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Old May 19, 2012, 11:41 AM   #12
spaniel
Senior Member
 
Join Date: November 26, 2008
Posts: 217
"I would love to hear the cyclist's defense in court. Firing at an occupied vehicle is more than just reckless IMO. The driver of the truck beeped the horn, alerting the cyclist of his presence, passed the cyclist and slowed down. If he intended on causing the cyclist harm, he could have bumped the back tire of even ran him off the road while passing him. So, who really started this incident?"

I seriously doubt this was a case of "beeping his horn to let him know he was there". If you have ever ridden a road bike, you know that their stopping distance is a lot longer than that of a car, with those skinny wheels and no tread. A car stopping suddenly in front of them is a dangerous situation -- especially when it is deliberate. I know of more than one cyclist who has ended up on someone's trunk because the driver rushed to pass them before a stop sign then plowed on the brakes as soon as they got around. This is why one of the few places I will take up a full lane with a bike regardless of how rude some non-understanding driver may think it is is right before an intersection -- too many close calls trying to be nice, staying over, then getting cut off and almost ending up on someone's back bumper.

My take on this incident's cause:
--Cyclist was doing something car didn't like. It could have ranged from taking up a whole lane when he did not need to (being rude and inconsiderate) to simply being on the road. These are back country roads with no centerline paved in chipseal (I live nearby). So it is hard to say if the cyclist was being inconsiderate, or was completely innocent of anything at the start of it.

--Car lays on horn. Cyclist may have deserved it, may have not.

--Cyclist flips off driver...immature at the least, can't say I didn't do it when I was younger but it's just asking for the situation to escalate. Better to just ignore idiot driver and move on with your life.

--Driver deliberately cuts off cyclist in attempt to either force them off road, to wipe out, or simply to impede them to "pay them back" for impeding their car and flipping them off. Depending on the circumstances he may deserve a careless/wreckless driving citation for this, depending on the level of danger he presented to the cyclist.

--Cyclist proves himself an even bigger idiot by opening fire.

I think they were both in the wrong here, I've had people use their cars as barricades/weapons against me before when biking/running, but this cyclist deserves to pay for hit hot-headedness in this situation.
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