they harm "the sport," they're only looking out for number one. Personally, I'll be glad when they move on to something else.

stevo9er

News at 11: There are both ****ty drivers and ****ty cyclists out there.

Instead of getting angry, why don't you go out and buy some Planet Bike Superflash rear lights and hand them out to these "ungracious ambassadors".

gpsblake

If they cut you off on purpose, that's exactly what they are trying to do.... make you have a knee jerk reaction which rewards them for harassing you.

st0ut

If they dont obey traffic laws the laws of physics and darwin will eventually halt the traffic violations.

sauerwald

Earlier this year, I was riding, approaching an intersection where there was an oncoming car, getting ready to make a left turn in front of me. The car had plenty of time to make his left turn in front of me, I eased up on my pedaling a bit, and adjusted my lateral position left - and then noticed an oncoming cyclist, riding the wrong way with no lights, wearing a dark hoodie, who was going to be creamed by the left turning car. I pointed at the cyclist and yelled 'WATCH THE KID' - Left turning car stopped, allowing the cyclist to go through the intersection, and he (the cyclist) yelled at me 'F*** you A**hole'. I am not sure if any amount of honking or offers of blinkies would have changed his attitude (or enhanced his vocabulary), I believe the only way for him to see the error of his ways will be to find himself squished under a car.

J A Holman

Yer right, you were wrong. Car horns are not for expressing your emotions

Blue Order

And if he survived, he would post on the internet about the a**hole driver who should be charged with attempted murder, and we'd all get out the torches and pitchforks.

The Human Car

There are some good responses in the thread. I agree that horns are to give warning and not to express "I think you are a jerk." Some places have laws that make it illegal to use the car horn in the latter fashion. I also like the idea of giving out blinkies but that's hard to do stuck in a cage.

SonataInFSharp

Had an incident today.

A riding group of about 15 bikes rode through a red light. I was on the cross street with a green light, in my car. I was even going under the speed limit (I was doing 30 in a 35 because of all the red light runners on bikes constantly and I know the area well).

When the first 5 or 6 bikes crossed against their red light, I was well back. But the rest of them just followed the leaders without first checking for cars coming (i.e. me and another guy coming the other way).

I slowed down and got on the horn and the remaining 4 or 5 did stop, but they were NOT planning to stop had I not honked; they were so focussed on the rest of the group that they weren't looking out for themselves.

I don't feel bad about it, either. I was not honking to show my emotions. I was literally saving their lives.

MN is trying to pass the same red light law that Idaho has regarding stopping and then going through red lights on a bicycle, but these people better keep in mind it includes "if there is no one to yield to before proceeding."

Blue Order

They have no intention of obeying an Idaho-style law, or they'd be doing it now.

ottawa_adam

Frig, I'd bike like that for awhile to get some free Superflashes

astrocreep96

I honk at cyclists frequently. I'm happy to share the road, and I'll be as polite as possible, but I expect that if you're going to ride on the road, you should obey the traffic laws everyone else does. And, in turn, I try to watch the rules as much as I can when I'm on my bike.

SingingSabre 

Cut me off, get honked at. If I'm on my bike, my horn sounds really close to a Mexican Jew who's trained in opera yelling (loudly, with proper diaphragmatic support) "**** you, ***hole!" My car horn sounds like a car horn.

This stands no matter the number of wheels I'm rolling on.