To the driver of the white car on Gottingen who honked loudly at the cyclist directly ahead of them for no reason other than to obviously startle them: FUCK YOU! You nearly veered into the cyclist and let your horn go. Immediately after you turned left onto Falkland & the cyclist in their yellow reflective clothing continued north on Gottingen. There was no reason for the obnoxious honk and you even startled me a bit as I was walking toward Propeller.
Hopefully the one metre safety rule comes into effect so scum like you will quit it and give cyclists the room and respect they/we deserve. This has happened to me before and I nearly hit a parked car/bailed in the street. It can be very scary cycling in this city with drivers like you. Be sure that you will cause an accident one day that will haunt you forever.
Also, beware the wrath of the u-lock if you pull this again while I’m out biking. —ryleyhfx
This article appears in Nov 25 – Dec 1, 2010.
*blahblahblah*drivers being assholes to cyclists*blahblahblah*internet tough guy*blahblahblah*
football football football!
Car horns don’t have volume control. Maybe the car was alerting the cyclist that we was going to pass. You never know what those cyclists are going to do……swerve left, veer right, stop, jump the curb, ride on sidewalk, ride on crosswalk….it’s all random. Heck, if cars could drive on the sidewalks imagine how easy the commute would be on Barrington.
My brother made his living for a number of years as a bike courier in Montreal.
From his perspective, the streets of Montreal were a combat zone between cyclists and motorists. I’ve driven in Montreal and I would add that it’s frequently a combat zone between motorists and motorists.
He got through those years with a few scrapes, a mild concussion and a near-death experience, but he lived to tell the tales.
He was never afraid to wield his u-lock to inflict damage on the odd vehicle whose homicidal driver had just tried to run him over. This is the only thing Montreal drivers understand. The threat of violence to themselves and their vehicles.
Halifax doesn’t seem to have a significant bike courier business. Maybe it’s the hills. I don’t know. But maybe to improve their driving skills Halifax drivers need to be ‘schooled’ by a few tatooed, lock-wielding Montreal bike couriers. Obviously the mild-mannered hipsters with the milk crate carriers aren’t getting the job done.
wasn’t me, my car is in storage, and i’m in montreal, damn it.
the car wasn’t signaling to pass, it turned left onto falkland, while the cyclist continued going north on gottingen. the car was behind the cyclist but sped up a little before turning & moved suddenly in towards to curb/the cyclist & honked.
yes, there isn’t a volume control on a cars horn but there’s a difference between a long HONNNNNK, & friendly beep! beep!
come on? internet tough guy? get on a bike & go out & deal with this, then you won’t have much to say.
jeez, why am I even bothering defending this.
What’s a u-lock?
it’s okay op, the driver was just being a turd. i think those chariot wheel spikes in ben hur could prove useful
…or one of those knuckle mounted crossbows from “Road Warrior”
A u-lock is a type of bike lock, PF. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3…
Thanks Brendon 🙂
The 1 meter comment, WTF? Haven’t you read up on that bit of legislation? The government is legislating that you have to leave 1 m, but it will not be enforced nor will there be a fine or anything if someone violates the rule. So it will be another piece of useless paper and drivers will not change anything because why should they?
Not a problem. 🙂
Why is it that motorcyclists are smart enough to put their bikes away for the winter but people with bicycles think it’s perfectly ok? They must think that silly helmet is going to protect them when a one ton vehilce rolls over them after wiping out on slushy, icy snow covered roads.
In the past 13 or 14 years of driving a car, I have honked maybe a handful of times, and half the time in a friendly nudge way. I hate the loud noise and it is useless half the time. It just isn’t specific enough. In the future, when the horns can say “Hey you, in front of me in the silver Audi. Yeah you. Thank you for not using the turn signal, I hope you go to hell.”, I will be using them.
Al, the one meter rule will be used after the fact, you kow, an extra ticket/charge.
notso – here’s your wish 🙂
http://www.techimo.com/forum/tech-news-dis…
THAT, is awesome. Thanks Dr. Phurst. For $299, it isn’t a bad deal either.
When cyclists start paying registration, insurance and road taxes I guess then they will have the right to bitch. It costs me about 3500 a year for the “privilege” to drive my car and if I break the rules my lisence can be suspended. I guess the fact that any asshat who buys a bike, pays nothing other than the price of the bicycle and gets to drive it any way they please reserves the right to complain about how I use the roads which I pay for. FUCK OFF!!!!!!
Interesting SHITD – I actually hadn’t thought about insurance for cyclists.
So if there is an accident involving a cyclist there is no insurance then someone may have to sue for damages to the car (assuming the cyclist was at fault of course)
Seems to me if you have a vehicle (man powered or otherwise) on the road maybe you should be required to have insurance. And a valid license.
I guess the fact that any asshat who buys a bike, pays nothing other than the price of the bicycle and gets to drive it any way they please reserves the right to complain about how I use the roads which I pay for. FUCK OFF!!!!!!
fuckin right.
is that a picture of the top of a bomb…come in hugo?
Honestly, when I’m motoring down the road it isn’t the odd wayward cyclist that irritates me the most.
The folks who irritate me the most are that portion of the motoring public who may have paid their registration, insurance and road taxes, but who obviously shouldn’t have thereby been granted the ‘privilege’ of a driver’s license.
Besides, in many ways, people who cycle are doing a service to all of their fellow citizens. They are making the air cleaner by getting around without the use of polluting automobiles. They are reducing wear and tear on the public roads. They are improving their own health and so putting less of a burden on our government-run health care system.
It isn’t only licensed drivers and the owners of gasoline powered vehicles that pay for the construction and maintenance of our roads. All taxpayers pay for these things, whether they own a vehicle or not. In fact, taxpayers who use public transit or ride bicycles are subsidizing the transportation habits of those who drive cars and trucks because the transit riders and cyclists aren’t getting as much private use out of the public roads as drivers are.
Morning Painey. It’s the Trininty (atomic) bomb 25milliseconds after detonation. Looks kinda like a bubble underwater doesn’t it, except it’s 400 meters wide.
With what’s happening in the middle east & the korean peninsula, I’m almost expecting to see this on the news, but I pray not.
Hugo, an extra ticket for what? Can’t be a hit and run, no damage. Can’t be for being within 1m since there is no fine for that. For all we know the biker is an asshole who’s creating shit. He has to prove that the car was within 1 m in order to win just as much as the car would have to prove that he was over 1 m. Unless there is contact, that’s not going to go anywhere. All this would do is tie up the justice system for nothing because no one is just going to pay it.
Al, I think “in case of contact”, is exactly the reason. And it will be the drivers vs cyclist conflicting versions. Meh, more nanny state?
All I know is most cyclists are a pain in the ass A fair amount run red lights and stop signs cut motorista off and are grnerally a pain in the ass since most seem not to follow the rules of the road themselves then get mad at motorists who are. so to all the cyclists out there red light and a stop sign both mean the same fucking theing STOP!
norseman: try driving in ottawa *shudder*…the cyclists there are a nightmare to deal with. Think hfx times a million.
Have cyclists grasped the concept that, while they MAY have every right to the same rules of the road, a bike is no match for a car? Doesn’t matter who’s fault it is, if you’re injured in an MVA, no amount of insurance settlement’s going to make up for either being injured for life, or dead.