Lauren, I like the way you think.

+1

I usually shout out "Mind that stop sign!" They invariably give me a look of confusion as if to say "A cyclist is calling me out...not a car?!"

Didn't know he was lost. :D

If I could count the times I've lost my cool during my commutes or just when out joy riding.

Some that come to mind:

I worked at Fort Hood a couple years back and had to ride in what is some of the worst stop and go traffic getting onto the post (this was after September 11). On one particular morning I had a motorist nudge my back wheel on my mountain bike. I assume he thought he was funny. I flipped out. I threw the bike to the ground and was opening his car door when the MPs actually pulled me back and arrested him. I can say without a doubt that if I had 15 more seconds, I would have put my cleat to his head.

Last year, right before I took my Fatty-fatty-I'm such a fatty hiatus from biking, I had a couple pass me in an old Sanford and Son-quality pickup screaming their lungs out at me on a downhill. I got to the red light about 2 seconds after them and literally almost climbed into the passenger window to explain to them in very clear english that "I have a right to use this road. If you somehow disagree with my right, I'll be more than happy to discuss it further with you fat asses over there in that parking lot, but I'm afraid two out of the three of us are going to making a trip to Scott and White. I won't be one of them, ****ers."

They both were ash faced and clearly wanted to get the devil that was in the window to go away. They apologized profusely.

To make matters worse for them, they were heading to the bus station to pick up one of their kin apparently, because I had time to change, talk with a few of the press crew in the back while staring at them in their truck. The press guys made it a point to stand there and be very loud and aggressive about ending that truck's life if Dean gets hurt by them.


Other than that, the occassional curse, hand slammed down on a hood has always worked. Its what I have taught my wife now that she has joined me in the lifestyle. Considering we've got a trailer each with one of our son's in it now 90% of the time, we're very aggressive to get "our space' on the road.

Lots of good ideas in this thread, and cyclists runnign busy stop signs piss me off, but even worse are the cyclists who ride on the wrong side of the street. I always seem to encounter them just when the traffic is busiest and I have to merge back into traffic (we have lots of streets that are larger than 1 lane, but smaller than 2 in both directions, excellent for cycling). They just give me a stupid look when I yell at them. I have stopped yelling at drivers because the last time I did, I also gave this lady the bird. She pulled over, got out and apologized for passing so close (I touched her mini-van). I am happy that she was so reasonable, but my temper and the cussing is just embarassing when you then have to speak to someone in a civil manner.

Incidentally another group who piss me off are the guys who drive their bikes to the trail...

Road rage happens to us all, I think I will borrow the Jesus idea =)

When I was a messenger I once had two cars right hook me in the span of about 10 seconds. I was furious. They saw me. I had a bright red bag bigger than my torso. They were just in a hurry to save a second.

The first one passed me and immediately made a right turn afterwards. The second car was a cab, and he passed me and immediately pulled to the right to park at a taxi stand. As I passed him, I slammed his window with my hand so hard that the noise actually startled me. I can only imagine what it sounded like inside the car. He honked at me...

There is this biker that scares the crap out of me when I see him on my morning commute. I will periodically look behind me on the street I am on and discover that he's back there (generally he bikes faster than me). He's passed me on the left while I was signaling a left turn and crossed in front of traffic. I had caught up with him and yelled passing on your left when he swerved across traffic and decided to take the sidewalk for awhile. I didn't think I was near him any longer until he came flying on to the street from the sidewalk and blew a stop sign right in front of me. He wears no helmet. And he scares the crap out of me. Never has he taken the same path when I run into him. I'm sure I look really weird frantically looking for where he has gone some days.

I think that's the key. In person, you're somewhat accountable for how you act. Rudeness doesn't usually pay off; there are social checks and balances. But in your car on the road, it's a whole different story. Unless you do something flagrantly illegal or dangerous, you can be as rude as you want, and most likely you won't see any consequences; you're dealing at a safe distance with strangers who you will probably never meet face-to-face. How a person acts when they feel anonymous is probably a truer measure of their character than how they act around people they know.

Do morals hold when they're not enforced? Sadly, I think many people would answer this question differently in their heart of hearts than they do on a regular basis with their behavior. I wish I could exempt myself fully from this criticism.

I read most of this a while back. You might find it interesting if you're an analyitical type:

The Science of Good and Evil

+10, especially the first comment about how folks really do NOT know that cyclist are not only permitted on the road, but actually have equal rights as motorists.

In most cases of speaking to motorists or actually "non-cyclist" I have found exactly the same thing you have... lack of knowledge. The few motorists that did know about cyclists rights were themselves cyclists.

I also get quite peeved at red light running cyclists... Sorry, but if autos are waiting and especially if another cyclist is waiting, there is no reason to run the light.

Very good... with my graying beard and older look I am thinking of working the eccentric old guy routine... still not sure if I can pull it off unless I really dress the part though.

I think using primer on my bike to cover the rust spots will help though. :D

I completely understand.

I've been known to throw my hair around my face and start screaming in gibberish to startle my friends...they call that character the "Mad Native." I'll have to try that on the road one of these days!

You know, I saw the most amazing thing today around Toronto Central Chinatown. There was a guy riding his bicycle in the middle of a narrowish lane (pretty assertively) holding the handlebars with one hand and carrying a HUGE AXE in the other, slung over his shoulder. I kid you not. I never missed my camera SO BADLY.

I bet that cyclist gets lots of respect from motorists, heh heh. :D

Hmmm..... Maybe I could strap that sword that's on my office wall to my back. That'd probably get a little attention.

Or maybe even distribute copies of the "Watchtower". That'll get them to leave you alone.

Eh, if they point a gun at you or throw something just get the lic # and call 911.

Yes, but unless you actually get to see them get what's coming to them, there's really no satisfaction in that. Only once that I've reported anyone to the police was something actually done, and that was only because there was a cop less than a block away, AND a motorist behind us saw the truck chasing me down, and saw the person lean out the truck window to hit me, and called it in (along with the plate number!)

Oh man I am so glad I found this thread haha this topic has been on my mind all day. I started commuting to work a week ago and I have been loving it and have been incident free until today. I had a group of girls swerve from the opposite lane into my lane to act like they were going to hit me! Of course I couldn't think of why someone would try to do that so all they got was a blank stare on my part and when I realized what happened I debated flipping around and going after them but they were doing like 60 (in a 45) and the next stoplight was miles away which is a good thing because I don't think "pretending to hit me" would justify me popping all four of their tires (I later got satisfaction from the image of them just staring stupid while their accord sank a couple of inches to the ground and me not making a single comment, jumping back on my bike, and continuing my commute hahahaha). I like the assault by water bottle idea though I think I'm gonna carry an extra water bottle packed with ammunition for the next piece of trash that decides to mess with me.

how bout a good sized throwing rock in your exta water bottle cage.... would be wieghty, but man could it come in handy when someone f@cks with you and then speeds away....

never mind, you'd probably just end up in jail.

I just smile and give them a thumbs up. Positive, negative, whatever. It's a fitting response to everyone. It pisses off the ******bags. It confuses the clueless. It enhappies the friendly. Perfect.

i have a story
 

if someone pushes you push back it human nature I belive. Its natural to get pissed about people messing with you expecially if its dangerous. Just the other day a woman in an SUV with a mangled front weaved towards me as a "joke" i chased her down. when i caught up to her (which made me feel much better that i can catch a car on my bike) i yelled " are you trying to kill me are you trying to ****ing kill me?" I think this statement gets the point across people think they are being funny when its a serious situation these people need to know its not a joke. just my 2 cents

It's interesting to me, but this just doesn't happen in the UK. EVERYONE knows that it's legal to ride a bike on the road. Also, there's less of this aggression. Not that people don't pass too close, or you don't get the occasional chav moron shout something at you out the window of his boyed-up Fiesta, or once even throw a McDonalds coke, but telling you to get off the road? Trying to hit you? Jumping out and getting threatening? Just doesn't happen. Maybe it's my size (I'm 6'3 and 240 pounds), but whatever, it surely does not encourage me to move the the Land of the Freetoshoutateveryoneandwaveguns!

Oh, goody, this is where I get to unload some of my rage!

There's a road I often take to work with a mixed-use bike/skate/pedestrian path next to it. When I ride in the road, motorists yell at me to ride on the path. When I ride on the path, pedestrians yell at me to ride in the road. I can't win.

A few nights ago, I was going through a well-lit intersection wearing two lights (headlamp and blinky) as well as reflectors when the SUV coming the opposite way turning left decided I didn't actually exist. After realizing that screaming at her to stop was futile, I just concentrated on scrambling out of her way. The result was she only hit my back wheel, turned and looked at me, and then sped off. If only I had the presence of mind to get her licence plate number...

Plus then there's the almost daily harrassment that comes with being a girl on a bike. Seriously dudes, the honking/catcalls/whistles make me wish I had the power to castrate with my mind.

Interesting! But please, do you have to rub it in? :o Some of us on this side of the Atlantic are still sane, I think, or at least trying to retain a degree of sanity. It ain't easy.

It's not easy going against the cultural grain, is it? Cycling doesn't, especially, in the UK (not to the same extent), but I have some experience of it in other ways, and it's exhausting.....