Posts about Cyclist Intimidation

Bicycling

Many drivers and cyclists still need some education

by David Alpert   •   May 3, 2011 12:43 pm

People riding bikes, walking, and driving can all coexist peacefully and happily if they respect each other and follow common sense behaviors. We still have a ways to go, however.

During Tuesday's election, Robert Vinson Brannum was standing outside Mt. Bethel church in Bloomingdale, and observed a number of people on bikes "telling pedestrians to 'excuse' them or to step out of the way so they can pass."

Mr. Bicycle Manners says: Don't do this. If you're on a bike, you can legally ride on the sidewalk in Bloomingdale and not downtown (§ 18-1201.9 and 18-1201.10). But a better common-sense rule is this: Ride on the sidewalk if you don't feel comfortable on the street, or if it's one-way the wrong way, but NOT if the sidewalk is crowded.

If you do ride on the sidewalk, assume that all pedestrians are inviolate. It's their sidewalk, not yours; you are a guest. You can use it as long as you don't get in their way.

Bicycling

Bus driver assaults cyclist, MPD uninterested

by David Alpert   •   March 4, 2009 10:33 am

In 2007, a Los Angeles bus driver passed a cyclist at a very unsafe distance. When the cyclist confronted the driver, she screamed at the cyclist. He calls the police, who, without interviewing anyone, handcuff the cyclist and his wife, and refuse to charge either the driver or a passenger who jumped out and spit on the cyclist.

This happened shortly after a community meeting for police and bicyclists to discuss respect for and enforcement of laws for bicycles. Does DC need some community meetings of its own to clear the air between bus drivers, police and bicyclists? This morning, bicycle advocate Jeff Peel had experience eerily similar to LA's:

The incident [with a southbound 53 bus] happened at approximately 8:45am at the southbound intersection of 14th & R NW.

My first encounter with the bus was between U and T streets. Due to snow and ice on the roadway I was riding along the line dividing the bike lane and the right most travel lane at approximately 20-25mph. The operator passed me in the right hand travel lane at a high rate of speed (the speed limit is 25mph through here if I'm not mistaken) within less than 3 feet. I know this because it was close enough to touch. Scared, frustrated and angry I spit at the driver's rear view mirror when passing him at his next stop near the intersection with S street. He was also had not fully pulled into the stop and was blocking the bike lane and a portion of the right travel lane.

Once I stopped at the light at R street at the edge of the back of the crosswalk and on top of the stop bar, the operator pulled past his stop within inches of me stopped on my bike. Had I not noticed him out of my periphery and ducked, the mirror of his bus would have struck me in the back of the head. The operator then proceed to grab at me (he had pulled up close enough to reach me) while screaming at me through his window. He refused to tell me his name, and I had to briefly block the path of the bus to get the bus number in order to record it.

I know my actions may have escalated the situation, and I should not do this out of my own safety. However this does not negate the fact that the operator failed to pass me within a safe legal distance, and then attempt to use his bus as a weapon to strike me with.

Due to my previous negative interactions with Metro police in similar incidents and how difficult the complaint system is, I called for MPD instead. While on the phone with dispatch I was able to flag down an officer who upon hearing what happened refused to file a report and drove off. Dispatch then had Officer with 3rd District respond. Because the operator didn't actually hit me she refused to file any sort of "accident" report. I stated that I did not want to file an accident report, that I wanted to report the driver passing to closely and an attempted assault, of which she refused to do either. Seeing the conversation going nowhere I took her name, but she failed to give her badge number.

The S routes and 50 routes encounter a LOT of cyclists once they reach Columbia Heights and south into downtown. I do hope these routes and operators are called out for special training in how to better interact with pedestrians and cyclists. Additionally, I regularly observe them running red lights and speeding. While many suburban customers have stopped using the system due to parking rates and frequent train malfunctions, I know more and more DC residents who are shying away from your transit system due to such poor performance of many of your bus system and the behavior of your bus operators.

It is entirely legal for cyclists to ride in the regular travel lane, especially if conditions like snow and ice make the bicycle lane unsafe. Cyclists can do it for any reason, though. Unfortunately, some drivers don't know this, and try to drive extra close to cyclists to "teach them a lesson". That's dangerous, and illegal. Our officers, charged with protecting the public, need to protect our vulnerable bicycle riders as well. It's also unconscionable for an officers to refuse to disclose their badge numbers, regardless of whether they are in the right or wrong about the underlying incident.

Bicycling

MPD not interested in investigating cyclist intimidation

by David Alpert   •   August 26, 2008 2:50 pm

WashCycle relays an incident where a locksmith van driver ran two cyclists off the road in Georgetown. It seems the driver was unhappy that the two, Nat Wilson and another unrelated cyclist, were taking the lane (which is completely legal).

Wilson got photos of the van, driver and license plate, and reported the incident to the police. They took a report, but didn't give an incident number, and all they would do is radio around. If an officer spotted the van, they'd pull it over and "check ID."

What does checking ID accomplish? If the driver has outstanding parking tickets, then they can stop him, but otherwise there's nothing they can do?

When we let drivers intimidate cyclists (or anyone else) with impunity, the bad drivers keep doing it and cyclists get the message that their safety isn't a priority. If it's important for MPD to spend resources ticketing wrong-way cyclists on New Hampshire or jaywalkers in Columbia Heights, why not put some effort behind catching this guy—as WashCycle points out, the phone number is on the van!

We need a video like this one to get the word out that cyclist intimidation is a serious matter (the relevant part starts at 3:09).