Road Rage

Most of the time my ride to work is pleasant and relaxing. A little exercise in the morning makes sitting at my desk a little more tolerable.

Last night I sent out an email to some key folks in my company to request that, as part of their new sustainability initiative, they consider providing incentives to employees to reduce commuter trips. I suggested that providing facilities for bicycle parking - racks and even covered parking - would be a great benefit to those of us who ride to work and would help encourage others to do this. Some companies actually do this.

This morning at home things seemed a little stressful. Maybe some stress from work creeping into my morning routine. Maybe just the usual rush to get everyone ready and out the door on time. No big deal.

I'm riding my mountain bike to work right now, pulling my stuff in our Burley trailer. This will enable me to keep riding to work while I give a full post-winter cleaning to my usual commuter bike (which just turned over 5,000 miles).

As I was heading west down the Hatch street bottleneck, where my whole giant neighborhood and all the shortcutters from the highway funnel into Dobie Road, toward the "T" intersection where the road splits into a left and right turn lane, I could see in my rearview a fast-moving luxury SUV way out in the left lane racing to go around me. But I was moving pretty fast down the hill, probably around 25 mph, and at our current respective paces, there was not going to be time for him to get around me before we reached the intersection. Given that he was still a hundred feet behind me, and the left turn line was fast approaching, I gave a big left-arm turn signal and moved out into the lane, and then merged into the left-turn lane. The driver moved back into his own lane and merged into the right-turn lane. As he passed me he opened his window and slowed. He was well-dressed in respectable suit and tie, and said, "Hey buddy, they have sidewalks." His window was on the way up by the time he'd finished speaking. He was not interested in my reply.

On the sidewalk to my right there was a woman walking a dog. Crossing the street in front of me (where the "WALK" light comes on a the same time as the left-turn arrow and someone is surely going to get killed) were two kids with backpacks, walking their bikes across the street. A jogger was on the sidewalk across the street. The sidewalks are well-used. A fast-moving bicycle belongs on the road.

To the man in the luxury SUV, I should have said, "Same Roads, Same Rights, Same Rules, sir." Or maybe, "It's my road, too." I should not have said what I did say, and very loudly, which I won't write here because I sort of regret my choice of words, and I want my kids to be able to read this. Oh well, it was just two short words.

Maybe I'll put a sticky note on my handlebars with well-considered and polite replies to rude remarks from motorists. I find that I handle rude or inappropriate comments from motorists better in low-traffic situations than I do at busy intersections. It must have something to do with heightened defense mechanisms that are in place in stressful situations.

And there's more...

About a mile later, still steaming from my previous encounter, I gradually caught up with my red-light-running bicycle commuter friend. I've seen this guy before, maybe even written about him. He pulls out into traffic and runs the light at the intersection of Okemos and Bennett/Kiniwa Roads right in the middle of rush-hour traffic. And it's a big busy intersection. I saw him do it again today. He's tall, has grey hair, rides an older mountain bike, which is black, and wears a backpack. He pulls out of the fairly upscale Briarwood neighborhood and into the bike lane on Kinawa. Today he was about 100 yards ahead of me. He wiggled between the lines of traffic at the intersection and road straight across it when the light was red. The left-turn lane arrows were green, and with all the traffic I couldn't tell whether he was forcing cars to wait on him or not. He just went straight through on the red.

HOW ARE BICYCLISTS SUPPOSED EXPECT MOTORISTS TO TREAT US WITH RESPECT WHEN IDIOTS DO STUPID STUFF LIKE THIS?? SAME ROAD, SAME RIGHTS, SAME RULES!!

The light turned green, I went through the intersection with the traffic. Legally and safely. I soon caught up with offending idiot. I should have run him off the road and beaten him senseless. Or maybe I should have pushed him out into traffic. Or maybe I should have ridden up beside him and said, "Hey buddy, they have sidewalks." Or maybe I should have said, "Excuse me, sir, I think it's great that you're choosing to ride a bicycle to work, but it's really important that you obey the rules of the road."

I failed. I did none of the above, which is just as well for most of those options. I caught up with him, but there was not room for me to ride beside him. I really wanted to talk to him. I shouted, "Good morning!" Even though my shadow had overlapped his way out in front of him, I think my voice nearly caused him to fall off his bike. He looked over his shoulder at me and said something unintelligible. At that point, I decided that he might actually be mentally challenged. I gave up on speaking to him. It should have been clear from his bicycling behavior that he was a few cards short of a full deck, as they say. But now I wonder, does this guy bicycle because he doesn't have the mental capacity to drive a car? Should he be on the road at all?

I pulled into the traffic lane as I approached the round-about at Bennett and Hulett. I find it's safer to take up the full lane as I approach the round-about rather than try to sort things out with the cars as the road narrows and enters the circle. I signaled a right turn and headed north. The road-hazard-rider continued west.

At work, I had a response form the coordinator of the sustainability initiative, asking that post my note about bicycle facilities to the corporate sustainability web page.

All I know is I don't know.