blsecres

My fiance and I commute some of the same routes, and she gets twice the harrassment that I do. Most all of my encounters are from the hurry up and wait crowd that wants to beat me to the next red light. She gets some of that but the difference seems to be made up of 16-30 year old guys trying to prove something to her/get her attention. She's had to call the cops on people yelling lewd comments, trying to scare her into wrecking and circling around to repeat. Part of me worries for her safety and part of me is proud of her for commuting in this bike hostile, car centric urban sprawl. Any other female commuters get more attention than the males in a given area?

jyossarian

Some people have truly lost their minds.

nick95673

all hostility stopped when I started wearing empty shoulder holsters and this shirt

literocola

Thank you flip.. SuperTroopers has to be hands down one of my favorite movies next to Office Space, Waiting, and Snatch, Napoleon Dynomite... etc.

Hostile drivers crack me up. I just further them by when crossing a street and seeing the driver inching and inching to get moving, I will indeed SLOW DOWN and make them wait longer.

When somone stops on the crosswalk next to a very busy street, I will knock on their hoods with my fist thus making a lot of noise and yelling about there are crosswalks and there for a reason; because I dont want to get tagged my a car from behind going 40.

If somone rolls up to make a turn and I'm comming the opposite direction- they dont see me yet- (I always watch drivers eyes, I know they see me when we make eye contact) so I will lock up the front, endo a high as I possibly can, and of course yell OH MY GOD... OHH MY GOD!

I do get a lot of thumbs up, honks, and ALL RIGHT yells from people when I am riding my jump/urban assult mtn. bike and doin sweet tricks for the on-lookers.
I guess those 1/4 mile long wheelies, rear wheel hops, front wheel hop 360's, rockwalks are impressive to the onlooker waiting in traffic.

Gus Riley

Fridays on the way home are also always a dangerous time. People are in a hurry to ghet home and start their weekends. Any logistics days I took were normally on Fridays.

Brian Ratliff

I've noticed the same. I ride 4 days a week, and most weeks, the day off is on Friday. My father got into both of his serious bike accidents on Friday afternoon commutes. Funny thing is, I'm usually more relaxed Friday evening and take my sweet time coming home.

caloso

There's a theory that the isolation and protection of the car allows people to act far more antisocially than they would outside it. And in LA, your car is the external projection of your ego, so there you go.

Anyway, don't let the bastards grind you down.

flipflops

First, thanks everyone for the good vibes, advice and sympathy!! It's nice to know I'm not the only one out there dealing with it.

Also, I am happy to report that I don't get to much over agressive harassment from the guys. I think those guys don't come out untill later in the day! The thing I get most is creepy guys(homeless guys, guys on the way to work at whatever construction site) winking or mumbling things that I thankfully can't understand. Nothing really intimidating, thankfully. I try to vary my route so I don't run into the same wierdos everyday.

Hey Sbhikes!! Hope your commutes and other rides are going well these days! I'd love to go in earlier but I've been kinda burning the candle at both ends and (at the risk of sounding like a total wimp) it's really hard dragging myself out of bed before 7-- I don't think I could even function any earlier!

On top of that, I'm actually going to a bar prep class that doesn't have anything near it that would remotely qualify as a nice place to get coffee. *Sigh*

-Flips

CommuterRun

Yep, my last duty station before retiring from the Marines was Okinawa. I got a lot more BS from U.S. Military personnel than I ever got from the Okinawans or Japanese.

Misery loves company and miserable people want to spread it around. Motorists just see cyclists as an easy target for their stress caused by their own problems.

Gus Riley

Agreed, I found the same thing to be true in Korea.

oboeguy

I love NY.

As for the OP... I don't understand the hostility either.

bluesman8665

The Scariest Vehicles On The Road Here In E. Tex. Seem To Be Pulp Wood Haulers And People With Dodge Ram P.u. Trks. Longhaulers (proffessional Semi Drivers) Give More Respect- They Are Pros And Dont Want Anythingon Their Records. Then You Gotcher 90 Lb. Housewives In Their 4000 Lb. Suv's, Chock Full O' Valium Who Hafta Get To The Next Redlite Before Anyone Else. Ride Safe!

Roody

Hey--welcome to the forum Bluesman.
Just a little note on etiquette:
Capitalizing all the words is not cool on this forum. I didn't even try to read it, and I doubt many others will either.

sgtsmile

This is also true of internet forums.

Now back to your regularly scheduled programming...

catatonic

pretty much a bunch of sissies in their cars acting tough.

Best proof I ever saw of this was some kid who yelled "I'm gonna ram you someday!"....I made it a point to sneak up to his open window at the light...when I said "Hey there." in a completely ned flanders non-threatening manner, he nearly pissed himself, and pretty much was completely freaking out. I just asked him why he felt the need to threaten me, when he seemed to make it to the stoplight I made it to...he apologised and rolled up the window.

I never seen him do anyhting stupid on my commutes again ever, and I see him regularly....he even quit passing through curves, which is something that all drivers should be taught to NOT do...on that turn, it pretty much triples the chance of losing control if the driver screws up...the crash rate on that curve is fact enough of it.

flipflops

So true--I've had idiots roll the window up after trying to run me off the road when I get to the same red light they were speeding to and wave hi! It's hilarious. It's amazing how wusses seem to grow a pair when they're in their cars doing battle with a big scary cyclist.

On a sadder note, my bike commuting days have ended *for now*. My class session is over for the summer. I still ride everyday but on my road bike and that's mainly for fun. I had a good time, though, saved a grip of money on gas and got to enjoy being outside and riding everyday!

gizmocat

Most drivers are not considerate of other drivers, let alone bicycles. I nearly got killed in this city crossing in a crosswalk on foot. The driver was on her cell phone and accelerated into the intersection. She claimed she did not see me though I was literally right in front of her.

Anyone can drive here, even the mentally incompetent. Don't forget that one in ten people you meet are either on medication, or should be. Also that the average I.Q. is one hundred, which means that fifty per cent are below that.

I only saw aggressive bicyclists in Berlin. There, they had huge posts on the sidewalks that I first thought were relics of hitching posts. They were actually designed to keep the cars from driving on the sidewalks where the bike lanes were. I saw one cyclist take his chain, whirl it over his head like a bolo, and stove in the rear window of a car that managed to park on the sidewalk/bike lane.

My sympathies were definitely with the cyclist.

mihlbach

I used to get honked and yelled at at least once per ride, but now the honking and yelling is rare, although the area and the drivers are all the same.
I attribute this two two things.
1. I'm such a regular on my commute, that everyone has gotten used to me...passing me is a normal part of their routine.
2. I've gradually learned the subtleties of managing traffic, being inobtrusive, preticable and safe all at the same time...this is just part of the learning process, and its sort of automatic if you continue cycling.

What yelling and honking remains doesn't even bother me anymore. Getting comfortable with traffic just comes with time and experience.

Good luck!

caloso

I got honked at this morning on a three-lane one-way street with light traffic. I was probably going 17mph. So I sat up and gave her The Look. Then she had to gun it around me and give me the finger. I knew she wasn't going to make the light so I just caught up to her at the intersection and said "What was all that about?"

She didn't turn to look at me. There must have been something very important down the street because she couldn't stop looking straight ahead.

chromedome

Sometimes when people honk at you, they're offering it as a warning, "I'm right behind you, watch out!" Maybe its just meant as a courtesy.

saraflux

i recently started commuting to work (about 5.5 miles each way), so i'm not quite on the every day routine yet, but i thought this might get a laugh.
the very first time i rode to work, (following all traffic laws, being as safe as possible, etc...) a cop pulls up behind me, lays on the horn (good thing i looked behind me before i flipped him off) and then passes me (slowly and WAY too close) while yelling out the window "you should be riding on the sidewalk". unfortunately he ran the yellow at the next intersection, so i didn't get to debate virginia traffic/bicycle laws with him.
if the cops don't know what the rules are, how can we expect average morons (...oops, i mean people) to know? not to mention that there are TONS of people in this area that ride on the wrong side of the street (i HATE that), on sidewalks, pop out from between parked cars with no warning, etc... i think that just makes it worse on those of us who follow the rules of the road...
but after feeling the fear inherent in realizing i just almost flipped off a cop, i am a bit more reserved with my favorite salute. but only a bit

blsecres

Europe (obviously) has very different priorities when it comes to cars vs. bikes. I was in Lund, Sweden where nearly everyone cycle commutes and bikes have an almost completely separate road system with minimal intersection with automobile and pedestrian traffic (bridges, tunnels, separate paths). I was downtown when a city bus rolled through a stop and cut off a cyclist so the guy rode alongside the bus for a block, shouting and putting huge dents in it with his U-lock. No one seemed phased at a cyclist attacking an auto, the exact opposite of the way things work here.

tacojohn

Reading through the new commuter advice thread, there's a lot of talk about dressing in synthetic fabrics, jersey's shorts, etc. Even with racks and panniers, in a city or even the driveway of your own workplace, I think a lot of drivers refuse to believe that someone would commute to work. Thus a lot of the aggression comes from the "I'm in a hurry, you must not have anywhere to go" attitude. A huge portion of this is just typical arrogance that all of us have at some point, that what you are doing is more important than what anyone else is doing. A bike makes this worse, because you just lost a big symbol of American importance and independence: the car. I know, I know, it shouldn't be that way, but it is, and isn't likely to change anytime soon. Maybe if more cyclists biked to work in suits. Synthetic suits with sweat-wicking materials. I just think a lot of drivers assume that if you're on a bike, you are just exercising, screwing around, and that you couldn't possibly be using it to get somewhere. Maybe riding in suits would prove to more drivers that bikes are headed places, and not just through the city to the park or the country road while they have to go to work.

marcm

To be picky, that would be necessarily true only if the median I.Q. were 100. I believe you are correct that the average (mean) I.Q. is 100. Anyway, I agree with your general point.

As to the OP, I agree with many of the posters that road rage is largely a fact independent of whether there are any cyclists on the road. I hope Robert Hurst doesn't mind me quoting from his book, The Art of Urban Cycling, which I've been reading recently and which includes these two salient paragraphs on road rage:

PaulH

There may be something to this. I almost never ride a bike in anything other than either a suit or slacks and sport jacket and a tie. The jacket, of course, is on the rack or in my office during summer commutes. I have been hassled maybe once or twice in eight years of daily commuting. In fact, I experience far mor aggrerssion when driving one of my cars.

Paul