nicholas_85

Hi all. I live in Seattle, I supposedly bike friendly city. This morning a popular radio station I enjoy posted a meme on Facebook. It was a dude, with a badly photoshopped hipster hat, jeresy, and bike gloves on what looks like a cross-bike. The text says "Demands you share the road...Runs every red light and stop sign". The replies from other FB users in my city scared the crap out of me. I know it is the internet and people feel free to mouth of like they never would in real life, but a large portion of the replies were downright scary. It almost makes me afraid of riding on the street. I feel like I'm a safe rider, have never really had a road rage incident. Almost got hit a few times, but they probably could have been avoided if I was paying more attention. We have a few trails around the city, but like with most places they are clogged with joggers and strollers. We have lots of marked bike shared roads and full bike lanes, and I've never been overly worried about riding on the road until now. I'll post a sample of the 100+ responses that photo garnered. What do y'all think? Is it just internet balls? Do the majority of drivers really feel this way? I know we have every legal right to ride on the road. But with so many crazy people and drunk drivers it scares me to think every car that is near me hates me and wants to see me crash.

I sometimes wish my car would just swerve........They need to obey the rules of the road just like the rest of us...

Best fail ever was this jackass zooming down the Ave and weaving around cars & pedestrians. Until he shot by a UPS truck right as the driver opened his door and knocked the ******waffle on his ass.

I don't mind bikers. I just wish they wouldn't ride the white line if the bike lane. I'm paranoid they are going to swerve an get hit. Get over to the right as far as you can.

No engine? Can't go the speed limit? NOT a vehicle! Get over where you belong with the other pedestrians. The law is stupid and wrong on this one.
7 hours ago · Like · 11

I love bike lanes my car fits just fine in them. There great to use in heavy traffic to get around stuck traffic. As for those who ride, remember this you will lose aginst 2000 lbs of steel and glass, everytime.

Psh I like cyclists. They are worth 10 more points!
6 hours ago · Like · 5

25 points if you hit a cyclist....Bonus 75 points if you can get them to fall over without actually touching them.
JK...wink wink.
Freakin bikers want to share the road********** Then get a license plate and pay your tax like us car drivers and get ticketed when you break all the same rules WE have to follow.!!!!!!

When they can do the speed limit, and keep up with cars, they can "share" the road

thats not all bike riders too, hell they pull out in front of you as well, turning out into lanes that don't belong to them....They are VERY Very unsafe and we shouldn't have to share the road with them. They are worse then a drive with roadrage.

When they come down the lane next to you fling open the car door....its fun and funny

lol . . . I have a routine I go through when theyre illegally occupying the lane Isimilar to the one I use for cellphones). 40" Drag pipes with lollipop baffles. I just kinda sneak up close, and as I roll by them, I lay the bike WAY over, directing the pipes, and the exhaust crackle towards the rider . . Then I "oops" crack that throttle GOOD . . .

****in hate bicycle riders stay off the road rude bastards!
44 minutes ago · Like · 1

PedalingFool

They wouldn't be laughing and making wise cracks when they're in a jail cell with Bubba staring them down and licking his chops...

Mr. Cranky

I live in the area too. What radio station was this?

caloso

nicholas_85

99.9 KISW... the original photo is fine, kind of funny. But it quickly morphed into something else.

gcottay

Trollers are after fish

Don't be a fish.

gmt13

Just scanned the page - who are these people? Fringe or mainstream jerks? What other groups do they hate? (because nobody making comments like that can hate just one).

-G

jim hughes

These guys have always been out there. They're not just angry at cycling, they're angry at the whole world and at their place in it. They came across something about cyclists and spent the next 5 minutes obsessing over that subject, getting lathered up and pounding out crazy rants. Then they moved on to whatever topics crossed their path next - gays, 'liberals', communists, evolution, abortion, Islam, Mexicans, taxes, or those people down the street.

maddyfish

Maybe if most cyclist didn't ride like idiots this would not be the case?? Any chance of that?

bengreen79

What kind of car only weighs 2000 lbs?

SteamDonkey74

Yup, and seemingly they have all sorts of time to comment on every news story, too.

Haters can pound sand. I'm going to go ride my bike now...

Canada Panda

I think the "badly photoshopped" hat you describe is the Scumbag Steve hat, and is meant to look badly photoshopped. In my opinion, the meme is targeted towards the "scumbag" cyclists, not cyclists in general - just the ones who demand everyone else follow the rules while they themselves break the rules when convenient.

The comments though...wow.

Don in Austin

Not much. In the last 4 years that I have been riding a lot -- maybe 4-5k miles a year mostly in the city -- twice I have had a motorist express serious rage towards me. In both cases I was following traffic laws to the letter.

Don in Austin

myrridin

How are those comments different than many of the same type one finds on this forum directed to 'cagers', or 'pedestrians'?

KonAaron Snake 

If internet responses were indicative of actual public opinion, I'd be beaten to death every day for one of a hundred reasons...from bicycling, to political preferences, to religion/nationality...etc.

Somehow in around 8 years of commuting and not owning a car, no one has tried to kill me just for being a cyclist.

SpasticSprocket

Smart car, they're also the only cars that stand a chance of fitting in tiny bike lanes.

Digital_Cowboy

Correct me if I'm mistaken, but when/if those haters end up hitting a cyclist, can't their Facebook posts be used to show premeditation?

SpasticSprocket

I see no reason why they couldn't, the posts show a clear desire to commit the act that said offender eventually committed.

rydabent

Well some drivers are egotistical.

Best one that I heard was from several years ago. A driver suggested that bikes should be on the sidewalks, and pedrestrians on the side walk should all carry a stick to jam in the spokes of cyclist. A cyclist suggested that anyone using the stick should make sure it is very smooth and splinter free considering what the cyclist would do with the stick when he got up!!!!!

spivonious

It's the law-breaking hipster cyclists that make drivers upset. Heck, I'm a cyclist and they make me upset. My wife almost hit one when he cut around a car waiting to turn left and came into the oncoming lane. She had to slam on the brakes. Luckily no one rear-ended her.

SpasticSprocket

I hate those guys, I mean, I may not follow every single road rule, but I at least do my best to ride safely. These hipster cyclists, just swerve around on their fixed gears, without brakes, and endanger motorist, pedestrian, and cyclist alike. Maybe we should start impounding their bikes.

KonAaron Snake 

I have almost no problem with the messenger/fixed crowd. I have very few problems with the roadie kit crowd. Both groups seem to love cycling, they seem to do it a lot and they know how to ride safely and considerately. Who cares if a guy has a scruffy beard? The word hipster is meaningless at this point.

The only "group" I consistently have issues with are the people riding bikes because their license was suspended, or because their car was repossessed. The ones on bikes because they have to be - and that don't ride much and who haven't developed awareness or manners.

Blaming me for someone else's behavior is absurd. I don't blame all ford drivers because two fords drove poorly. If someone rides badly, it isn't my problem - and if someone lumps me in as some group to hate, the problem is the idiot doing the lumping, not the poor cyclist.

Commodus

Folks like this poster and those making the comments in the OP are still children, developmentally.

You can't expect them to have rational thought processes, they have to come along on their own. Don't trouble yourself with them.

These people are why we need laws and the threat of punishment, but thankfully this problem has been addressed many hundreds of years ago.

gmt13

I wouldn't say "most". My observations have been that maybe one in ten rides like a jerk and perhaps three out of ten don't have the experience to ride predictably.

I just thought over what I wrote above and think it applies to the motorists I see, too.

gmt13

Certainly. I'd add that we routinely mine the online personas of job applicants to get a feel for their character. As a hiring manager I would take that sort of comment very seriously. My question would be, though, "Did they really mean it or was it out of character?" A lot of people present online images completely different than who they are in real life. On the other hand, if the hate is hidden, it's still there.

-G