dynodonn 

With California's Anti Smoke laws being the toughest in the nation, and a hot line phone number to report offenders, my being blasted with a cloud of diesel smoke is pretty much a rare occurrence nowadays. It's rather hilarious to watch some new diesel vehicle owners in their effort to smoke me out with the pathetic wisp that now exits their tailpipe.

mjsocal

There are a plethora of motorists in Orange County that screw with cyclists. It's certainly not the norm, but it is NOT uncommon at all. We have a lot of entitled and dangerous drivers. We have had 2 intentional hits in the So Cal area in the last few weeks. Unfortunately, I started a thread that got closed because I was wondering if any drivers intentionally hit cyclists, but stupidly, I said "for sport" which was a BAD word choice. I meant intentional.

trackhub

Anyone seen any pickups with modified pipes that come up through the pickup beds, and resemble the pipes used on big diesel trucks? I think they are called
"Bullhorns". (Sorry, I'm not up on this stuff) Someone in my area has such a truck, and apparently, the operator can cause thick, oily smoke to belch from those pipes
at will. So, why would anyone want to do this? I can only think of Occam's Razor: The most simple explanation is usually the right one. They have this done to
cheese off others, say cyclists, or anyone who is driving an environmentally conscious vehicle such as a Nissan Leaf or Toyota Prius.

No idea who the one is in my area, but I've seen him enough times to conclude that he does take some kind of pleasure in using his vehicle, and smoke equipment,
to harass and intimidate people. As the OP stated, some do like to intentionally mess with cyclists.

Doesn't pop psychology have a word for grown men with the minds of fifteen year olds?

dynodonn 

I've seen a couple, but it is rare sight in my locale, since it would take up valuable space for one's bed mounted tool box. Even so, they still would be reluctant to have thick black smoke belching from their exhaust..........a hefty fine if one is caught doing so in California.

mjsocal

off subject, but not completely...I'm guessing this fine is greater than the CA fine for texting. We're so behind on this one. I heard that in Utah the fine is comparable to driving under the influence, as it should be.

dynodonn 

Locally, the texting fine is 150 dollars for the first offense, once you've added on all the various municipality fees. Excessive smoke fines are in the neighborhood of 500 dollars for the first offense for non commercial vehicles, and I've heard in the thousands of dollars range for commercial fleet violators, not to mention that the commercial vehicle gets "red tagged" on the spot, necessitating an immediate fix at the location, or being towed to the nearest repair facility.

illdoittomorrow

I can't leave the house without seeing three or four of these things, usually with a lift kit and mud tires too. I got smoked by one the other day while riding through a 30km/hr playground zone. I passed him after he slowed his manmobile to a crawl take a speed bump, so I guess he had to get me back.

genec

A lift kit and he still could not mount a speed bump... what irony.

unterhausen

haha, I was slowed recently by a number of 4wd vehicles in front of me coming to a stop and waiting for the opposing traffic to clear so they could go around a little water on the roadway. Drove straight through in my Prius without issue.

WPeabody 

Any vehicle with an exhaust pipe is a bane to people on recumbents... in stopped traffic I try to position myself away from being alongside the backs of vehicles... I was climbing a long hill and was passed by 15-20 vehicles, and I had trouble breathing after a while. BTW, I was on my way to a bicycle expo, and so were they. LOL