go ahead and hit me then!(long)

[protege]

I'm probably the only person that's been rear-ended by an idiot on a bike. I was at the end of a very long, slow-moving, constantly stopping line of cars. No sooner did I get up to 5mph when I'd have to stop again. Anyway, after the car in front of me suddenly stopped, I did the same. Crunch

I turned around, and saw someone's face plastered against my rear window! Apparently, the idiot came around the corner too fast, ran the stop light, and couldn't stop in time. And yes, he did bitch about how I "stopped suddenly. I told him what he could do with himself , since last time I checked, it was *his* fault--he hit me.

Most bicyclists (locally) have similar attitudes. To them, traffic laws are for cars only. I've seen several blow through stop signs, and nearly get hit. When drivers then blow their horns, the idiot on the bike usually flips them off. I don't know why they act like that, especially since my vehicle (about 2,000 pounds) is about 10 or so times heavier than theirs. In other words, if a bike hits me, at most I'll get a dented door or cracked windshield. They, on the other hand, will get messed up.

With that said, I try to give them plenty of room, and beep the horn when I'm about to pass them.

[Acolyte]

One time as I was biking home from a mall, I was going down one of the busiest streets in the city, trying not to die. So, as I go in front of the Wendy's parking lot, two dumb bitches sitting in their car decide to honk at me right as I'm in front of their car. Not a 'GET OUT OF THE WAY!' honk, since there was no way they could have merged. No, they were just fucking with me.

Said honk naturally made me jump a bit. However, since I was already in a bad mood, I 'jumped' a bit more then I needed to, causing my steel-toed shoe to turn their left headlight into a shattered heap of glass and plastic.

They had it coming, though. If I'd fallen off, I'd be dead. No word of a lie, it was a BUSY road. After smashing the light, I promptly booked it.

[Rapscallion]

My mother got rearended by a motorbiker when she was going around a roundabout. He was too close and ended up bouncing off and going out of control.

He and his passenger were more concerned about their bike than my mother - a registered nurse - was about their possible injuries. We found out the reason a little later when our insurance company told us that the biker was claiming it was my mother's fault. Fortunately, my mother had witnesses.

It turned out that the guy had bought his bike some hour or so before and not got around to getting insurance, so he was trying to claim from ours. It didn't happen.

Rapscallion

[blas]

I always thought my neck of the woods was the home of the most retarded pedestrians and bicyclists.

I will always yield for pedestrians at crosswalks...don't get me wrong.......

But, see....we have a small problem with pedestrians around here.......if anyone recalls my hallucination of a fire hydrant being a person and me slamming on my brakes because I thought that "person" was going to make a break for it......it's because this place is infamous for idiot pedestrians who will run out in the middle of any road....even the highways. I've been driving down the main highway to get back to my old house, 6 lane highway.......green light approaching......only to jam on my brakes and nearly rear end the person in front of me (and nearly get rear ended by several people myself...thank God we were all paying attention) because some dumb kids decided to run out in the middle of a 6 lane highway when the north and southbound lanes had a green light! Those kids should have gotten hit.

I was driving home from work pretty drowsy the other day, same highway, just headed south instead of north, and had to jam my brakes again because some random idiot appeared out of nowhere, and jumped the median and darted across the busy highway.

We have pedestrians who like to mess with people, too. I was leaving McDonalds one Friday after doing my laundry, and was taking a service road to get on to the main highway, and I see a teenaged guy on the side of the road. He's gonna dart, I think to myself, I better slow down. He stays where he is. Ok, he's a smart one, I think to myself, and start to accelerate, thinking he's waiting for me. Nope.....he then DARTS into the middle of the road, and I slam my brakes. He stops in the middle of the road and stares at me. I wait. He starts walking slowly, I start creeping slowly. He stops again, almost all the way across. I'm pissed at this point and honk at him with my middle finger proudly erect and visible for him. So then the moron goes back to the middle of the road, and starts walking slowly the other way. That's when I no longer care if I hit him or not and slam the gas and rip and tear away before the moron can play that game with me anymore. That kid needs to get a life.

On to bicyclists....they do not belong in the road with regular traffic! We have bicycle lanes on nearly every road just for bicyclists because they aren't allowed on the sidewalks, yet they all seem to think they are the next Lance Armstrong, and start peddling along and following traffic. Most of these people can't peddle any faster than 10 mph......can't go around them, you never know what they might do next........I always honk and scream at them to get out of the way.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Somebody gets out of their car to confront another driver, I assume one of two things:

1. Crazy, or
2. Armed and crazy.

Nobody gets out of their car to confront another driver unless it's one of these two things. Why? Because so many people are packing! You get out and confront someone who has a really good chance of being armed, you are either nuts, or nuts and equally armed! And if someone does it to me, then they damn well better not get between my car and a clean getaway, because I will not hesitate to run over their crazy, armed ass.

I'm not waiting to get shot by some nutjob to find out if they're armed or what. No. I will be either:

1. Gone by then, or
2. Gone by then with their crazy ass plastered across my grill.

Which just goes to show...NEVER get out and approach another driver. They might be crazy.

[protege]

Somebody gets out of their car to confront another driver, I assume one of two things:

1. Crazy, or
2. Armed and crazy.

Most of the time though, they do it to try and "intimidate" the other driver. In some of the more 'interesting' sections of town, I've seen people do that. Usually, the other driver does what they're supposed to--not saying, or doing anything. If someone does get out of their car, roll up your window. Usually, the aggressor is doing it simply because they think they um, *have a set.* They want a confrontation, the best way to make them go away, is to ignore them.

I carry a can of pepper spray in the car for that very reason. Too many idiots out there--if they choose to attack me, they get sprayed. By the time that stuff wears off, I'll be long gone...but not before getting their plate number!

[ditchdj]

What I do now when I go to a store is that I grab an empty shopping cart in the parking lot, push it into the crosswalk with my arms extended while I'm walking. So when some dumb rich soccor mom decides she doesnt have to recognize stop signs or crosswalks then her Stupid Urban Vehicle will end up eating some frozen shopping cart instead of hitting me.

[blas]

ditchdj, you're a genius!

I think I'm going to have to copy the guy from the Hills Have Eyes and carry some spikes along with me, the next time Mabel or Ernie decide to fall asleep or try and plow through me (and any other possible victims). I can pop their tires. That will wake them up and cure them of their Iwo Jima memories.......

[Arcade Man D]

My personal favorite is when I ((this happens about once a week or so)) have a car stop just before it hits me turning on the corner where the bus transfer station is. Never mind that there are, from any of the four parts of the intersection, a total of at least 3 visible signs that say "No Turns". Because of the busses.