This is normal day for a bmw driver.
I know this is fuckcars, but that's not even a car thing - it's a human thing, and all the worse for it:-(.
The thing is, if you both were on a bike, the interaction would have so much less potential to have become accidentally deadly:-).
cars bring out the worst in people.
Yup. Ironically I think it's that feeling of pseudoanonymity that does it, which seems backed up by how people often behave online. It allows someone's true colors to come out, whatever they may be.
I think cars and car culture are inextricably linked to this kind of behavior, and it gets worse with bigger cars. People definitely can ride bikes like assholes but it’s less common-something about having zero barriers between a person and the world makes them less susceptible to acting like the world isn’t there.
Driving around in a climate controlled cockpit with surround stereo, splashing rain and mud on all those who they pass by, while laughing at "the poors" who cannot afford to drive or perhaps soon helicopter around everywhere. It definitely has an effect - bc Power Corrupts.
But it's not solely their fault - the fault is also (or even... primarily?) ours for voting in such a way that so much space is dedicated to these rich assholes, while leaving no room for ourselves.
Though also, I bet this asshole would have been just as douchy if both sides of the conflict here had been walking. So the car made the situation so much worse, rather than creating it.
When I lived in Calgary I almost got hit at crosswalks jogging with my dog countless times. By the time I moved away I was ready to throw the fuck down every time someone almost killed me or my dog (unless they gave me some sign that they were apologetic, which was very rarely). wtf is wrong with these people? Watch for people not in fucking cars, there’s crosswalks and bike laws for a reason, there’s other people doing shit in the world than just you. And I am not above breaking your mirror off your vehicle if you piss me off.
There are crosswalk and bike laws, but if you were killed by a car there'd be almost no consequences for the driver. Don't trust any car at a crosswalk and be responsible for your own safety. Take it one lane at a time and make sure the car in that lane is stopped, or at least sees you for sure and you can tell the car is stopping and not getting ready to turn or something like that. Eye contact with the driver.
As an additional precaution, authorities also recommend bringing a brick no less than 1kg in mass to show to drivers while crossing.
Tesla drivers have been overtaking (or at least rising to the level of) BMW drivers as the worst on the road.
Around here the worst drivers are mostly larger cars. Broncos, wagoneer, range rovers, etc. Tesla drivers sometimes try to get zippy, same as BMW sefan drivers, etc. But the larger car drivers are aggressive af, tailing you reeeeeeeal close for however long it takes before they can whip around you.
I don't agree. In fact, the Tesla drivers around me are some of the better drivers. I still hate Tesla though.
That has not been my experience at all. I guess we just need more data.
https://bimmerlife.com/2020/10/31/study-bmw-drivers-are-the-rudest/
BMW drivers are the worst. It's science.
Treating bikers poorly is not just a U.S. thing, I’ve seen it the EU too, pretty nasty interactions. Drivers should be heavily fined for endangering people in more vulnerable situations.
Edit multiple people saying losing driving privileges, I think it usually works that way for repeat offenders. If someone does it once and the fine deters them then mission accomplished
I could have written the exact same paragraph even though I live on the other side of the planet. It's crazy how universal this shit seems to be.
BMW lost any enthusiasm from me when they introduced subscription car features. I think they did it before anyone else.
Now I'm happy to think of BMW as full-throated supporters of the German Reich.
As someone who does enjoy cars, fuck BMW owners, they are always the stupidest, angriest, pettiest drivers on the road. I wouldn't invite one to my wedding.
I'm just saying this because yesterday I drove behind a BMW M5 driver who was the exact opposite of an aggressive driver. They were so cautious and considerate of others around them I actually took notice. Broke my world for a moment, I expected them to be a jerk but nope. It was a welcomed weird.
Can confirm. Just walked the Camino and everyone I talked to had a bad experience with BMW drivers. The brand is like a dickhead magnet.
The BMW comes with the special edition highway code has that extra rule at the end.
I didn't think it was true until I was a passenger in one and the driver - whom I previously thought to be a semi-sane human - missed the motorway junction that we wanted; this is no problem at all for BMW, it has hazards and a reversing gear . . . genius!
Anybody have experience adding a dashcam to their bike? I wonder if documenting these cases could help start change
Go on 'The Youtube', there are thousands of videos of bicyclists with dash cams in hairy situations.
There's an app for that - it's called, succinctly, "dashcam for your bike". They sell clip-on phone holders for your bike and do some image stabilization in the video they record, and have integration so you can report people/items blocking the bike lane to the local infrastructure. Would recommend.
I can only imagine the invisible typewriter used by my city when a report comes in like that.
Forwarded directly to the "we'll get right on that" department
Heh, full disclosure: I was in a startup program with the dude who makes it so I'm def biased, but in Pittsburgh they put bollards on a road to establish separation for the bike lane with credit to the reports from the app giving them historical tracking on how prevalent it was. So yeah, reports may not send out someone posthaste, but they can improve the situation for sure.
That works. Also, having the bike lane on an elevated level above car traffic works well.
Sounds about right. I had a similar encounter with a commercial minivan driver on a 30 kph backstreet in Toronto.
Why did you have his toddler in the back seat??
Just last week I was almost run over by a silver honda civic while trying to use the crosswalk, said civic driver proceeded to honk and and yell at me for being in the way. Somehow, that's the second time I've almost been almost run over and then honked at by someone in a silver honda civic.
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