This is also a good reminder to every one of us… it does not good to lash out at motorists. In fact, it often puts us cyclists at greater risk. For whatever reason, road rage is definitely on the rise and you never know who your verbal comments or bumper you may slap. It’s tough though. In the heat of the moment, it’s far to easy to loose control of your feelings and lash out. I have certainly been guilty of putting myself in unnecessary danger by doing just this, but over the years I’ve matured to the point where I realize it does no good.

I know many great cyclists and I have faith in those why choose the bicycle for their mode of transportation. We can rise above the petty bickering and calmly, patiently erode the anger gap that has formed between two different modes of transportation.

“Then there are the people who are even more dangerous, the type that purposely runs red lights, cuts close to pedestrians and cyclists, or even harasses other road users. When these people cause accidents, I believe they deserve the above and more, perhaps even jail time. They certainly don’t deserve another chance to get behind the wheel of a car.”

I am dealing with this right now, I was riding in Newport where I live and a road raging driver in an SUV came up on me very fast and started tail gating and sustained horn blowing then buzzed me while passing on the right. I reached out and and spanked her truck on the fender and now it’s me who is going to court. Hopefully the judge will dismiss the charge because of the driver’s anger management problem. The kicker is that her husband is a Newport fire captain whose brother is the police dispatcher and he assaulted me verbally and physically tried to get me in a fight and the cops won’t charge him in spite of there being a witness. All this because I took the lane and she wanted to get to RED light a hundred feet ahead.

Interesting statistics. But the rightwards shift in age distribution (ie. the increased number of elderly drivers) may dilute the effects of educating the young. Age distribution of drivers in accidents across those two measurements would be helpful information here.

At the U.S. Open Cycling Foundation, we deliver plenty of education to elementary schools and the uptake seems pretty good, but they are less at risk than older kids who may ride longer into the evening and have less reticence to take busier roads. Middle to high schoolers, though, should get the message. But they get lots of messages so I’d not hang my hat on reducing bike/car accidents by training them. I believe that the College-aged are receptive – goodness knows they need it – and, certainly, adult bike commuters want share the road training.

Sans training, though, many cyclists will under serve both their own safety and that of the motorist. Cyclists must take charge to maximize their own safety on the roads.

I ride my bike to and from work everyday (Tue-Sat) so I get to see a good chunk of road activity. In the winter there are not as many fools on bikes but they are definitely still there. These might be cyclists that have no lights at night, ride on sidewalks, ride on the left and ignore traffic control devices (red lights). Probably fifteen (15) times more often I see Drivers on cell phones that never even knew they almost hit me.

Your mileage may vary.

Any right minded adult rejects education as a solution. Only bicycling/motoring safety outreach to middle schools is possible, but car lobbyists kyboshed that as public policy decades ago.

I see plenty of bikes, elsewhere at night w/o reflectors or lights. So I am not sure of your point.

Most probably don’t own a car -either because they can’t afford one or choose not to drive – either way – the reason is unimportant.

And most would be aware that the danger level would increase at night and I’m sure are more vigilant.

When I need to ride my bike at night – it is because I just need to run an errand and the distance is relatively close to my house (I own two cars if you need to know and hold a CDL Class A license with all available endorsements). My bike has a dyno-hub driven LED Headlight and a Busch and Muller LED taillight but even with that I am extra careful.

This guy Mitchell is an idiot – obviously not even a cyclist because no cyclist would even make a statement like that!!!