Well, I think a lot of us have been there. We've had a weird, scary, too-close-for-comfort interaction with a motorist. It could be due to driver inattention or downright overt aggression. It could have been your fault or no fault of your own. Do you have a riding story involving a motorist you'd like to share?
I live in Fredericksburg, VA, a small city built on a grid. We have an historic district here, many streets are narrow with one-way traffic. There are a few two-lane arteries designed to move cars. Posted speeds are 25 mph (I always drive slower and leave my truck in 2nd gear). People drive like maniacs on certain residential streets, sometimes reaching 50mph. I often wish for more traffic calming infrastructure, crosswalks, speed tables and the like.
In March 2021 I was riding my bike to the bike shop, about a 1.5 mile trip. I was heading down a one-way street through a residential neighborhood with street parking on the right and long, grassy, landscaped park on the left. I was riding to the right side of the street. This section of road has one lane and it is unusually wide. There is room for someone to comfortably pass a cyclist.
Someone honked their horn at me but not in the "Hi, heads up, I'm about to pass you please and thanks" sort of way but the "Get the fork off the road!" kind of way. It was startling. I responded by taking the lane, which is legal for cyclists in Virginia. I rode dead center in the middle of the lane. I hoisted a one-finger salute and carried on riding. I rode in the middle of the lane for approximately 100 feet before making a turn.
Yes, this was an escalation. And it was a bad decision. I don't think I'm alone in feeling frustrated by displays of impatience and aggression from drivers and feel that I have certain rights as a human person to ride safely. It is sometimes difficult not to react in the moment. Motorists might be not only impatient but totally deranged. Road rage is real. And drivers are behind the wheel of a vehicle that is easily weaponized. With just a feather of the gas pedal or a slight turn of the wheel they can inflict irrevocable damage to a cyclist.
The driver responded to my salute by getting within a few feet of my back wheel. When I made a turn to carry on to the bike shop, they followed. I could hear them revving their engine behind me and feathering the gas to get close to my back wheel but not quite hit me. I continued to ride in the middle of the road.
I heard something hit the street next to me. It was an unopened aluminum can of a carbonated beverage (I didn't go back to check out whether it was soda, beer or seltzer). Acknowledging the projectile I decided I had to bail and get up on the sidewalk or somehow turn around to where the car could not get to me.
As soon as I moved to the side to take a driveway apron up onto the sidewalk the car passed me, then got right in front of me and slammed on their brakes. I braked hard and managed not to do an endo onto their trunk or hit their vehicle. The straddle cable hanger came loose from the front brake cable. The driver sped off. I did not get their plates.
A few days later I went around the neighborhood and knocked on every door with a doorbell camera that was along the path of my interaction with the driver. Everyone I asked checked their footage but only one came back with anything showing me or the driver. There was a clip of the driver revving their engine behind me and throwing the can. You can see the can fly through the air and hear it land in the street. I got a good profile shot of the car (2005 Acura TL, maroon with custom window trim), but no view of the tags.
This is, by far, the worst interaction I've had with a motorist. I've only been riding for a few years. There are others that aren't nearly as bad but still register as scary and unnecessary. They most often occur when a vehicle is passing. I find that a lot if not all of the hairy situations I've experienced with motorists would not have occurred if the drivers had demonstrated just 5 to 10 seconds of patience.
