Mike, why don't we cyclists start sending you accounts of every incident of road rage that we experience from drivers? You would have nothing else to publish in this blog. I can't count how many times a driver has cut me off, accelerated by me to remind me that I'm too slow for them, blared their horn, told me to "get on the sidewalk" or given me the finger. This guy gets in a situation with one jerky cyclist and it's somehow a story.

Of course, road rage should not be tolerated from cyclists, but it's not like motorists really have that big of an issue when someone is road-ragey in a car. Sure, they chalk it up to the person being a jerk and move on. That's what this fellow should do. Most cyclists will not give you grief because they're simply interested in staying alive. The cyclist in this story seems to have other plans.

With that said, the cyclist's behavior is not justified. Running red lights at busy intersections is dangerous and illegal.

But thousands of motorists in Baltimore run red lights daily, and thousands more are also very terrible and angry drivers. And I don't see you, Mr. Dresser, calling for all those road raging drivers to get out of their cars and walk if they can't control their tempers. Let's not let the sins of one create some stupid debate about the attitude of all cyclists toward motorists.

COMMENT: I suggested that drvers who can't coexist gracefully with bicyclists should turn in their licenswe. What more could a bicyclist want? Beatification of everyone on two wheels?

I can't believe I'm saying this, but I agree 100%. I ride on the roads a lot. On the weekends, I'll be out for 3-4 hours each day. Every ride, without fail, usually has a 'horn tapper'.

As cyclists, there's no point in going out of our way to be assholes. So the driver tapped his horn. A jarring experience when you're on a bike, but drivers don't know how loud their horns are. They don't know better.

If a cyclist does anything except wave and smile, they're just fueling the fire. It sounds like this one went way over the top; now we have another old person who's pissed at us.

Just what we need.

One time, a driver pulled up next to me on my bike and started screaming about getting off the road. I smiled, told them one of their brake lights were out, and waved. The shocked driver thanked me profusely and sped off. Of course, their brake lights were actually fine.

Using one's brain to outwit an angry driver is much more satisfying than a middle finger.

Agreed the cyclists actions were appalling. I'd like to apologize for him as a fellow cyclist.

But I'd like to emphasize the fact that cyclists have to be extremely vigilant when biking since a small traffic accident can be a life or death situation. Unfortunately US society isn't very aware of how to act or to the fact that they should be looking out for cyclists on the road even though it's the law (this is why cyclists have become so sensitive) .

That being said there still is no excuse for this type of behavior, to bad there are bad apples in every group.

There seems to be an abundance of incivility on the roads and a lack of cool heads and it appears the bicyclist in this case suffered from both. I have to agree with Mr. Dresser in that the use of the horn probably did not help in this case. The horn is a blunt instrument, the driver knew in his head what he intended to convey but the bicyclist likely had no idea, than for some reason took it as a personal affront and appeared to lose control. It does seem the author of the letter has an axe to grind judging from the use of the condescending "angelic" biker term, and him referring to general traffic lanes as "automobile lanes".
In closing, It is also wise to remember that one can not judge a group by the behaviors of it's individuals. If people were to write letters to AAA every time they encountered an angry or erratic driver on the road, I do believe their mailbox would be overstuffed.

I would like to start by saying that if the events unfolded as the driver said, then the behavior of the cyclist was unacceptable. A single small tap on the horn, in my opinion, can be a courtesy gesture to let us cyclists know that a car is behind us and will be passing. However, it should not be used as a request to "move out of the way now" as some drivers treat it.

That being said, the bike lane on Roland Ave in its entirety is littered with potholes and gravel. It is in many sections not safe to ride on. Specifically, I know that the northbound side just north of Northern Parkway is extremely unsafe right now as there is a large quantity of what looks like debris from road patching. The bicyclist in this case was completely justified to be riding outside of the bike lane for that short period of time; you cannot expect cyclists to use a bike lane if it is itself unsafe. By the way, there was an entire other lane in which you could have passed the cyclist if you would have made the effort to do so. Question: If it was a slow moving truck that was in front of you on that day, would you have honked at it, expected it to move out of the way, and wrote this blog post? I think not.

Both cyclists and automobile drivers need to do a better job of keeping tempers in check. Road rage from a cyclist might involve some harsh words that might not have needed to be said. I implore my fellow cyclists to bite our tongues when we can. However, road rage from a driver usually puts the cyclist’s life in danger. I have many times been in dangerous situations because a driver wanted to teach me a lesson by passing really close to me and honking. If you endanger my life, I will let you know and I will call the police. Is it really worth putting my life in danger so that you can pass me a few seconds faster than doing so safely? (more often than not, especially in the city, I’ll catch you at the next stoplight anyway.)

What cyclists want is to be taken seriously as legal vehicles in a roadway. And Mykel above makes the point that this cyclist that cut off Mr. Shettle gives the rest of us a bad name. I know that you, Mike, are not anti-cycling, but publishing these unverified stories does nothing but create additional anti-cycling sentiment. This guy that cut off Mr. Shettle was a singular jerk, and that's all there is to it. No analysis needed.

It is a wildly disproportionate response that does no one any good. I'm assuming that the description is completely accurate, of course.

My general advice to drivers regarding "tapping the horn" is the following: if you observe some behavior from a person driving a car would you respond by tapping the horn? If no, then it probably makes little sense to communicate such a message to the cyclist.

My advice to everyone is that the problem isn't drivers, cyclists, nor pedestrians. It's jerks who are drivers, cyclists or pedestrians. Yes, there is some misunderstanding about what the rules of the road, trail, sidewalk, or other public area are. But if we all just use a little bit of common sense and courtesy and just forgive the other person for whatever slights we perceive and got on with our days life would be much much easier.

I just give people a big thumbs down when they honk at me and act like jerks by swerving at me when I'm on my bike.

The finger is aggression and makes people feel justified in their jerkiness.

Nobody can handle the disapproval of a shaking head and a big thumbs down.

Hello Tom Shettle of Timonium,

Thanks for being a good citizen by honking at bicycle riders who run a red light.
* Do you motion for cell phone car drivers to hangup?
* Do you explain proper crosswalk rules to pedestrians who jay walk?
* Do you honk and chase down car drivers who run red and yellow lights?
* Do you explain that there are littering laws to those who litter?

How do you get anything done? You have a busy day righting society's wrongs.

Great idea: Use turn signals when approching bicyclists. Better idea: Use turn signals all the time.