# Getting sprayed while bicycling **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 26, 2020, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-sprayed-while-bicycling/919053 "2020-08-26T10:30:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2020, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-sprayed-while-bicycling/919053/21 "2020-08-26T22:10:55Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > I really don’t understand the bicycle hate, though. A good deal of it is the tribalism that’s infected our society in the past few years. There’s always been a certain number of people who don’t like bicyclists, but it seemed to get much worse about four years ago. Now I can’t go on a ride in the country without being coal rolled half a dozen times or more. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2020, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-sprayed-while-bicycling/919053/22 "2020-08-27T00:07:57Z")
I’ve never been sprayed, but I did have a bag of garbage thrown at me once. Unfortunately, by the time I was able to process what had happened, the car was too far to read the license. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2020, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-sprayed-while-bicycling/919053/23 "2020-08-27T00:18:34Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > Now I can’t go on a ride in the country without being coal rolled half a dozen times or more. I never imagined… People depress me. Who would care enough about being a dick to modify their truck just do harass other people? ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2020, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-sprayed-while-bicycling/919053/24 "2020-08-27T00:19:39Z")
> [@ZonexandScout](#): > > This type of idiocy is not limited to cyclists. I used to have to conduct some lighting surveys for facilities, which required me to walk around late at night taking light readings. On two occasions, both in Orlando, I was on the sidewalk next to my client’s building when I was hit by milkshakes thrown from passing vehicles. Yes, the cup and everything. Must be a popular pastime in Orlando. Reminds of a milkshake drenching I got one evening as a teen while on a run. If similar stuff is happening to bicyclists, a lightweight video cam is a good idea. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2020, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-sprayed-while-bicycling/919053/25 "2020-08-27T00:26:12Z")
Yeah, this is very wrong. Sure bicyclists can be annoying but generally they are harmless. The worst I have done is try to block the sidewalk with myself - _when there was a perfectly good bike lane 10 feet away!_ (cyclists in SF are crazy, they prefer the sidewalk to bike lanes). (In SJ, when asking why some cyclists wore all black, no lights or reflectors, i was told in all seriousness" They cant hit what they can’t see!") But trying to harm others, pedestrians or cyclists is just wrong. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2020, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-sprayed-while-bicycling/919053/26 "2020-08-27T00:32:08Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > People depress me. Who would care enough about being a dick to modify their truck just do harass other people? While a few have modified trucks, most do not. They just accelerate unnecessarily as they pass you. So they’re not generating a big cloud of black smoke, just a bunch of excess exhaust. But as I say, it’s the thought that counts. ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2020, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-sprayed-while-bicycling/919053/27 "2020-08-27T16:10:17Z")
Been sprayed with something - fruit juice I would guess - and had the contents of an ash tray thrown over me. As Chronos noted up thread, it all happens too fast to get the licence. The most unpleasant example was, however, entirely innocent. I was barreling along a country road, and coming round a bend I saw a horsebox heading towards me, with the wheels throwing up spray. I had just enough time to think: _Spray? Why’s that? The road’s dry…Oh Shit!_ - before being showered in horse piss. j ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@Dead\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Cat)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2020, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-sprayed-while-bicycling/919053/28 "2020-08-27T16:42:26Z")
Hmm - as a cyclist and driver, when the latter I am always careful to overtake cyclists considerately. Often that means accelerating hard to ensure I can pull back into the driving lane as soon as possible (because usually, occupying the oncoming traffic lane is necessary to overtake, in order to give the cyclist enough space). So such may not always be “unnecessary”. Hopefully, by pulling out a long way in the first place, the overtaken cyclist is not inconvenienced by this. I drive a reasonably modern and well-maintained petrol-engined car though, not a diesel truck. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-sprayed-while-bicycling/919053.md?page=1)