BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

Call the police. Tell them you were assaulted and would like to file a report.

Wow! Sorry to hear about your experience this morning, but glad to see the lessons learned discussion at the end of your post. I will never cease to be amazed at how many people become enraged at the sight of an extended middle finger. Of course, this guy was apparently just looking for an excuse to more clearly demonstrate his feelings toward cyclists. Glad to know your efforts to evade him were ultimately successful.

I agree man, don't engage. It's not worth it. The asshole can't wait to get around you, but has enough time to fuck with you. He doesn't get it and never will.

Sorry you had to go through it.

always disengage. if someone stops their vehicle you should stop too. they will soon look like a fool stopped in traffic and move on. and i could count on one hand the number of people who have gotten out of the car. although one of those people include a bus driver who yelled the C word at me.

What time was this?

Thanks for the support, everyone! Very frustrating, but definitely understand how much it is not worth it. It sucks that this is the way it is, but the reality is that when you're on a bike and in a conflict with a motorized vehicle, no matter how in the right you are, you lose.

And I wasn't even an innocent angel in this, either...

@Lyle - it was this morning around 8:30.

Kind of sounds like the guys intent all along was to f with someone, based on the location it doesn't sound like he would have much trouble getting by if he really wanted to.

Glad you survived unscathed. Should have gotten the plate though, hindsight.

Everyone stay alert and safe.

Your account, though, makes me want to go hunting for black pickup truck. But that would be wrong, and I won't.

This part of the road that GreenfieldBiker describes is two lanes in each direction (freeway in the park!), and a few cars clearly don't understand that they can just change lanes to pass a cyclist. I bike this route every morning, and once every other week or so, some asshole will buzz me by moving over only one foot into the other lane in order to pass.

Too bad Black Scion chick wasn't there to document.

i had someone do this to me once all the way down 18th st from mt oliver, except there was traffic in the opposing lanes when he kept trying to push me over. he lived in my neighborhood and had a very distinctive truck. i think he probably had to replace his driver's side mirror at least 5 or 6 times over the next year.

@ Greenfielder. Sorry to hear of this kind of trouble.

Technical advice - Lots of black pickups have YZZ starting letter. get the last digits and it would be easier to identify.

@cburch: No double flat tires? No missing distributor cap? No smashed windows? Such restraint.

The other day I was riding up Liberty in the bike lane and had a large delivery truck almost run into me as I was passing the Iron City Brewery and he was turning right. I looked to my left as he was turning into me with a shocked look like, WTF are you doing, and he flipped me off. I reacted and he slammed on his brakes, put the truck in park and started to get out. I kept riding up the street. F that noise.

I prefer disapearing valve stem cores. No damage, but a real P-I-T-A.

mick, i did drill out his valve cores once, but it was so much easier to get away with the mirror.

some asshole will buzz me by moving over only one foot into the other lane in order to pass.

I've been using the bikelane up Forbes from Braddock a few mornings lately, and I get buzzed at least once every time. That last bit where the road narrows and they take it out of the bikelane is the worst.

@ lyle I've been using the bikelane up Forbes from Braddock

I've felt that taffic there would be better served by making the sidewalk a shared use trail for the upward trip and putting sharrows in the right downbound lane. But then I travel uphill slowly enough that negotiating with pedestrians is easy.

Does anyone else use the stretch in question going toward Greenfield? Or do you ride the sidewalk. I like to use the road because the sidewalk means crossing a couple more intersections and interaction with peds. getting onto the street from the ramp is dicey though and you have to take the lane to keep people from passing you three wide. It's scary, but efficient.

Lyle, With some practice a claw hammer can be used to yank the entire valve stem out of a rim in one quick motion…

@Lee:

I did once, never again. It is bad having a car pass me when I'm flying down a hill at 30 mph, having them pass when I'm struggling up the hill at 10 mph is very unnerving, and nobody changes lanes.

I take overlook on my way home everyday (map). It might be a little longer, and a bit more elevation, but I have one or two cars pass me, max. The hill is broken up into multiple segments, so it isn't just a long climb like Panther Hollow outbound. Plus, you can watch the people play frisbee golf and enjoy your time on the bike instead of worrying about someone running you over.

@Lee Does anyone else use the stretch in question going toward Greenfield?

I've done it when I've been in hurry and it was well away from rush hour. It is scary.

That road tends to be extreme in differences between rush hour and non-rushhour traffic levels.

A helmet cam would have helped here.

@Lee

Going into Oakland I always use the street. 95% of the time there's no issues--I've been buzzed once and then what happened today are the only times it's been a problem. On the way back to Greenfield, though, I take the sidewalk--it's a bigger uphill on the way back and no should or sidewalk to retreat to on that side if anything did happen.

I wish I didn't have to take the sidewalk, though...I honestly feel it's more dangerous. There are a lot of joggers and walkers on that stretch and many of them are listening to music so they don't hear my bell as I pass.

@GreenfieldBiker consider taking the upper panther hollow trail (map) instead. It is unpaved, but less climbing and wider than the sidewalk. There is a small shortcut that isn't on the google map, right near the yield sign you talked about. It is just a dirt single track, but I can take it without a mountain bike just fine.

Or try Overlook Dr (map).

@dwillen I didn't know that connected! Thanks, I'll give it a try.

see, I love and hate peacefull little routes like that. I love them, because they remove stress from my ride. I hate them, because they remove a visible cyclist from traffic which, clearly, could be better educated about cyclists and how to drive with them. The little chant "We're here. We're cyclists. Deal with it." is silenced. But I do like the severe stress drop things like that can invite. Connundrum.

Ejwme

I wouldnt count on ever educating drivers. had a conversation today about how 'annoying' it is that a guy on a bike will take a lane and let traffic pile up behind him for miles (like that would really happen)

When I made the point that he has the right to the lane and it was really doubtful that traffic would ever really be backed for miles because of a guy on a bike. he responded with he may have the right but I wouldn't be surprised if he ended up dead. (yeah I haven't actually told him he has no future at this company, i'll let him figure it out for himself)

dbacklover - I dont' mean educating like "we have a right to be here, let me explain to you the law" but educating like "we are here and not going away - welcome to the future, time to adapt to change."

There will always be motorists who don't think that cyclists belong on the road... Perhaps a bad analogy, but there will also always be people who smoke cigarettes (which is legal and socially acceptable to many people). It used to be they could light up with impunity anywhere they wanted, not only was it legal but social norms of the day meant they didn't even have to ask. Then they got their own little rooms, then only outside, now they pretty much have to ask or do so surrupticiously at the risk of getting "caught" on a lot of public and private properties around the country. I personally have neighbors who go to their porch to smoke, they won't even smoke inside their own house. Things change. More cyclists on the road is a sign of change. Cyclists avoiding roads just feels like a backwards step. A step I take in self defence many times a week, but it's something that I think about.

Maybe in the city it's less an issue than out where we live, maybe bicycle traffic is a given on most roads, I don't know - I don't ride much in the city (other than socially). But where one cyclists on a road is 100% more than there were last year, route choice can have a serious impact on the visibility of cycling (and perception of its possibility) in a neighborhood.

I've had people tell me "but you can't ride a bike in Penn Hills (or Monroeville)!" I ask why, they say "well, drivers are aweful, and have you ever seen a cyclist on the road in Penn Hills?!?!?! Of course not!!" Some people really have to see others do it before allowing that something is possible. If they don't see it, it doesn't happen, and can't happen.

I take the path well travelled for the most part. I'll use 5th Ave either way from Oakland, for the entire length. I don't mind biking in traffic. I take Panther Hollow inbound everyday (down the hill), but taking it outbound feels like I'm buying a ticket to the ER (or worse). I have been hit on that road before, and that isn't an experience I want to relive. I know if I took it home everyday it wouldn't be if I got in another accident, it would be when. There are too many inattentive and careless drivers exceeding the speed limit on that road. It serves as a shortcut to the freeway and has no place whatsoever in a city park. If it was up to me, they would stripe it one lane in either direction, decrease the speed limit to 25-30 (and enforce it), and paint bike lanes the entire length both ways.

Going inbound, drivers start in a residential areas (Sq. Hill or Greenfield) where traffic calming is already implied. Going outbound, they are coming off Blvd of the Allies, going 50 mph+ at times.

some asshole will buzz me by moving over only one foot into the other lane in order to pass.

Which is why I take the whole lane... forces them into the second lane. If I'm too far to the right, they'll try to fit themselves between me and the double yellow.

I bike 2-3 feet away from the curb. I'm not exactly in the middle, but I'm not hugging the edge either. I think the buzzers aim to get as close as possible, and go as fast as possible, just because they're pissed off there is a bike in the way.

Some guy with a Mercedes convertible buzzed me on Monday on this road, and immediately cut over in front of me in the right lane, only to move completely over to the left lane 10 car lengths down the road before he headed over the bridge onto blvd of the allies. All for no apparent reason (and no turn signals) -- the road was otherwise devoid of traffic. He just wanted to zip around me as close as possible and pull in front of me because I was going slower than he wanted me to.

I'm afraid to admit I drive more than I bike, unfortunately. However, almost all of these aggressive driving scenarios happen to me when I drive (I have a truck - not a sports car, and don't really go anywhere in a hurry).

The consequences of car v. bike are obviously much worse in the event of collision, and emotionally as well for the near misses, etc. But I'm not sure these behaviors are to be chalked up to drivers who "are out to get those f-ing cyclists."

There are just a lot of ass-hats out there driving around pissed-off about having to be behind anybody, whether its my truck or your bicycle.

(I'll repeat my qualifier here: obviously the consequences of car v. bike are much worse, both physically and emotionally.)

I'll agree with ALMKLM. Just went to the dentist and had to drive up Steubenville Pike. Four teens in a Nissan Altima tried to force their way in front of me by passing in the turning lane. I didn't let them in, so they dropped back, pulled into a parking lot on the right, and tried to pass me in the parking lot.

I chalk it up to people just being terrible drivers and not understanding the consequences of things going wrong. Unless you've been hit by a car (in a car, on a bike, on foot), it's hard to understand the sheer force of a wreck.

ALMKLM: I drive too, way less than I bike, but I tend to drive the speed limit, and stop at stop signs. I deal with a lot of the same shit I deal with on my bike. Not quite as much, but it certainly is still there. There are a lot of people that see a bike, and think "boy I really need to get around that guy". I believe it happens less often with a car, if both were traveling the same speed.

Where I really notice it is school zones. I slow to 15mph in school zones when the lights are on, whether I'm driving a truck, a car, or a bike. In the truck or car, other cars slow down behind me, and it's only about once per year that I end up with someone on my rear bumper honking, yelling, etc. When it's single lane (like Ellsworth Ave by Liberty School), no one tries to pass me when I'm driving a motor vehicle.

When I'm doing 15mph on a bike, however, people routinely honk, yell, or make a point of passing me, often buzzing me.

+1 ALMKLM I also drive a truck and get the same thing all the time. When i get an asshat like that tailgating me i tend to slow down to about 3 or 4 mph below the speed limit and watch them go nuts. or if i'm in a bad mood i brake check them (but only if there are no cyclists/pedestrians/etc around that might get hurt by a fender bender) not the best form i know, but tailgaters piss me off like few other things.

Be careful brake-checking tailgaters. I used to do it, too. Then one day last year I did it to a guy in a minivan who'd been going about 35 over the speed limit until he caught up to me, at which time he tucked in about 3' behind my Jeep. After the next stop sign, I stopped then went as per usual. He rolled through with me, still right on my bumper. I brake checked, then accelerated as usual. He shot around me on the shoulder, cut in front, and slammed on his brakes. I couldn't avoid plowing him. Sucky scenario all around.

He shot around me on the shoulder, cut in front, and slammed on his brakes. I couldn't avoid plowing him.

Please tell me there were the 3rd party witnesses who gave statements to the police regarding that guy's asshattery.

In a ideal world, police would give tickets to tailgaters.

And, since in an ideal world, anyone who gets a bad driving ticket would not be allowed to drive away, he would have to get a taxi home.

But alas! In the world we live in, cars rule.

Unfortunately, Noah, nope. Nobody else stopped. No witnesses to work with. As such, the other driver told the trooper that he stopped for stopped traffic and I ran into the back of him. I told the trooper the real story - there was no stopped traffic in front of him, he caused the crash on purpose. The trooper said he believe me, but without witnesses he couldn't do anything. "Your word against his, even though I believe you." In the end I was responsible for my damage and he his. The whole situation sucks and it wouldn't have happened (to me at least) had I not brake-checked.

I Stopped brake checking a few years ago, because if I check.. and they hit me, even tho it may be their fault, its still a hassle, I still have a wrecked car, etc. If I have someone tailgating, I just slow down gradually. almost always they will back off.