I was having a conversation the other day with a guy at work. Here's what he told me:
I admit, there are some asshole drivers out there who would rather run us over then to take the time to pass us safely. But what made them that way. Perhaps it was the fourth rider described above. I am discovering that cyclist have taken such a defensive attitude with motorist that it is harming our image and hindering our safety even more.
"Last week I was driving home through Pungo and I saw 4 guys on bikes up the road. They were taking up the entire road, so when I got behind them I tapped my horn to let them know I was back there. Three of them moved over but one just stayed in the middle of the road. So I had to wait for on-coming traffic to clear then I slowly passed them. When I got up to the guy who didn't move he started yelling at me. He said his life is more precious then me having to get to where ever I was going to sit on my fat ass and eat potatoe chips."
Many years ago my father would commute his bike to work. One day a car full of guys road up behind him and hit him in the head with a baseball bat. They then drove off. It knocked him off his bike and absolutely stunned him. The bat had just barely caught the lower part of the helmet. It was actually a brand new helmet. His old helmet did not go down as far and it would have been a direct hit to his skull. He did not piss those guys off...someone else did I'm sure.
So next time you hear someone tap their horn, or even honk it for that matter, get over to the right and give them a wave (not a finger wave). Thank them for passing you safely and sharing the road.
As for that fourth rider. If you pull that kind of crap when I'm riding with you, I will personal get my car and ride your ass off the road. We don't need those attitudes out there. When I ride my bike I am relaxed and happy, road rage is supposed to happen when you trapped in a car. Let's all work together and try to change the attitudes of the drivers, not reinforce what many of them already think of us.
This was one of those blog post that I had written, thought it sounded too angry so I deleted it and figured I would rewrite it when I cooled down. So this is the cooled down version.
What do you think, am I way off base here?
7 comments:
your right on target was on a group ride, that was a little too spread out. Same thing happened, one of the riders got overly zealous about a car. reason that I am not a fan of huge packs 20+ riders riding together unless we are way out in the country.
Yes, we should all be polite to each other on the road. I'm all about sharing the road, though it seems not everyone learned how to share toys in the sandbox. Two thoughts, though:
1) The driver should wait until oncoming traffic is clear regardless of where the riders are in the lane. It is not generally safe on a one lane road for a driver to share the lane without going over the double yellow line.
2) "Tapping" the horn might seem innocent enough to a driver, but it can be downright deafening (and dangerous) to the cyclist. Don't honk... that's actually in the rulebook (the official MVA one) somewhere.
I would just like to point out that in your "rewritten, cooled down version" you still threatened to run one of your riding buddies into the ditch. I'm gonna start calling you Velvet Hammer.
Reminds me of the time I was riding on the road back in Central NY and this car passed me so close (I was on the shoulder of the road and could go no further unless I wanted to ride in the ditch)I almost tinkled in my chamois. Then I saw the SHARE THE ROAD bumper sticker on the back of his green Subaru and thought what a DB. I did yell SHARE the ROAD to make a point but it was lost on him. I do wish this area had shoulders on the roads like they do in NY but I don't think it matters to mean people in cars or on bikes.
Amen, brother.
And stop for red lights and stop sign you idoits!!
Couldn't agree more. It's riders like the guy you mention that make it more difficult for the rest of us out there on the roads. Because it's not the law-abiding courteous cyclists that car drivers remember, it's the asshole with attitude who won't move over or who is too liberal with the use of the middle finger that affects how they will treat other riders.
I made the mistake recently of chasing down a mini-SUV that almost hit me on my ride home the other day. I confronted him in the parking lot of a medical building near my house. Looking back, I had no idea who was driving the car or how it could have ended. No matter how egregious (unless there was actual bodily harm or property damage inflicted) the act, it's simply not worth taking on those behind the wheel.
Fish
Saw this from Gamjams.net. What a convoluted interpretation of the situation. Cyclists take the lane precisely to protect themselves from traffic coming up from behind (so it will slow and wait to pass). For most lane widths a motor vehicle is going to have to move out of the lane to pass even a lone cyclists who's safely riding the several feet from the white line. So of course a car coming up from behind and hitting the horn is going to be perceived by the cyclists as at minimum rude and obnoxiously, but more likely a serious threat. It's simply not up to cyclists to part the sea of the lane for a motorists. And it is just those riders who do dive to the edge of the roadway when ever a vehicle appears that have trained motorists to (falsely) expect that dangerous nonsense in the first place.
On top of that, the idea that drives are aggressive and dangerous due to someone pissing them off is just such a fallacy. People are aggressive and angry because there is a disconnect between what they want to do and what can be done. They're simply banging up against the constraints of time, space, and resources. There just isn't enough space for them to do (safely) what they want to do. Cyclists are just another target of that general frustration. (and unfortunately, being a cyclist doesn't ensure any different behavior behind the wheel)
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