You’re not a car!

[StopMeansStop]

That’s what this woman said to me after she failed to yield at a stop sign. It’s not that she didn’t see me, she just felt she didn’t have too, for her stated reason.

Hey lady, you’re something that starts with a “C”.

Topic

[Usern Ame]

Haha, hope you told her that.

[Dirt]

I have a nice lady that yells “Pay your personal property taxes!” at me every week.

[hencio]

I had a guy pass me in the bikelane (he was on a BMW motorcycle) the other day. I yelled something similar about not being a bike.

[Mark Blacknell]

@StopMeansStop 8790 wrote:

Hey lady, you’re something that starts with a “C”.

Confused. Obviously.

[KLizotte]

@Dirt 8806 wrote:

I have a nice lady that yells “Pay your personal property taxes!” at me every week.

I must be slow because I just don’t get what she’s yelling about. Maybe she is referring to the gasoline tax?

I wonder if there are irate cyclists out there routinely yelling at pedestrians along their daily commutes.

On a happier note, I encountered some particularly nice drivers on my night ride home tonight (which is miraculous given that I went down M St in Georgetown).

[jrenaut]

Virginia has this silly “I know you already paid sales tax on your depreciating asset, but you should probably pay some more” tax on cars. I suspect that’s what Ms. Angrypants is yelling at Dirt about.

[Dirt]

I don’t claim to understand the woman that yells at me. I’m guessing she understands me about as much. We have a great relationship.

[rcannon100]

And of course most bikers are paying personal property taxes. Simply because I am a bike commuter doesnt mean I dont have a car (It just means the car is sitting in the driveway at home ) I pay personal property tax – but use the road much less than others – and subsidize their use of the roads. Transportation-welfare is great; cyclists subsidizing petroleum guzzlers – while we have to fight epic battles simply to get a safe street crossing.

[donkeybike]

@KLizotte 8839 wrote:

I wonder if there are irate cyclists out there routinely yelling at pedestrians along their daily commutes.

Well, sometimes. I am trying to instead smile like a crazy person and point to the green light above. I told a jaywalker the other day “look up, the light’s green.” I am so sick of people walking in front of me. People don’t even look–they pop out from behind cars into the bike lane. They are damn lucky I am not a car, and that I am slow. I find this is worst at the courthouse complex along Clarendon–so many are probably country employees.

[Dirt]

I don’t yell at pedestrians, but I talk to them. I try to keep my voice mellow and kind. Usually the message is “I can barely see you.” or “You are almost invisible.”

In general, I can say this: If I say something nice to people… Something like “Good morning” or “Have a nice walk/run”… I usually get either no response or a positive response. If I make any comment somewhat critical… like my visibility-related comments above, I’m almost always met with hostility…. sometimes a LOT of hostility.

I keep things positive. I remain happy and happily say the same thing the next day. Eventually people give up their hostility, though they rarely change their reflective gear wearing habits. As others have noted elsewhere, this time of year is nice because the casual runners/pedestrians on the path stop showing up. It is much more the hard core runners/walkers. They’re usually good about wearing reflective gear and being visible. I’ve already started seeing that shift. I’m happy for it.

The good news is that I’m seeing quite a few Bike Arlington bands that we have distributed.

Pete

[bikenurse]

To drivers I tend to say ‘have a nice day” and “please share the road”. I smile and wave (mostly)
I try to let pedestrians know when I’m passing, however phones and ear buds tend to render them deaf… today I rang my bell to alert a family armada of moms and strollers on the trail 3 across. And they stopped and stared at me so that I had to slowly weave through them. I did tell them that was less than helpful.

[DaveK]

I was riding CaBi home today and got yelled at by a tourist to “get off the sidewalk” while on the Rock Creek Parkway trail by the water. Sometimes I just want to hit people with rocks…

[Author]

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