waanfiride

So, I was doing my typical 10 mile quickie loop, I've done this route countless times. I wanted to get in one more ride today before I made dinner and got lazy.

Anyways, we're lucky here to have some pretty generous bike lanes on local roads, which are fantastic but today I realized that there is always going to be that jerk (or group of jerks) who thinks its funny to dick around with you. If you're in the "road" or not.

It went like this...
I'm ho-humming along around 18mph on a flat section of road, doing the occasional look-back to keep tabs on traffic. It had been a pretty light traffic day, so it was great so far. Until these guys- I hear something large coming up behind me, and I look back and I see some jacked up pick-up truck. I was like "eh" got as far right as I could just to be safe anyways. Then they speed up almost next to me, then slam on the gas RIGHT behind me, then get about 1-3 feet in front of me, then drive their truck INTO the bike lane. Then they drive along the bike lane for 50 feet or so, real slow. Then they go back onto the main road and speed away.

When it was happening, I was kinda ticked off seeing as how he could have easily killed me. But once it was over I realized that their life must suck pretty bad to have to go around harassing people for fun, and now I feel bad for them.

/rant.

I didn't get their plate, but I know the car, and I actually know who the driver is, he doesn't know who I am though. (local trouble maker type mid 20-something) I'm thinking of making a phone call.

Soma Roark

report him

wrr1020

I'd report him, if you know hes a troublemaker who knows if he'll do it again and actually kills someone accidentally while in his mind he was "having fun".

recon455

I reported a group of motorcycles today who were racing down a country road. My state has an aggressive driver/drunk driver hotline, does yours?

ImaPoser

What he said.

echappist

use our (actually idiotic) tort law to its max: get a civil case on him & make him pay so much damages that he'd be too broke to afford gas

ibarunnin

Seems like a good idea to report him, never know what could happen the next time he tries to be funny.

njkayaker

???

What "damages"?

(Note that what this idiot driver did is bad and illegal but there where no "damages" in any legal sense.)

Yaniel

report him

echappist

well, you can get things such as emotional distress (or whatever the legal parlance is for such things). i might as well be wrong about this, but i'm pretty sure people have been awarded damages for such things.

urbanknight

Yep, report him. If he was a minor, I might have considered a talk with the parents, but he's an adult in the eyes of the law. That makes it less likely that he will do this in the future.

waanfiride

I reported the incident. Vermont's laws are so screwed up they wouldn't do anything if I tried to go anywhere with it. We're notoriously easy on criminals, it's pathetic.

The cops appreciated the tip, and I feel a bit better.

Caad 8

Slash his tires. Its what I would do, but its up to you.

ben8jam

and then report him...

Ware

goldfish

i dunno, this stuff happens so often, and it seems like maybe 1% of the time the police take the side of a cyclist over the motorist.

i'm interested to here how this plays out for you. hopefully this jerkoff will get his commupence, either from your report or karma natrually playing out.

cheers and good luck.

SteveDave

We have all kinds of ******bags like that around here in rural PA. Plus the sad thing is.............they don't have anything better to do than do crap like this.

dwr1961

Jerks like this guy seem to be evenly distributed across the planet. Report them when you can; avoid them whenever you can... They are looking for trouble and BEG you to give it to them...

Don't get sucked into their demented world.

JonnyHK 

If you know who this clown is, find a suitable bumper sticker and sneak it on to the back of his truck. Something to make him look silly perhaps? Maybe a Critical Mass sticker? Make the rest of the town laugh at him for a while until he notices it. Then do it again next time he parks in the street.

joeya28

that's totally absurd, lucky you weren't hurt. Report him, It could save another cyclist in your town. Nothing is worse then irresponsible drivers even when their aren't cyclists around, it drives me crazy when people drive like a@@ holes and endanger people around them.

Herbie53

and don't forget to superglue toothpicks in his locks.

SteveDave

Awesome. And add tampons to his gas tank.

Uni-Vibe

You live in a free state; pack a 9mm and let the thugs worry about you.

coldfeet

+1

Can you get bumper stickers that say " I drive this big truck because i have a small wiener " ?

corbett1010

Wish NJ was more like Texas for gun laws