BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

"cyclist hit by vehicle" is a bit of a misnomer there. The guy in the SUV should get a ticket for failing to signal but otherwise that looks more like poor decision making on the cyclist's part.

Aug 31 2011 helmet cam video of a cyclist being intentionally hit in DC. Unbelievable. I mean, not surprised.

@quizbot - now that is some messed up shit.

Oh man. People suck

I was riding yesterday, heard the mating call of the angry driver with my own ears for the first time ("faggot"). The car had pulled over, and the call came out the driver's window as I passed. I turned as I heard it and waved.

I was on Fox Chapel Road, and regretted my response, as I became very self-conscious and nervous and felt pretty exposed. Fortunately nothing came of it.

It did get me thinking about it, and one thing that occurred to me was how similar driving is to a video game. And it got me wondering about how many drivers approach driving as a video game, and if the video game experience has desensitized us as a society to see "targets" and not people out there.

I guess I'm struggling to understand how people in cars can act with such aggression against people on bikes, or in crosswalks, and even people in other cars.

It's really scary to think that we're all targets out there, and steering wheels are joysticks.

@ALMKLM: I suspect that "obstacle" is more accurate than "target", at least in the vast majority of cases.

The video game structure seemed like an appropriate analogy for trying to understand the mind-set, so I used target there... maybe that's a little strong, but it fit the metaphor.

But then again, looking at that video of the guy who got hit by the truck, that was no accident, and that driver clearly didn't take into account that that is a human on that bike.

When a driver crosses the line from "self-absorbed douchenugget" to "sociopath", all bets are off.

Not to dismiss the obvious evidence that there are sociopaths on the roads with us...just saying that _most_ people out there aren't quite that deranged.

Agreed.

ALMKLM, sometimes I think that motor vehicle operation falls into that huge category of "just because humans CAN doesn't mean they SHOULD". I'm not sure we as a species have figured out how to do that responsibly. But I tend to think that about a lot of our species' actions. It's either that or I revise my definition of humanity - my choice is obvious, if incorrect.