Almost got hit 3 times Thursday on my commute home
From school. One was a guy joking with his daughter by letting off the brakes for a second as I rode in front of him at a T- intersection. The next (just a mile down the road) was a driver speeding up to beat a yellow left turn signal. Lifted my rear wheel off the ground a good 6
Inches. Keep in mind that I strap my back pack on to my rear rack. The rear is already the heaviest part of the bike so adding another 30 pounds to it makes it pretty heavy. I went from 20 to 0 in about 7 feet. In that same intersection, someone was about to ROR when they saw
me. They stopped in time but it was still a close one.

I seriously felt like kicking the next cager that passed too close in the baby makers and bashing I their window with my fist.

But doing that gets cyclists nowhere in the food chain of the streets. Which leads me to think that reporting bad drivers will help. Should I? And how do I go about it?

Well, if they throw crap at you you can call your states litter line if you have one. Just need the license plate.

In theory, you should be able to, and SHOULD DO SO.

In reality, you would be calling every day, or nearly so, and soon get labeled (rightly or not) as a 'boy who cried wolf', and get disregarded. You may even suffer more indignity at the hands of authorities if you were involved in a REAL accident, not just a near-miss: "OHH, we know THIS guy, he's that pain in the arse who's been calling us for six months about nothing. He got hurt? GOOD, serves him right...."

Where in the lane are you riding? THAT can make a difference, too. (And, as far as the first one, showing off for his daughter, that's when you need rotten eggs and a good throwing arm....)

Had that first one happen to me once. I begged the ba$tard to stop. He drove off.

IF I feel they are intentionally endangering me or causing me to take evasive action AND I can get a license plate #, I'll call them in.
I never hear anything back, but I'd like to think someone that already has a known bad driving record may end up walking for awhile.

I'd get a gopro, at least to show the police if I had to.

Don't bother with the police. Getting run over by a car is a "police incident", but almost getting run over is generally not.

As mentioned above, a GoPro/Contour might be a good idea if there are a lot of dinks in your area. Take down license plate numbers, and think how you might be able to get even if in the future you should happen to encounter the vehicle parked in a lonely wooded area sometime, with nobody around to see you... nothing illegal of course

maybe you should think about taking up tiddlywinks instead of bike riding,,.

I ride at least 4 times a week,,all year long in Michigan almost every ride has a couple of close calls, maybe a couple of jerks yelling to get outta the road. Every ride also has many motorists going out of their way to be cautious and polite..it is part of the territory.

You must be able to read minds knowing what went on in car you were not in when the dad was joking around with his daughter letting his foot off the brakes when you were in front of the car,,give me a break.
Sounds a bit paranoid.

Ummmm.... He was laughing when I looked at him...

People are in their own world when they are together in glass bubbles. I doubt you were that important to him... sounds like paranoia to me too.

I think it's why God gave us convertibles

In New Mexico, there is a law say a car can not come closer than 5 feet to a cyclist. I mentioned this to a police officer and he said, "I never heard that before." NM ran commercials about sharing the road with motorcyclists but bicyclists were never mentioned.

If I read some historic articles correctly, way back when the automobile first hit the road if a pedestrian got in the way it was the pedestrian's fault. Today, it's the other way 'round.

Bring an extra water bottle with you, put some Soy Sauce in it. If they bother you, spray away on their windshield and where their engine air intake is located. Their car will stink on the outside as well as the inside. Haha.

Report them and the license plate number. Depends on the jurisdiction, but some police will call the driver up and talk with them. Then they know someone is watching them.

The video is better and if you live in a area where this is happening frequently, then you can have an impact. It's only a few drivers that are the buttheads and word spreads fast.

J.