Author Topic: Please help me understand this cycling/road rage incident  (Read 16338 times)

greaper007

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Re: Please help me understand this cycling/road rage incident
« Reply #50 on: July 29, 2014, 05:32:18 PM »
How do the actions of the Land Rover even make sense?  Presumably, the driver was pissed because he was forced to slow down for a bit and lost a precious few seconds.  But then he stops and gets out of his car to scream more obscenities?  Seems like he would have been in a rush to speed off and make up for lost time!  Absolute jerk.

Those people aren't really yelling at you.   They're yelling about something that happened 25 years ago in their childhood.    You're just a proxy for their mom, dad, bully etc.

ecmcn

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Re: Please help me understand this cycling/road rage incident
« Reply #51 on: July 29, 2014, 06:29:33 PM »
You did the right thing. Also check the laws where you live re biking on the sidewalk. In some places its perfectly legal, especially in situations like these. Even if it isn't I have a hard time seeing you getting a ticket.

I'm a bike commuter, and I try to strike a balance between my rights, my convenience and courtesy to drivers, with of course my safety being the #1 priority. I'm on bike trails or the street most of the time. On some bridges I'll pop up to the sidewalk, and walk my bike if there's heavy foot traffic. I try to avoid major arterials both to not slow down car traffic and to reduce my stress level. Some bikers are pretty adamant about exercising their right to be anywhere a car is, but I feel if there's an option (like a neighborhood street) that's roughly equivalent for me and would be a net gain for everyone I'll take it. There's a bike path 100 feet from a busy road in my neighborhood and sometimes I'll see bikers bottling up traffic when they could easily (and more safely) do otherwise. At the same time, if you need to be in the road and won't be safe if cars try to pass you then by all means get out in the lane and protect yourself. Good luck and stay safe!