Road jerks

[Melalvai]

A few days ago the whole family went for a short ride to a restaurant for supper. On the way home, a truck sped around us on the left, then dove right in front of my daughter into the right turn lane, honking at her as he did so. Just behind him another car passed us all using the left-turn-only lane, only to speed straight through the yellow light.

None of this is a big deal, happens all the time, only I get pretty mad when it happens to my 12 yr old daughter. She blogged about it and I'm sure would appreciate your sympathetic comments.

http://www.kemenel.org/nelalvai/journal/?p=53

[redrhodie]

I don't know how this thread got by me!

Tell your dd that there are lots of jerks out there, and to not take it personally. My trick is to tell myself that for every bleephole out there, there are a million good people. I also tell myself the jerk is having a bad moment in what may sadly be a bad life, and I'm lucky not to be him!

Also tell her she did the right thing by blogging about it, and that she shouldn't ever yell back at a car, because it's better to tell her story later to people who care. An aggressive person in a car is no match for a girl on a bike.

I hope this didn't spoil her ride. This is the hardest part of a great sport.

[Eden]

some people just get very stupid when they see a bike. They get this idea in their head that probably goes something like this (imaging Tarzan style voice and IQ that receeds to about 10 when behind the wheel)

bike - bike slow!
me fast - me very important!
bike bad - me good - must pass really fast and close to teach bike a lesson!
bike will learn to stay off road - road belong to cars!

It doesn't even occur to many of them that they are only rushing to the next red light..... It's really fun when someone does something extremely stupid and you can pass them by at the next light.... I don't normally filter up at lights, but sometimes I can't resist letting an @ss know that pretty much no matter what he does in city traffic I can get there just as fast as he can....

I also admit to taking some pleasure out of baiting some people to speed... there are several places that I can consistently do the speed limit and I try to see just how many people still feel the need to "teach me a lesson" about how slow bikes are...

[withm]

Last night I was riding home from work in 20mph+ headwinds. It was a real slog. A car passed me probably at the requisite 10mph over the speed limit, and as he passe, his child, maybe 8 yrs old yelled out the window to me, "RIDICULOUS!"

You have to wonder what some parents are teaching their kids these days.

I figure the kid doesn't have a bike of his own, otherwise he'd probably be in awe of all the cyclists on the road last night, and wanting to be like the "big kids" riding.

So sad.

[Melalvai]

I hope this didn't spoil her ride. This is the hardest part of a great sport.

I think it rather did spoil the evening (it was our Family Night Out, the one night each month we eat at a restaurant). But these things happen. The next time she rode through that intersection was by herself on the way home from swim practice. She said she was pretty nervous until she was past it. I'm sure now that she's done that intersection again with no problems it won't bother her at all.

It's awfully nice to have the outdoor pool open, so that she can get herself to and from swim practices. The outdoor pool is just a mile away from home, while the indoor pool is much further with some serious hills.

[mimitabby]

bike - bike slow!
me fast - me very important!
bike bad - me good - must pass really fast and close to teach bike a lesson!
bike will learn to stay off road - road belong to cars!

Oh, Eden, you're good!!!

I also admit to taking some pleasure out of baiting some people to speed... there are several places that I can consistently do the speed limit and I try to see just how many people still feel the need to "teach me a lesson" about how slow bikes are...

Oh Eden, you are REALLY good!!!

[mimitabby]

this morning on my ride to work, i was on the road that leads into the plant i work at. Speed limit is 15mph. Our company's nickname is "the lazy b" and there are hundreds of company owned vehicles moving from place to place all day long. They are used to the speed limit... i thought
So I was in the center of the lane leading into the plant when a company vehicle blasted around me, crossing the line. Not 5 minutes later, I caught up to him getting out of his vehicle. "boy, you were sure in a hurry" I said to him.
He yelled back "You don't ride in the center of the road"
and idiotically i responded "Yes I do!!"
I could have educated him but all i did was smart off. OWELL.

[Geonz]

Do you have his phone or email?

I got buzzed by a co-worker (but this is a pretty big place) and sent him a carefully crafted educational email, especially since I really don't believe he had any intention to be buzzing me... any of the four times he did.

He got on the phone right away to apologize (welp, *and* to sort of scold me for sending an *email* instead of talking to him face to face - but from what my office mate says about his ego, he needed to be able to save a little of his own face, too).

He hasn't passed me at all so I can't swear he's been educated, but I hope so.

I had done the same thing with a faculty member from whom I received no response, but the next time he passed me he gave me lots of room. That's what I care about.

And it also means that there aren't as many jerks out t here ... ignorami, yes, but a few fewer arrogant blurgebutts than I might have been tempted to think.

[mimitabby]

no I don't. there's only 80,000 of us
but he's distinctive enough that i might see him again.

[Melalvai]

He yelled back "You don't ride in the center of the road"
and idiotically i responded "Yes I do!!"
I could have educated him but all i did was smart off. OWELL.

I think that was a great response. I mean, he was stating an obvious falsehood. He had seen with his own eyes that you, in fact, DO ride in the center of the road. Your response was the only logical one to make.

Seriously, though, he was trying to tell you that it is inappropriate to ride in the center of the road, and your response was simply that it is appropriate to ride in the center of the road. I know it's not quite as simple as that--we as cyclists feel it is only appropriate to ride in the center in some situations, not all the time everywhere--but it would be useless to try to explain the complexities to him.

[mimitabby]

I think that was a great response. I mean, he was stating an obvious falsehood. He had seen with his own eyes that you, in fact, DO ride in the center of the road. Your response was the only logical one to make.

Seriously, though, he was trying to tell you that it is inappropriate to ride in the center of the road, and your response was simply that it is appropriate to ride in the center of the road. I know it's not quite as simple as that--we as cyclists feel it is only appropriate to ride in the center in some situations, not all the time everywhere--but it would be useless to try to explain the complexities to him.

i like your logic, thanks