Conversation with a Bike Lane Blocker

I preset to you a rough transcription of a lovely conversation I had
this morning with a chapping gentleman in Old Town.

<I pull up next to his Mercedes in my bike because he is blocking the
bike lane. I initially just was going to give him a dirty look and ride off, but he rolls down his window, so I decide to talk to him.>

Me: Excuse me, you're parked in a bike lane, would you mind moving your car?

Him: Fuck off.

Me: Hey man, I'm just asking nicely. You're parked illegally.

Him: Is it legal for you guys to run red lights?

Me: That's irrelevant, you're still illegally parked.

Him: I'm not parked, I'm stopped. My flashers are on.

Me: That's the same thing.

Him: Fuck off.

Me: Have a nice day!

 

 

Honestly, I totally expected this behavior and am in no way complaining about this. I actually was quite amused and it made my morning. I just wanted to share it with my fellow Chainlinkers.

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Adam Herstein on August 8, 2012 at 6:32am

Maybe we should just stop feeding the troll.

h' said:

Adam,

If I may suggest an edit to the subject line of this discussion, I'd like to suggest:

 

"Argue senselessly with gun nut (was Conversation with a Bike Lane Blocker)"

Permalink Reply by Paul on August 8, 2012 at 6:40am
Damn, I didn't add the story of the crazy lady in the SUV. Just dropped my 2 cents.
Permalink Reply by Adam Herstein on August 8, 2012 at 6:40am

True, but I've made my point and will stop egging him on.

h' said:

I'm on your side, Adam, really I am, but if you go back and read the last few pages, unless some content is missing/deleted, clearly you're the one egging the gun nut on.

Permalink Reply by Duppie on August 8, 2012 at 6:40am

Or you could not spit in her window? You probably wouldn't have gotten trapped to begin with.

Paul said:

It did not. When trapped and waiting to die I'd like the option.

Duppie said:

You point out the flaw in your own reasoning: In California, he has the right to conceal and carry. But that did not prevent her from acting as a raging lunatic.

So much for your argument that conceal and carry makes the streets safer.



Paul said:

You shouldn't HAVE to. You shouldn't HAVE to worry about woman like her either.

Adam Herstein said:

You can't possibly be serious. Why should I have to arm myself in order to bike safely on the roads?

Paul said:

This is why Illinois needs a concealed carry law. If the cyclist had one her story would be different. In Cali, he had the right to.
Permalink Reply by Paul on August 8, 2012 at 6:46am
Very true, I've never done that anyway.

Duppie said:

Or you could not spit in her window? You probably wouldn't have gotten trapped to begin with.

Paul said:

It did not. When trapped and waiting to die I'd like the option.

Duppie said:

You point out the flaw in your own reasoning: In California, he has the right to conceal and carry. But that did not prevent her from acting as a raging lunatic.

So much for your argument that conceal and carry makes the streets safer.



Paul said:

You shouldn't HAVE to. You shouldn't HAVE to worry about woman like her either.

Adam Herstein said:

You can't possibly be serious. Why should I have to arm myself in order to bike safely on the roads?

Paul said:

This is why Illinois needs a concealed carry law. If the cyclist had one her story would be different. In Cali, he had the right to.
Permalink Reply by magomawe on August 8, 2012 at 7:35am

Agreed. I don't want people lecturing me about the rules of the road. I choose to roll through stop signs when appropriate (which isn't every stop sign) because coming to a complete stop doesn't always make sense.  The people parked in the bike lane often are doing so because it doesn't make sense for them to circle around the blocks for 30 minutes when they only have to drop something off. Give drivers a break, keep the animosity off the streets, and just go around.

in it to win it said:

Thanks Duppie
I was just going to write a very similar reply.


Duppie said:

Driver: Excuse me, you just blew a stop sign, would you mind not doing that again?

Bicyclist: Fuck off.

Driver: Hey man, I'm just asking nicely. You blew a stop sign.

Bicyclist: Is it legal for you guys to park in the bike lane?

Driver: That's irrelevant, you still blew a stop sign.

Bicyclist: I'm not "blowing" the stop sign, I'm just rolling thru it. I was paying attention.

Driver : That's the same thing.

Bicyclist: Fuck off.

Driver: Have a nice day

Permalink Reply by wig [ isaac ] on August 8, 2012 at 8:22am
That's so cool. You stoped and talked about it. Now he's thinking about you every time he repeats his parking move. You might of changed his mind about blocking the bike lane. So he said Fuck you. Just words. We ride in traffic ,fuckyou and shithead are just potholes on our journey.
Permalink Reply by Tony Adams on August 8, 2012 at 8:32am

I was hoping someone would bring this thread back to a sensible discussion. Thanks wig - I agree completely!

wig [ isaac ] said:

That's so cool. You stoped and talked about it. Now he's thinking about you every time he repeats his parking move. You might of changed his mind about blocking the bike lane. So he said Fuck you. Just words. We ride in traffic ,fuckyou and shithead are just potholes on our journey.
Permalink Reply by Will on August 8, 2012 at 9:19am

I am a little bit pickier about my battles. I go around cars parked in the bike lane, but if a vehicle refuses to yield the right of way to a pedestrian, and forces the pedestrian to scramble back to the corner and into my path to avoid getting hit by the vehicle, I'll say something. Yes, that happened to me the other day, and the motorist had the gall to accuse *me* of causing the problem.

Permalink Reply by Carter O'Brien on August 8, 2012 at 10:29am

+1

And to put another way - if the driver never hears anybody tell him this is wrong, why would he/she ever stop the practice? 

Easiest way to avoid getting nagged for violating the rules of the road is to not violate them.  I lump this in the "do the crime, do the time" category (as I do the story of taking a lane of Lincoln Avenue with a bike for a long stretch). 

Honestly, other drivers are far more aggressive regarding expressing displeasure to double parkers every day.

Try double parking so another car can't get past and see what you get.  And if you double park and block a bus so it can't past, you'll be lucky if the bus driver just doesn't sideswipe your car while cursing and/or laughing while doing it.

"Now he's thinking about you every time he repeats his parking move. You might of changed his mind about blocking the bike lane"



wig [ isaac ] said:

That's so cool. You stoped and talked about it. Now he's thinking about you every time he repeats his parking move. You might of changed his mind about blocking the bike lane. So he said Fuck you. Just words. We ride in traffic ,fuckyou and shithead are just potholes on our journey.

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