BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

This car's driver purposely drove as close as he could while I was riding down Greenfield Rd toward the bridge. I had just left Schenley Park. I was hugging the curb, very close, like 1 foot away. The road is nearly 2 lanes wide going down, so he had plenty of room.

I caught up to him when he parked at Rialto Pizza and said "Thanks for giving me a little leeway back there on Greenfield." He replies "Learn how to ride that thing, F#ck You." I say "I was hugging the curb, and there was lots of room for you, FU buddy."

Pontiac Gran Prix with a grand, prick driver, pass it on.

Glad his car did not touch you - what a jerk!

Please report - great that you got the plate.

i've had more people be jerks on that road that just about anywhere i can imagine. even in a car, if you're only doing 10 over, someone has to pass you to stop on the bridge. nuts!

glad you made it through with no scratches!

I think I would have been tempted to add "by the way, nice chick car, dude". I'll bet that would grate the heck out of him, hee, hee. No offense meant to the chicks.

Glad you're ok.

I live in Greenfield, and travel this road daily. I don't usually have trouble, but when I do, it is usually at a high rate of speed. The limit is only 25 mph, and I know I go down that hill well in excess of that.

Usually it is someone pinching me into the cement barriers going around the corner to the bridge. I've had that happen at least 20 times. Every time I've caught up to the driver at the stop light and explained that they almost killed me. Sometimes they shrug, sometimes they give me the 'ol FU.

I had a driver from Rialtos bump me into some parked cars not far from there. Dude was wearing his Rialtos shirt. He cussed me out and gave me the "share the road" speech. I called and asked for a manger, told them what happened. I haven't given them a cent since. This wasn't his car, but maybe he upgraded?

I'm certain my speed was right around the 25 mph limit. When his fender came up next to me, I just thought, jeez that car is close. Then I got the feeling that he was purposely doing it because he hung there next to me for a while before zooming off. He had no idea I was still behind him when he parked.

It wasn't scary or anything, just annoying.

A dump truck did this to me this morning on the 62nd St bridge. I usually let stuff like this roll off me, but after he looked me right in the eye in his mirror and gave me the finger, I gave chase.

I planned to ask him what kind of man bullies a cyclist with a 3 ton dump truck, and then asking him if he'd like to even the odds by stepping out of his cage. I had a bad night, I was tired I was ready to fight.

Didn't catch him. I'm built like a typical cyclist. He was built like a typical construction worker. Probably wouldn't have gone well for me, much like the truck vs bike situation.

Didn't get a plate or notice a company name on the truck. It was all red, maybe rattle-canned, was making his way through Etna headed towards Millvale last I saw him.

I'm not usually one to condone violence, but stupid people sometimes only respond to simple stimuli. Try to threaten me with your truck, get a fist to the nose at the next light. No rationalizing, no talking, just simple cause and effect.

But violence would probably just beget more violence and the next dude on a bike would probably get the retaliation meant for me.

Hmm, I suppose in an ideal fantasy situation, I would hope I would have the coolness of head to just...blow the guy a kiss. And laugh at him. Because yes stupid miserable people respond to simple stimuli, and violence would be exactly what that guy would expect. But I can't imagine anything that would piss off a neanderthal more than having some silly biker blow him a kiss and laugh at him. That would be my goal. But in a real situation, don't know if I could keep that cool.

Four words: valve stem core remover.

I have found that you can hear the difference between a car about to buzz you and a car about to pass you safely. I have to perfect putting my left arm out and smacking the side of the car without losing control. Then I have to perfect putting my left foot out and hitting the car with my mtb shoes. There was a rich bitch in a hurry on Ellsworth earlier this week that buzzed me even though I took the lane and there was no one in the opposing traffic lane. I wish I could have scraped my shoe across her white Mercedes, hoping to leave a mark (probably would wash off, though).

I came here to post what Nick said.

Also when I get back into town Im going to talk to Nick about printing me some large bumper stickers that say something along the lines of "I support the NAMBLA (National Association of Man-Boy Love) or something similar and start slapping them on the back of cars that drive like jack offs.

+1 NAMBLA

While my preferred response to someone who buzzes me is more confrontational, putting a sticker on someones car is not a good idea. There are a few things that are "sacred", and vehicles are one of them. You don't mess with someones car, bike, bicycle, or whatever form of transportation they may use. I know this is not an unusual thing and I don't think it would bring a favorable response from the driver. On the other hand, putting something on the glass will not damage the paint and is easily removed and sometimes harder to spot.

That being said, I have, and will again, tap the side of a vehicle to make a point if they are close enough.

When I was younger and crazier, I thought about riding in something like this. They were in style, in certain circles;



But as I have become older and so much more sensible, I realize that this would have caused much more trouble than it solved.

Seems like Gaga is bringing this back though.

Weighted gloves are also considered a concealed weapon. Don't get caught with them, even if you've never punched anyone.

Is a U-Lock a concealed weapon? Just sayin...

You don't mess with someones car

What about dog poop under the door handle? That will wash off - eventually.

muahahahahahahahahahaha

dog poop.

having a dog, and now that idea, I'm very glad I'm too slow to ever catch up with jagoff drivers.

Rialto's pizza... even bad pizza is better than theirs.

[*nevermind]

There are a few things that are "sacred", and vehicles are one of them. You don't mess with someones car, bike, bicycle, or whatever form of transportation they may use.

I get the underlying sentiment here, but this just seems like an opinion.

Without wanting to be too overly confrontational, I think it's equally valid to say "There are a few things that are 'sacred' and personal safety is one of them. You don't mess with someone by purposely intimidating and threatening them."

Vigilante-style sticker-based retribution may be wrong and/or upsetting, but it is way less wrong and dangerous than driving in a way such that experienced cyclists feel crunched and could provoke a collision.

I agree that tapping on the window might be a better solution in some cases (if nothing else, to demonstrate that you caught up) but there's rarely time for much of a conversation.

Did a few of the comments about stickers get deleted from this thread or am I imagining things?

[edit] nevermind again....similar things happening over here.

if a car is passing close enough for me to touch it, 9 times out of 10 i will slap the shit out of their passenger door. makes a nice loud noise when the wedding ring hits it. people freak out and i respond that if they are close enough for me to hit their car they are too god damn close. i had a nice running argument with a dick in a benz over this last week. until he got too chicken shit to follow me into homewood.

Seems like Bike-PGH may be removing posts promoting vandalism of personal property via stickers?

I can't recall the exact posts missing though.

I, for one, have also been reading the thread at http://bike-pgh.org/bbpress/topic/hazard-lights-park-anywhere-button and have surely been conflating this one and that one.

^ what @ieverhart says.

I got the two threads totally mixed up!!!

@AtLeastMyKids there is http://pittsburgh.mybikelane.com/ for bike lane violations.

yinzdriverssuck.com?

jagoffswithroadrage.com?

I'm not having a creative day, but the possibilities are endless. If one already exists, that would be better

forgot to say - TeamDecaf, very glad you emerged unharmed from the situation. Actually, really impressed that you caught up with the guy and had a camera with such nice resolution to document it.

Yess! Something like that. We need a catchy web address.

How 'bout weaponsonwheels.pittsburgh.net

smallpenisbigcar.org

deathboxpgh.org

aggro-driver.pgh.net

sharetheroadpgh.org

pittsburgh.entitleddriver.net

@ejwme - I love my smart phone, so handy and Tag-O-Riffic!

Ride further left.

I tried looking up GGY-4087 on the internet.

Nothing useful came up ("Pay us money to get license info!"), but now this thread will, if anyone else looks him up.