Threatening driver registry
I had something happen today that I've never seen before.
On my way home from work, I was riding in the left lane on Franklin and just before Washington, a guy in a black BMW came up from behind me and almost pinned me between him and a parked taxi. I yelled and he swerved and passed me calling me a pussy- then he stopped about 50 feet ahead at the stoplight. Here is where things got weird. I passed him on the left just before Randolph and as I passed him, he reached out and tried to grab me. He had to stop at the light again and when he did, he slammed on his breaks and I think he took off his seatbelt and reached into the backseat and showed me a baseball bat. The whole time continuing to calling me a pussy and hurling gay slurs.
I ride hard, but I'm safe and way more considerate than 90% of people out there. I've also been riding year round since 2003 and have had my share of yelling matches with drivers. As and "older" guy with a family, who has seen a lot, I've been riding more cautious and safer than ever, but things keep getting weirder out there. This is the first time someone has tried to grab me and the first to threaten me with a baseball bat.
It's really disheartening, everyone is getting more aggressive and less respectful out there. And more than anything, I kind of feel sorry for a guy who has a baseball bat at the ready in his back seat.
I am assuming that the police can't really do anything. Besides being a giant A-hole and a homophobe, I'm sure the law doesn't really care about his threats like this. What I am more concerned about is if this guy has a habit of doing this and if he turns those threats into action sometime. There should be some record of his pattern of threatening behavior. I am the first to forgive people, and I know that we all make mistakes, but the more I think about this situation, the more concerned I get about this guy actually hurting someone. So is there a place to report this kind of activity? maybe we should start a threatening driver registry if it doesn't already exist. in the meantime...watch out for a black BMW SUV with Illinois plates R24 1979
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Tim on
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Some bikers break the laws. Some cars break the rules. This guy started out by breaking the 3 ft law after I was legally riding down the road. Then reached out to grab me and pulled out a baseball bat.
I let bikers know when they are being dumb if I see something that they do is dumb...just so everyone stays safe. Not all cyclists break all the rules. Like I said, I ride harder and faster than most people out there, I have a long commute and I want to get home to see my family. That doesn't mean that I cut people off, shoal other bikers or cars or ride recklessly. I'm sure I inadvertently make mistakes and annoy drivers sometimes. That's why I don't go around generalizing or stereotyping, Michael. Cars make mistakes sometimes too, by accident, that's why I think hitting, tapping or punching or spitting at a car is completely counter productive; it just makes the situation worse all around.
As V W said, you are victim blaming me for being threatened with a vehicle and with a bat. I'm the first to admit when I do something wrong, but my only crime here was being a guy on a bike riding home from work.
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Permalink Reply by Michael Mackaplow on
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1. Just to be clear I was not blaming Tim for this incident it sounds like the driver acted inappropriately. 2. To respond to VW, when I said I see cyclists regularly "blow through stop signs", I am not talking Idaho stops. I mean the cyclist goes through the stop without slowing down even if the car is waiting. I see this very very frequently.
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Permalink Reply by V W on
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Ah okay it just seemed like an odd point to make in a non sequitur way as if you were looking to shoehorn in an issue that doesn't really relate to this topic.
I also think it's counterproductive to equate car bad behavior with bike bad behavior. It comes off much like saying "all lives matter" in response to the BLM movement- as more of a "hush" or "clean up your own house before you talk about mine" than a real counterpoint. Especially given that the harm done by cyclists to non cyclists is minimal by comparison to deaths involving motor vehicles.
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Permalink Reply by Yasmeen on
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I think the best place to discuss issues you have with cyclists is a different thread.
As a cyclist, like many of us, I worry about safety as well as the perception of cyclists on the street. Like many cyclists, I've also been sandwiched by cars more often than I can count - probably because the driver is on their phone or not paying attention to their surroundings. This driver took it one step further and escalated the situation with a bat and threatened the cyclist. If that was me and I posted about it, if someone posted that cyclists break laws all the time, I would be upset. Not only for lumping all of us together as "law breakers" but posting about the law breaking on a thread where the driver threatened the cyclist.
"Bikers have a higher frequency of blowing through traffc signals and getting angry at drivers that respond angrily to this."
I can see why this would be interpreted as "victim blaming" so I am glad you cleared it up that you weren't blaming Tim. Better to have that conversation separate of this one.
We probably notice the law breakers far more than those that do stop and ride their bikes safely. Studies have concluded cyclists aren't breaking the laws more than drivers and to VW's point, a car/SUV/truck is far more dangerous when they blow a stop sign/light or text and drive.
We often imagine these reckless New York bike messenger-like people, Marshall says. The criticism gathered by the survey was sometimes quite venomous, he said, even when discussing perfectly legal maneuvers, such as coming into and taking the lane.
“People think that is rude.”
The study gathered similar rates of infraction — 8 percent to 9 percent for drivers, and 7 to 8 percent for cyclists. And when Marshall researched the reasons a cyclist might break a traffic law, it turns out they are doing it for nearly the same reasons that a driver would, but with one difference.
Drivers and pedestrians will drive through or walk against a red light to save time.
“They’re not trying to be reckless or rude,” Marshall said. “Cyclists, they’re doing it for their own personal safety or perceived safety. They felt like they’re more visible.”
On a transportation grid designed with cars in mind, Marshall says cyclists are acting on what they perceive is better for their safety. It is a rational choice in a cyclist’s decision-making, he said. At a red light with no other cars crossing, a cyclist can get a head start on the next block.
http://www.pri.org/stories/2015-07-18/survey-finds-bicyclists-and-m...
In Tim's case, not only did the driver nearly hit him, he also threatened him with a bat he had ready and waiting. That's pretty frightening - that driver, prone to anger and taunting, keeps a bat ready to threaten and possibly hit someone with.
More than anything, I think there is a false perception by motorists that they have more of a right to the road than cyclists.
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Permalink Reply by Dean Bekken on
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When safe, I go thru reds (toward end of cycle) to stay ahead of traffic, esp. when infrastructure does not protect me. Ride Augusta's lanes, you find yourself zoomed at just past Damen, Western, etc... wherever ROW is narrower to accommodate oncoming turn lanes. Jump the green and you're in the bike lane just as traffic catches up. Duh.
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Permalink Reply by Rich S on
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I disagree. Drivers exceed speed limits so casually that it doesn't register that they're breaking the law until they see a cop with a radar gun. Which sadly CPD doesn't do except on Lake Shore Drive and in O'Hare. And someone speeding can break the law for minutes or even hours at a time if they're on the interstate.
In my experience, bikers are worse than drivers with red lights. Drivers are worse than cyclists when it comes to speeding and using that damn phone while driving. Neither come to a full and complete stop at stop signs on anything resembling a consistent basis.
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Not all incidents of law breaking are created equal. A cyclist tends to put himself at risk whereas a driver presents a greater risk to others. Cyclists can rack up ten or a hundred times the traffic infractions but that quantity doesn't translate to the body count caused by vehicular infractions.
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Funny how almost all of the talk about law-breaking cyclists ignores the fact that the speed limit is a law which is routinely broken by drivers but not cyclists. At this very moment, there are millions drivers continuously breaking the law all across the U.S. but how many cyclists?
I'm not a fan of cyclists who blow reds, but I'm perfectly comfortable with rolling a stop sign at 5 MPH when there are no pedestrians or cross traffic. The average driver in my neighborhood rolls them at a much faster speed than that.
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Another +1. My observation is that most cars rolling through stop signs do so at 10-15 mph. I've also observed an increasing number of cars, and some bikes, ignoring stop signs completely when making right turns.
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One last point on this: As I walked to and from lunch through the Loop and River North today, I counted 8 motor vehicles illegally stopped in the middle of a cross walk or sidewalk, obstructing pedestrians who had the right of way. (I did not attempt to count how many vehicles were parked illegally in some other manner, because that would take all afternoon.) These motorists were all breaking the law, some in a rather dangerous manner, but I'm sure they'd all be outraged if they saw a cyclist complete a careful Idaho stop.
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It seems that the vast majority of threats, collisions, and buzzings are performed by middle-aged or older drivers. (Basing this on personal experience and media reports I have read.) This is the group most likely to think that a cyclist proceeding in a legal manner is doing something horrible.
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