tarwheel 

I generally keep my cool while riding in traffic and shrug off jerks who honk or yell. However, yesterday a Honda pickup truck blew through a red light on my way home, almost hitting me. The light had been red for at least 15 seconds and he didn't slow down a bit, which is totally stupid because there is another traffic signal right after that one and it was already red.

I am pretty certain the same truck ran the same red light in front of me a few weeks ago; it was also a Honda truck and the same color. So I decided he needed some talking to. I made a left turn and pulled up beside his truck on the passenger side and pounded on the window. He was talking on his cell phone and ignored me a first, glanced at me and then turned away, all the while yapping on his phone. A woman who appeared to be his wife was sitting in the passenger seat and I didn't want to scare her to death. So I just hollered at the guy, "You just ran that red light. You're gonna kills someone." Then I rode on. I wished that I had snapped a photo of his license plate, but that would have taken too much time and put me at more risk with regard to traffic.

Jerks who run red lights really tick me off. I'm not talking about a light that changes right when a car reaches it, but cars that blatantly run through lights long after they turn. The guy was actually putting himself most at risk because he would have been broadsided on the driver's side if the timing had been a little different.

K'Tesh

Had one such driver blow a stop sign while I was on an arterial street w/o a stop. The SOB was so close to hitting me, that I felt that had I tried, I could have punched though his driverside window, and got him in the jaw. At the time, I wish that I'd have tried (I broke a bus' window accidentally), and feigned injury.

Scheherezade 

Yikes. Definitely write down a license plate next time and report it to the cops (rather than confrontation). They might not do anything about it, but at least you won't be a victim of road rage.

Bike Gremlin

Famous last words.

dynodonn 

Video cam. It's all there in color, especially the green light for you. There have been times that I thought I had a repeat offender, but after reviewing my tapes, the vehicles that I thought were the same, did not have the same license numbers and were ever so slightly different.

mjw16

A couple of years ago I had an encounter with a driver where I, while pointing/talking with him, tapped the passenger side window as he rolled it up. This was the result of him racing up to my wheel then, passing me very closely while shouting that he would "run my ass over" the next time he saw me on the road. I asked him to pull over to discuss, he instead rolled up his windows and drove away. I called the cops who later advised me that, even though he threatened my life with his car to initiate this argument, had I "banged" on his window (and I didn't even remember it at that point), I could be charged with assault. As if the two are equal and off-setting penalties. I told them that it's as though someone were pointing a gun at me and by tapping on the barrel I'd be equally at fault. They never charged him and, I tried to do a citizen's arrest through a magistrate but, that was denied.

While I know your frustration you should consider my incident as well as the likliehood that he might later take aim at you with either his truck or, a gun. Your goal as a defensive rider/driver should be to get to you destination safely without injury/death. Hope this guy learns from this and/or you never encounter him again.

shoemakerpom

I seen someone do this to an old man in his car while I was standing waiting for a bus at the bus stop. The man proceeded to bang on the window once the old man was at the light thinking he was gonna scare the old man to death or something. The old man proceeded to grab his giant 44 magnum and point it at the guys head as his window lowered. The young guy maybe 30 something just about crapped his pants and the old man maybe 80 something quietly drove off. the gun scared me and was about 25 feet away. You never know what you might get into with people and don't think your Van Damme punching through windows grabbing people. I think everybody has watched one too many movies.

mtalinm

it is also possible for things to end well. last week on the way into Boston, a car veered into the bike lane in order to turn right and almost knocked over a girl on her bike. she pulled up alongside the car, tapped on the window, and then let her have it. the motorist apologized profusely and promised to be more careful. it can happen.

SlimRider

Commuter cyclists are the biggest gamblers of all cyclists. Our lives can truly change within an instant. I know that the same could be said of pedestrians and motorists, alike. However, we actually deliberately put ourselves into harms way. Many times, we're cycling directly in front of people who literally hate us. The ones who don't hate us, feel somewhat ambivalent about us. Of course, there are those drivers who profoundly care about us, too. It wouldn't surprise me a bit, if the ones who care, are really cyclists, themselves. We take outrageous risks being commuters.

tarwheel 

I admit, it was a stupid thing to pound on the guy's window, but I was PO'd because he blatantly ran a red light, almost hit me -- and it was apparently the same driver who did the same thing a few weeks ago. On top of all that, he was yapping on his cell phone the whole time. If it happens again, I'll just get out my smart phone and photograph his license plate. That won't really do any good because the police won't ticket someone with no evidence, but at least there will be a record if he causes an accident someday.

acidfast7

actually you may be able to get a photo of him on the phone and get a citation given to him for talking and driving, especially if you tell the police that he almost hit you.

that would be quite humorous to say the least.

travelmama

I don't think you did a stupid thing. Consider yourself a possible lifesaver because the guy had a passenger in the vehicle that he could have taken out if he got into an accident, or just anyone. I have pounded on hoods, windows and rolled up to drivers to inform them about breaking the law by using cell phones, texting, weaving or blowing red lights. Of course I get chewed out but I just let them be and ride off.

wphamilton

Using a cell phone while riding a bike in traffic - to take a picture for instance - might also violate some traffic code. Wouldn't that be embarrassing, to get a ticket for the same thing you're complaining about?

acidfast7

dismount the bike and take the photo from the sidewalk. seems pretty easy to me.

in addition, the driver would become infuriated, but legally couldn't do anything (as it's a public place), which would be an additional bonus.

wphamilton

Ok ... I guess that could become a hobby. Stopping on the roadside, getting off the bike and photographing drivers with cell phones ...

acidfast7

to be serious for one second ...

weren't there a bunch of people in this sub-forum with tiny helmet mounted cameras (maybe last year or so)? incidentally, what would happen if one captured a crime on one of those cameras (car accident, etc...)

i'm sure with the number of miles that people ride here, we'd capture some interesting stuff.

wphamilton

Ok, we probably would catch some interesting stuff - Google cameras sometimes do and they have to monitor the footage and redact it. Apparently that whole idea is legal and feasible.

It would be thousands of hours of video, unorganized and difficult to access, which brings up an off-topic idea. Wouldn't it be great for a site to interface all of this cycling footage into a global network, just like photos on google maps, where you could view the most recent video from any road or trail segment and also pan backwards through time? Aside from trip planning etc, if some driver was a habitual offender you could crowd-source tracking his infractions and then you could present them all to law enforcement, or to lawyers in a civil case, or his insurance company etc.

dynodonn 

My videos are interesting to me, but to me only. I doubt many here would interested in before and after videos of bike lane installs, building construction, etc., along with the occasional right/left hook, drifts, and close passes.

acidfast7

I was thinking initially that we could just have a section of interesting stuff from the commute (like the photos, but with the camera.) legally, i assume that bf.net would have to disallow anything personal (US slander/privacy laws).

a one minute clip of hitting the deer for example, in the other thread, would've been an interesting view (especially from a helmet cam.) something that we could all appreciate, perhaps?

I thought they were inexpensive, like 20USD or something**********??

unterhausen

there was an incident here a few years ago that I'm sure I posted about before. A driver was waiting at a light and a cyclist came up and pounded on their window. The driver floored it, and rear ended the car in front of him. The police reported that they were looking for the cyclist, although it seems they never found him. I'm sure the driver did something absolutely life-threatening to the cyclist, but I think the incident could have had a very bad ending for the cyclist.

Booger1

LOL! Come to L.A. and do that and you'll have a sore hand at the end of the day......You better practice your spanish also,so they can understand you.

I'm at the point I don't care what people do anymore,I just keep my hiney out from in front of them.I expect everybody to run the light,no matter how long it's been red.

chefisaac

+1 Hola!

shoemakerpom

I speak with a plain clothes policman about every saturday at my part time job in a pool store. He asked me about my commute when he seen my bike leaning on the wall and I told him the path I take and he seen the saftey measures I have. He was thrilled to see hear of somebody having fun commutting to work and obeying the laws and much as possible. When I explained to him I had people throw things at me or try to harm me in different ways he became angered. He said that its a feloney to throw a projectile at a bicyclist and if he seen it happen they wouldn't do it again. His reaction kind of caught me offguard since he is normally very calm and you would never know he was cop unless you seen his car. He also told me any video from any phone no matter how its taken goes a long way and can only help you in court or with the police.

ckaspar

...And the GoPro goes back on the bike.

Closed Office

At least in CA you can't talk on the phone while driving. Get a photo of the person and then their plate, and it should be an open and shut case.

Beats buying a gun.