Me VS. SUV
 

Here's a rant:

A couple of weeks back I was heading home one night afer work in NYC. I decided to take the West Side Greenway downtown & then head across 14th to the East Side. When I got to 14th it was crowded & slow moving and packed. Mistake on my part, but I wasn't in a hurry so I just decided to go with it.
W. 14th has 2 lanes of traffic in either direction and parking on both sides. I'm in the right lane as far over as I can be without getting doored.

In the middle of a block I hear a loooong honk behind me & ignore it. I figure it's a cab. I can't do anything except keep moving ahead anyway. Another hoooooook. I look & it's a woman driving an SUV. Whatever, I think. We pull up to each other at the light & I look at her. She looks angry. About the traffic, I think.

Next block, same deal. SUV still behind me, HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONK, HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOK. We get to the NEXT light, I pull up next to her again. Same expression. Her window is down, so I saw "Hey, what's the story?" She ignores me.

Another block, more honking. This time, I give the SUV the one-fingered salute.

4th Block, a cab pulls over to the right & unloads their passenger, I can't get by so I look left, it's clear, so I decide to go. SUV races up JUST as I pass the cab, pushes me and the bike into the cab and speeds on, driver is swearing and screaming. I swear and scream back. Cabbie though HE was hit by the SUV so he gets part of the plate # and gives me his name & number as a witness.

I was ok. My rear wheel got knocked out of true, got some new scratches and banged up an ankle pretty good. After I calm down, I think 'Did I encite that woman to hit me or was she out of her gourd already?'.

Maybe I was wrong to flip her off, but no more so than her blaring her horn at me over and over and raging against the 10mph traffic.

If you're sitting in traffic, it's no one's FAULT. Deal with it and keep moving.

Anyway, I filed a police report, not sure what will come of it.

I hope she gets drawn and quartered. I really dislike most NYC drivers, especially uptown where I live. I hate that NYC has so many goddam taxis, but cabbies are generally good drivers, and predictable.

Please press charges on anything that you think will gain traction. People like that should not be driving, to say nothing of the fact that SUVs should be banned in NYC, if not in general.

Lastly, you are a better man than me. I tend to flip off at least three people per day--but then again I get honked at A LOT for taking the lane in manhattan.

Definitely hit-and-run. Sounds like the typical road rage incident. I hope you related the preceding 3 blocks of hostile intent by the woman to the police!

Out of curiosity - was that the first point she could have passed you or do you think she took the opportunity to clip you and scram?

I think you did fine. Sure, the one fingered salute isn't exactly a kind way to gesture, but it's a good way to acknowledge angry drivers in a reciprocal way. Kind of like saying "Yeah, the feeling's mutual."

!

Predictable...like a bull in Pamplona?

Most drivers don't know the size of their own vehicles. She probably was trying to cut it close to get even and misjudged it. Glad you weren't hurt worse. Hope the cops do something about it.

Good for you. Usually when someone goes off on Bikeforums about an incident, it's because they were dumb and didn't file a report, which is the definition of futility. I don't know if they'll do anything to the driver, but it might be part of a larger history of violence, so you did the right thing. Good luck.

Nail that moron to the wall. She is a danger to the rest of us here and should be off the road. You didn't provoke jack squat.

Filing a police report is an exercise futility. Nothing will happen.

I think the cab unloading a fare at a green light in front of me put the SUV driver over the edge. She saw that she could make 20 yds of progress and flipped out. I don't know if anything will come of the police report, but it made just me feel better doing it, so it was worthwhile.

Good thing a bike did not hit you, or you would be the sucker and the bike a hero!!


oh dear, i just trolled;p


Seriously, you did right by filing the report, and i am glad you were not seriously hurt.

Giving the old pluck ewe signage is definately not an invitation to get killed.
I hate reading posts like this because I get so enraged just thinking about it.
If the police find her maybe you should consider a civil suit.

I would definitely sue. This was a premeditated assault.

Sue for a woman being a moron. My goodness, are you serious?

I'd be interested to know wether NY law said it was. And if it is, why not push it through the cops? That is their job yeah?

Because the cops don't care. Nobody was seriously hurt so they have "more important" things to do. Oh wait, even if someone was killed nothing would happen (read about the guy who was mowed down by a police tow truck while on a bike path). The woman was more than a moron: she was flat out reckless and dangerous, given the OP's description of events.

How 'bout suing a driver for running you over and damaging your personal property? Can we sue for that? Glad you're ok OP and next time, jump in the cab and have him chase her down for you, then pull her out of the car and beat her senseless w/ your broken wheel.

Ah, so NYPD is too crap to deal with their work, not a surprise i suppose. Still, the squeeky wheel gets the oil. Pushing them never hurts.

I have an aversion to sueing people - its my bias and i realise that it's not shared by a large number of people.

Glad you're ok.

The one fingered salute is neither polite nor gentlemanly. However, that being said, whatever "feelings" you may have evoked in the driver (and I'll add here that no one can "make" anyone feel anything), or whether or not you feel you may have incited her somehow, your gesture and her irrationality do not justify:

Aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

Attempted vehicular homicide.

Reckless driving.

All of these, by the way, are crimes. If making a profane gesture is as well, were I in your shoes I would gladly take a ticket for that if it also meant that she saw a day in court for all of the above offenses. I may even pay 10 "profanity" tickets to see that happen.

Banzai F16 is right. This crazy woman is dangerous and could kill someone else. I would do my best to get her off the street (and her idiot car too).

Definately press charges - that's a hit and run.