Talking to the unpleasant motorists
When I'm out riding, I just want to enjoy my ride. Mean people interfere with this. While I would like to carry out some of my evil thoughts when they do/say things, I opt for trying to educate them. Sometimes I have success and the peaceful calm approach works well. Other times, people are downright scary and would hurt me if I got too close.
Talking to people face to face does have an effect. They will think about the situation and they will discuss it with others. Yelling and screaming just creates a wider divide.
I like Oakleaf's idea of a side-mount flag. Mine would be from Mad Max and would chew right through the side of their cars.
One day I would like to ask a bicycle hater, "Why?" At this point, I don't understand because I'm not doing anything to them. All I ask is that they go by me without creating problems. It's tough riding in my county. Cyclists are unusual and are misunderstood. I was in Indy (Broad Ripple) just last week and cyclists were everywhere on the Monon Trail and on the streets. There was a community of acceptance and sharing.
Maybe some day we will have a 3 feet law . . .
Barb
And then there's target fixation...
Some of them buzz us intentionally, obviously.
But something else came clear to me on my run yesterday. Since I was a pedestrian going against traffic, I could see the drivers' faces and their behavior quite clearly.
On this loop, I run less than a half-mile on a major US highway, with a bike/pedestrian lane (marked but not divided). In the space of that half-mile, three drivers swerved deeply into the MUL as soon as they saw me. Not trying to buzz me at all, there was plainly no intent behind it, just brainlessly staring at something they didn't expect to see (which honestly, runners aren't that uncommon in that lane), becoming target fixated and steering towards me.
No one got close enough to really scare me, but it sure was an eye-opener.