I behaved badly...
 

So a beautiful day here in Los Angeles, I'm on my mellow commuting bike and don't have to rush home to pick up my daughter from daycare as my wife is already home. I'm cruising in the door zone (I know) of a three lane road with parking when an SUV makes a sudden lane change from the far left lane to make it over to the far right that turns into a right turn only lane. This woman sees me at the last minute, stops, and I end up ahead of her, proceeding straight into the right-hand turn lane, that has just begun. Traffic in the other two lanes is stopped and backed up. I merely look back at this woman, kind of saying, "what the hell?" and she is giving me the full finger! To this I come to a complete stop in the lane and she is just cursing inside her big Lexus SUV, so I walk up to her window and ask her why she's flipping me off after she almost clocked me, to which she just starts cursing and telling me I'm holding her up. I was so angry, I don't know what came over me, but I just didn't feel like yelling anymore, so I spit on her. It definitely shut her up, but I haven't done something like this since I was a messenger. She was so in the wrong, but I should have just ignored her.

man, spitting isn't cool

I happend to spit in someones open car window as they ran a red light a good 5 seconds after the change with me crossing on the green in NYC. I was actually surprised my aim was good. I figured I'd just get the vehicle. Next thing I hear is screeching tires braking. I continued my ride so I never got to speak with that person. I'm think mine was worse because that car was moving and to have something hit you while you're driving even if it is just liquid can be scary. I regretted it afterword because then I'm at their dumb level. Sometimes we let our emotions get the best of us. I guess it has something to do with being close to being injured badly or killed because someone in a car is dumb. I have a friend who rides motorcycles and sometimes change falls out of his pocket accidently hitting cars that give him close calls. So spit is better then a bunch of pennies hitting your windshield at 60 mph.

So was it a loogie or just watery spit ?

:roflmao: :roflmao: :roflmao: :roflmao: :roflmao: :roflmao: :roflmao: :roflmao: I'm sorry I find this freaking hilarious!

Watery, but that doesn't make it okay.

LOL.. yea I have to say the picture in my head of her screaming about holding her up then you spitting on her really made me laugh..okay it may have been wrong but it was sure funny. Better than being hit by this idiot, actually better for her and you.. :)

Cheers!

Of course it's OK. Acording to "Man Law" you were in your rights to do much worse.
I used to be a hot head, and in some ways I still am but now I have a family to think about, but back in the day I would have likely been facing criminal charges after an incident such as this.

Spitting on someone is definitely assault. If I were her, I would have called the police and followed you around until they got there to make sure you faced charges.

It was a stupid thing to do.

Probably not a good thing to do for your own sake. But she deserved it.

She didn't deserve it. He escalated some harmless words and gestures to assault. Maybe next time she would escalate it a little more and run his ass over?

Eh, I'm gonna say justified in this case and let it slide.

What's going to be really funny for her is when she tells someone what happened and they laugh at her.

Ill put it this way. Had you spit on me, even with me being in the wrong, you would have been held at gun point until the police arrived to arrest you.

So you'd match his "misdemeanor battery" and raise him a "feloney asault" with a little "use of a gun in the committance of a crime" on the side? ;) And if the prosecutor were having a bad hair day he might be able to get a "kidnapping" charge stuffed in there as well.

What the hell ever happened to people being men and using their fists.
And yes I know the driver was a woman, but where I come from women could fight just as well as men.

spit is wrong

it too violence here :eek: :(

despite bad woman, not your place to teach her the lesson

Treespeed, we all lose our cool sometimes. Don't beat yourself up about it.

And you'd have shot him if he tried to leave?

Well, would ya'?

Woah, spitting is not nice, I don't want your bodily fluid on me, but escalating it to the point of being willing to shoot someone?? I don't get this at all.

From some of the posts in this forum it looks like the USA is a scary place to ride a bike.

What were the other motorists stopped alongside doing? Just apathetically watching? Or did they even notice? lol I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't notice such a blatant incident taking place in their midst.

Imagine if a lone motorist got in an argument with a cyclist around a large group of cyclists and the motorist wound up spitting in the cyclist's face. I think the outcome would be much different.

i think spitting isnt that bad. some people need to re-learn just how vulnerable they are, especially people driving carelessly in huge killing machines.

she should have apologized for, you know, almost killing you.

I've spat upon a windshield or two in my day, but never on a person. That was a bit much. I understand the sentiment, but still. How about a nice stream of profanity instead?

So right. So wrong.

+1

Do you people do anything else in the US besides pressing charges and shooting one another? :rolleyes:

You sure you spit on her on purpose? Maybe you were just yelling back and got excited and the saliva started flying while you were screaming? Yeah, that sounds more likely. ;)

Sheesh, of course not. We also drink beer and yell at each other a whole lot, too... :D

As for the spitting, I'm sure you didn't mean it. And unless she saved it (ewww) or has witnesses, she can't prove anything. Just keep telling yourself that and you'll be safe...

+1 Really.

She was in the wrong and behaved badly. You called her on it and I suspect she might be nicer next time. Sure, you crossed the line but she's ok. Keep riding and enjoy!

I yelled at a driver yesterday, who kept creeping up toward the road (she was leaving a parking lot) to crane her neck and would have drove over me if I hadn't yelled. Yeah, I was on the sidewalk (I was going to the market and didn't want to cross the street) and would have been better off in the road. Anyhow, I yelled, "Do you want to kill me?" I find myself saying (yelling) this at these situations. I'm not proud of it (it's a tad dramatic, don't you think?), but that's what comes out the mouth. She just looked at me dully while puffing on her cigarette. She was unimpressed and looked again at possible holes in the long stream of traffic blocking her. Whatcha going to do? LIfe goes on.

Hm, sounds to me like she was in the wrong in several areas, first, i would say she was driving recklessly, failing to signal lane changes, and changing more than one lane at a time, which is a ticketable offense in most places, and she used fighting words (the finger) which is a form of speech not protected under the constitution and depending on where she is she could be arrested for that. But of course assault and battery really isn't the best counter to that (legally), she deserved worse though. Prolly one of those kids who was never told no when she was little.

I don't know if the OP was a man or woman, but if her husband was in the car it would have been his duty to kick your ass(if you were a man). This is a man law.

I can't imagine being spat on and NOT kicking the spitter's ass. You just DON'T spit on people.

It is inexcusable and if I were you I would try to apologise to that woman if I ever saw her again.