Some of those guys are on Route 9 everyday, my way to work. Traffic is pretty tight and everyone's doing 55, but they're SURE that somehow they can find a way to do 70.

And I have gotten a LOT better at letting this shit slide off me, versus 2 years ago when I first got out here. Same road, same idiots, and yet I come home happy and safe everyday. I guess I'm not surprised by it anymore, like I used to be.

Has anyone noticed how hard it is to override your self-preservation instinct?

My car is on its last legs, and a while back swore that I'd stop avoiding (minor) accidents that were caused by aggressive idiots, especially people tailgating me or doing incredibly stupid stuff in parking lots.

Even though I've only been involved in one accident before (I was rear-ended at a stop light during a rain storm), I would like to think that I'm enough of an asshole to allow my car to be damaged to prove a point.

I can't do it though. I see a minor accident developing, and I avoid it. I guess it isn't a bad thing, but its strange how instinct takes over.

That an it's an enormous hassle to deal with during and after.

i lean on my horn a lot when people don't use their turn signals in front of me. just once, i'd really like to just rear-end them.

there's so much about driving that aggravates me but i usually chill out after a lil while.

This time its biker rage...

I was biking today, stopped at a light. A car came up next to me, it had plenty of time and space to make a safe turn-on-light, so I figured it was going straight. I was wrong and just as I started peddling, it turned in front of me.

I stop with a skid and the car stops in front of me. I tell the driver to just "go", get some unintelligible insult from the woman driving. As she drives off, her 12 year old flips me off from the back seat and yells "fuck you".

This isn't the first time an event like this has happened to me since I've been biking. At least once a week I have someone who either cuts me off, or sometimes 'pretends' to drive me off the road. I ride in bike lanes or the side of the road.

So, today I called the police to ask what I could do when this happens. I asked whether I could get the plate # and call 911 for recourse. They said there wasn't much they could do in such situations because of lack of evidence. (they also said there was nothing that could be done about a parent who raises a out-of-control 12 year old, and that I wasn't allowed to touch him in that situation)

At this point, I'm thinking that I'm going to load a few rocks into my pocket for when these events happen. I figure I can throw a rock at their car at least. Maybe they'll even stop and assault me on a well-travelled public road, so I _can_ get the police to do something.

I suppose the better option would be to get a helmet cam so they have evidence. Don't know how much they cost, I heard there was a sub-$100 one. Never occurred to me that a helm-cam would be a safety device for commuter bikers.

ehhh, 1 vote here for not throwing rocks, if we're voting.


But I understand. I've been screamed at by a lady ina huge black suv in Wisconsin, in the middle of nowehere on farm roads, that "THIS IS A ROOOOOAAAAD NOT A SIIIIIDEWAALK" with the horn blaring the whole time. Because she had to move over a few feet. Been honked at in Boston, too, and I've only ridden a bike here a few times.

In Chicago, you aren't even allowed to bike on the sidewalk unless you are a kid. I presume other large cities are the same.

Edit: I too would like to throw rocks, but then you'll damage their car and you'll probably get in more trouble than her, unless you can get away with it...

Appropriate response --> laugh and shoot the kid a return bird.

Calling the cops about a 12 year old shooting you a bird = lame.

I'm gonna go on a limb and say it wasn't the kid / bird he called about, but the car that almost knocked him off his bike. Call me crazy.

we have lanes for bikes on quite a lot roads here... biking on a sidewalk isn't allowed here as well, only on the road.

m.

i think this might qualify

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUkiyBVytRQ

I called the police to find out what I could do, if anything, about drivers that endangered cyclists.

I asked them about the 12-year old because this blew my mind. It really bothers me that a parent would so obviously condone this behavior. I wanted to know if there were any laws that applied to the parents in this situation. There aren't.

I did find a helmet-cam online for $40, so I may pick one up if it can record in one-hour chunks. If nothing else, it has a chance to help find the hit and run driver who eventually gets me.

granted
i was driving and taking a picture
which is just adding dumb to stupid
BUT
check this idiot out.

[img][375:500]http://www.catswilleatyou.com/storage/stupidtruck.jpg[/img]

LKE-977, you crazy.

people were riding this guys ass too.... none of this was tied down

(this is a 40-50 MPH stretch of highway)

Jesus. That's as bad as the guy who tries to move his bed mattress on top of his Toyota Corolla and "ties it down" by just holding it with his hand out his window.

Extra idiot points for what appears to be a lackluster pack job.

This guy should be beaten about the face and neck.

Can't imagine calling cops for a kid flipping me off, but my ex did call the cops when we were out riding one day and a kid leaned out the window and touched him. Cop went over to the kid's house and scared him and his parents pretty good. That's all we wanted.

a friend of mine who has known anger issues was on the highway and had to cut some other guy off to make his exit.

other guy gets livid and they go at it from their car windows.

so they pull over, mark gets out and breaks the fuckers nose, then gets back in his car and drives away

said he got blood on his Kleen-it work shirt

*snort*