Confounding incident on my commute home this evening.
 

So--I am riding on a moderately busy street when a Prius (why is it always a Prius) stops at a parking lot exit. The driver looks straight at me until I get close and then slowly turns right in front of me. Her window is down. Normally, I try to be mellow in these situations because, hello, car. Even a Prius is much bigger than me and will utterly destroy me in a collision. But I can't resist.

Me: Really? REALLY? You are turning right in front of me?

Her husband, who is on the passenger side, yells at me when we stop at the next light: MMPHH, rrruh, MMPH!"

Me: Excuse me?

Husband: Do you pay street taxes?

Me: Of course I do.

Husband: Not for that bike.

Vindicated, they speed off as the light changes and I am left scratching my head...

I guess their mistaken belief that I don't pay street taxes justifies knocking me off the road.

You know that Prius drivers actually have a high incidence of auto collisions......because they're so busy patting themselves on their backs. :roflmao2:

We all have thick skins, but once in a while comes along an A$$$$ and gets out your worst. I don't see anything wrong with you yelling "REALLY". Bottom line, you had the right of way. Unless you have a car and pay more taxes than the bike of course. A Prius gets a lot of that with bigger cars, I guess it was his time to pay it forward with you, the bike.


Double O

If we are going by paying more=more right to the road with that kind of logic I am allowed to run over any Prius on the road because I drive a truck that uses more fuel and I pay more in fuel taxes than they do.

I'm just saying, that's the logic the Prius must of used to justify hes/her actions!

It's funny because in addition to my four bicycles, I own two cars. I figured that I was doing a good thing for the environment. I am paying it back by cycling to make up for all the fuel I squandered driving race cars when I was younger.

No good deed goes unpunished, as a friend of mine always says.

As they say on the playground.... you started it.

People tend to look right through cyclist.... and also people in cars. There are many thousands of car-on-car fender benders every year. The motorist didn't treat you any differently than they do the other people on the streets and roads. The only difference is... you chose NOT to commute in a protective steel cage.

We all have bad days. But yelling at motorist have never improved any of mine.

looking at the doofus another way...
 

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Husband: Do you pay street taxes?

Me: Of course I do.

Husband: Not for that bike.

One common theme I hear and read from transportation folks at all levels of government is the increase of motorists creating an increased demand and erosion of roadway facilities , exacerbated by the increasing costs of construction and maintenance. Compound this with the lessening of gas taxes because folks drive smaller and more fuel efficient cars, one can only assume Mr and Mrs Prius are personally responsible for the decline of the American roadway. Damn Commies!

Of course it would take too long to argue with the Prius owner, but as I understand it, there are no "street taxes" levied on car drivers. Local streets are paid for through general municipal taxes (property taxes in my state). Fuel / license taxes don't cover the entire cost of maintaining the transportation system, especially if you consider its externalities such as pollution.

I pay property taxes, income taxes, and the license fees on two cars that are sitting in the garage. So, yes, I do pay for the roads. And my taxes pay for roads such as Federal and state highways, that are inaccessible to bikes.

Prius drivers make Volvo drivers look competent. And that's hard to do.

Many years ago, an older and more experienced friend told me about one of the stranger facts in nature.

No one can explain it, but there are far more horses' asses than there are horses.

You just ran into one of those that wasn't securely attached to the horse.

Passenger in Prius should surrender his man card now:

a) owns a Prius, obviously
b) has wife driving him around
c) can't man up and own his wife's / vehicle's mistake
d) bad - misinformed citizen

Correct. No driver knows how much I contribute to taxes, it very well could be much more than him/her... not that it makes any difference to anyone's right to use public roads.

Duly noted.

But it doesn't mean that commenting to a motorist who has endangered me might not improve my day.

Not everyone is content to just STFU and take it in these situations. Some of us are more than willing and able to take care of ourselves.

haha that is a good one and so unfortunately true.

+1 great one too.

I think that most peoples tendency when they do something stupid ie pull out in front of someone they get mad and take it out on the person instead of saying. "my bad or I am sorry"

glad you are okay.

BS! I don't care what gender my chauffeur is, thanks!

Never worth arguing during the commute but I think of these articles:

Gasoline Taxes and User Fees Pay for Only Half of State & Local Road Spending | Tax Foundation

And the other version:

Who Pays for Roads? | Frontier Group

On the other hand our roads are generally pretty good. It's just many users take them for granted. In our area the city has reduced some traffic lanes and replaced with bicycle lanes. I think road maintenance cost is a factor in their decision.

You got a good point . :thumb:

Yeah I yell towards drivers/cars sometimes when they do stupid stuff like that. For me it's usually something like "TURN SIGNAL!!" when they fail to signal.

FWIW I'd have responded about the same way.

There have been numerous studies on what people do and do not see. Subconsciously she's thinking "are there any cars, trucks, or motorcycles coming?" She's not thinking about bikes or looking for bikes so even if she does see you she may not register it. Then the likelihood of her not seeing you is quite high. Someone riding a bicycle has the visual mass of about 1/40 of a small car and if you're not specifically looking for something that small then you're likely to not see something that small.

Here we have quite high compliance with people stopping for people riding on a bikeway or MUP because they are looking for people walking or riding and are more likely to see them. It is also a separate action from turning in to traffic. Leaving a parking lot you stop (or slow down) to look both ways on the MUP and if clear then move forward to look for a chance to shoot in to traffic at great speed. OTOH we have similar problems to what you experienced of people preparing to enter traffic and doing so very quickly and fast when they think they have a large enough gap in the stream of traffic. BTW, much of this is why you don't see right-on-red outside of the U.S.

It was her fault (or would have been had she hit you), but her being at fault won't mean much if you're dead or severely injured.

I would have probably said more choice words to them..because really what are they going to do -they are driving around in a prius? It's like the dog that likes to act all tough and bark at someone/or another dog and then goes and runs away.

****

What's with all the immature Prius hate?

You took me wrong! I never posted or even suggested anyone ever STFU. HTFU... sure! Expect traffic (and cycling) to be what it is.... sure. Of course if you do that... and allow things to be in their natural perspective... you won't be whining about normal traffic conditions on Internet forums.

But you can pull the motorist from his car and slap the smirk off his face, for all I care. But it would be silly to expect such behavior to "improve your day".

We all have our demons. Fortunately they live (weightlessly) inside us... and if managed correctly they remain invisible to most everyone else. By the OP's own description the OP not only exposed their demon to a total stranger... but also allowed him to feed it. A foolish move!

Look, OP, they're saving the planet, you're a dirtbag for not stopping and noting their largeness. And never mention to them how your tax dollars subsided their car's purchase price....