Nice idea until you’ve had a car bumper check your rear tire. Happened to me twice in New Orleans.
1 Like
I’m mostly with you- his initial statement actually seems moderately level-toned.
When the “gent” in the car starts shouting, that’s likely the time to pack up and move along- you’re not going to be able to reason with an idiot. It’s just not possible.
Maybe it’s the thick skin of riding bikes in Boston for so long, but… I just think a fool like that will learn/take/change nothing with an interaction like that.
The fall was pretty fun to watch, though.
6 Likes
Toronto just passed a new bylaw requiring 1 meter clearance to pass a cyclist. This, along with a pledge for better enforcement and a Toronto police app that can be used to report infractions by drivers is, I believe, a significant step in the right direction.
That being said, even if said law was in place in the city this video was shot in, you still require drivers to, you know, actually be aware of said law. Sure, you increase the chance of fining them, but it’s not going to change how the driver reacts. 
5 Likes
I bet that head-over-heels spill calmed that guy right down and he immediately thought “Meh. Maybe the bicycle bloke has a point.” Then he walked back to his car chuckling and continued on to the ice cream stand with his son.
9 Likes
BTW, re: cyclist not leaving room…the cyclist refers to this when the driver says he didn’t leave any room. The cyclist responds to the driver’s angry rant about being too far out by incredulously by saying “What, into the door zone?” He shows his full awareness of a) the dangers of being doored, and b) the wisdom of taking the lane.
The driver appears to be the type who angrily yells at cyclists for not leaving room while being unable to drive within 5 feet of vehicles himself on the non-driver side.
8 Likes
Is this the same bike rider who chastised a woman for eating a bowl of cereal while she was in traffic?
1 Like
A thousand times this. I live in an apartment complex where dogs aren’t allowed in the lawn area between buildings. There are a couple of dog owners who constantly walk their dogs there (right in front of the “No Dogs” signage) and get extremely confrontational if anyone asks them to take their dogs out to the street 30 feet away from where they are, no matter how nicely the request is framed. For some people, offense seems to be the only defense they know.
7 Likes
Forgot about a third time I nearly got my ass kicked when I was younger and dumber. Stuck in traffic on the Long Island Expressway, I honked at the car in front of me every time the driver threw some trash out the window. He got out of car, came over and, not in these words, asked me why I was honking. I told him because he’s littering. He did not take kindly to this, and had some choice words for me. Luckily traffic started moving and with everyone behind us honking he went back to his car. People do not like being told what to do, perhaps especially so on Long Island.
2 Likes
Okay, fair enough. Seemed a bit too convenient to have two cameras, but alright.
Looking at this guy’s youtube channel, it appears to be entirely filled with recordings of drivers passing too close, or otherwise behaving badly. I can’t imagine devoting so much time and effort to being annoyed with people.
5 Likes
Except it comes after he’s pursued the driver around two corners (nearly running down a pedestrian in a crosswalk in the process), and interfered with the driver’s effort to park his car.
After the driver has already assaulted the cyclist, the cyclist follows for more taunting
Driver: You are really pissing me off!
Cyclist: I know.
Driver: Is that your hobby?
Cyclist [mocking laughter]
I said it above, I’ll rephrase it here:
This video depicts two male hominids engaged in a pointless dominance display.
11 Likes
I’d like to point out that:
The bicyclist was being an idiot for (a) leaving enough room for the driver to pass unsafely…
is parallel to:
She was being an idiot dressing so suggestively in public…
5 Likes
Nope, he was in an adrenaline frenzy. I recognize it because I’ve done it myself. He sprinted after the car, and made some fairly reckless moves to stay with him. This is a great way to get hit. As my grandfather used to say, “you are just as dead, right or wrong.” If you have video evidence of an unsafe pass, send it to the cops. Don’t let your adrenaline get you into a fight.
2 Likes
As a long-time cyclist and motorcyclist myself I completely agree. In this case though it appeared (to me anyway) that there was actually plenty of room for both, at least for that little section of the road. (It was narrower both a bit before and a bit after the pass.) As near as I can tell reviewing the footage, the bicyclist was sensibly staying in the center in the narrow bit, and remained in the center at the wide bit, but that meant he shifted far enough for the car to go by with close but not unreasonable clearance. If I were driving the car I would assume the cyclist was being polite and giving me a bit of room where it was safe to pass and I would zoom past fairly quickly so as to be polite myself and be clear of him before it became narrow again. (Obviously that turned out not to be the cyclist’s intent and hilarity ensued!)
2 Likes
Of course they should cut us some slack. But if they don’t, chasing after them is probably not sensible. Sometimes there is no reasonable short-term way to address a problem. Ultimately, if the police are following bad policy, get involved in government and work for change. A one-person education campaign like the one this guy is doing is more likely to make drivers react more angrily to bicyclists than it is to get them to be more careful.
I agree he was on a massive adrenaline spike but as for the confrontation himself I don’t think he was the one escalating it. He was forceful and direct but stayed very constant.
As for sending the video to the cops I’d personally much prefer to talk to the driver than get the cops involved. For one the cops might not do anything at all if they didn’t think the video was conclusive enough or just didn’t care. Or it could be that the driver was legitimately ignorant of the danger and the cyclist they put in danger letting them know might be all that was required to change their behaviour and even get them on the cyclist’s side.
2 Likes
Right. He’s just hunting up irritations, and certainly not recording drivers who endanger his life.
8 Likes
This many replies and not a single “I’ve seen a cyclist being a jerk in the street once, so screw them all” argument? Probably stuck in traffic.
7 Likes
I never said he was hunting them up. But he’s spending an awful lot of time and effort documenting them. As somebody who spent a good few years cycling in downtown Toronto, I’ve had my fair share of close passers (less of an issue now that I live out in the suburbs, where we actually have a good system of bike lanes). And I can’t imagine ever wanting waste my energy focusing on that negativity by creating a whole YouTube channel about it, to try and shame them all. Especially since the wide angle video cameras he uses make it pretty hard to tell how close he’s being passed in the first place. It feels like an awful lot of shouting into the wind. Which may be cathartic, I guess. I also can’t imagine chasing somebody down in order to chastise them about passing too close, either, but then I’m not somebody who actively seeks out confrontation.
2 Likes
Yeah. It’s not nearly as clueless as wondering why so many people are “looking to make trouble” by recording police interactions, but it’s in the same general direction.
8 Likes
