Did you read the CVC that Rick posted?
He also missed this part in the OP
Uzi, I learned to drive and ride a bike in road paranoia central: Eastern Mass. I was always watching the road to see what the idiots and assholes in cars would be doing, and assuming they wouldn’t see me. I’d brake if I thought that there was a reason for me to worry that a car would be trying to pull over, or even if there were something going on ahead of me that I wasn’t sure I understood what was going on.
Even with that background, I’m not paranoid enough to brake because some asshole in a car is driving next to me, at speed, with no one else on the road, and yelling because he didn’t like the way I was riding. IOW, I’d anticipate idiocy on the part of other drivers. What this driver did wasn’t simply idiocy - it was maliciousness. And if you’re seriously suggesting that cyclists should anticipate maliciousness from everyone on the road, or even everyone who expresses anger or frustration on the road, I can’t see how you can keep from arguing that “they shouldn’t have been on the road, at all.” Once you start anticipating maliciousness, the only way to be mostly safe from it, is to avoid the situation in the first place.
Hmm, the well equipped bicyclist of the future.[ul][li]Helmet[/li][li]Gloves[/li][li]Properly fitting riding outfit[/li][li]Lights[/li][li]Reflectors[/li][li]CamelPak or similar hands-free water/fluid delivery system[/li][li]Spedometer(optional GPS)[/li][li]Communication device(cell phone most likely)[/li][li]9mm, .45 or .357. Holstered conspiciously, loaded with rounds capable of penetrating the average automobile.[/ul]I’m guessing the average asshole isn’t going to assault someone clearly carrying a firearm.[/li]
This list is presented facetiously, in case you’re humor impaired. I despise CamelPaks.
Enjoy,
Steven
Mtgman: Alas, I know of at least a couple of cyclists who now ride strapped. I’m waiting for the ultimate throw down wherein somebody gets seriously hurt or worse yet, killed. Of course, all thanks to our newly minted concealed carry law, one of them keeps his 9mm in one of the rear pockets of his jersey.
Life is grand here in the big city.
True dat. Not had first hand experience with it as I live in the UK, but seen numerous threads on US cycling websites along the lines of ‘Doing a century next weekend, what gun for the back of the jersey?’
Fuck me! That’s a sign of the times I never want to witness close up! :eek: The roads are dangerous enough, here in the UK.
Yeah, I know that. I also make sure I drive that way. But the default assumption is that if you rear end someone you are at fault. The ‘default’ assumption. So, when someone is passing me I am not only watching the road in front, I’m anticipating what to do if he suddenly cuts in front of me.
I’ve had someone ride my tail, pass me while swearing and giving me the finger, and then cut in front of me and slow down suddenly. Luckily, I was already slowing down and had my foot on the brake when he did so in anticipation of this move. A guy is screaming at you as he passes you and you don’t think he might slam on the brakes when he is front of you? He’s already proven to be an asshole just by his behavior and slamming on his brakes forcing you to stop is what assholes do.
Rick, I’ve driven 13 ton vehicles in the army, motorcycles, bicycles, and cars. I’ve had numerous defensive driving courses and driving courses in general. I currently drive in the backwoods of Yemen and if you don’t drive ultra-defensively there you will die. People will pass you here through dust clouds, they will drive the wrong way down the road, and the common myth here is that running your lights causes your battery to fail. So, driving at night is something I avoid like the plague.
I also do know that bicycles stop in longer distances than cars typically do. Which is why if you are riding a bicycle you should take this into consideration. You have to start braking in anticipation that the asshole passing and yelling at you will continue to be as much of a dickhead in front of you as he was when he was behind and beside you. Why wouldn’t you?
Both my brothers raced bicycles. I helped them train. Riding the ~26 miles or so that we’d do a few times a week(to a medium size lake, around, and back) in a very bike-unfriendly city(Dallas), I’ve been there. In my older brother’s first defensive driving class he had an instructor who railed on and on about bicyclists and the danger they presented to drivers. He came home and told us about it, man we were incensed. We’d been riding our bikes everywhere since we could walk and most of us had bad experiences with drivers, none of us had ever hit a car, or hit any pedestrians. We didn’t wear helmets(except when racing or training at high speed) but that was normal for the time. I remember nearly being killed by a city bus when I was about eleven. I had to hop the bike sideways up onto a curb where I promptly crashed on the sidewalk as he took out my rear wheel. Didn’t even stop.
Now my household rides about once a week as a family, but we load all the bikes up and drive to a trail that’s less than three miles away because there’s no bike lane. Riding in the streets in this city is nuts unless you’re part of a big pack. I’m sure there are people who do it(I do it sometimes, and my neighbor down the street does too) but we are very aware of the risk we’re taking. No way I’m letting the family do that.
It was a real eye-opener when I made my first trip to California(San Diego) and saw bike lanes in the city(versus in a park). A trip to Seattle left me speechless as traffic actually stopped just at the base of an on-ramp to a freeway for a bicyclist. In Dallas, that guy would have been road pizza. I got a dirty look when I pulled up into the crosswalk in downtown Seattle at a red light so I could see around the corner to know if was clear to take a right on red. It seems there are some downtown areas where people actually walk. I went to high school in downtown Dallas, even during lunch hour the crosswalks aren’t busy. Anyone reading this and thinking “everyone is curteous and careful around bicyclists here,” well, you’re lucky, and I’m happy for you.
Still don’t like camelpaks.
Enjoy,
Steven
Doctor asshole has been charged.
This incident has also sparked a move from better lane marking for bicycle routes, an education campaign (needed for both riders and drivers IMHO) and some new laws.
So maybe some good will come of this after all.
An update, but not necessarily news.
Thanks for the update.
Slightly more detail here.
I’m not sure how the “teach them a lesson” defence goes down in LA.
Good luck with that Sparky.
Were the bicyclists either foreign-born or ethnically Mexican? Oklahoma has some strong ideas on the right of aliens to enter the country.
If they’re doing it all the time, then he should be adapted to it by now.