Mars

We were walking downtown and came to a crosswalk. This crosswalk is clearly labelled and everyone who drives downtown knows about it. A car was approaching and wasn't slowing down, tryin gto deny us our right of way. I guess I went into an assertive cycling mode, watching him out of the corner of my eye, but trying to claim my legal right of way. Well, he kept driving and I had to stop or get run down. He passed inches from me. That really made me mad, and yelled "HEY!!!" into his window as he went by. My wife was really embarrassed by this and said that she thought everyone around me thought that I was acting crazy. I see her point, I made a loud noise downtown. But on the other hand, the urban cyclist in me found this to be an intolerable slight that demanded action.

What do you guys think, was I acting crazy? Or not crazy enough?

ngateguy

My yell is better than any horn they make.

George Carlin once said about dealing with school bullies that if you act crazy they are to scared to hit you.

FXjohn

You could try Woody Alllen's aproach?

Oh yeah? YOU better watch it...I'm a bleeder and that's a nice shirt...

Mars

ROFL!!! going into my notebook of quotes.

Helmet-Head

Whether you're pedaling or pedding, there's nothing wrong with reasonable assertiveness. Put one foot in the street, and raise your arm with your hand held open signalling a "halt". If that doesn't do it, let it go. The next guy will probably stop.

The guy who blew by probably was in a hurry or something. Give him a break. Don't have a coronary over it.

LordOpie

You don't have to do those things around your wife. Enjoy your time with her, focus on her.

Treespeed

My wife, when she regularly walked into work, and had to cross a number of busy crosswalks got into the habit of smacking cars with her open palm if they passed too close. Her argument was that if they were coming close enough for her to reach them, then they deserved the smack. I didn't agree, for the obvious safety reasons, but also whenever I was walking with her and she pulled this stunt the male drivers who would never strike my wife didn't seem to have the same qualms about coming after me. Though I guess it is the eternal cycling ped. question. How is it a driver who is in such a hurry as to risk someone else's life will suddenly have all the time in the world to pick a fight when you yell or give them the finger. I agree with LordOpie, its better to wait until someone comes to a complete stop. No matter how right you are the person doing the yelling always looks like the Jackass.

Laika

Yelling and the single finger salute are all part of the ongoing process of driver's Ed., IMHO.

iowarose

I think you were fine; it was the driver who was the problem. That said, sometimes the battle just isn't worth fighting. I know that when it is a college student behind the wheel of a car, they're just going full speed ahead. Stand back! (I live in a college town)

BTW, it isn't just girlfriends and wives who get embarrassed by that sort of behavior; some girlfriends/wives/women actually act that way themselves. Not trying to be combative, just making a point.

fastedddie

Sorry. I think yelling and flipping of someone only can escalate the incident to another level. I ride very defensively and I don't take any chances getting injured. Right or wrong, cars always win. There are a lot of tomb stones that should say "I had the right of way!"

doctore

Something similar happenned to me on wednesday...

Riding through Marymoor park in Redmond, Wa, I was doing the speed limit (20mph) and taking about 1/3 of my lane, some dumba$$ soccer mom in a Land Rover decides she's going to pass me, even though she's going to have to slow for a speed bump just after she passes me. The testosterone hits me and I kick up my speed and move to the center of the lane - blocking her pass because she is fast approaching a median in the road.

It was stupid to do... but boy it felt good...

bac

Simply put, do not harbor expectations of respect from motorists. If you do, you will only be lead down the path of being struck down. Keep your eyes open, and yield to these giant sharks of the road, because when they bite, they bite hard.

Biker2004

I agree completely...we have quite a few of those kinds of drivers in Garden Grove, CA and they are mostly Asian. Just try to go with the flow and ignore all those Friday drivers who are late for everything!!!

operator

It's not esaclated if you destroy their car with an rpg.

HereNT

How do you destroy a car with a role playing game?

soda

Well, I assume that the bigger the car the more hit points it has so you could probably do a fair bit of damage if you had high strength or some type of kick ass weapon. A spell or two probably would be able to take care of it too.

DnvrFox

I did exactly the same thing when a lady in a SUV took our right of way while we were crossing a busy intersection while walking our bicycles as peds.

I yelled real loud (HEY), and then yelled again - but I don't think the lady in the SUV ever heard me.

My point was to make her aware of her violation so that the next time she might not run over someone who was not as traffic-savvy as my wife and I, who were expecting this all along.

My wife wasn't embarrassed at all.

becnal

I do like that fella's wife. If I'm in the middle of the road while crossing and some jerk drives past me unsafely, I throw my hand up and crack their side-view mirror. They shouldn't be in the cross-walk AT ALL. What are they gonna say, I attacked them????

I came up with this idea while crossing a street while carrying a sack with library books I was taking to return. A car zipped by me and I wanted to raise my arm to shake my fist at him. I forgot I had the sack, and when my arm went up, the sack took off his side mirror. he stopped after 20 feet and yelled at me and I replied, "Hey jerkoff, you explain to the cop how I did that as you were illegally blowing through a flashing red light at a crosswalk. You'll lose your liscense as well as your mirrow, A$$!!!"

JohnBrooking

To play devil's advocate, maybe the driver wasn't looking and didn't see you until it was too late to slow down safely. Of course even then he should have been looking, but at least in this scenario it wasn't intentional. I myself am sometimes guilty of not seeing pedestrians as soon as I should when driving a car, which doesn't excuse me either.

That said, I might have done the same thing in the heat of the moment.

John E

Motorist education is indeed a central issue here, Denver. The challenging goal is to be diplomatically assertive without being offensive, and certainly without escalating to violence. Yelling "watch out!" is likely to be far more effective than either silence or a string of profanities.

DnvrFox

This is a common violation at this intersection - violating the pedestrian's right of way. Even though there is a red light, many coast through in their efforts to make the right turn against the busy cross traffic.

Sadly, the woman had her windows closed, her radio on, and never even knew we were there, and didn't hear my loud yell! I don't know if she was on a cell phone, but would not be surprised if she was.

I think I may have a talk with our local underworked police department.

WayneS460

I ALWAYS assume that the violator doesn't know better. My yell, etc. is an attempt at education. Sometimes it creates offensive behaviour, sometimes it creates an apology, sometimes its ignored. I believe at least some percentage of the people will think about how they approach such a violation next time. If I save one accident, its well worth the embarassment.

SamHouston

Not a thing wrong with letting them know they're being disrespectful of safe driving practices, getting called on ignoring a crosswalk is an incredibly embarrassing thing here for any except dumb young hoodlums. If you have to jerk to a stop because a ped used a crosswalk properly EVERYONE glares at the driver, the peds, other drivers, passerbys, cyclists, Everybody. And if a cop sees you go thru a CW with peds in it or even stop short in front of a CW they'll pull you over and see if you understand about crosswalks if they don't have something more important to do. Course that only applies if you trouble yourself to push the button and extend your arm and check for trafic too close to stop safely the way your supposed to.

Allister

What the ...?

I always take the view that they should know better. If they don't they have no business being behind a steering wheel. I'd have yelled at the driver, and slapped the car if I had the chance. It wouldn't be the first time.

Grendel

My Dad's a pretty smart guy, an opinion we both share ( ), and one thing he taught me when I was learning to drive has stuck with me ever since; right-of-way is something you give, not take. I know that won't sit well with the more assertive folks out there, but think about it for a second. There's really no way to effectively claim the right-of-way without physically putting yourself in harm's way if the other driver is not yielding. You might be able to get their attention enough to avoid an accident, and they might even eventually understand, but there's also a possibility that some high-energy street theater is in your future with you starring as the roadkill. Bottom line -- it doesn't matter if we're right if they don't yield or slow down because tonnage prevails in bicycle vs. car/truck/van/bus confrontations.