I bike to work 10 miles through urban downtown Boston. I was on the way home today and got caught behind traffic at a light. I saw no opportunities to filter due to cars stopped too close together.
A guy behind me in a sedan sees this as the perfect opportunity to give me his opinion. "Why don't you ride on the ****ing sidewalk dude." I've read that this is a common occurrence, but after almost a year of riding, this is the first time I have encountered an irate motorist.
I looked at him, waved, and we moved forward, but the light changed again. He said that I didn't belong in the road, and encouraged his young daughter in the back seat to yell out as well. She did so, and sought approval from her father. "Did you hear what I told him, daddy?"
He told me I had no right to be on the road with cars, and belonged in a bike lane or on the sidewalk. At this point I should mention traffic was stopped, and I had not delayed or impeded anyone in my travels, and was simply waiting for the light to change.
I informed him calmly of my right. The light changed to green. He said, "Next time i'll make sure to clip you and send you home in a body bag." As we were traveling forward, he merged left at the fork, and I merged right and I yelled "**** you," not even necessarily looking at him. I was pretty angry.
Looking back, I probably wouldn't have even reacted to him. Its difficult to educate someone about the law when they clearly just want to pick a fight. Whatever his reasoning, threatening to kill someone with a young daughter in the car is never OK. I could have told him that biking on the sidewalk is slower, and more dangerous then biking in the right lane, or that I can go as fast as city traffic.
Its difficult, because in these situations we want to teach someone a lesson, but in the end it may be better to just ignore them and keep to yourself.
Thoughts?
A guy behind me in a sedan sees this as the perfect opportunity to give me his opinion. "Why don't you ride on the ****ing sidewalk dude." I've read that this is a common occurrence, but after almost a year of riding, this is the first time I have encountered an irate motorist.
I looked at him, waved, and we moved forward, but the light changed again. He said that I didn't belong in the road, and encouraged his young daughter in the back seat to yell out as well. She did so, and sought approval from her father. "Did you hear what I told him, daddy?"
He told me I had no right to be on the road with cars, and belonged in a bike lane or on the sidewalk. At this point I should mention traffic was stopped, and I had not delayed or impeded anyone in my travels, and was simply waiting for the light to change.
I informed him calmly of my right. The light changed to green. He said, "Next time i'll make sure to clip you and send you home in a body bag." As we were traveling forward, he merged left at the fork, and I merged right and I yelled "**** you," not even necessarily looking at him. I was pretty angry.
Looking back, I probably wouldn't have even reacted to him. Its difficult to educate someone about the law when they clearly just want to pick a fight. Whatever his reasoning, threatening to kill someone with a young daughter in the car is never OK. I could have told him that biking on the sidewalk is slower, and more dangerous then biking in the right lane, or that I can go as fast as city traffic.
Its difficult, because in these situations we want to teach someone a lesson, but in the end it may be better to just ignore them and keep to yourself.
Thoughts?