So Please post up some of your Road rage experiences... There have been many times when riding that people just seem to attack you for no reason other than you are on a bike. I think this stems from american auto-centric culture where people feel that auto drivers have the absolute right to the road, and when they see someone who they feel isn't paying 1/4 of their income to their car/insurance/gas. they feel that they are somehow being screwed and have the right to take it out on the bikers. (btw I own a car, have insurance, pay taxes and am very courteous to any cyclist I encounter on the road)...

The other day someone passed me within 3inches of myself. I put one of my hands up to kind of say "wow, thanks for being so courteous when you have 30 feet of empty road to your left" Well this guy then slams on his breaks in an attempt to make me run into his rear end. I am able to squeak by, and as I pass him he gets out of his car and says " Oh you didn't like that? I WILL RUN YOU DOWN M"Fer" I try to get his plate number and pull off the road but I couldn't get it all. I called the cops but I don't think they found him... Another time I am riding in the bike lane on the right of the road and a car out of nowhere comes up blaring it's horn. I ignore him for a minute but then pull over and get off my bike. He stops and continues to honk at me and follow within a foot of me. Finally got away from him from dipping down some one ways. I've also seen this stuff happen to other bikers.

Just today I was going down a street and this moron comes up to a stop sign from the other direction (there was no stop sign for me). He looked right at me just as I got up to the intersection and then floors it as I get there making me slam on the brakes and nearly tumble over my handlebars... If I didn't stop in time I would have ran into him for sure... As he's turning he's looking at me the whole time... waiting for a reaction I'm sure. Didn't give him the satisfaction though.

Never ceases to amaze me how careless people are with other people's lives like that... not to mention their own life that they would ruin if they they hit someone.

I was riding my bike in the small "downtown" area(25mph speed limit), pulling into the left turn lane at about 15mph, when this guy rolls up behind me, rides my ass, and then shouts "Get on the sidewalk!"

My response: "YOU GET ON THE SIDEWALK!"

I don't even know why that was the first thing to come out of my mouth.

Dang, man! Where do you live? You don't have it listed. i don't want to go anywhere near where you ride.

I said that once but I told him to go drive on the sidewalk...
Funny thing is that the street I was on didn't even have a sidewalk... plus the street was extra wide with no traffic.
Could have passed me without any problems.

My favorite was one that swerved toward me, blaring horn, and rolled up behind a truck at the STOPLIGHT! Being Summer a lot of people heard me knocking on his window as he looked straight ahead while I yelled" SIR! ARE YOU HAVING A SEIZURE? DO YOU REQUIRE MEDICAL ASSISTANCE? DO YOU NEED ME TO CALL SOMEONE?" I am not a little fellow.

The first incident took place in Western Wisconsin on a country road, about 40 miles from anything... The second was in down town Minneapolis near the University. I wont mention the time I was right hooked on my way to class at the UofM; not road rage but closest I've been to serious injury. My Bent front wheel was paid for in full.

haha funny

A truck pulls up very close behind in a park area that is shared by cars and bikes.15 MPH speed limit.Then pulls along side me and yells"I hope somebody runs over your f***ing ass".I don't say anything at this point because he looks insane.I call the Mayor of the city who is a big time"every day rider" bike guy,and give him the tag and description.The police call me in a couple hours and say they found the guy,and he will never bother anybody again.

That is awesome, where do you live?

I have people who ride my ass. One guy went so far as to look for, and find me, after I had ducked into a side street. he had a spray bottle of something he sprayed into my eyes. Red chevy blazer, still remember after 7 years.

When someone buzzes me or honks at me I just wave and say thank you in a very sarcastic tone.

makes sense. A car has just as much reason to be on the sidewalk as a bike.

After having to give my post-fight side of the story to the cops one too many times, I stopped flipping off - or even reacting at all - to aggressive drivers. They're not even a problem for me anymore.

I have never seen any road rage here in Bangkok. Over here people like to bottle up their rage until they find themselves sitting in the drivers seat of a taxi, parked in the lobby of a city building, high on crystal meth (or as they call it here, Ya Ba, which translates to crazy medicine) holding a knife to their throat.

I live in London and I commute into the City. How long have you got?

Woman in front of me on a motorized bike (like a bicycle with a small motor), suddenly remembers she has to take a left. So without looking, suddenly brakes hard and goes left the moment I want to pass (at a normal cycling speed, near a busy intersection so no high speeds or anything). I almost run into her and hit her with my side. She falls. I get off, help her up " mam, are you ok? " etc. Then some nut comes running, telling me that I should allow people coming from the right to pass (she was not coming from the right, we were going the same direction.)

The annoying thing is that he is holding the saddle of my bike as I am helping the lady up, and tells me I should leave my name and number to cover any damages. Luckily, the lady tells him that it was her fault and she did not look over her shoulder when she took a sharp left (honest people do exist). She even asks me if I am ok. The guy finally calms down. But still stands there holding my bike like I would be lucky to even get it back. I ask him "can I please have my bike back?", and he lets go.

On the one hand, I can appreciate him wanting to help the woman. He assumed I ran into her. On the other, physical intimidation and almost looking for a fight is not going to help anyone in that situation. Also, I was helping her up, even if it was my fault, it is not like I was trying to get away.

I'm fortunate that I haven't had any issues where I live (Kingwood, subdivision on the north side of Houston). I have a few routes with wide lanes and light traffic, and the benefit of the Greenbelt Trails if I ever need to get off the road for any reason. People around here seem to be pretty friendly to cyclists, although I've had 1 or 2 drivers come pretty close to me even though they had an empty lane to their left. Never had anyone get closer than about 3 ft though, I just don't understand why some people try to attack cyclists with their cars. Guess they don't realize that person that they almost killed might be a mother/father just like they are.

They have him killed? Swimming with the fishes?

Friend of mine was a bike messenger. Guy cuts him off, then the bird, then the f you...my frind pulls out his lock chain, swings in into the guy's windshield craking it. Both were at a stoplight. Guy inside the car never said anything.

I probably would have decked him for trying to steal my bike

How do you crake a windshield? Good one. Show a crazy mofo driver you are as crazy and it may just work.
But there is the downside...and that downside can result in broken bones or worse.

So what do we learn by this thread? What we learn is something most know but perhaps many don't accept. There are a lot of people in society with a different view of cyclists and there are some down right haters. Many of these insecure idiots carry guns. Be very careful if trying to get even with anybody in society even if they are dead wrong which many times they are. You can end up dead right.
I believe the best advice is pretty simple. Do not react at all if you aren't hurt by what a car does to you on the road. If you put yourself out there, somebody is going to have their warped version of fun with you. If you react, then game on. I completely accept if somebody buzzes me on my road bike on the road. If I don't fall, I don't blink an eye. I limit my time on dangerous roads and accept what happens. If you don't, don't ride on the road.

Darn!! I've never encountered anything like you guys here in NoVA. Drivers are quite courteous to cyclist. Now if you are also driving then that's a different story.

While I would probably enjoy seeing this, I personally prefer to remain calm and always be the " bigger man " about it. If this is a standard reaction you will end up in a fight every couple of months or so. I just expect there there to be " idiot drivers " and people who respond negatively to cyclists. I take it as a given, like bad wheather or flat tires. Something unfortunate that i have little control over, but will not deter me from enjoying my ride. I just deal with it pretty much without emotion.

I just realized that of all the mileage away from home all of my road rage incidents happened within a couple miles radius of my home... Maybe it's time to move.

I have seen a few things about road rage on television and would like to see more studies.
The Dr Phil show (I know) had some admitted road ragers come on looking for help. One thing they did was put little cameras in their cars and record their actions.
It was pretty incredible. One was a mother with two small kids in the back seat and she was raging a large part of the time she was driving. It was like she really wanted to kill somebody.
Around here, road rage has led to deaths in several cases and many of you may remember the doctor who took out two cyclists with his car and felt he was right to do so.

Encountered some redneck in a black pickup (it's always a black pickup) who flew by me and a buddy at about 60 mph or so on a back road in the middle of nowhere at 7AM on a weekend morning. That is to say traffic was pretty much non-existent. I threw up my hands and he slammed on his brakes. We had to go into the opposite lane to go around him. As we approached he was getting out of his truck. As we got closer he eased back in and pulled the door shut some. I'm 6'3" and then were 2 of us.

He proceeded to ream us out, even though we were hugging the shoulder (yellow line) and even though he had the entire other side of the road to pass us. We just ignored him and that made him even more angry. By the time he finished spewing we were up the road a bit and still on the other side of the road. So he closed his door and floored it, coming into the other lane like he was going to hit us. Now we're hugging the shoulder (yellow line) on the other side of the road. He swerves back into his lane, slows down to give us some more chit, and then speeds off. People are insane, especially rednecks in black pickup trucks.

He did threaten us and we didn't think to get his license plate. PA is right to carry state. I wonder?!

I live in Kentucky. Life-threatening road rage for me personally is rare: 3 episodes in about 6 years.

I see much more flagrantly stupid cycling than I see anti-cyclist rage.

Having said that, I bought and installed a GoPro to my bike. If someone gets abusive with me I won't hesitate to report him or her to the police and press charges.

I haven't been raged at in a long while, but I see car on car rage on almost a daily basis.
I don't know what it is about a car that can bring out such rage in people.