Last month while biking, I stopped at a red light on Catalpa at Woodward. I was not in the right lane since I was not turning. I was continuing westbound on Catalpa.
This is legal under state law 257.660a (d):
A person operating a bicycle upon a highway or street at less than the existing speed of traffic shall ride as close as practicable to the right-hand curb or edge of the roadway except as follows:
(d) When operating a bicycle in a lane in which the traffic is turning right but the individual intends to go straight through the intersection.
This apparently upset the solitary driver behind me. After the light turned green and I proceeded across Woodward, he rode up next to me, rolled down his window, and yelled profanities and threatened to “have me arrested.”
I just dropped back a little, got his license plate number, and followed him in case he was going to the police station. (He didn’t.) Had he threatened to hit me, I would have reported him for aggressive driving.
It’s situations like this that make me keep a cell phone handy on all my rides.
Still, the problem is unless a police officer witnesses it, it’s often a case of he said, she said.
So,?I wish I had a video camera always running to capture this unacceptable social behavior. Not only could it help with potential police enforcement, but publically posted such videos might bring public shame to those who deserve it.
One bicyclists is video recording such incidents. Jeff’s Bike Blog documents bad drivers and is apparently active in reporting them to the police. He even shows how he configures the cameras on his bike.
Have you shot video of aggressive drivers on your bike rides? What has been your experience reporting aggressive drivers to the police? Have they taken any actions?
Leave a Reply