ESH IMO, the “Not gonna let them pass me crowd” is almost as dangerous as the wreckless driver crowd. Just let them pass, if you feel they are breaking the law then report them accordingly.
Stop taking the law into your own hands, it’s dangerous.
on a single file one-way side street with 2 designated bike lanes. He was furious that I wouldn’t let him speed past him
The description is weird, but it sounds to me like there’s 1 lane for cars and 2 (narrow) bike lanes on either side and the biker was in the middle to prevent him from passing
They were just driving responsibly from the sounds of it.
That may be so, but pulling to the side to let an aggressive driver pass you is the smarter choice. Especially on a bike. Bike vs Car faceoffs usually don’t end well for the biker.
You may have missed the part where the driver of the BMW “hopped the curb” “at 70”. I have some doubts about the speed, but if you’re going over a curb at speed to try to pass someone, you’re in the wrong.
Never said he wasn’t, but the biker was also putting his and his kids life at risk just to make a statement. The same type of aggressive driver who will “hop the curb at 70” are also the same who are unpredictable and could lose it and run you over.
Is taking the law into your own hands just to make a statement really worth your or your children’s lives? When you could have just avoided the entire situation by pulling to the side and letting the aggressive driver pass while you noted down the license plate?
Sorry, that wasn’t my point. If the driver had to hop a curb to threaten the cyclist, how would the cyclist have been able to simply “pulled to the side” to let him past when there’s a curb between them.
Ah gotcha, yea the OOP post isn’t particularly clear, but from my understanding there was a time before the driver got fully enraged where the biker could have pulled off onto the curb themselves
It does seem like there’s something “off” about that description. Itd be interesting to know where this all happened.
I can imagine a driver raging at a cyclist and then later chasing them and hopping a curb to threaten. Or hopping the curb onto a sidewalk to pass them and swerving back onto the road in a threatening manner. Both strike me as very much dangerous and disproportionate reactions to having to go a bit slow for 30 seconds.
The swerving at them was when coming back off the curb into the road, I think. If there was a curb between them, there’s no way the cyclist was preventing him from passing.
As a car-owner and someone who’s glad to now live in an area with phblic transportation I can confidently say that people are just astoundingly stupid, short-sighted, and impatient. Also blind, apparently, because they will ride my ass, cut someone off beside me to rip by, only to jump in front of me and slam the brakes because I’m not going slower than the people in front of me just because I’m leaving space. They’re in an SUV and my BRZ is barely over 4’ tall so they should be able to see just fine. If I’m really lucky I get to watch them pull into slower traffic beside me just because there’s some space for half a second and then have to wait for me to pass them after they got stuck behind the large truck that was always there but they somehow missed. And since it’ll need being said my top speed on the highway is plenty fast so if I’m not doing it it’s because there’s traffic and we all can’t go any faster.
People fucking suck and are stupid as hell, and rich or pseudo-rich Torontonians try really hard to be the best at being the worst, especially when they get the pleasure of endangering a person on a bicycle. I’m not the least bit surprised by any of this.
I think Canada should be ashamed of the 401. Widest Highway in North America, and the competition is fierce. Good on you for distancing yourself from this.
Lots of drivers pass too close and too fast, and the majority of the time they want to zoom past me only to roll stop through the next stop sign or wait for me to arrive at the crosswalk and press the light. They’ll also stop if a car is parking, or another car coming in the opposite. Nah, they can wait for me on my bike or they can use another any of the 100 roads specifically designated for them.
Though, not all the time. If I’m taking the lane it’s for a reason. It doesn’t help when drivers then use that moment to ride up right behind me. Car drivers treat bikers like shit and expect to be treated like royalty.
ESH IMO, the “Not gonna let them pass me crowd” is almost as dangerous as the wreckless driver crowd. Just let them pass, if you feel they are breaking the law then report them accordingly.
Stop taking the law into your own hands, it’s dangerous.
It’s a one lane one way street, there’s nothing to let them pass though. They were just driving responsibly from the sounds of it.
The description is weird, but it sounds to me like there’s 1 lane for cars and 2 (narrow) bike lanes on either side and the biker was in the middle to prevent him from passing
That may be so, but pulling to the side to let an aggressive driver pass you is the smarter choice. Especially on a bike. Bike vs Car faceoffs usually don’t end well for the biker.
You may have missed the part where the driver of the BMW “hopped the curb” “at 70”. I have some doubts about the speed, but if you’re going over a curb at speed to try to pass someone, you’re in the wrong.
I think that description is a little suspect. If you hop a curb at 70, your car is getting jacked up.
Never said he wasn’t, but the biker was also putting his and his kids life at risk just to make a statement. The same type of aggressive driver who will “hop the curb at 70” are also the same who are unpredictable and could lose it and run you over.
Is taking the law into your own hands just to make a statement really worth your or your children’s lives? When you could have just avoided the entire situation by pulling to the side and letting the aggressive driver pass while you noted down the license plate?
Sorry, that wasn’t my point. If the driver had to hop a curb to threaten the cyclist, how would the cyclist have been able to simply “pulled to the side” to let him past when there’s a curb between them.
Ah gotcha, yea the OOP post isn’t particularly clear, but from my understanding there was a time before the driver got fully enraged where the biker could have pulled off onto the curb themselves
It does seem like there’s something “off” about that description. Itd be interesting to know where this all happened.
I can imagine a driver raging at a cyclist and then later chasing them and hopping a curb to threaten. Or hopping the curb onto a sidewalk to pass them and swerving back onto the road in a threatening manner. Both strike me as very much dangerous and disproportionate reactions to having to go a bit slow for 30 seconds.
The swerving at them was when coming back off the curb into the road, I think. If there was a curb between them, there’s no way the cyclist was preventing him from passing.
Edit: crappy drawing
Most likely one contraflow bike lane, plus one car lane with sharrow, like this.
Also, bike needs to be in the center of the lane to avoid the door-zone.
Nah, let em kill me. Fuck it.
Reckless drivers would be quite wreckful.
Into a red light though? Sounds like there’s more to the story
As a car-owner and someone who’s glad to now live in an area with phblic transportation I can confidently say that people are just astoundingly stupid, short-sighted, and impatient. Also blind, apparently, because they will ride my ass, cut someone off beside me to rip by, only to jump in front of me and slam the brakes because I’m not going slower than the people in front of me just because I’m leaving space. They’re in an SUV and my BRZ is barely over 4’ tall so they should be able to see just fine. If I’m really lucky I get to watch them pull into slower traffic beside me just because there’s some space for half a second and then have to wait for me to pass them after they got stuck behind the large truck that was always there but they somehow missed. And since it’ll need being said my top speed on the highway is plenty fast so if I’m not doing it it’s because there’s traffic and we all can’t go any faster.
People fucking suck and are stupid as hell, and rich or pseudo-rich Torontonians try really hard to be the best at being the worst, especially when they get the pleasure of endangering a person on a bicycle. I’m not the least bit surprised by any of this.
It’s been a good three years since I had to gaze upon any traffic situations on Turtle Island. I don’t miss it
I think Canada should be ashamed of the 401. Widest Highway in North America, and the competition is fierce. Good on you for distancing yourself from this.
Lots of drivers pass too close and too fast, and the majority of the time they want to zoom past me only to roll stop through the next stop sign or wait for me to arrive at the crosswalk and press the light. They’ll also stop if a car is parking, or another car coming in the opposite. Nah, they can wait for me on my bike or they can use another any of the 100 roads specifically designated for them.
Though, not all the time. If I’m taking the lane it’s for a reason. It doesn’t help when drivers then use that moment to ride up right behind me. Car drivers treat bikers like shit and expect to be treated like royalty.