This handy comic by The System gives you a healthy alternative to your standard bike vs. car road rage.
44 Responses to “Cyclists: What do you do when someone yells at you from their car?”
Allan Hough (7858)
Brittany Janis & Katie Cruz (104)
Authors
I hate bicyclists when I am driving. Then again, I hate drivers when I am bicycling.
so you basically just hate. It’s ok, it’s a very popular thing to do these days.
I also hate witty replies to my comments. Then again, I hate it when everyone ignores me.
…or you can go ahead and stop at the stop sign in the first place instead of biking out in front of me as i’m pulling into the intersection when it’s my turn to.
Either way it sucks. If I blast through intersections on my bicycle with no regard for anyone else’s right-of-way, drivers will get mad, rightly so. But if I do the right thing and stop so that they can have their right-of-way, over half the time they just sit there staring at me, expecting me to go; sometimes they even wave me over in what they perceive as a nice gesture when all I want is for them to just take their damn right-of-way already instead of clogging up the intersection.
I mean, I understand it…so many bikers just blast on by that drivers expect me to do that too, so they play it safe.
Just saying, if you see me on my bike, slowing down so that you can take your right-of-way, then please just GO.
It’s true.
Seriously. I have taken to putting both feet down, or simply looking at the ground, instead of possibly catching a driver’s eye so they won’t pull this shit, and often yell, “follow the right of way,” to the drivers who do. Kinda like avoiding eye contact while walking on the sidewalk to avoid pedestrian collisions.
hA! I thought I was the only one.
It would also be nice if drivers used their turn signals before making a turn and then getting mad when they almost hit a bicyclist. What do you expect?, I am looking at those lights on your grill that are supposed to be blinking.
I used to do this, but now I’ve taken to looking them directly in the eye and giving them a “what the fuck do you want me to do, it’s your right of way” look.
“YOUR TURN, ASSHOLE”
THIS
Yup. Very true. I have gotten to hand waiving cars on, just so it’s clear that I’m not going.
over half the time they just sit there staring at me
Why are you looking at them? The way you get them to take their turn is to look away so it appears you’re not even concerned with going. Duh.
plus fucking one
I have taken to looking at them and giving the patented “raise one eyebrow expectantly”. Or, if you can’t raise one eyebrow, you could tilt your head to one side in a “I’m waaaiiiting… Please go now” look. Or both. They are equally effective.
Also, I do this when its MY right of way, and the driver shows no sign of stopping.
It usually stops them in their tracks.
hey car, you can also stop running red lights and injuring/killing us when we have the right of way because you got an exciting text from your boss.
-bikes
@the Car: exactly, if cyclists actually obeyed the rules of the road, there would be a lot less yelling.
To be fair, most cyclists are pretty careful (even if they do roll through stop signs), but there is a substantial minority that just creates chaos by blasting through red lights and failing to yield at stop signs. They deserved to be yelled at.
I find expectorating on their windshield usually does the trick.
yep. Expectorate the unexpected.
i find the telling them in a nice way that their back right tire is going flat is the best way to extract any kind of revenge. then they have to pull over, stress about having to buy a new tire and then walk all the way around the car only to find it was a complete lie.
Or, you can just get over this petty interaction, realize there are bigger problems in the world, and move along in your day.
Hmmmm.
Ah, but it’s about quality of life. Life isn’t about just the biggest problems.
WHATEVER, HIPPIE. GET MAD.
This is NOT petty interaction. I am doing nothing wrong and someone is going to yell, throw something at me, swerve at me (all of which has happened to me). Threatening my life with a car is no different than pointing a gun at my head.
Yes, this is what those yelling drivers don’t seem to get. . .swerving their big metal machine at you at high speeds is pretty serious revenge for simply using the road! I get yelled at at a place in Brighton where the cycle lane is a deathtrap and I have to ‘take the lane’. . .and I don’t dawdle or anything, it happens really often
Helpful! Now I can stop carrying rocks in my bag intended for windshields.
How funny, I do the same now when I ride alone. Except my target would be the back or side window.
Thanks for posting my comic! Your source link above is broken, but you can find this comic and more like it originally on my site here: http://www.systemcomic.com/
Sorry! Fixed!
My fave is racing past them , then pulling in front of the car and proceeding to bike…. Very …… Very … Slowly.
Only in front of tow-trucks. Always drive slow in front of tow-trucks to increase their time-per-car.
I usually just yell “do I look like I give a fuck?”
dilligaf.
A guy in an Audi honked at me today. I turned to look at him and burst out laughing because he was also trying to eat a burrito and it was all over his face and jacket. LOSER!
The key to not getting yelled at is to stop at the limit line, take your turn, and ride faster than cars drive. a simple three-point strategy any twentysomething can understand, even if they’re all flip-flops and Nishiki.
Was helping an elderly woman who was wheelchair bound into my cab the other day when a girl on a bike asked if i was going to “move already” i was in the bike lane. Since this incident, I have decided to try to door bicyclists instead of honking/yelling at them.
Because we’re clearly all assholes like her.
@Cabbie: A car driver was mean to me once, so now, whenever I see someone driving, I try and drag them out of their car and beat the shit out of them! Feels good man.
yeah, that’s another thing: cycle lane used a parking, but cyclists supposed to get off the road. . .what?
Now that’s not really gonna solve your prob is it, Cabbie son? Stick to honking and yelling please. Let’s keep this fucking shit clean eh! You never know someones kid is out there on them bikes, aite?
As a cyclist, I have been yelled at, honked at, and have had people bark like dogs in an attempt to startle me. Only one of these, being yelled at, happened when I made a driving mistake. The other two were people who thought it would be fun to knock me off my bike.
“Oh, you only got yelled at because you did something wrong” is a load of garbage. Some people just hate cyclists and I don’t know why. Next time it happens, I’m taking down license plate numbers and looking for a witness, because that’s intentionally trying to cause an accident.
It’s actually illegal to yell at or harass bikers in my state. People still do it of course. There’s no reason you couldn’t record your rides with a gopro or something to collect evidence. I wonder how much you could successfully sue someone who shouted at you for