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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Permalink Reply by Alex on June 3, 2016 at 11:45am

just need to complain to a sympathetic crowd:

someone spat on me while i was riding my bike north on clark near division. I really don't know where it came from, but i think it came from a driver of a cement truck--lots of construction at clark/division right now. fuck chicago. these past 3 days on bike have been really rough.

Permalink Reply by Yasmeen on June 3, 2016 at 1:17pm

That's awful. Some people really suck. :-( I'm sorry that happened to you.

Permalink Reply by Tim on June 9, 2016 at 5:17am

Don't give up. I definitely hear what you are saying, but not everyone spits and swings baseball bats.  I think we all just need to reset and try to be as good to each other as possible and try to do our little parts of stopping this spiraling shitstorm that has been happening lately.

Permalink Reply by Jim Kline on June 6, 2016 at 3:39am

I got flipped off by an 85-year old woman last weekend. it was sort of a slow motion arm and finger raising. Took about 3 full seconds to overcome gravity and arthritis, but she exercised her first amendment rights.

wtf is wrong with these people.

Definitely file a report. Perhaps the police will get of their collective heinies and pay this jerk a visit - ask about the baseball bat. See if he's really on a softball team.

Permalink Reply by Yasmeen on June 8, 2016 at 8:43am

Is it wrong to laugh when my brain is visualizing the 85-year-old flipping you the bird in slo-mo? Oh my gosh does that paint a funny picture. Was her face twisted in anger or smiling or ?

Permalink Reply by Tim on June 9, 2016 at 5:21am

I have some friends that are in construction that I told this story to over the weekend. And they told me that if you keep a bat in your car, you better keep a ball in a glove in your car too, otherwise if you get pulled over, it will be seen as a weapon.  I asked the police about this at our CAPS meeting last night and they said that isn't true. You could carry a tire iron around with you and unless you threaten someone, it's just a bat or just a tire iron.

Permalink Reply by Brian Bender on June 6, 2016 at 6:17am

I have had motorists mouth off, sometimes with hostility. I note the license plate number, say XYZ 123. If it continues at the next stop light, I like to say "Let's both settle down now,  XYZ 123". Helps him imagine that plate number on a police report.

Permalink Reply by Tim on June 9, 2016 at 5:12am

I like that. I've been thinking about instead of yelling back, asking these angry drivers if they need a hug.

Permalink Reply by Dean Bekken on June 8, 2016 at 8:49am
Outraged Cyclist Registry -- Let me be the first entry... if I make it thru summer without a physical encounter with some a-hole, disregard this.
Permalink Reply by ChristopherMCA on June 10, 2016 at 5:23am

What a Jackass!

Permalink Reply by Irvin Steinert on June 14, 2016 at 2:55am

Just wondering why you weren't using the bike lane? Not that you have to or even that you should but from what I can see on google street view there is a really nice bike lake there that I would certainly use if I was riding that way.

Permalink Reply by Tim on June 21, 2016 at 5:36am

Because I turn from Madison onto Franklin, then go up two blocks and turn left onto Randolph. Like I mentioned, cars in the left lane are ALWAYS stopped at either the Washington stoplight or backed up to turn left at Randolph so I am safely and easily able to go up the left side and avoid bothering anyone (except our friend in the BMW this time).  I suppose if you, or this driver wanted to call me on that, you could....  In this particular situation, I slowed down this driver from getting to the line of cars stopped at the stoplight by about 50 feet, then once we both got through the stoplight, he was stopped by the Randolph stoplight and a line of cars stopped waiting to turn left onto Randolph.      If traffic is rally moving and I feel like it's dangerous, I do take the bikelane, but traffic is pretty slow there just after 5 on weekdays.

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