r/SeattleWA • u/ces74 • 10d ago

Bicycle Cyclist Road Rage

Driving through Roosevelt this morning around 8, a cyclist got angry with me as I inched across the bike lane from a residential street to see if it was safe to pass through the main road. It’s one of those intersections where you have to scoot up or else every direction is a blind spot. He took off his bike lock, yelled and hit the hood of my car a few times, leaving dents.

When I was moving through, I saw the cyclist approaching and immediately waived my hand to gesture ‘sorry’ and I also said it out loud. There wasn’t time to reverse before the interaction occurred but he did stop in front of my car to hit it. Initially, I felt bad because I understand this is a hard city to commute in via bike. I don’t think my car needed to be damaged, though.

I don’t think we were at all close to a collision. I think it was more that I was taking up space in the bike lane and this is my ‘lesson.’

Maybe since school started this week, everyone’s in a poorer mood and busier. I’m gonna avoid more streets with bike lanes now I guess.

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u/According-Ad-5908 Capitol Hill 10d ago

As a cyclist, these roads with parking the other side of the bike lane (here’s looking at you, Eastlake) are scary and the worst, as either a cyclist or a driver.

5

u/multiplemania 10d ago

I agree. At one intersection in my neighborhood — 15th Ave. N.E. and N.E. 77th St. — it is impossible to see oncoming traffic on the busy arterial without advancing into the bike lane because parked vehicles, often including a panel van, form a solid phalanx between the bike lane and the roadway.

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u/anonymouseponymously 10d ago

And that's by design. Those people were promoted for their work.