Not sure what the cyclist’s reasoning was in that video – it looks like vandalism to me.
Am I right in reading it that:
- the black car pulled to the right without indicating, which caused the silver car to stop (this blocked the cyclist’s ‘filtering’ through the traffic, something he doesn’t have a right to expect but may use when available);
- the black car then turned to the left;
-the cyclist entered the gap and continued on, then the silver car indicated to move into the gap after the cyclist had left;
-the silver car spotted the cyclist and waited;
-the cyclist had a tantrum and smashed the silver car’s mirror
…?
I’m a keen cyclist and I also drive a car, so I’m trying to be unbiased, but IMO that video makes the cyclist look like a dick. Life’s too short to cycle round in a constant rage, and it’s certainly too short to go damaging people’s cars, with or without provocation.
I usually try to be objective, though sometimes I suspect I may be a little bit biased in cyclists’s favour.
But in this video, the cyclist really does act like a dick, IMO. (And the silver car driver does things one could object to as well. Just as the black car driver. Just as all of them, ignoring the people on the left at the very beginning (waiting to cross the street? Though, of course, there may be traffic lights and they are just waiting for their turn)). Tough traffic anyway, I’m so glad I don’t have to deal with something like that anymore! (I left a 1.000.000+ (inhabitants) city for about 40.000 town a few years ago).
In this case, I don’t like Yehuda’s idea either, not even as a joke. Sorry.
On a second thought – yes, as a joke, it is quite good, actually. That’s what jokes are for – to experience even something you rather wouldn’t in reality, right?
IRL, I believe that throwing stones (or pennies) only brings about more flying stones… and so on. In traffic, I like to stay calm, always ready to yield… anything to feed the illusion I’d like to have about myself and the impression I’d like to leave on others – you (mostly cagers) may be crazy as hell, but I’ve already had my share and now I’d like to be wiser than that.
Recommended. You may reach your destination a few minutes later, perhaps, but happier.
What is it with motorists? Many seem to think that they can just push on regardless as if they were the most important people on the planet!
on that youtube page another item came up: ‘Two Cats vs Dog’ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoAG0IRcHQg&feature=endscreen&NR=1 The motorist seems to think that running animals down is okay. Why did they keep pressing on even though the animals were in danger of being run over. Very selfish!
The cyclist is taking the lane and rejoining normal traffic, which is good. The silver car butts in, forcing him off to the edge of the road. When the cyclist gives the universal signal for “you’re an idiot”, the driver pushes him further.
Maybe an overreaction, but not a totall undeserved one.
Are side mirrors really that flimsy on modern micro-cars?. If someone tried that on my ’97 Thunderbird, their wrist would be shattered, not the mirror.
Going back to the early 1980s – I was overtaken just before a traffic island at a set of lights and used the car’s ‘voice’ (horn) without thinking as they cut in hard causing me to brake hard to avoid them.
Later on, at a large, lights controlled, island I was waiting behind the driver who got out of his car and wrenched my mirror off in much the same way. I reported him to the Police who sued him. Yes, the plastic mirrors are flimsy and deliberately so to help reduce injury in a crash. The actual mirrors are aluminised plastic in most cases – avoids punctures following damage!
(nb – the car was a ‘cherished’ sports car and the driver was wearing a flat cap!
Something like this happened to me a few years back, except I had my bicycle chained to a fence where a car virtually blocked me in and made it extremely difficult to get my bicycle out. Later that day I found the same car parked against in a different spot against the same fence so I deliberately chained up my bike against the fence in a place which blocked his driver-side door. Made the idiot climb over the passenger seat to get away.
When I see a pickup truck straddling the line. I like to park next to the driver side door with my driver’s door near my left side yellow line. They then have to use their passenger door.
And mine, until I realised that Yehuda has blocked the driver’s door. These SUV ‘bucket’ seats make it almost impossible to get across from the other side to drive off (bike in tow, scratching the paintwork etc) so was an effective manacle for the car…
Well, I guess we all like to rebel vicariously through Yehuda. As much as stuff like that aggravates me, I’d probably just piss and moan a bit and then lock the bike to a light pole of something, maybe leave a note on the guy’s windshield pointing out his or her mistake.
A million years ago when I was in college, my bicycle was my only transportation. I cycled to the local bank on campus, and seeing no racks, locked the bike to the lightpost outside. I try to get the cable through both wheels and frame. When I came back, there was a guy who had my bicycle in his hands, yanking on it, trying to get it off the post, while two others watched. They were part of a construction crew who wanted to pour concrete near the post. I yelled at him to let go of my bike, he kept yanking, snapped a couple of spokes. I asked the girl at the bank window to call police. I intervened as best I could, three against one, and hit the pavement a couple of times. So much for my years of karate lessons. I threatened to sue in small claims, which, produced a check for a little money to fix the bike, which after I replaced a few spokes, used paid for Top Ramen the rest of the year. The police declined to prosecute the “crew.” At the ripe age of 18, I learned a valuable lesson, lock your bike in places where people are not going to get mad and trash it. In the end, it’s just not worth coming out to a bent frame or missing spokes.
No, and before you ask, I would have known. I poured concrete with my old man for years, all of us kids did in the old neighborhood, starting when I was about 10, one of many, many reasons I figured out that going to college and getting a job that didn’t involve pushing wheel barrows full of mud around was my ticket out. I’ve been in a few “scuffles” around construction sites before too, won some, lost some. I had to try to knock his d… in the dirt, even though I was outnumbered. If my old man saw me do anything else, he rise up out of his grave and beat me himself. Ah, fond memories of my youth…
Well, locking your bike to a motor vehicle not your own and leaving is likely to result in no bike. Rather, he should have locked the van to the bike rack and gone off to find another solution. Don’t tell me that bag of holding hasn’t got an extra lock cable. Yehuda would definitely carry one to share with a friend. ”sorry yehuda, we’ll have to take my car, I don’t have a lock for me bike.”
I dunno’ Yolanda. If he locked her passenger door to the racks, she would probably drive off without noticing it until she broke her door handle and/or the racks. Doubleplusungood!
Back to the video…it appears to me that the driver of the slilver car is trying keep the biker from getting in front of him by getting super close to the black car. Passive aggressive style. I don’t think the silver car signalled until the very end, it was just his brake lights before that. Take a look again and tell me what you think. Who knows what else influenced the bikers reaction. Not acceptable, but deserved.
Very hard to tell, but that last maneuver by the silver car definitely has him in the cyclist’s space. All that hugging over into the black car, not sure if that is intended to signal a lane change, or if there’s a long-standing goal of blocking the cyclist from filtering — we don’t see that history.
The peds at the crosswalk were sure polite; I tend to signal my intention to cross by holding my keys out into the traffic (or an umbrella, or shopping cart, or whatever is handy).
Tempting, but it’s not the wisest of things to do w/your bike… Neither was this….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESo0Ig9fJ3A&feature=player_embedded
Not sure what the cyclist’s reasoning was in that video – it looks like vandalism to me.
Am I right in reading it that:
- the black car pulled to the right without indicating, which caused the silver car to stop (this blocked the cyclist’s ‘filtering’ through the traffic, something he doesn’t have a right to expect but may use when available);
- the black car then turned to the left;
-the cyclist entered the gap and continued on, then the silver car indicated to move into the gap after the cyclist had left;
-the silver car spotted the cyclist and waited;
-the cyclist had a tantrum and smashed the silver car’s mirror
…?
I’m a keen cyclist and I also drive a car, so I’m trying to be unbiased, but IMO that video makes the cyclist look like a dick. Life’s too short to cycle round in a constant rage, and it’s certainly too short to go damaging people’s cars, with or without provocation.
Back on topic, I love Yehuda’s thinking today!
I usually try to be objective, though sometimes I suspect I may be a little bit biased in cyclists’s favour.
But in this video, the cyclist really does act like a dick, IMO. (And the silver car driver does things one could object to as well. Just as the black car driver. Just as all of them, ignoring the people on the left at the very beginning (waiting to cross the street? Though, of course, there may be traffic lights and they are just waiting for their turn)). Tough traffic anyway, I’m so glad I don’t have to deal with something like that anymore! (I left a 1.000.000+ (inhabitants) city for about 40.000 town a few years ago).
In this case, I don’t like Yehuda’s idea either, not even as a joke. Sorry.
On a second thought – yes, as a joke, it is quite good, actually.
That’s what jokes are for – to experience even something you rather wouldn’t in reality, right? 
IRL, I believe that throwing stones (or pennies) only brings about more flying stones… and so on. In traffic, I like to stay calm, always ready to yield… anything to feed the illusion I’d like to have about myself and the impression I’d like to leave on others – you (mostly cagers) may be crazy as hell, but I’ve already had my share and now I’d like to be wiser than that.
Recommended. You may reach your destination a few minutes later, perhaps, but happier.
Always best to imagine the revenge I suspect
yeah, that cyclist was a dick but the driver of the silver car wasn’t signalling even though he’d been trying to change lanes quite awhile.
What is it with motorists? Many seem to think that they can just push on regardless as if they were the most important people on the planet!
on that youtube page another item came up: ‘Two Cats vs Dog’ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoAG0IRcHQg&feature=endscreen&NR=1 The motorist seems to think that running animals down is okay. Why did they keep pressing on even though the animals were in danger of being run over. Very selfish!
Both the driver and the cyclists in that video were jerks. Nothing to see there…
The cyclist is taking the lane and rejoining normal traffic, which is good. The silver car butts in, forcing him off to the edge of the road. When the cyclist gives the universal signal for “you’re an idiot”, the driver pushes him further.
Maybe an overreaction, but not a totall undeserved one.
Yeah, violent overreaction=total jerk
Are side mirrors really that flimsy on modern micro-cars?. If someone tried that on my ’97 Thunderbird, their wrist would be shattered, not the mirror.
Going back to the early 1980s – I was overtaken just before a traffic island at a set of lights and used the car’s ‘voice’ (horn) without thinking as they cut in hard causing me to brake hard to avoid them.
Later on, at a large, lights controlled, island I was waiting behind the driver who got out of his car and wrenched my mirror off in much the same way. I reported him to the Police who sued him. Yes, the plastic mirrors are flimsy and deliberately so to help reduce injury in a crash. The actual mirrors are aluminised plastic in most cases – avoids punctures following damage!
(nb – the car was a ‘cherished’ sports car and the driver was wearing a flat cap!
IMHO this strip is a Yehuda classic
Cake! I assume the two characters will meet and there will be sparks….. Tomorrow?
Something like this happened to me a few years back, except I had my bicycle chained to a fence where a car virtually blocked me in and made it extremely difficult to get my bicycle out. Later that day I found the same car parked against in a different spot against the same fence so I deliberately chained up my bike against the fence in a place which blocked his driver-side door. Made the idiot climb over the passenger seat to get away.
When I see a pickup truck straddling the line. I like to park next to the driver side door with my driver’s door near my left side yellow line. They then have to use their passenger door.
3 words: badly positioned racks
Yehuda should have lock the car to the rack…
That was my first thought too.
And mine, until I realised that Yehuda has blocked the driver’s door. These SUV ‘bucket’ seats make it almost impossible to get across from the other side to drive off (bike in tow, scratching the paintwork etc) so was an effective manacle for the car…
Ditto. Why take the chance on someone driving off with the bike dragging behind?
At our local library, they had to put a traffic cone in front of the rack to keep people from parking their cars there.
Oh no he did-ent!
Sometimes where theres adversity, love begins… Is Spring in the air?
Good one Pops!
That was a horrible thing to do to an innocent bike. Did the car (truck?) have run flat tires?
Well, I guess we all like to rebel vicariously through Yehuda. As much as stuff like that aggravates me, I’d probably just piss and moan a bit and then lock the bike to a light pole of something, maybe leave a note on the guy’s windshield pointing out his or her mistake.
A million years ago when I was in college, my bicycle was my only transportation. I cycled to the local bank on campus, and seeing no racks, locked the bike to the lightpost outside. I try to get the cable through both wheels and frame. When I came back, there was a guy who had my bicycle in his hands, yanking on it, trying to get it off the post, while two others watched. They were part of a construction crew who wanted to pour concrete near the post. I yelled at him to let go of my bike, he kept yanking, snapped a couple of spokes. I asked the girl at the bank window to call police. I intervened as best I could, three against one, and hit the pavement a couple of times. So much for my years of karate lessons. I threatened to sue in small claims, which, produced a check for a little money to fix the bike, which after I replaced a few spokes, used paid for Top Ramen the rest of the year. The police declined to prosecute the “crew.” At the ripe age of 18, I learned a valuable lesson, lock your bike in places where people are not going to get mad and trash it. In the end, it’s just not worth coming out to a bent frame or missing spokes.
Were there any signs about the imminent work being done?
No, and before you ask, I would have known. I poured concrete with my old man for years, all of us kids did in the old neighborhood, starting when I was about 10, one of many, many reasons I figured out that going to college and getting a job that didn’t involve pushing wheel barrows full of mud around was my ticket out. I’ve been in a few “scuffles” around construction sites before too, won some, lost some. I had to try to knock his d… in the dirt, even though I was outnumbered. If my old man saw me do anything else, he rise up out of his grave and beat me himself. Ah, fond memories of my youth…
Well, locking your bike to a motor vehicle not your own and leaving is likely to result in no bike. Rather, he should have locked the van to the bike rack and gone off to find another solution. Don’t tell me that bag of holding hasn’t got an extra lock cable. Yehuda would definitely carry one to share with a friend. ”sorry yehuda, we’ll have to take my car, I don’t have a lock for me bike.”
Of course Yehuda might have a wheel lock in his bag
eg: http://www.amazon.com/Master-Lock-238DAT-Fortress-Steering/dp/B000BN6UQY/ref=sr_1_3?s=car&ie=UTF8&qid=1330014674&sr=1-3
That assumes an open window, no?
I dunno’ Yolanda. If he locked her passenger door to the racks, she would probably drive off without noticing it until she broke her door handle and/or the racks. Doubleplusungood!
What if someone clipped his little cable lock off and absconded with his bicycle?
Back to the video…it appears to me that the driver of the slilver car is trying keep the biker from getting in front of him by getting super close to the black car. Passive aggressive style. I don’t think the silver car signalled until the very end, it was just his brake lights before that. Take a look again and tell me what you think. Who knows what else influenced the bikers reaction. Not acceptable, but deserved.
Very hard to tell, but that last maneuver by the silver car definitely has him in the cyclist’s space. All that hugging over into the black car, not sure if that is intended to signal a lane change, or if there’s a long-standing goal of blocking the cyclist from filtering — we don’t see that history.
The peds at the crosswalk were sure polite; I tend to signal my intention to cross by holding my keys out into the traffic (or an umbrella, or shopping cart, or whatever is handy).