Umm...maybe because there are so many ruthless and aggressive drivers here in the United States? You don't have to be a cyclist to figure that out.

My experience, which is limited (only been city-riding for a few weeks), is that most drivers who are able to pass you in the next lane will not cause any trouble. Some even then will find a way to be rude. On the other hand, most drivers who you force to slow down (by riding in the middle of the lane when it's unsafe to pass) will become impatient and a good portion of those will express their impatience, whether by honking, tailgaiting, yelling, or passing too close.

I would guess only a fraction of the despicable ones -- i.e. those that are particularly memorable or dangerous or frustrating -- come to the forums.

Because the automobile is so dominant in the USA, people are often offended that you're different, or confused that you're riding what they consider a toy (perhaps somewhat like a skateboard or roller skates) in the road, and causing them to slow down for you.

Not everyone is this rude or impatient or aggressive, but an alarming percentage of people are. And you wonder why our government/military invades and occupies foreign countries and bullies the world and tortures people and lies about everything (with the help of our lapdog media) and then we re-elect them, and this sort of thing happens again, and again, and again. Whereas you have a terrorist attack, and you oust the criminals!

Remind me why I still live here...oh yes, American Dream...go back to sleep...zzzzzzzzz

sometimes when i'm riding i think about how it used to be when i was a kid. we'd ride for hours on back roads, through subdivisions, on dirt trails, whatever. we'd ride our bikes to each others houses. never ever had a problem. bike riding was sooooo easy and carefree.

today, it's such a different place. very hostile and unforgiving. people actually speed up when they see you crossing the road. they yell at you, throw things sometimes, and steal your bike when you go watch a movie (true story). i see people cutting each other off for no reason other than to save 1 second. i've seen fights over parking spaces, minor traffic accidents, etc. it's crazy out there. what the hell happened??

Personally, I blame the baby boomers.

There is only one way to diffuse this situation;
HUG IT OUT, B*TCHES!

I've learned at the most to yell out "what?" instead of speaking my mind. I've gotten tired of idiots trying to start a verbal pissing match.

I have had issues here with all kinds of motor vehicles. Motorcycles are by far the most friendly with exception to sportbikes....they are the ones that will idle up to me, then floor it, or pull flybys at speeds far, far beyond the spee limit, etc. To me they ar eworse than the road-ragers.

Someone tells me to get off the road, I usually just wave at them. Name callers...i usually ignore. Hostile ones are pretty rare here...too many true cagers out here....they talk smack since they have this 3000lb steel box around them.

Either way, at least I can fidn a sparking space

It's not always futile...

I had a van buzz me while the passenger screamed out the window (six inches or so from my ear) to 'Get the f*** off the road!' ...

I chased them two miles, with them circling around and heading back the way they came from (although on a different road), as the van seemed unwilling to let me find out where they lived / worked / wherever they were going. Lost them at a red light (they ran it!) and they got away.

Two weeks later, the same van comes up behind me, slows down, then passes me, with about 10 feet between me and him. I just smiled and waved.

I guess they didn't want the insane cyclist chasing them down again.

In this case I didn't even get a chance to confront the driver, they were already past me before I recovered my wits enough that I could have responded, but it obviously had an impact on the driver.