I was returning from a bike ride on Christmas Eve when I paused, then started to make a left turn at a four-way stop in my neighborhood.
A brown Ford Explorer pulls out in the intersection toward me. I sit up in the saddle, yell, “Hey,” and point at myself then him — sign language for “First me, then you.”
He blows his horn, I look back (by this time I'm out of the intersection) and flip the bird at him and his laughing buddy. Then I wheel the bike around to start to give chase. Fortunately several generations of conflict avoidance kick in to supress my reptilian rage.
Three blocks from my house and I'm flipping off a guy in a SUV? On Christmas Eve? What's going on here?
I've cursed at and flipped off drivers. You've probably done it. The blogger at Greg's Soapbox / Therapy Couch admits doing it. I'm sure the bicyclist in the previous post (“Bus passenger assaults cyclist in Portland on film”) had a few choice words. Heck, even Lance Armstrong does it.
In court papers filed last year, a former Armstrong aide, Mike Anderson claimed his boss had frequent incidents with motorists during training rides and was prone to “making obscene gestures at motorists and to catching them at stop lights and stop signs and cussing at them.” (See page 7, countersuit to Lance Armstrong vs. Mike Anderson.)
Is it understandable?
Absolutely. Since before starting this blog, I've often heard too many cases of inconsiderate or unconscious motorists not sharing the road and killing or injuring cyclists. It pisses me off when a driver wants to make me a victim.
Is it a good idea?
Probably not. Most motorists wouldn't realize the mistake and would merely chalk it up to a lunatic of two wheels. Anyway, road rage is bad enough when you're locked in by a seatbelt and surrounded by metal; it's downright terminal when you're protected by only a helmet.
If you'd like, take a couple of seconds to leave a comment on your feelings. At least take the poll on the right hand side of the page; I'd like to know what you think.
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