People who like to yell at cyclists

[donnambr]

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.

[Bad JuJu]

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!

[kaian]

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.

[SalsaMTB]

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.

[lauraelmore1033]

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?!

[kaian]

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! 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.

[mimitabby]

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.