Road Rage

[Nonn]

I've been yelled at a few times. Nothing too serious. I try to let cars go first as much as possible to avoid any possible confrontations. Sometimes they just sit there and wait for me to cross the road, which is annoying, because they're in a car and it doesn't take them that long to move.

 

[Dora M]

Australians deliberately crash female cyclists? That's beyond insane. I though Americans and the English had cornered that market.

Of course I've been involved in road rage incidents while on a bike. I doubt there's anyone on the forum that has not.

Australians deliberately crash female cyclists? That's beyond insane. I though Americans and the English had cornered that market.

Of course I've been involved in road rage incidents while on a bike. I doubt there's anyone on the forum that has not.

Not just female cyclists, any cyclist. There are numerous white painted bikes along the roads, decorated with pictures and flowers, in memory of the cyclists who lost their life in those particular spots. There was even an an outrage when a debate started about whether traffic participants should have to look at those sad reminders. And the request to remove the white bikes didn't come from the bike riding community...

 

[Dora M]

Some tips to avoid honking from cars that I found that work:

1. Wear a helmet. You will look like a "serious" cyclist and not just some road-scum-thing which would cause the car driver remember his last gas and insurance bill (which got raised because of a cycling related accident).
If you want to make use of your right not to wear one, wear a cycling cap.

2. Look as dodgy as possible. Think "Charles Bronson", "50 Cent", "Snoop Dogg" etc.

3. Never be clean. Wear oil-smudged track pants, ripped clothes. Extra points for blood stains.

4. Did I mention to not look clean? Add some dirt from your flower pots to your face and clothes before you ride.

5. Do wear lycra (as dirty as possible as mentioned above). Nobody wants to f@ck with a hard core multiple watt leg powered dope-fiend. Extra f@ck-off points for lycra which advertises products like motor oil, car related companies, something cycling related or a chronological date. Double points for Japanese lettering.

6. Do use lights. Try to look "nice about them" but make clear that your lights -are- able to cause seizures in a 500m radius, but your are not doing that "to be nice".

7. Do not try to appear "political", "romantic", "rational", "smart", or "hipster" about your riding. Bullsh^t like "I have the right to use the bike on the road etc". Look more like "F@ck you - and your whole crew - and car". Also (even though hard to do) try to look like you have a Porsche on your garage.

8. Never react to honking when you know that there is nothing wrong with your riding. Be calm and try to make the other guy think that you think that he is insane. Motorists do have to go through medical checks.
If it is your fault, try to look like "sorry man but I just crashed on that race and I think that my brain don't work that well no-mo..."

9. A few visible scars are helpful if you have them. -Do not cause the scars your self!- The bike will probably provide them for you sooner or later.

10. Have a piece of carton with a number on or a proper race plate on your bike. Extra f@ck-off points for numbers like, 13, 23, 666, or round numbers like 500, 300 etc.

Pro - tip: If you do not want to go for lycra, go for the "Drunk Peasant" look. Smudged overalls, A mysterious container on you or the bike.

Good luck!


For illustration purposes only:

That sounds like a whole lot of trouble to me. Wearing a helmet is mandatory in Australia. In fact there are car drivers who take it upon themselves to call the police from their mobile phones if they see a cyclist without a helmet on the road. As for getting dirty. No thank you. I had to use my bike on a daily basis to get to work. I think the long term solution is to create special cyclist ways, have a day of the week where certain roads are closed to the general traffic and only open to cyclists and walkers. Have a "Reclaim the streets" protest every month and just keep on fighting for your rights, until everyone respects them.

 

[Volnix]

Have a "Reclaim the streets" protest every month

Have you ever been in any of these "protests"?

 

[Catsyo]

I haven't experienced any yet but I've heard some stories. The weirdest one happened a few times to people I knew. A few years ago, my town voted to raise taxes by a fraction of a cent to improve the roads. A particularly contentious element of the tax levy was that a portion of the new funds were going towards making bike lanes and putting in more bike racks around town. My area is really conservative so certain people considered it to be a waste. After the tax levy passed, some of these people would drive around and throw handfuls of change in the faces of cyclists. I knew a few people that were in wrecks because of this. My hometown is pretty weird though. People also like to harass pedestrians for not driving cars.

 

[henchman21]

Once when I was biking a pick-up truck full of trunk teen threw opened beer cans at my head and caused my to crash into te drainage ditch on the side of the road. Then they turned aroud and drove back and yelled " Oh lookie here someone doesn't know how to ride a bike ! hahahahahahahahah" . Then they sped off. I had to walk home all coverend in crapes and bruises and the beer in the cuts didn't help anything either.

 

[StrawberryCat]

I've been in the passenger seat when someone cursed at a biker once. They didn't roll down the window and actually curse at the person but just cursed to themself (and me) in the car where the biker couldn't hear anything. I think there are quite a few people who do curse or get annoyed by bikers within the safety of their own car where no one else can hear them. I have yet to see someone yell at me or yell at another biker but I can believe it could/does happen. I guess some drivers get annoyed because they have to slow down and give a lot of space to bikers. They need to relax though. Drivers don't own the roads.

 

[Tibz1337]

Yeah, people do sometimes insult bikers. But honestly, there's nothing you can do, you're on a 20 pounds bike and they're in a 2000 lb car. Just get the plate, get your phone out, call 911, report it and keep on riding.

 

[phebeM]

Some tips to avoid honking from cars that I found that work:

1. Wear a helmet. You will look like a "serious" cyclist and not just some road-scum-thing which would cause the car driver remember his last gas and insurance bill (which got raised because of a cycling related accident).
If you want to make use of your right not to wear one, wear a cycling cap.

2. Look as dodgy as possible. Think "Charles Bronson", "50 Cent", "Snoop Dogg" etc.

3. Never be clean. Wear oil-smudged track pants, ripped clothes. Extra points for blood stains.

4. Did I mention to not look clean? Add some dirt from your flower pots to your face and clothes before you ride.

5. Do wear lycra (as dirty as possible as mentioned above). Nobody wants to f@ck with a hard core multiple watt leg powered dope-fiend. Extra f@ck-off points for lycra which advertises products like motor oil, car related companies, something cycling related or a chronological date. Double points for Japanese lettering.

6. Do use lights. Try to look "nice about them" but make clear that your lights -are- able to cause seizures in a 500m radius, but your are not doing that "to be nice".

7. Do not try to appear "political", "romantic", "rational", "smart", or "hipster" about your riding. Bullsh^t like "I have the right to use the bike on the road etc". Look more like "F@ck you - and your whole crew - and car". Also (even though hard to do) try to look like you have a Porsche on your garage.

8. Never react to honking when you know that there is nothing wrong with your riding. Be calm and try to make the other guy think that you think that he is insane. Motorists do have to go through medical checks.
If it is your fault, try to look like "sorry man but I just crashed on that race and I think that my brain don't work that well no-mo..."

9. A few visible scars are helpful if you have them. -Do not cause the scars your self!- The bike will probably provide them for you sooner or later.

10. Have a piece of carton with a number on or a proper race plate on your bike. Extra f@ck-off points for numbers like, 13, 23, 666, or round numbers like 500, 300 etc.

Pro - tip: If you do not want to go for lycra, go for the "Drunk Peasant" look. Smudged overalls, A mysterious container on you or the bike.

Good luck!


For illustration purposes only:

Great post especially the pictures attached are great.

 

[Jojo83]

I've been involved in a road rage incident before and I was the one raging. A van almost ran me over on the side of the road while I was biking through the city... And, the next thing I know... I just lost it and punched the side window of the van. I didn't know what came over me... I guess it's the feeling of nearly being ran over by a van that blew my fuse off. Thankfully, cooler heads prevailed in the end.

 

[Jcycle]

I'm fortunate. I have never been a victim of road rage while cycling. Maybe it's the routes I used. Not sure.

 

[egrocket]

I have had similar experiences to this. I do not get why drivers get mad at bicyclists for no apparent reason. I have been yelled at and even hit once. You just gotta shake it off.

 

[Femiluv]

Oh geez, I can't believe drivers can be so mean. So sorry this happened. The city I live in is pretty bike friendly and I haven't witnessed any road rage at cyclists expense. People don't really honk either, if that says anything.

However, I have witnessed many accidents where the drivers don't bother coming out of their car to check on the cyclist they just hit.

 

[BikeBikeBikeBike]

This has to be one of the greatest threads going.
I think every cyclist gets car hate, even in the most-progressive of cities.
I think it's just basic jealousy, we are fit and they are typically not!
In fact the most "omg you ride your bike to work?" people are usually a little on the plumper side.

However to play devils advocate, there are a lot of terrible bike riders on the roads.
These aren't so much "cyclist" as they are people who are down on their luck of just plain sketchy. It's unfortunate that their poorly maintained bikes and lack of respect for anything that resembles courtesy or adherence to the rules of the road give a bad name for us more dedicated riding folk.

 

[ZXD22]

Damn it got to the point where cars where literally pushing you off the road? That is illegal and they can be arrested for manyany charges, operating a deadly weapon against you as a big one. Here on the cape it isn't bad unless you bike like an idiot but I just hope this doesn't happen to me. ;-;

 

[Corzhens]

There have been countless of deaths here due to road rage and several have been celebrated. One was the nephew of a popular singer named Freddie Aguilar who killed a former councilor due to road rage. Another is a long time detainee now who killed Eldon Maguan, a college student. There are many more to mention. What I think of road rage is the physical and mental condition of the attacker. Mostly, the incident happened when the attacker was in a bad mood.

 

[kylerlittle]

Road rage is such a bad thing and we need to flee from it. You should see videos of it on YouTube, it is a deadly poison.

 

[thepieeatingjay]

Sadly, this is one of those things that we as cyclers can't really escape. And there's nothing we can really do about it except pull hard to the side when cars get too close. It's just a shame some drivers intentionally give cyclers a hard time.

 

[blastguardgear]

Fortunately I haven't had a road rage issue....yet. But now that I said that watch it happen sometime soon. I do my very best to NOT bike during busy times of the day for the express purpose of avoiding that nonsense. I already have an incident on my record. I don't need another.

 

[tarverten]

This is something my brother told me:

"Road ragers are calm people only when they feel secure in their steel cocoons. If someone disturbs that tranquility, security is lost. The person responsible is 'the enemy'."