Rude riders sending the wrong message

[FJRBluesman]

Interesting little story that happened to a family member.

A relative was visiting us in SoCal a couple weeks back, out from wonderful Phoenix, Arizona. She was stopped at a signal, first car at the intersection. She hears a loud bang or pop sound as a motorcycle rolls passed her on the right side of the car. She's not used to motorcycles lane sharing so that took her a little by surprise. Just after the bike stops, the light turns green, the motorcycle rider flips her off and off he goes, leaving her right side mirror completely broken off and hanging buy it's electrical wires. She wasn't real happy about the whole ordeal and especially she was mad that: 1) The rider broke her mirror. 2) The rider took off without any care for replacing it or apologizing. 3) The rider flipped her off for no reason. 4) She did nothing wrong.

I apologized that this happened in SoCal and that the motorcyclist was such an idiot. I assured her we're a responsible lot… most of us… The guys bars must have hit her mirror to break it like that, I can't see his mirror doing it, the bike mirror would usually just fold or break.

We did a quick MacGyver job on her mirror with a dowel and some duct tape and she was good to go. She made it home fine after the 6 hours on the road in the Cali and Arizona sun.

 

[madmike2]

Simon, if "that" rider FELT she was crowding the center line and he was entitled to that pathway (rather than it being a privilege) it IS possible he purposefully broke her mirror. I mean...er...uhm...he had his loud pipes and she should have KNOWN he was coming. :blink:

Sorry for the incident. Unfortunately, idiots are not limited to piloting cages. :nono:

 

[DELETE-PLEASE]

Sigh. Two steps forward, one step back.

 

[fjrbrad]

She thinks she did nothing wrong. Hard to say what may have happened 2 miles back. Not that this is justifiable, but I certainly have felt like kicking a mirror off at a stoplight after someone has pulled out in front of me while on their cell phone. Never have done it but certainly have thought about it.

 

[Silver Penguin]

Sigh. Two steps forward, one step back.

So true. The Neanderthals and the responsible riders are one and the same, to Joe Public. It will take a lot to repair the public image damage that this, and others of his kind, do to our collective image.

What do YOU do, to try and promote a positive image for motorcyclists? I try (not always successfully) to do the following;

1. Ride in a safe, legal and courteous manner.

2. Maintain a constant awareness of dangerous situations and do my best to avert them, no matter who is at fault.

3. Wave to kids who look at the bike.

4. Be polite to people at rest stops, gas stations etc, who ask dumb questions. What they are usually trying to convey is that they are impressed with the bike and rider, but if often comes out clumsily e.g. Did you ride it all the way here? Do you ride it all by yourself? Don't you get hot in all that gear?

5. Quiet pipes. Loud jacket.

6. Remember that lane sharing is a privilege, to be preserved by using with respect.

Please share with your relative that members of this forum are as appalled as she is, with this behavior.

 

[MojaveFJR]

That is some rude crap right there. Not like some of the asshats that crowd the center when they see you coming, that is just rude right there. Some motorcyclist out here, especially those with wide crome handlebars believe they have a God given right to come to the head of the line, pop their annoying loud exhaust. Too bad she didn't get the license and report the f(&k for vandalism.

 

[SVTNate]

She thinks she did nothing wrong. Hard to say what may have happened 2 miles back. Not that this is justifiable, but I certainly have felt like kicking a mirror off at a stoplight after someone has pulled out in front of me while on their cell phone. Never have done it but certainly have thought about it.

This was my thought as well. I have trouble believing that a rider would, totally unprovoked and without cause, flip off a woman and smash her side mirror. I'm going to guess that she did something dangerous (although I'm sure she didn't intend to) that made the rider pretty furious.

 

[HotRodZilla]

She thinks she did nothing wrong. Hard to say what may have happened 2 miles back. Not that this is justifiable, but I certainly have felt like kicking a mirror off at a stoplight after someone has pulled out in front of me while on their cell phone. Never have done it but certainly have thought about it.

This was my thought as well. I have trouble believing that a rider would, totally unprovoked and without cause, flip off a woman and smash her side mirror. I'm going to guess that she did something dangerous (although I'm sure she didn't intend to) that made the rider pretty furious.

So you two think the correct thing to do was bust the lady's mirror off and then give her the bird while driving away and avoiding the confrontation like a chickenshit? That right there is half the problem with idiots on the road. Unless she did something on purpose, what he did was no solution to whatever manufactured offense she commited against him. If she did **** up earlier, she probably never even saw him to know she was wrong. So instead of finding a decent way to educate her or let her know she almost caused a problem, he comitted a premeditated crime, made himself look like an asshole, and made it that much harder for the rest of us next time she comes upon a bike that may need her to give just a little extra room. Too bad he didn't eat shit on a slick spot in the intersection and then someone coulda asked him why he is such an asshole.

 

[ShinyPartsUp]

So you two think the correct thing to do was bust the lady's mirror off and then give her the bird while driving away and avoiding the confrontation like a chickenshit? That right there is half the problem with idiots on the road. Unless she did something on purpose, what he did was no solution to whatever manufactured offense she commited against him. If she did **** up earlier, she probably never even saw him to know she was wrong. So instead of finding a decent way to educate her or let her know she almost caused a problem, he comitted a premeditated crime, made himself look like an asshole, and made it that much harder for the rest of us next time she comes upon a bike that may need her to give just a little extra room. Too bad he didn't eat shit on a slick spot in the intersection and then someone coulda asked him why he is such an asshole.

I so love that answer! Sayings such as "Two wrongs don't make a right," or "Do unto others...." come to mind.

Getting angry at intentional or unintentional cagers, to the point of losing your cool is a good way to get yourself hurt. An example is the recent thread of a jerk-off biker who whipped around a camper and hit his brakes in anger -- then got rear-ended and dead.

When you are angry, tunnel vision and decreased judgment occur. Both are dangerous when doing hazardous tasks such as riding a motorcycle. The biker was wrong. Perhaps he was understandably angry in certain scenarios, but wrong nonetheless. It was just another case of road rage, and boorish behavior.

 

[Potential]

Guys, he means the loud sound was her mirror being broken off, not the motorcycle's exhaust.

 

[SVTNate]

So you two think the correct thing to do was bust the lady's mirror off and then give her the bird while driving away and avoiding the confrontation like a chickenshit? That right there is half the problem with idiots on the road. Unless she did something on purpose, what he did was no solution to whatever manufactured offense she commited against him. If she did **** up earlier, she probably never even saw him to know she was wrong. So instead of finding a decent way to educate her or let her know she almost caused a problem, he comitted a premeditated crime, made himself look like an asshole, and made it that much harder for the rest of us next time she comes upon a bike that may need her to give just a little extra room. Too bad he didn't eat shit on a slick spot in the intersection and then someone coulda asked him why he is such an asshole.

I try to choose my words carefully, it's part of my job. I mean what I say and I say what I mean most of the time.

No, I don't think it was the correct thing to do. I think it was a reaction to something she'd done, or the rider's perception of something she'd done. I'm saying that his actions were likely reactionary. I did not imply that what he did was right, I do not believe that he was right, nor is it something I would have done or have done in the past.

Only once have I had opportunity (and acted upon it) to confront a driver who did something dangerous. A driver pulled out in front of me and I had to swerve to avoid him. At the next red light, I pulled up next to him, knocked on his driver's window, pulled up my visor (I was wearing a 3/4 J-Wing at the time) and told him to be more careful pulling into traffic with no threats, no profanity. He said he didn't see me and apologized. I thanked him, and asked that in the future he take a bit more time to look for motorcycles in such a situation, waved goodbye, and was on my way. I think that's a much more productive way to deal with it. If he had been angry, or wanted a fistfight in the middle of the intersection, well, there's not much I can do. I think most people are reasonable though, and if you react reasonably and respectfully, they respond better and maybe take something away from the situation that will help our image as motorcyclists and make the driver a safer one, and I take away the satisfaction of handling the situation like a man and can post about it here without being embarrassed about how I handled myself.

I figure that bike v. car, car wins every time. It's best to let it go rather than try to fight a battle you cannot win, or ride away angry and let that mindset affect your riding, both in terms of safety and having fun.

 

[ALF]

That shit is called "road rage " a jailable offense in Texas. I have had alot of drivers do stupid shit if front of me that pisses me off. but the road is no place to lose your cool...

 

[Crash Cash]

She thinks she did nothing wrong. Hard to say what may have happened 2 miles back. Not that this is justifiable, but I certainly have felt like kicking a mirror off at a stoplight after someone has pulled out in front of me while on their cell phone. Never have done it but certainly have thought about it.

+5000 to that... she sounds like the typical fairly clueless "ah dinnt do nuffin wrong!" driver who probably nearly took the guy's front wheel off changing lanes w/o looking. I know several of those types personally, who never understand why they're constantly getting glares and "you're #1" salutes from other drivers. Once I had the "you just ran a stop sign" - "what stop sign?" conversation, so I got out at the 7-11 and got a taxi home.