Honks are fairly rare for me. Angry honks even more so. But just a few minutes ago I got the angry honk.
I define the angry honk as one that includes some other angry behavior in addition to the honk and/or a honk of particularly angry intensity.
I was on Fremont at the intersection with Sunset heading north. Fremont it a 3-laner north of Sunset. The lane is narrow, not sharable. I was stopped at the light. Traffic was fairly busy, so there was a line of about seven cars behind me and two in front of me before the light changed.
There’s a bit of a bottleneck as you pass through the intersection and Fremont becomes three lanes. So the cars behind me had to wait a moment before they could clear the south-bound left turn lane to smoothly move around me using part of the center lane.
A couple of cars passed safely. Then the honker appeared in a full-sized, white gas-guzzler. He started making insistent little honks when he was directly behind me. Then he pulled up beside me — a little too close for comfort — and really let one blast. Then he floored it, which was silly because just a few yards ahead was the bumper of the next vehicle.
I’m sorry to say that I did not stick to my no-response policy. I’m happy to say that all I did was give the guy an exaggerated, 1-armed “what gives” shrug.
I also noted that the driver and his passenger were middle-aged and over weight. So, really, they have bigger problems than a bicycle in the road that’s making them 30 seconds later than they would otherwise be.
Comments 6
If you lived in Columbia you could report it online with the police department and the motorist would get a “whats up?” call from a police officer.
Posted 31 Jul 2009 at 12:02 pm ¶This scenario happens at least once if not twice during every trip 2 mile trip between work and home. You are fortunate they decided to not throw the slurpie cup at you.
Honks used to not bother me when I started riding, but I was high on newbie-gumption then. Now that the newbie-gumption is wearing off, experiences as these linger.
Posted 31 Jul 2009 at 12:35 pm ¶Shek… I’d be a little freaked if this occurred daily. I’m lucky, however, in that I’m usually not riding on roads where drivers feel maximum ownership, e.g. a 4-lane arterial business strip. Plenty of honks to be had there.
Robert… I wonder what response I’d get from the police here. Hmmmmm… next time.
Posted 31 Jul 2009 at 4:33 pm ¶I don’t observe much of a pattern regarding honking other than it seems to happen more often on the way home and more often from people I never see on the commute route either before or after the incident.
Four lane business arterials may actually be “honk resistant.”
Posted 31 Jul 2009 at 11:39 pm ¶Steve… I’m thinking what causes a honk may be different area to area.
Posted 01 Aug 2009 at 8:25 am ¶If you can get the license plate number you can send it to the Missouri Bicycle and Pedestrian Federation (MoBikeFed.org) and they will send the owner of the vehicle a letter.
You can’t get a police officer in Springfield unless you have a fresh body in your front yard.
Posted 16 Aug 2009 at 11:21 am ¶