On street Harassment

Waiting on the right at a red-light, on a quite residential street when a white GMC contractor van pulled up and stopped behind me. After a moment the van began to creep forwards and towards me, coming closer and closer until the bumper brushed my left leg. At which point I put my hand out on the hood to push myself away and heard "don't touch my fucking car" from the driver. He and his passenger stare at me with wide grins. I got off my bike and lifted it off the road.

Never saw them before that day, haven't seen them since.

I'd be interested to know if 99% of the harassment is done by males 16-30, I suspect so.

I keep the plate # memorized.

The best way to react to verbal harassment is to ignore it... do you really want to stop and try to convince said person that a cyclist can ride on the road? You never know if that person is a fucking psychopath or just an ignorant ape, either way... not a good idea to try and have a rational discussion with them.

As for physical harassment call the police, maybe they can help you, but you'll need witnesses or tire marks.

"Should it be made illegal to harass cyclists and other road users? I'd sure like it to be, but would motorists yelling at other motorists be illegal too?"

It is illegal at a certain point. If all they are doing is simply yelling snide remarks then you just have to brush it off. If they threaten you, like "get off the road or I will run you down" it becomes criminal. If an action, like swerving their car at you, follows the "get off the road" that too is illegal.

Electric provides some of the best advice and that is to ignore it until you feel threatened. You have to figure out at what threat level you will call the police. I have more tolerance on my own than I do when I a towing my son. Again, as Electric says, engaging the driver is fruitless and sometimes stupid.

Now if you do call the police to make a complaint be prepared to wait for them to attend. Just tell them what happened and make clear how you felt your person felt threatened. If you and I were bantering with one another and I say to you "I am going to kill you" next time you spell 'colour' wrong, it is not much of a threat. Whatever you do, do not tell the police their job or the law. Do not lie or embellish. The cops will go with the person who they feel is the most honest.

I have only resorted to filling out a traffic violation report once. You need to go to a police station to file the report.

If you are involved in an incident with a driver that you deem unsafe or threatening you should take action.

Here is the information you will be asked to provide:
- description of the driver
- licence plate number
- make, model and colour of the vehicle
- time and location of the incident
- a synopsis of the event
- plus any additional information * witnesses are always a good idea.

Make sure you write down the details as soon as possible.

The Police take unsafe drivers very seriously, and they have the authority to take the case to court.

Whenever I'm the victim of something illegal and dangerous, I always (well, almost always) call the police when I can get a plate number. They investigate every complaint. Even if no charges are laid, I am of the opinion that having a policeman arrive at the offender's home to discuss his behaviour has an effect. Particularity if family members ask questions like "why did the policeman come to talk with you?"

The Police also need to get a description of the driver in order take action, a lic. plate is good, but they need to confirm that a specific individual was involved if charges are to be laid.

Even if there is no description of the driver, the police will investigate. They will talk to the owner of the car. They are looking for a confession, and I have had policemen tell me that they do get an amazing amount of confessions. In many cases they are trying to justify theselves to police.

The ARC website has some good info on how to file a traffic violation report, including a downloadable copy of the form:

http://respect.to/wiki/pmwiki.php?n=LegalInfo.HowToFileATr...

I went into 52 Division (reluctantly) to file my report. I was all ready to make a clever comment about why the form was not available online - then the PC that was helping me said he would review the report before submitting it, - that hadn't occurred to me; I also had to sign the report.

Anyway, within a week I had a call from the Enforcement Officer at the local Police Div. where the incident took place to say that he would be contacting the driver, and asked if I wanted to press charges.

In the end I was very satisfied with the outcome.

I find that the abuse is more frequent in the areas surrounding downtown. It's usually more likely that the drivers aren't used to sharing the road with cyclists and they generally have no understanding of the laws that apply to cyclists (a good example would be drivers yelling at people to ride on the sidewalk).

When I'm downtown, it's just the usual garbage of overly aggressive men (I don't want to generalize, but the fact of the matter is I've never ever had an aggressive encounter with a female driver) who will flick cigarettes at me out the window and call me various horrendous names. No real reason for it. They may have felt they had the right of way, or I was too far from the curb - always the minor stuff. On the big incidents, everyone just gapes like a fish.

I cycle commuted in Toronto for over a year, and elsewhere for several years prior. I deal with aggressive drivers on a regular basis, as cyclists do. Even if I didn't agree with their viewpoint, I could at least usually see why they were getting riled ( I was "taking a lane", or I had dared to exercise my right-of-way at a four-way stop, or something).

I recently moved to Ajax. Its rare that you see a pedestrian, let alone a cyclist. And I have gotten more random abuse there than I ever got in the city - with absolutely no apparent provocation. Lots of room for them to get by, no apparent impediment to their progress, or really any particular reason to NOTICE me, let alone hurl epithets in my general direction.

I find that infinitely more distressing because there's no reason (even bad reason) behind it. Just a general hate-on for all cyclists. Because we're there.

Driver Man is certainly the most aggressive species of road user.

Easily identified by his boisterous behaviour, Driver Man can often be found cursing aloud as he drives aggressively between traffic stops while demonstrating a lack of consideration for other road users and pedestrians.

I only get upset when they actually try to threaten me with their vehicle, ie the revving the engine, making believe they are going to run you over, whatever.

Words are just words. There are no really good retorts, so just smile and wave. It will confuse them.

This morning while riding my recumbent, I got an angry "blah blah blah BIKE LANE" (this was on Queen street, by the way, with no such thing) along with a very emphatic finger from the passenger of the vehicle. So I just smiled and waved.

However it was tempting when I think I spotted the same vehicle over 2 km further down the road, to overtake and yell in the window "Shoulda taken the GARDINER eh?" But there was a red light between me and them and I'm (generally) a good law abiding cyclist :)

oh, I've been there too. A number of times I've had cars try to shoulder me out of the way - drift into the lane, or just drift towards me to sandwich me between them and the curb. I generally manage to stop in time or speed up out of it. Once I had to ditch the bike though.

Honestly have no idea what encourages drivers to do this to me. Seriously.

Here is my opinion on why some auto drivers act the way they do. Out of the car they are nice, polite law abiding citizens. But as they go to get in the car they leave behind in their house their common sense, the ability to know right from wrong, all their intelligence. But they do pick up to take with them their I own the road attitude, rudeness attitude and I really do not have to obey the laws attitude and keep those with themselves while driving. Then they wonder why cyclists act the way cyclists do downtown. I do see everyday cyclists abused by drivers all the time. I guess it does not happen to me as often because my vehicle portrays it is larger and may possibly cause more damage to their car if struck. But I will tell you a secret, it is just an illusion, the plastic fairings are just that plastic with empty space behind them, and my size taken up on the road is no longer or wider then a typical bicycle, it just looks that way. By the way the above is just to make you laugh, I am not serious about this comment about car drivers, but I am serious about the cyclist abuse I see.

Ken Finch

Q: Why are drivers so abusive?
A: Toronto roads are badly designed, and the downtown core is especially poor. Very frustrating.

1. There are not enough, and not properly sized, bike lanes.
2. There is not enough car parking.
3. During construction season, a street may be blocked off but no detour route is marked out so vehicles are directed left or right but there is no second sign telling them how to get back on their desired route. So angry drivers are meandering hither and yon trying to get back on track. Grr.
4. Streetcar tracks (and stalled streetcars) make everyone's road life miserable.
5. Too many cyclists run red lights, stop signs, etc., and make drivers angry.
6. People open parked car doors blindly, endangering cyclists.
7. Cars are too big. Bikes are too small.
8. Toronto police are too busy taking bribes and shaking down drug dealers to enforce basic traffic laws.
9. Because they think they can get away with it.
10. Because they're on the phone and not paying attention to the road.

None of the above is a good reason to be abusive and harassing.

Once recently I had two guys in a van... and the guy on the passenger side in a van tell me to ride on the sidewalk as he passed.

I caught up and told him that I don't ride on the sidewalk because it's illegal... and pointed to a cop in his cruiser and told the guy to go verify it with the cop if he didn't believe me...

I rode ahead and when they passed me they waved in an 'Alright, I see your point' way.

No from them... I was initially irritated but instead of telling them off, I decided to tell the condensed version of the truth.

Oh and in the past, I had two @sshole drivers, one male in one instance, and an older lady in another instance, stop at a red light close deliberately to the curb so there wasn't enough space for me... as if I should have to sit behind cars in the traffic jam just like they had to.

I just gave them dirty looks and rode around them.

All three of these incidents happened to me while riding in Mississauga.

Only ever been harassed by a pedestrian before and I mentioned it on this site in a different thread some other day.

Basically this morbidly obese middle-aged woman yells at me for cycling past (behind) her when she completely ignored me upon stepping onto the road. I had about .9 of a meter away from her and I trasngressed a injustice by doing a rolling stop @ the highly residential stopsign.

Had she had looked at me or even anywhere near oncoming traffic I might have stopped but hey you break the rules so do I...

In the infamous words of Rick Astley:
"You know the rules, and so do I."
She should have tried to make a citizens arrest so I could have given her some excersize for the first time in decades.
Sorry! Waddling across the street into a mall and ordering a number 7 from mcdonalds isn't a form of excersize lady.

Only ever been harassed by a pedestrian before and I mentioned it on this site in a different thread some other day.

Basically this morbidly obese middle-aged woman yells at me for cycling past (behind) her when she completely ignored me upon stepping onto the road. I had about .9 of a meter away from her and I trasngressed a injustice by doing a rolling stop @ the highly residential stopsign.

Had she had looked at me or even anywhere near oncoming traffic I might have stopped but hey you break the rules so do I...

In the infamous words of Rick Astley:
"You know the rules, and so do I."

She should have tried to make a citizens arrest so I could have given her some excersize for the first time in decades.
Sorry! Waddling across the street into a mall and ordering a number 7 from mcdonalds isn't a form of excersize lady.

The only time I get harased on the street when I ride a bike on the street.

Westbound on Queens Quay at Spadina is a popular spot because I take the left lane, and complety avoid the right hand turn lane. What has happened on more than occasion is someone will drive straight through from the right hand turn lane in order to yell something incomprehensible at me. I'm going stratight and I'm in the lane that is going straight, this is where I'm supposed to be, but I've even had cyclists admonish me for taking the left lane through this intersection.

I simply can't wait for Waterfront Toronto to fix Queen's Quay.

... and I feel that it's illegal and threatening, do we call 911? Would that be considered an emergency? Or should we call a less urgent number?

Non-Emergency
If you require Police assistance, but are not in an emergency situation (e.g. Reporting thefts, vandalism, fraud) or for other situations where no person or property is in immediate danger, please call our non-emergency telephone number at 416-808-2222

http://www.torontopolice.on.ca/contact.php

I believe that many drivers see a cyclist as an obstacle on the road when viewed through a car window; then you have the two basic sub groups: one that wants to get by you as soon as possible, and the one that is overly concerned with your safety as they squeeze the wheel.

I'll call out anyone if I think they need to be reminded that they're sharing the road with others, and I don't take any shit from obnoxious drivers - incidents average 2-3 every couple of months.

the bozo who yelled "get the off the road" from a pickup truck.

most ignorant harassment: the driver (and then in another circumstance the pedestrian) who yelled at me that I had to stay on the right as I rode the left turn lane in preparation for a left turn.

funniest harassment: the woman who screamed at me "I want to have your baby" as I pedalled past her car.

It takes all kinds...