Funny how the “motorist” is always the jerk, some cyclist don't understand their role
 

Today while I was out on patrol I rolled up on a motorist who clearly was distraught. It was a 22 year old female that couldn’t have weighed more than 120 pounds. She was standing on the curb next to her vehicle which was in the roadway with its hazard lights on. I rode up next to her and said “did your car break down?” She replied “yes and my mechanic is on his way, it won’t be long Sir I promise.”
I thought to myself, that’s weird response, why is she so quick to tell me someone was on their way to take care of the car? I got of my bike and said “don’t worry about it, stuff like this happens.” She smiled and said thank you Officer for helping. So at this time I’m thinking “wow” either this is one polite person or something spooked her.
Where her car was stalled was just over a set of railroad tracks (about 1 car length) on a very busy street. Before I even made contact with her I quickly looked for possible safety hazard for other vehicles, pedestrians and her but realized that she pulled over as far as she could along the curb which did allow other vehicles clear access to go around. To further make the area safe I activated my lights (red and blues) on my bike and parked it behind her car.

So after asking the normal question, what happen? She said her car has been acting up and was concerned something like this might happen; again she apologized to me and again thanked me for stopping and helping. I told her its ok stuff like this happens. What she said next shocked the heck out of me and also pissed me the “blank” off.
“I wish the other bikers would know that also.” Confused I asked, what do you mean? She said just before you got here 3 separate bikers yelled at me telling me to get off the bike path. She said the last one went as far too stop after passing her and screamed “get of the f-ing bike path idiot.”
Now note I checked the area for safety concerns as I rolled up and seen “no issues.”
The front of her vehicle was crossing less than 3 feet of an entrance to a bike path that runs parallel to the cross rode her vehicle was stalled on. There was still over 3 feet of access to the path.

Stunned I asked her “is this why you’re upset?” She said “yes, I didn’t think people would be this rude and vulgar.” She also added “when the person stopped and started yelling along with cursing at me I thought I was really doing something wrong.” I told her don’t worry about it and that I’ll stick around until the mechanic arrives.
I must admit I was really hoping for another cyclist to be a moron while I was there.

I understand riding defensively but really are some of us that ignorant to lose common sense just because someone is not riding a bike?

So I did the best thing I could do, I called in for some assistance and we blocked everything while we pushed the vehicle about 50 yards (very slowly.)

If I were her, I would have gotten the rude cyclists to help me move the car. If they've already gone out of their way to command her to move it, they can't really refuse to help push.

EDIT: By the way, Dave, if the forum software allows it you might want to clarify your thread title (the "Some cyclists don't know their role" part). After reading your post, I understand that you mean "their role in escalating the situation", but when I first saw the thread title I read it more as "damned uppity cyclists don't know their place" and (wrongly) thought you were going to be an idiot. :)

People are rude. The least they could have done was offer some help or ask for her number.

I've lost count of the number of times I've stopped and helped push (or been the ONLY one pushing) a stranded vehicle to a safe place... even stopped and helped a couple of times to dig cars out of snowbanks.

I see your point it was written pretty fast.
I meant it as cyclists knowing their role to encourage cycling and not to blindly assume it’s just another idiot driving a car. Madison ranks high as one of the bicycle friendly cities but time after time I have people informing of the ridiculous encounters they have had with bikers.
Trust me I go way out of my way to promote safe and friendly biking it floors me on the amount of complaints I receive. This one today just happen to top them all.
Now don’t get me wrong, I still would have had an issue if it was a pedestrian or a motorist displaying the same amount of disrespect but I think since I have a huge passion in cycling my standard is higher for them (myself included.)

The lady did tell me since she was a student at the UW she couldn’t afford a new car, I responded back with “you should look into purchasing a bicycle, they are cheaper, take less maintenance and think of the money you can save in gas” she said “yes I should, you get in good shape.”
:thumb:

Nice.

I figured this thread would be about cyclists doing stupid stuff then blaming the motorists around them for it. Definitely a different twist than I was expecting.

Dave,

I don't know how many times that I've been the only one to stop and offer to help someone who's car has broken down. And the irony is that I'm the one who is on a bike not driving another car. You'd think that motorists would be willing to help each other out, but they keep going.

Not too long ago when I had an appointment out at Bay Pines, there were three people on two bikes acting like jerks. Weaving all over the road, riding in the wrong lane, etc. I passed them and continued to ride in front of them when I noticed a car behind them having a hard time getting around them. We both ended up stopping at the same stop light and I indicated for her to lower her passenger side window and apologized to her for their behavior.

I did it not for the moron's sake but to let the woman know that not all cyclists are like the three morons who caused her problems.

Also I can't remember if it was the same day or another trip to Bay Pines but on my way home on 30th Ave. N. there was a car that was parked (not broken down or anything no flashing lights) in the bike lane.

Offensive behavior from a group with whom one identifies hits closest to home.

If these forums are any indication, it's all too easy for cyclists, myself included, to fall into the trap of seeing ourselves as a persecuted minority and carrying a chip on our shoulders. We would do well to remember that civility is a much more effective strategy for advancing our cause.

BianchiDave, you have my dream job (the riding-a-bicycle-for-a-living part, anyway, maybe not the rest of it). Thank you for representing us cyclists in such a positive way.

OT Dave in this case when you say bike, I am assuming motorcyle or are you on bicycle patrol..... just curious

There's jerks in every group. Who hasn't heard people honking at someone who has obviously broken down as they limp their contraption along? Some people will help, most will ignore and some will growl. Only the ones who help others get a chance to improve our society and feel good about what they did.

I am not excusing the behavior, but it is all too easy to get a chip on your shoulder about the bike lanes. An extremely common thing to see around here, which I have NEVER seen anyone ticketed for, ever, is to invent a parking space by pulling to the side of the road and having half the car on the sidewalk and the other half in the bike lane. In some instances this will even be on a stretch of sidewalk that is painted yellow. On my commute home it is rare, very rare, to not pass by at least one of these.
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So, this particular instance was because the vehicle was broken down and the driver genuinely had no control over the situation. I don't know about the area of the country where this happened, but what are the odds that same group of cyclists had already passed one or two vehicles that were just parked in the bike lane prior to passing this particular woman? People get that chip on their shoulder when their space is routinely violated just for convenience.

if you have a few hours I could tell you just a few of some of the ridiculous encounters I've had with motorists. In general though, I try to forget my brushes with the criminal element in our society

Tell us about the happy or funny things. This is the feel good thread ;)

I watched some jerk in Dallas get himself a disorderly conduct ticket for leaning on the horn while an officer was working a wreck that had his street completely blocked by a car that obviously wasn't ever going anywhere under its own power again. Frankly, I thought the cop was being too nice; disregarding a lawful order (to stop honking) would have been more appropriate.

Get out of BF, jerk!


:D

One more bit of evidence that cyclists are human.

"Those who do not remember the past are doomed to repeat it." In my line of work, and even more in Dave's, but to some extent in everybody's life unless you live in some magical protected fairyland, you shouldn't think of surviving the last encounter as getting lucky, you think of it as gaining experience that may save your life next time.

"If you want to make others happy, practice compassion; if you want to make yourself happy, practice compassion."
--Dalai Lama

chipcomized that for ya

how about this. Guy overtakes me, illegally leaning on the horn. I wave and smile. Guy looks in his rear view mirror, like so many of these sociopaths do, looking for a reaction. Sees me waving and hesitantly lifts his hand and waves back. Made me happy for days.

If the OP will explain what the point of the horn leaning is, I can explain why cyclists are annoyed by people parking in the bike lane. I have another question for the OP: if a motorist is going to stop a broken vehicle in a travel lane, why shouldn't it be the travel lane made for their type of vehicle? And does Wisconsin still have the ridiculous lack of state inspections? Back when I lived there, Wisconsin didn't inspect and so it was the dumping ground for cars that would run but not pass inspection elsewhere.

Yes still no vehicle inspections (unless an officer is looking for something:innocent:) When I lived in Virgina I couldn't stand the inspections but now looking back I wish WI did the same.

She could have pulled up on the sidewalk to be totally out of the street, that might cause quite a bit more distress due to the role reversal of pedestrians and sidewalk-bikers screaming GET OFF THE SIDEWALK.

But seriously. I haven't been biking very long and I've seen things like this happen quite a few times. There are buttholes everywhere, not just in cars. Glad some biker finally stepped in and helped!

I'd imagine it would be the rightmost travel lane, so if there was a bike lane in the middle of the road (for whatever reason) nobody would stop there.

I'm sure that if the only people that stopped their vehicles in bike lanes were those that had broken down cars, the cyclists wouldn't be so annoyed by it. And furthermore, the very presence of bike lanes gives some motorists license to abuse cyclists when they do choose to go into the normal travel lane. From direct observation of similar situations, I suspect that cyclists using the travel lane to pass this woman's car would be subject to abuse by motorists. So contrary to the OP's assertion, it does go back to the motorists