People who like to yell at cyclists

I have had a couple of close calls in my life - once when riding on a sidewalk (years ago) and once recently at an intersection where a woman looked right at me and turned right in front of me at a light where I had the right away. I swerved out of the way and yelled some profanities. :rolleyes:

Anyway, the most common harrassment I get is people yelling at me while passing in a car and I've also had teenage boys yell at me after passing me on BMX bikes. Teenagers seem to be the main culprit here. I've been called a B**** by a car full of teenagers for no reason (I was riding in the bike lane), I was called a "loser" by some hick in a HUGE pick-up (a young male) and I've had a handful of times when someone will yell at me really loud as they pass me which really bugs me because it can be very startling and I don't think drivers realize they could startle you enough to cause you to fall or even swerve into traffic.

I live in a suburb of Detroit and this area is not known for outdoor health or bike riding. I used to own a motor scooter, but I decided to sell that because of all of the verbal harrassement I got for riding that around. It seems like if you're not driving a car in the "motor city", you are fair game for harrassement.

I live in Seattle, a more "enlightened" area and we have the same problems with motorists, but i've never been yelled at by a fellow bicyclist. I have been
called a body part (not a part religated to a particular sex) by a motorcyclist though. (okay, he called the 5 of us the plural AH)

This is a recurrent theme on the list right now and it is clear to me that
a serious motorist reeducation campaign is necessary.

we need a president that likes to ride on the ROAD!

HEY THE FACT IS, Bikes were on the road before cars were!!

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Originally Posted by kaian

I have had a couple of close calls in my life - once when riding on a sidewalk (years ago) and once recently at an intersection where a woman looked right at me and turned right in front of me at a light where I had the right away. I swerved out of the way and yelled some profanities. :rolleyes:

Anyway, the most common harrassment I get is people yelling at me while passing in a car and I've also had teenage boys yell at me after passing me on BMX bikes. Teenagers seem to be the main culprit here. I've been called a B**** by a car full of teenagers for no reason (I was riding in the bike lane), I was called a "loser" by some hick in a HUGE pick-up (a young male) and I've had a handful of times when someone will yell at me really loud as they pass me which really bugs me because it can be very startling and I don't think drivers realize they could startle you enough to cause you to fall or even swerve into traffic.

I live in a suburb of Detroit and this area is not known for outdoor health or bike riding. I used to own a motor scooter, but I decided to sell that because of all of the verbal harrassement I got for riding that around. It seems like if you're not driving a car in the "motor city", you are fair game for harrassement.

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I have been in your shoes a lot and can be quite unsettling...Especially, if you ride alone as a woman. I do carry pepper spray with me and keep it close to my hands. It makes me feel a little better. I have been called a lot of things also...the horn beeping, the slowing down and being stared at..oh, yes and let's not forget about the Gatorade man ! LOL..I don't know if there is nothing that we can do, but keep riding...I hate to say that I don't ride because there are men out there that have no respect!

I too, have had my share of being yelled at, cussed at and have had things thrown at me even though I live in a pretty bike tolerable town. It still happens and it seems to be mostly teenagers, or guys in jacked up pickups. Just last week I had a car load of female teenagers pass me and one leans out the passenger window to just scream. Too bad for them I caught up to them at the red light. Suddenly the window went up and no one had anything to say when I pounded on the door. I don't think they realize how dangerous their actions really are, either. I saw the car approach in my mirror, so I was anticipating the pass, but I did not expect to be screamed at. Luckily I didn't swerve, but someone else may have.

I also carry pepper spray and will use it on those from the shallower end of the gene pool. As for the yelling and such, I am learning to just let it roll off my back and keep riding. Stay strong out there, ladies!

Good for you Idaho girl ! (Tator)

I think the same thing that works for dogs works for people in cars.
they see you on the road and they forget you are human. You get in their face
(catch up to their car at a light or get off your bike and walk towards the dog)
and they remember that you are a person.

They HATE that. they'd rather you continued being an object so they could
act out their hostile fantasies.

every time i catch up with someone (happened to me 2x now) I feel like I really scored; because I get to educate them and they find out that gee, they are not the only righteous person in the universe.

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Originally Posted by mimitabby

Good for you Idaho girl ! (Tator)

I think the same thing that works for dogs works for people in cars.
they see you on the road and they forget you are human. You get in their face
(catch up to their car at a light or get off your bike and walk towards the dog)
and they remember that you are a person.

They HATE that. they'd rather you continued being an object so they could
act out their hostile fantasies.

every time i catch up with someone (happened to me 2x now) I feel like I really scored; because I get to educate them and they find out that gee, they are not the only righteous person in the universe.

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You know, I can only hope that by educating some doofus that their actions are not just rude, but dangerous, helps in some way. Maybe that one person won't be so inclined to holler at the next cyclist he/she sees.

I think a lot of it has to do with the 'i'm in a car, therefore I am superior' attitude. Well, excuse the p!ss out of me, I'm on a bike and much more fit and healthy because of it!

Have to ask, kaian, which suburb? I was born in Wyandotte, and spend most of my childhood in Woodhaven and Trenton. My parents are still in Trenton, eagerly awaiting their retirement in the Upper Peninsula, where they plan to ride their bikes to their heart's content.

I was harasssed a lot in various places in Michigan, but my last nasty episode was about a month ago here in Portland. It was a couple of weeks after the Portland radio DJ fracas. On the way home from work, I was waiting for the last light on my ride to change with a car behind me. He was acting very well-behaved, not doing a thing. Then this young woman on a bike rides up and just blows the red, which I think is kind of suicidal in this intersection that people in Portland call the "Seven Corners". It really has 7 corners - the traffic light is your friend here, really. After she does her thing, the motorist behind me makes a Jekyll-and-Hyde style change and starts to rev his engine fast, creep up way to close to my tire, yell that I am the anatomical area below the waist that is unique to females using the Anglo-Saxon term, and then slam on the horn the second the light turns green.

There was absolutely no excuse for the driver's behavior, but I can't help but feel what that cyclist did set the jerk off.

Here's an idea: if we're really aimed toward education, let's start writing to our local newspapers. I'm not just talking about letters to the editor--most local newspapers have a sort of guest-editorial feature, where you can write a somewhat longer piece than a letter--a kind of citizen's editorial. They're not terribly long--usually 300-600 words--that's around 2 typed, double-spaced pages, but they give you more space than a letter, and they're usually featured more prominently than the letters. You could write about the dangers of all the things being discussed in this thread, or any other dangerous thing you've seen motorists do around cyclists.

Now admittedly, for this to do any good, people have to read it, and a certain percentage of the likely offenders are probably not newspaper readers anyway, but a lot of them are, and in the case of teens, maybe their parents are. And it doesn't cost you anything more than a couple of hours of ranting on paper.

Let us know if you intend to try it and whether it gets printed or not. If your local paper is quite small, it can be surprisingly easy to get this kind of writing printed. Good luck!

Donnambr- I ride around the Royal Oak area, but also ride on Hines Drive in Dearborn Heights which is a very popular place for cyclists to ride because there are HUGE shoulders on the road for us and there are parks all along the road. On Saturdays, they close down 7 miles of it for runners, roller bladers, etc. I've gotten yelled at in Ferndale 2-3 times and on Hines I had a woman make a left turn almost into the side of me and have had people in cars yell.

Hey kaian...I ride in metro detroit also and find people here are just rude. When I commute to work (Livonia to Farmington Hills) I always get yelled and honked at. You're right, motor city just isn't bike friendly and many of the yells come from teenagers. I haven't really had names yelled at me, just things like "get on the sidewalk" I just try to shrug it off and think to myself that I'll live a longer and healthier life than them.

I'm surprised you have problems on Hines Drive. I find most drivers to be pretty polite on that road. I ride there all the time and have found it a rare ride to get honked or yelled at. I have had a strange truck drive slowly behind my sister and I before. Talk about creepy! He would follow, go ahead and pull over, wait for us to pass, then follow again. After a couple miles, he took off.

I will admit though, to ride any road other than Hines Drive, takes getting used to. You really need confidence to ride in Detroit!

If you ever want to go for a ride, send me a PM! I live in Livonia and like I said, ride Hines Drive pretty frequently.

I have been lurking here entirely too long, so I'll just insert myself into the conversation since the subject so moves me. I don't even bother trying to ride my bike on the roads anymore because it just doesn't seem safe. I am aware that people are hostile towards cyclists in general, but they are doubly so towards overweight women on bikes. Ten years ago a guy in a car full of hooting teenage boys tried to hit me with the open door as I was going over a bridge, and the situation here (20 some miles north of Seattle) seems to be getting worse. I only ride on trails now, but even then....well, just last month a teenage boy yelled "Fat ***!!" at me as I was riding along the Centenial trail. I was so shocked and angered that I blurted out something to the effect that it was better to be a fat *** than an *** hole. Not the cleverest of comebacks, but what ARE people thinking?!

I am so sorry to hear that, lauraelmore1033 - that is just outright cruel! It is really sad that you don't feel comfortable riding because of jerks who have nothing better to do! I can't believe someone tried to hit you with a door! :eek: Don't people realize they could kill another human? Have you tried riding with a club or a group? Maybe you would feel safer. People in cars still yell at groups of cyclists, but they are less likely to do something if there's 10-20 people with you.

Last week my paper (the Seattle Post Intelligencer) ran an article
about biking and then they had an on line forum to discuss it.
Two different posters threatened to door bicyclists, and a third said he likes to stand where bikes go by so he can push them into the street.
they might have been just blowing off steam, but they are THAT nasty and angry and full of road rage.

When i catch up to someone, I try to smile and be polite. (I'm small and not
intimidating, so i'm sure that helps)
but then i tell them (as fast as i can because i'm afraid they'll zoom off)
what they did wrong.

A couple of years ago, I was out on my commuter bike (mountain bike) on the road. After work, I had gone out Hwy 180 to go climb our local hillclimb - Snowbowl Road. I had a nice ride and was coming back into town. There is one part of this stretch of road that is 50 mile per hour zone and has a left hand curve where the side of the road just disintegrates into nothingness.

Two men, out of towner road bikers, had just passed me coming into town (this is slightly downhill so you can go pretty fast). A white pickup truck that was going WAY TOO FAST went by me and it appeared at the last minute saw the two bikers up ahead of me a little ways. He was going too fast and so his truck was being pulled into the bikes on the left hand curve. All of the sudden he swerves to avoid hitting the two cyclists in front of me - ALL his fault - his speed was too high and he was not paying attention. He just barely missed the two unsuspecting cyclists in front of me.

So, I got the bird's eye view of what happened and thought the guy was a total raging jerk but I still had to go home so I kept riding. There was a dirt pull off on the side of the road right after this incident happened and the guy in the white pickup truck skidded to a stop in the dirt and got out of his car and was running alongside the road beside me screaming at me that I was to tell him who those guys were and he wanted their names so he could go after them. YIKES, he almost killed those two boys in front of me! So here is this kind of fat guy SCREAMING at me and I'm all of 5'4" and 120 pounds , but as I rode by I just told him that he should settle down that he had almost killed two people because he was not paying attention and that even if I knew the boys names, which I did not, I would not tell him!

What a jerk -

Sadly, my sister is one of these ***holes. When i told her I got a road bike she said," Don't ride it in the f***ing street or I'll hit you" Thanks, sis!! She's really been the worst so far. There was an old man on his way to church one day that dang near hit me. I gave him the finger and he looked very angry. What I don't get is honkers. You're riding your bike and people going the other direction feel the need to honk at you. Why? :rolleyes:

I'm use to being beeped at. Unless there is any physical threat to myself, I usually just give the offending motorist a friendly wave. My theory being is that obviously they've had a horrible day & are venting there frustation about life, so responding with anger is not going to help things much.

On my Sunday ride I was riding near the Rocks, Sydney. A car behind me, beeped at me so I waved back. A couple walking near-by saw this, and said to me "You tell him off!". Hey, not everybody is anti-cyclist.

Honestly, it scares the crap out of me.
Right after I posted here today I went for my daily 5 mile loop. As I was turning left into my neighborhood, my 18 year old neighbor was turning left out o fit, and almost hit me! That got my heart rate goin.......:eek:

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Originally Posted by Ocultica

Honestly, it scares the crap out of me.
Right after I posted here today I went for my daily 5 mile loop. As I was turning left into my neighborhood, my 18 year old neighbor was turning left out o fit, and almost hit me! That got my heart rate goin.......:eek:

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I guess this should be on the crazy driver thread, but, I went for a 26 mile ride this morning and just about got wacked by a CHICKEN truck! Yes, this is where Tyson chicken is....If I put my hand out, I would have been able to touch the truck. He was going around 70 mph! Gave me no room...Scared the crap out of me...I was so mad, I threw him the "bird" and probably said every bad word there is...No respect! I ate a few chicken feathers too as he past ...

You were probably luckier than all those chickens, though.... :eek:

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Originally Posted by Lisa S.H.

You were probably luckier than all those chickens, though.... :eek:

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that is true! But luckily, I didn't have time to look at the chickens...

Yuck. It's starting to dark earlier so I have to ride my loop now when there is more traffic.

I was coming to a stop light - two lanes going my direction - the far right is for right hand turns only. I was going straight so I moved from the shoulder of the road to the left lane as I got closer to the light. This dumb car decides he can't let me be at stop light in front of him so he moves quickly into the right and then immediately back into my lane and slammed on his brakes cause the light was already red. I was slowing down for the light but thought I didn't have to stop for another 6 feet. I missed him by inches and had to twist my wheel to avoid hitting him.

I just don't get it. I mean I do. He was young and still has to prove he's a MAN. God forbid a woman on a bike should be at stop light in front of him. But it was dangerous.

I think a lot of young drivers today have grown up playing driving/racing video computer games. They grow up thinking that to drive well, you have to dodge around obstacles, in and out of lanes at lightning speed. Scary. Life is not a video game.

I've only been yelled at a couple of times -- once by a guy who told me to get on the sidewalk even though I was riding in a marked bike lane and he was on the other side of the street (and when I pointed that out, he told me that the law had been changed but the city hadn't gotten around to painting the street yet!) and once by a cop. The cop was coming out of an alley way too fast and not looking, and he nearly hit me, and then he yelled at me to watch where I was going.

Oddly, I wasn't mad at the cop, because his tone was exactly like what I do when I trip over my dog in the middle of the night: "You stupid dog! Don't be a black dog sleeping on a dark rug in the middle of the night! You could get hurt!" And it really means, "I am such a bad person, I just kicked my poor old dog who wasn't doing anything."

But then that same cop ran a stop sign and nearly hit my husband and I when we were walking home from dinner a couple of weeks ago, so I lost my sympathy. (I yelled at him but if I'd had a cell phone I would have reported it.)

I am new to this board, but have been cycling for almost 20 years. My brother-in-law said something to me about these agressive drivers a long time ago.

"You don't need to worry about the ones that yell or beep. If they yell or beep, you know they can at least see you. The ones you worry about are the ones that don't see you. They don't make any noise"

I do most of my cycling in the not-so-friendly-suburbs of St. Louis. Some guys in my town came up with this genius idea to avoid the harrassment altogether. Check this out

Somehow with the big bold letters on your back, cars are much less likely to harrass you at all.

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Originally Posted by incstlouis

Some guys in my town came up with this genius idea to avoid the harrassment altogether. Check this out

Somehow with the big bold letters on your back, cars are much less likely to harrass you at all.

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HEY! What a fantastic idea!

It beats the idea I had a few years ago to keep cars at a safe distance: I planned on building a foam, oversize replica of a ski pole - with a humongous spike - and mounting it sideways on the back of my bike. Obvious and attention-getting, but not actually "endangering" any of those pretty shiny paint jobs.

Re: crazy drivers again: one of my worst experiences was when a city bus, one of those extra long ones with an additional "trailer" on the end, came by me as the road made a gradual right bend. I was on a separate bike lane, but the "trailer" came closer and closer and my lane got narrower and narrower... until finally I had to stop altogether to avoid being squished. I could have touched the bus without even stretching out my arm, and I'm positive the driver had no idea I was there.

I tore after the bus like an idiot, and caught up with it as it was about to pull out from the next stop. Jumped up on the pavement and hammered on the door, only to have the driver look at me, mildly surprised, as he drove away. "Hm? Where'd she come from, and what's her problem??"

Quote:

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Originally Posted by incstlouis

I am new to this board, but have been cycling for almost 20 years. My brother-in-law said something to me about these agressive drivers a long time ago.

"You don't need to worry about the ones that yell or beep. If they yell or beep, you know they can at least see you. The ones you worry about are the ones that don't see you. They don't make any noise"

I do most of my cycling in the not-so-friendly-suburbs of St. Louis. Some guys in my town came up with this genius idea to avoid the harrassment altogether. Check this out

Somehow with the big bold letters on your back, cars are much less likely to harrass you at all.

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Oh That's BRILLIANT!!! I want one!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by incstlouis

"You don't need to worry about the ones that yell or beep. If they yell or beep, you know they can at least see you. The ones you worry about are the ones that don't see you. They don't make any noise"

I do most of my cycling in the not-so-friendly-suburbs of St. Louis. Some guys in my town came up with this genius idea to avoid the harrassment altogether. Check this out

Somehow with the big bold letters on your back, cars are much less likely to harrass you at all.

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I agree with your Bro in law. the ones who are falling asleep, looking for their cell phone, painting their nails; THESE are the ones that will kill you.
and they don't yell because they aren't aware of your existence.
But where I live, i am not sure how much respect those "County Police"
jerseys would get. Our county sheriffs have a bad bad rep.

Well, I was the one who did the yelling yesterday -- at the big Suburban who passed a stopped car came into the on-coming traffic lane, where I was, completely blocked my path, not to mention almost running me down. When I yelled at her to move, that I had the right of way, she ACCELERATED! :mad: When she finally realized that I was there in the middle of her bumber, a foot away, she stopped. I ranted at her to get out of my way and she finally did, backing up behind the (illegally) parked car. Fortunately all this took place in the library parking lot at very low rate of speed but still a lesson in Volume - bicycle vs Suburban.

She yelled at me (after almost running me down) that I needed to learn some manners (I hadn't used one foul word or any obscene gestures). I assured her I would once she learned how to drive. Amazing how much adrenaline can get going in these situations.

I'm not nearly so aggressive on the road, only parking lots (!) and regret having made a bad impression as a cyclist, but emotions won out that time.:o

I've noticed that when I'm riding during the week, in the evening, the drivers are a lot more aggressive than on the weekends. I think they're trying to get home from work and they think that I'm in their way.

So I'm always way more defensive and cautious on the weekdays because that car that looks like it's going to turn left right in front of me probably will.

This evening I was riding with a friend on a parkway here that is very popular with cyclists, and my friend got beeped at by a motorcyclist who then yelled at us to ride single file. Like that motorcycle didn't have room to pass us on a low traffic two lane road with wide shoulders?

I can only feel sorry for people whose lives are so devoid of joy that they feel the need to yell at others.

I'd be afraid wearing somethng that said police would make me an even more desirable target...

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Originally Posted by kaian

I have had a couple of close calls in my life - once when riding on a sidewalk (years ago) and once recently at an intersection where a woman looked right at me and turned right in front of me at a light where I had the right away. I swerved out of the way and yelled some profanities. :rolleyes:

Anyway, the most common harrassment I get is people yelling at me while passing in a car and I've also had teenage boys yell at me after passing me on BMX bikes. Teenagers seem to be the main culprit here. I've been called a B**** by a car full of teenagers for no reason (I was riding in the bike lane), I was called a "loser" by some hick in a HUGE pick-up (a young male) and I've had a handful of times when someone will yell at me really loud as they pass me which really bugs me because it can be very startling and I don't think drivers realize they could startle you enough to cause you to fall or even swerve into traffic.

I live in a suburb of Detroit and this area is not known for outdoor health or bike riding. I used to own a motor scooter, but I decided to sell that because of all of the verbal harrassement I got for riding that around. It seems like if you're not driving a car in the "motor city", you are fair game for harrassement.

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well you live in detroit, that explains it. that's probably the worst city in the u.s. to ride a bike. new york, l.a., chicago, philly, boston, san francisco, seattle, phoenix, and honolulu are a few u.s. cities that come to mind that are for the most part biker friendly.

you also have to be a little socially aware... riding a motor scooter basically makes you look like a weirdo and a dork... so yes, idiots will yell at you for it to get their little laughs. i mean, i don't think it's right, but if you're going to ride something unorthodox like a motorscooter, or a unicycle, or a pogo stick, or a go-kart -- then yeah, you will be ridiculed.

my area (south bay, ca.) is biker friendly... along the beach, lots of cyclists and joggers.

Thank you for being Unorthodox! I'm glad, proud and happy to be unorthodox! Everyone on this site should be glad they are unorthodox as Cali Sunshine so puts it!

Everyone who rides their bike to work should be commended not only for staying fit, but also for helping the environment and not wasting resources. Everyone who rides for fitness should be proud that they are trying to do good things in their lives. Everyone who tries to help others in their lives, try to make a better community and are steadfastly supportive of others is to be commended as unorthodox.

The orthodox in this world are too ready to criticize, to be petty, and to be unaccepting of others.

Thank you to all of the unorthodox among us! It is refreshing to find people with such giving hearts. People like the TE Forum ladies.

:)

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Originally Posted by spokewench

Thank you to all of the unorthodox among us! It is refreshing to find people with such giving hearts. People like the TE Forum ladies.

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Clap! Clap! Clap!

Everything you said is beautiful!

Yeah, I would love to move. My partner and I have already talked about it several times - moving somewhere bike and outdoor activities-friendly. I'm in a doctoral program right now that I started in the Fall, so I still have 3 3/4 years to suffer. BUT I'm going to school to teach and do research. I am going to look for university faculty jobs in areas that are more bike friendly for sure!

I want to keep biking for as long as I can and it's so much a part of my life that yes, it would be worth picking up and moving just so I could feel safer and also have more options of where to ride. For now, I'm just picky about where I ride and try to ride with a group if I'm going to ride anywhere I'm uncertain about.

Hee hee, the best thing I've ever been called on a bike (that was understandable - usually it's just "brarrahrehahdhwahdkdghghblah" as the car speeds by at car speed) was when we were on a tandem weekend with a group, one other tandem was riding with us, both teams male/female pairs, and some yahoo yells out "faggots!!". The four of us still laugh about it.

What part of breasts swathed in spandex did the guy miss?? :D

hah, great story. Guess his brain got all the way through cyclists = guys in tights and spandex = "faggots" before his attention span gave out...

I was just wondering about this this morning actually, whether I was recognizable as a woman. I was wearing full winter gear and a Buff over my nose and some guy on the sidewalk turned and shouted something at me - apparently favourable from the smile on his face. Yet another reason to wear headphones... :D

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Originally Posted by LisaB

Hee hee, the best thing I've ever been called on a bike (that was understandable - usually it's just "brarrahrehahdhwahdkdghghblah" as the car speeds by at car speed) was when we were on a tandem weekend with a group, one other tandem was riding with us, both teams male/female pairs, and some yahoo yells out "faggots!!". The four of us still laugh about it.

What part of breasts swathed in spandex did the guy miss?? :D

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LOL - that is so funny. Bet they didnt think they would be providing the entertainment for the day.:D

Some of the folks at Bikejournal say that when they wear "American Flag" jerseys, they are less likely to be verballyharassed and/or have things thrown at them.

OK, I'm showing my age, here, but that technique didn't work real well for the young Peter Fonda as Captain America in _Easy Rider_.

I would also guess that in some parts of the U.S., a Confederate flag would provide more protection(?), um, camoflage(?), um, ... whatever it is.

I live in Orlando which has been claimed as one of the worst areas for pedestrians and cyclists in recent years and I've had all sorts of things said to me. I've gotten the stereotypical redneck in big truck yell outrageous things at me, the middle finger and so on. But there was one instance that blows my mind: I was biking on path that crosses an entrance into a set of college apartments. I'm usually very cautious here, b/c unfortunately, they may be college kids but most are incosiderate here. I was crossing at this truck blasts through the stop sign and comes within less than an inch of hitting me. The thing that gets me, is that this path is commonly used by families as well and there was a little girl crossing the path with her caretaker and this guy wouldn't have seen her.
All I tell myself is that the more they see me at here the more they'll have to deal with and fortunately, I'm not alone in getting out on the road when the day is beautiful. Recently, the Florida passed a law that states that cars and other motorized vehicles must allow 2-3 feet of room between themselves and pedestrians/cyclists and if not, can be fined heavily. Something is getting started but it must continue! Keep riding and stay safe!