Cyclists: Ever have weird encounters with motorists?

[acolella76]

I don't ride bikes particularly for this reason. People are crazy as hell where I live. Bunch of soccer moms driving around texting each other about brushed silver picture frames at target or some such bullshit.

One time when I was like 13 or 14 I was skating home with a couple of friends and we were skating down the left lane of my neighborhood sort of near the front. I hear a car pull in and of course think nothing of it, but it slows down and pulls into the lane we were in (almost hitting us) and we saw the barrel of a paintball gun sticking out of the window. The punk bitch pressed it right up against my rib cage and popped me 4 times. 10 stitches and a bruised rib. Pretty sure the paintballs were frozen. The car, couldn't tell what it was since it was pretty dark, drove off and turned around for another run but me and the homies ducked off into some shrubbery. It looked like a bunch of kids that were in high school at the time. Fuck those guys.

So because of this I usually try to treat cyclists with respect, but man sometimes it gets tough. Some of the local bikers like to take up the entire lane of a two lane road in the middle of rush hour. I get why they do it but it is infuriating when I'm trying to get to work on time.

[rturbo 930]

Well you really shouldn't be riding on the sidewalk. Bicycles are a vehicle and as such they are required to obey traffic laws.

When I was in college and used an old bmx bike to get around, I mostly rode on sidewalks. More often than not, there was no one on them or there was room for me to ride with people walking, and there's no distracted drivers on the sidewalk either, generally. I was definitely not the only one who rode on the sidewalks either.

I'm not a road biker though, and for good reason. Anytime I see a biker out on a 45mph+ road with no road margin to speak of, I just think they're nuts. Regardless of the fact they're allowed to be there, no way in hell would I trust the general public not to hit me on a road like that (or any road to be honest). It's for that same reason I won't get a motorcycle.

[z31maniac]

People just like to mess with cyclists, not really sure why.

Because they don't follow the proper traffic laws?

[Stanley Rockafella]

if the roads are so dangerous for bikers and boarders, why are they on it?

I don't mean to be a dick by saying this but when I had my scooter, I knew it was only a matter of time until I had an accident or a run in with a car that I finally said "that's it" and sold the scooter and bought a car for daily commuting. Far too many texting/drunk/ditzy drivers to put my health and well being into their hands.

If being "right" means I have to end up in a wheelchair, Id rather suck it up and get a car to commute with and use my bike/scooter as a recreation vehicle

[Stanley Rockafella]

I don't ride bikes particularly for this reason. People are crazy as hell where I live. Bunch of soccer moms driving around texting each other about brushed silver picture frames at target or some such bullshit.

SIG WORTHY!

[myinfernalbmw]

The laws of physics will always supersede the traffic laws. That is the main reason I not only do not understand some bicyclists, but really fucking hate the ones that ride with a chip on their shoulders. It's like they have zero concern for self preservation. Oh, and you don't get to blow through controlled intersections just because you're on a fucking bike. I respect cyclists that are utilizing a bike lane or are following the traffic laws. When I see fuckwits riding like a hoon, I want to see road rash and shredded spandex.

On a lighter note, one of my buddies told me about a time he was riding home from work one night. He was off at about 11 PM and was about a block away from home in a residential neighborhood. As he approached a 4 way intersection he saw headlights coming from his left, which had a yield sign. He assumed that since he had the right of way (as well as lights and a reflective riding shirt) that the guy would see him and stop. He made it through all but about 3 feet of the intersection when the car clipped the rear tire of his bicycle which flung him around on the ground and left him tangled and bleeding. He was fortunate enough to only get a scraped up arm and leg at this point. He yelled "You just hit me with your fucking car you fucking fa ggot!" The guy started to pull away then slammed on his brakes, got out of his car and walked up and punched my buddy in the face. He replied "I was going to stop and help you but then you called me a fucking fa ggot. FUCK YOU!" then drove off. Not only did he get hit by a car, but he then got beat up.

Don't call people waffleswaffleswaffleswaffleswaffleswaffless. You'll get hit by cars and then beat up.

[Codym42]

Wow, these are some crazy stories. I'm probably not going to ride as much anymore.

To those saying not to ride on sidewalks, 95% of students with bicycles ride on the sidewalk. I'm not saying its right, its just how things are. In my opinion, its much safer. With that said, I try not to piss people off. I don't just haul ass without paying attention. I take caution when crossing intersections and usually make sure that drivers makes eye contact with me so that I know they saw me coming. Since this was at night I couldn't do that. Its really a shame that there aren't more bike lanes. There are only a few on my campus and most of them end before the road ends.

After reading all of these stories I wonder what the hell is wrong with people. I don't understand the aggression towards cyclists. Yes, some cyclists need to obey traffic laws and things like that but a lot of these stories involved some crazy person taking out his aggression for no reason.

[Hooffenstein HD]

Don't call people waffleswaffleswaffleswaffleswaffleswaffless. You'll get hit by cars and then beat up.

Did he at least get the plate number?

[Navarone]

He replied "I was going to stop and help you but then you called me a fucking waffleswaffleswaffleswaffleswaffleswaffles. FUCK YOU!"

Fuck no he wasn't going to stop and help!! A road is 12 feet wide, so if he's in the last 3 feet then the fucking piece of shit driver swerved to hit him. What a worthless piece of crap.

[myinfernalbmw]

Did he at least get the plate number?

No he said he was so dumbfounded with the situation that it didn't even occur to him. He said he deserved it for calling the guy a fag lol. I don't quite get his rationale as I would have probably yelled worse having just been struck by a car.

Fuck no he wasn't going to stop and help!! A road is 12 feet wide, so if he's in the last 3 feet then the fucking piece of shit driver swerved to hit him. What a worthless piece of crap.

I don't think he swerved to hit him. My buddy would have still been in the cars path of travel, just not quite through it. He said the guy hit his brakes as soon as he was hit. He assumed he just wasn't paying attention.

[Benjamin_Button]

Was road biking with a buddy of mine. Chilling in the left turn lane waiting for it to turn green. Asshat in a jeep pulls up behind us revving his engine and inching forward. Light turns green and he floors it, we swerve out the way and he nearly rear ends the car in front of him. Everyone in the intersection is like wtf is this guys problem. Definitely one of the closer calls.

[cwatt]

lived in Alabama a while back, and some redneck arse-hole threw a beer bottle

Beer bottle? Okay, you win. I've thought about going down to the southern US in the winter to do some road riding, but I've always been afraid of this exact thing. My plan was to custom make a jersey that says 'YES to guns' or something. lol

[15Michaeljoseph]

wow haha some of these stories are pretty bad, and kinda funny too. drive-bys with paintball guns? What the fuck!?
i'd say up here in MA people are a bit more respectful toward road bikers. I ride inbetween the end of the roadside and the white line, always. Once I almost got fucked by a minivan that was obviously speeding and not paying attention, unless they did it on purpose. Doing at least 55 in a 35, and i swear to you the sideview mirror missed my shoulder by 2 inches. I felt the wind so close. besides that, the worst thing is when people honk right next to you, that seems to be most popular around here. good thing they don't throw things :)


--Mike

[jdt10768]

Beer bottle? Okay, you win. I've thought about going down to the southern US in the winter to do some road riding, but I've always been afraid of this exact thing. My plan was to custom make a jersey that says 'YES to guns' or something. lol

There ARE some cycle-friendly towns in the South. You just need to know where to go. Greenville, SC for instance: George Hincapie is a resident, and GVL has been a very nice bike oriented city for years. Lots of great road and Mtn riding there, plus weekly massive (at times police escorted) group rides with 3 categories of difficulty, awesome weather,

of course there are idiots everywhere, no matter where you go

[Nick_S]

A number of years ago some friends and I (6 of us) were riding back from a bar on OSU campus. The main road High street is 4 lanes with a turn lane with the right lanes being bike lanes meaning bikes can take the entire lane so we were.

A couple uneventful miles go by then suddenly I hear some mumbling from a passing car and this huge 44oz gas station soda goes whizzing past me, nearly hit one of my friends and ended up blasting some poor girl on the sidewalk. I look over and there's some douche bro drunk ass hole giving us the finger from the back of a car filled with 3 girls. They caught a light about a block up so we started sprinting towards them. It turned green before we caught them and the dude kept taunting us, throwing shit at us and just being an asshole. Caught them at the next light, he started to roll his window up but not before someone in our group gave him a nasty left hook to the temple. They took off and ran the red light but being a saturday night, there was some decent traffic. We started to catch back up to them again as they were caught at a redlight about 4 cars back. The girl cuts into on coming traffic and runs the light to get away from us...unfortunately for her the first car in line coming the other way is a cop who immediately pulled them over. We rode and told them what happened. The girl got a handful of tickets and the drunk dude in the back got a hell of an ear full from the cop.

I used to ride a lot more but after dealing with assholes in cars, nearly being run over and just dealing with the BS regularly it got old. Anymore I just like to cruise a nice bike path or if I'm on roads I try to stick to ones with bike lanes or atleast are designated bike roads.