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After my commute (both ways) Friday, I decided that I need to do something. I was buzzed twice and told to get off the f***ing road, then on the way home a lady (starting several cars back) was honking, then got beside me, yelling abuse out the window and pacing me up the longest hill of my commute. She also told me to get off the f***ing road...lol. About 3/4 mile later, I was buzzed no less than 5 times in about 12 seconds. Each successive car seemed to be getting closer and closer. This prompted me to take the lane for the rest of my trip down that road.

So, my first action was to register a domain name. I have not put much content up yet, but that is coming. What I am looking for here is suggestions from other commuters that deal with aggressive drivers daily as well.

I want to get a brightly colored shirt (or jersey) with the domain printed on the back in large letters, and have cards printed with the domain and a short blurb on it so that I can hand one to the aggressive jerk when I catch them at the next light. That way I do not have to say anything, and cannot be accused of anything.

The domain is:Bikes Are Vehicles

Good start. Roads are for the people in any type of legal vehicle.

I should preface what I'm saying with the caveat that I don't deal with aggressive drivers daily -- at least, not what I think you mean by "aggressive drivers". Boston drivers are assertive, yes; jerks, no, not really. Everyone is trying to get somewhere, and the best way to do that is to go with the flow: it's just that the "flow" is different than other places, because of the congestion, infrastructure issues, bad road signage, etc. It also includes a mix of cars, trucks, buses, amphibious tour vehicles (do a google search on "boston duck tours), cyclists, pedestrians, inline skaters, cops on horses, you name it. Plus, frequent construction, delivery vehicles delivering to establishments that don't have good loading zones much less a loading dock, etc. Drivers here are not used to the homogeneous, straight-road, long distances between lights traffic found elsewhere, they're used to not being able to charge ahead without interruption, so we really don't seem to get the JAMs like you run into elsewhere.

I think you're on the right track by becoming well versed on Texas state law and any local ordinances regarding cyclists' rights and responsibilities. I don't think that you're going to get drivers to visit your site, however, unless the card that you're handing out (or the spiel you're handing out with it) can convince the driver not only that he/she is wrong, but that there are potentially serious consequences for their behavior. To do that, you have to point to both laws/ordinances AND enforcement. I don't think a website would be my first response to the incidents that you described -- I'd be contacting the cops about being harassed and threatened. If they don't seem interested in helping you solve the problem, I'm not sure that brightly-colored jerseys and cards to hand to JAMs will do much.

Texas actually has a "Safe Passage Bill" in Congress as we speak. It specifically addresses "vulnerable road users", naming bicycles, peds, scooter-riders, motorcyclists, and a couple of others. They are tacking some pretty stiff penalties on (Class B misdemeanor for bodily injury, $300 fine for property damage).
I honestly think (and I may be disillusioned here) that most of the jerks are simply uninformed of the rules, and truly believe that bikes are supposed to ride on the sidewalk and not in the road.
Basically, the site is costing me $3.00. If it educates one person, it MORE than paid for itself.
Yes, there are some people that you will never convince, and I realize that. But this is much better than trying to scream at them and getting pissed off and pissing them off so that they react worse next time they see a cyclist.

If I had to deal with aggressive motorists, I'd get a helmet camera and start collecting evidence.

Check out this guy's Web site:

http://www.3feetplease.com/

He had similar experience as you with getting buzzed and decided to do something about it.

Nice jersey, but not for $65!

get a camera mounted to the bars on your bike and record it. Post it online. Let people know you are watching them.

How about this one for less than half that price?

http://www.bikeforums.net/attachment...1&d=1239044190

You will like this. You should get a video camera and post the offenders online and/or report to police.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1C-0QPofC0

and another

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=notuu...eature=related

You'll get the idea!

I WANT ONE!!! :roflmao2:

I am not trying to antagonize the drivers. I want to share the road with them, and they are much bigger and protected by steel, glass and plastic cages, whereas I am only protected by fabric and sitting on aluminum tubes.

That matters little. The man/woman who runs over you will swear they never saw you anyway.

Too much awesomeness! I'd wear that for my commute.

As for content, I think you are already on the right track with making a site dedicated to educating drivers on the hows and whys of driving safely around cyclists.

I think the bigger issue will be getting the message out that the website exists. I think the idea of printing up a bunch of business cards and handing them out is a great idea. The nice thing about business cards (or something like them) is that they can quickly be stuck between the window and the rubber seal on a car with very little effort. It's something that cyclists could easily "hand out" while they are sitting at red lights. You could just distribute stacks of these cards to people who you know on the internet, at LBSes, races, and other places where cyclists congregate, then those people will tell others, and so on and so on...

Printing up jerseys and t-shirts that have the url on the back is a good idea, as well. You could sell them with a small mark-up to help cover the costs of running the site and other awareness programs - printing cards, having rallies, mass mailers, etc.

If the movement catches some steam, you could also pursue speaking at drivers' education classes at local schools so that you can communicate to new drivers the danger that cyclists are in and how to drive in a safe manner around them.

Increased driver education is the cheapest way to make the roads safer for cyclists because it doesn't involve hiring more police officers or building more bike lanes. The drivers ed teachers are out there, as are a bunch of cyclists for whom this is an important issue. If the government doesn't want to put forth the effort to increase driver education, maybe a grass-roots effort by cyclists themselves is the answer.

We need more like you:thumb:

Thanks onnestabe, and thanks for the suggestion. I am planning on approaching my local city councilmembers one by one, perhaps getting buy-in to speak at a townhall meeting.
Texas is also working on a Drivers Ed bill that will require cyclist training to be added to the curriculum.

My intention is to make available (at cost, I am not looking to make a profit) cards, stickers, shirts, jerseys, etc. I am starting out making it personal. Who I am, why I ride on the street, and not the sidewalk, what local laws are, etc. I want to expand and put in further advocacy info, news, educational info and downloadable sheets, ride info (charitable rides, etc)
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