Road Rage

[Rover-Rich]

Has anyone here reported road rage to the authorities? I mean do the police do anything if there is no injury, is it worth the hassle?

Ok here is the deal gang. I went out for a nice AM ride today. On the final leg of the ride I'm on a main street of my town. There are stoplights along the way, but otherwise the road is very wide and not too busy. Well, I was happy as a clam after 25miles and doing pretty well on the last leg home. I screwed up here. I thought I had timed a light correctly, but instead ended up running a red light. Now the interesection with this light is of a small feeder street that "T's" into the main steet I was on. I missed the stop light while the traffic from the feeder street was turning into my lane. Clearly I made a mistake and admit it.

Well, here is where the rage comes in. A guy from the turning lane comes real close to me, zooms ahead then slams on the brakes in front of me. I had ample room and time to react, but gee if not, I wonder what could have happened. He then proceeded to pull ahead, stop his car and get out. I swung wide of him and took the long way home so if he followed me, there would be ample places to ditch him.

I got his plate number and am deciding whether it is worth the hassle to report him. Advice folks?

[OldDog]

No other words or actions on his part?

[JasonH]

You can report him for reckless driving at the least. I've called the Sherriff when an idiot did the same thing and came around his pickup and yelled at me etc. If there are no other witnesses though, the only thing you can do is file a complaint. The Deputy told me they would make sure somebody told the idiot that we are entitled to the same rights as other vehicles etc. I guess in your case you may be at a wash since you ran the light. /shrug.

[Rover-Rich]

No other words or actions on his part?

No other words, though his body language, facial expression and demeanor were menacing. I bet if I took his blood pressure it would have been upwards of 200. I wasn't going to get too close to him to find out what his true intent was.

[OldDog]

Funny what sets people off. I wonder how many times this clown jammed his pedal to the floor on a yellow light only to not make it through the red light himself.

[coylifut]

people really don't like when the cops show up at their house un announced. their neighbors enjoy it though.

[Fixed]

bro I repoted my next door neighbor drug dealer who shot a kid then got in his car and ran him over left him dead in my front yard at 3 a.m. everybody was scared to say anything but i told one of the cops at the courthose that i know .in an hour the the whole place was raided. i did my duty i just wish it didn't take a life to get thoses bums out . cheers

[CalfeeFly]

I had a can thrown at me once. I chased the truck down and called the police.

Important things I found out.

Make sure you can eyeball and ID the person(s). I did not get a good enough look at them. They ran inside and changed and got with others.

They would not arrest anyhow without injuries. However they told me the procedure is to go to the local magistrate and swear out a warrant. In my case it would have been assault.

There was a thread here or the Calfee forum of something similar to your situation where the authorities came. The cyclist won in front of the magistrate.

[pale scotsman]

Dude, you ran the red light and he got pissed. Two wrongs don't make a right, so I'd let it go if I were you.

[Fixed]

bro to disagree is fine just don't touch me . ..I don't like people putting their hands on me . ..unless it's my wife .
cheers

[alancw3]

i had a full can of beer thrown at me once. anyway, i have found that there are basically two types of drivers that have no respect for cyclists. 1. rednecks in pickup trucks. 2. nuovo rich who drive jaguars, mercedes, lexus or the largest bmw's. other than that most drivers seem to really respect cyclist where i live.

[torquer]

Sure you made a mistake when you mis-timed the light. We all have, both on the bike and while driving.

But by reporting what sounds clearly like meanacing behavior (and making it clear what you did that apparently triggered that behavior) you reduce the likelyhood that the driver will act that way again, or even ratchet up his threats to actual assault. Maybe the cops will pay him a visit; he could rant about your behavior, but you've already admitted what you did, and the cops are as familiar with the "two wrongs" arguement as anyone. Even if the cops take no action, the information will remain on file, and help anyone nail the SOB next time he pulls this kind of stunt.

Full disclosure: a couple of years ago, my local cops were waiting for me when I returned home from a (driving) errand: an SUV had blown a stop sign up the block from my house, and I swung my car around it and confronted the driver. I probably was intemperate in my remarks; the "discussion" ended in my disparaging the (woman) driver's blonde dye-job. She called in my tag number with a road-rage complaint, admitting, acording to the cop (also a woman, coincidently) that she blew the stop. Nothing came of it, but I was anxious waiting to see if the incident made the "Police Beat" column of our local weekly newspaper.

[CalfeeFly]

i had a full can of beer thrown at me once. anyway, i have found that there are basically two types of drivers that have no respect for cyclists. 1. rednecks in pickup trucks. 2. nuovo rich who drive jaguars, mercedes, lexus or the largest bmw's. other than that most drivers seem to really respect cyclist where i live.

Add to your list...

1. Burb housewives in huge SUV's
2. Old farts in Buicks

[Lincoln]

Add to your list...

1. Burb housewives in huge SUV's
2. Old farts in Buicks

Also a threat but I put them in the cluelessly dangerous category, as opposed to the first two who are maliciously dangerous. And you forgot to add "talking on their cell phone" to #1 :bike:

[Headwinds]

i had a full can of beer thrown at me once. anyway, i have found that there are basically two types of drivers that have no respect for cyclists. 1. rednecks in pickup trucks. 2. nuovo rich who drive jaguars, mercedes, lexus or the largest bmw's. other than that most drivers seem to really respect cyclist where i live.

I NEVER ride in groups here in Miami, because most cyclists on these groups do not care about traffic laws or know how to ride well. This is not to say that drivers are just as bad. On any given day, you can count 3 or 4 people taking red lights, etc. I am surprised that there are not more accidents. But most drivers are really not out to get cyclists, they are into their traffic problems... I remember talking to a gentleman one morning that saw me riding about a mile after a group went by. He said, he would rather get hit by another car than hit a cyclist or a pedestrian. So, he said he kept his distance fron the (crazy) pack. I told him that not all of us are that stupid!

I have noticed over the years I have lived here in Miami, that for some reason no one messes with me. The only times I have had near misses it's because of driver stupidity. But not to provoke confrontantions.

I'd love, however, to get brushed by one of these "Nouvo riches". They will surely learn to pay soon.

[Rover-Rich]

Ok, guys, here is some follow up. I thought about the issues at hand here and also discussed the situation with my wife. I did end up calling the police and making an informal complaint. The issue is how far I want to go with it in terms of charges etc.

The officer I spoke with in the PD was very nice and said she would talk to one of the "guys" to see if he would make a call to the person to talk it over with him. I did ask the PD to apologize to the driver on my behalf for blowing a red light, but also asked them to emphasize to the gentleman what is at stake here. I told the police that I was clearly at fault, but geeze, the guy was in a car and I was on a bike.... what if he cut it too close and I could get out of the way.....

I plan to call back later today to find out what became of everything and I'll keep you posted.

[OldDog]

i had a full can of beer thrown at me once. anyway, i have found that there are basically two types of drivers that have no respect for cyclists. 1. rednecks in pickup trucks. 2. nuovo rich who drive jaguars, mercedes, lexus or the largest bmw's. other than that most drivers seem to really respect cyclist where i live.


I drive a huge Chevy 2500HD. I only harass cyclists who <don't> ride lugged steel and wear woolies.

;)

[BumbleBeeDave]

. . . to report it and get it on the record, but actually swearing out a complaint could easily have been counterproductive. You may have been sure in your own mind that his behavior was menacing, but that's just your interpretation that he was made at you. He could very easily be mad about something else. You just never know . . .

But this way does get it on the record for the future.

I think it's a bit ironic, though, that in this day and age we see so many politicians and police departments concerned about "road rage" when most of these incidents seem to be precipitated by lack of enforcement by the authorities of vehicle laws in the first place. The guy in front of me on the Thruway can drive 40 in the left lane gabbing on his cell phone (which is illegal in NYS) and if I call the Troopers they're unlikely to do anything. But if I do someting like flashing my lights at him to try to get him to pull to the right, I can be cited for "road rage." Ridiculous . . .

BBD

BBD

[Allez!]

"I thought I had timed a light correctly, but instead ended up running a red light."

A yellow light is a pretty good clue that you are out of time. Not taking that into account will rapidly thin our ranks.

It seems like the this driver reacted to your action. Not saying that's right, but fight or flight kicks in - you are right to remind him to use caution - he's operating potentially lethal machinery. I doubt he thought through his reaction at the time.

Bottom line - glad you are ok.

[gone]

I recently had a road rage incident, see

http://forums.thepaceline.net/showthread.php?t=16825

which I reported to the local sheriff. I debated overnight whether or not to and decided to go ahead for two reasons:


The person was convinced they were "right" and would therefore keep doing it until they killed someone
If there were similar incidents where this person lives and especially if there was a hit and run of a cyclist, the sheriff would have a place to start looking


You did the right thing to report it.

[Lincoln]

Redneck politician:

Bicyclists in Oakley beware.

After declaring Wednesday that cyclists should be taxed to use roads, Oakley City Councilman DelRay Hatch said, "so the ones that don't pay I could run over."

Cyclists would be required to display a tag so he could identify people who haven't paid the tax, Hatch said during a meeting the Summit County Commission conducted this week with other elected officials in the area.

[mdeeds71]

I can remember when I was a kid having to register my bike and get these awefull stickers to place on my beloved bike...They were for tracking of stolen bikes, except the police would use them to track the kids who would not follow the rules. After so many infractions...bye bye bike :no: