Modern Vespa

they confonted me about it.

I usually have a worry free commute, but one woman made it a point the other day to try to hit me. I finally had to take a different route to get away from her and her weaving back and forth in the lanes. She was pretty aggressive and I knew she could see me and hear my horn. I was right next to her open window. But she ignored me and forced me out of my lane anyway. I shrugged it off.

Later, I thought, I should have a card to hand out to people after something like this happens. You know, ride up to them, hand them the card and ride off. Well what would it say. So I made one up and posted on my FB, as a little joke.

Well, you would have thought I said "Kill the Queen" or something to that effect. People not only did not care for the card, they emailed me and told me so! Coworkers came into my office and told me that I was "being a baby".

My own sister wanted her image removed off the back of the card! So I changed it and put it back up. Other's told me "That is what you get for riding a 2 wheel vehicle. You need to stay out of OUR way!"

Now I put it to you folks, what the heck was so bad about this card? It wasn't even real. It was a JOKE. But I am amazed to find so many folks thinking that they not only have the RIGHT to push PTWs around, but that we need to SHUT UP about it.

It's just confirmation that there are more stupid people out there than anything else. Not offensive to me.

Pleeeeeeease add me on FB so i can crucify these fools!!

Nice card by the way. 8)

I don't think any PTW riders would find it offensive. That is because we live it every day. I think you found that the people who were offended were the self-centered cagers/bullies who think that they can force you out of their way because you are risking DEATH if you don't move. Whereas they are only risking their paint job.

Curious if this FB post would get a different reaction in a different part of the country? For example, I suspect that in the Pacific Northwest where pedestrians will wait patiently at a deserted stop light for the crosswalk symbol to change before crossing the road, you would get an entirely different response.

Bad drivers need immediate feed back for the crap they cause. I often thought of between vehicle communication would be the ticket.

You have at least tried.... If I made up a card it would only have 7-10 words.

Now you did cause me to think!

What if I wrote a final letter. That I carried on me. if the driver just happened to take me out for good. That could be presented to them.

Their reaction stems from a guilty conscience.

I think leaving something visible attached to their car would be helpful. I have 2 thoughts about this.

Paint gun. People would see how bad of a driver someone is by how many paintball marks are on their car. Too many paint marks? Here's a ticket and your car gets put on a time out.

I've always thought it would be fun to have a magnetic flashing gizmo that looks sinister that one could toss at the car. A quick toss, it secures to their car and starts flashing. Maybe they would be too afraid of removing it because it looks like a little C4 device.

I know that neither of these is practical and to some degree a bit hostile/illegal, but I think it would make me feel a lot better to do.

I posted the note to my FB. No responses so far.

I have said the same thing about a paint pistol. needs to be a florescent /reflective color so all the folks around them know they are a dip shit.

Only offensive to those who need to read it. Those with a guilty conscious. I thought it was pretty well done myself.

Damb that is funny.. Great card. LETS GET PRINTING lol

I absolutely see where you're coming from with this. And part of me loves what you've done.

BUT I can see how someone who is probably feeling guilty, and would rather find something to get mad at you about rather than listen to what you're saying and maybe learn something and become a safer driver in future would be able to claim to find the language a bit patronising.

We all want to get mad at idiots. But, other than blowing off some steam (which is good in the short term), I think the only really useful thing is to find some way to get these idiots onside and appeal to them in a way that might change their future behaviour. And the risk of antagonising people (i.e. making your future rides LESS safe) is a huge consideration. The reaction of your workmates sort of shows that they've been antagonised, so I wonder whether the exercise was counterproductive.

Please note: I'm not saying that your workmates' reaction is defensible. Personally, I think they're being arseholes. BUT, I think that any useful strategy has got to take the arseholes into account. In fact, perhaps it's got to concentrate almost entirely on the arseholes, on the grounds that reasonable people won't generally want to run you off the road, and if they do it by accident then they're likely to learn and adjust their behaviour in future.

I don't know what the solution is. We had a campaign in the UK recently that was aimed at getting drivers to think of bikers as people, as individuals, who have families and friends who love them. IMHO, the campaign wasn't done all that well, but I can see the idea behind it.

Anyway, I'm glad you're unhurt.

It's a brilliant idea! Usually it's the one's who deserve this card will appose it.

I've actually thought about getting these, but less long winded! Maybe just "Fantastic driving, asshole" Simple... yet gets my point across

Ah yes... the THINK! Campaign...

I appreciate the sentiment of the card -- and the wording captures the right tone and message.

Having said that, my experience suggests that the clueless will remain clueless. I had a conversation that was almost verbatim of what's on Belk's card with a lady who actually brushed my left elbow with her mirror. From the expression on her face, it was clear that she had no idea of what I was upset about, or even what I was talking about. She motored off without any response or reaction.

I'm sure every MVer has a similar story...but I'm not sure handing out PTW "scorecards" is going to change anyone's behavior. The courts in this country continue to downplay consequences when a PTW rider is hit or killed. Apparently, the attitude that bikers/scooterists are somehow second-class citizens permeates society at large. After all, we're the ones putting ourselves in harm's way, so we "deserve" whatever we get, right?

I like the paintball idea, as it's a visual warning that the driver is an idiot; honestly, I don't think that I'd have the presence of mind to hand a card to a cager who has jeopardized my life...if I had that kind of access to the driver/vehicle, I think I'd just have to have a frank and earnest conversation, albeit a memorable one for the driver.

Needs to be magnetic.

"Thanks for not killing me, this time"??

In

Large Friendly Letters

in Comic Sans??

Somebody once printed up a bunch of stickers that said:
"Pursuant to county requirements, the public is hereby warned that the operator of this vehicle is a registered sex offender." and just slapped one on the back of the offending car when they came to a stop.
Only you can decide if a putting a sticker like this on the rear of their car would make you feel better about almost getting run over.

+1 Short and Sweet!

Gianni

Belkwinith, as I see it, your note is, if anything, being a bit TOO charitable towards the perpetrator. It allows them to agree that "I didn't hear your horn" and that "you were in my blind spot," absolving them of responsibility for the vehicular assault they just comitted. But that's just me. and you are, after all, one of the nice people out there!

This is all enough to make me want to sign up for FB.

My wife gets the same thing at work.

"You need to watch out for ME!"

Yeah, cuz you weave lanes with no turn signals, and generally drive like an asshat. I get that. I see you.

Thing is, if you hit/injure/kill me, even if you don't care about any other life than your own, you will still go to jail. For a long time. And pay fines 10x more than that stupid box you drive. Is that worth it? I don't think so.

I'm sure this happens world wide, but I would like to hope that the majority of it happens here in the US.

This is something that we both try to Zen out about, but it's not easy.

So far, almost 4 hours after I posted it on my FB, I have gotten 5 likes, and another person shared it to their page. So far, my hypothesis that people in the PNW would react differently is true.

Maybe we should just hand out coupons for a local driving school or refresher course.

Or we open a driving school ourselves and then hand out the coupons.

Too bad there's not a system to give drivers a karma rating. Too many negatives and their license is suspended for a week. I think it would moderate behavior very quickly.

Nothing wrong with it but people who don't ride don't get it period. Many reasons but i firmly believe they should have to at the very minimum answer questions about PTW'S on their driver test. I also think they should have to ride a PTW to get their driver's test but that will never happen. Altho if you did when the kids got their license it might help. AMA needs to step up the ads. Just joined so maybe it's good that i did. Even if you live in a scooter friendly place ( like Hawaii) they still are idiots. Jealous that we can go around traffic etc. People are getting worse. Lost the human connection it seems with all the FB etc.. On our beach road any turn off from another road means people will roll to a stop look and go. I ride accordingly. If there's a car there i slow down and make sure they are going to stop even tho I have the right of way. The other day i was doing about 30 (35 is the speed limit) and saw that one of the roads had no cars and you can see pretty far back up that road too. So i kept it at 30. I got closer and there was a truck.He must of been flying down that road because i should of gotten past him before he got to the stop sign. Stopped looked right at me and then pulled out. I could tell what kind of tat the guy had on his arm i was so close. Really did think this was my last ride. Let off the throttle and yelled stop as i was hitting the horn . He stopped and had a worried look on his face. I mean,really you didn't see me? I was able to go around him and he sat there in the middle of the road until i couldn't see anymore. I hope i gave him the scare of his life . People must be preoccupied these days. Be careful

That's so scary Judy! Well you know my story a few weeks ago with a very near miss at a red light.

I see SO MANY people texting and driving, playing with their phones, etc while driving and I try and get behind these people whenever possible. So many people are zombie behind the wheel, you really have to watch out for yourself!

MEL i know. You to my friend. Ya know it's sad but i really expect somebody to do something stupid every time i ride these days. Wasn't always like that. Really, i have to worry about being killed? Don't know what's wrong with people. This guy wasn't on the phone. I have followed people and yelled at them tho. Not good because i live in a small place and my scooter is very recognizable but the New Yorker in me just can't let it go. Have another story about good people. I was riding down the other beach road and was doing maybe 20. Just enjoying the day and there was a school coming up so i kept it slow. All of a sudden a little blue car is on my ass. So close i couldn't see his plate. So i sped up. The idiot goes around me. He didn't get far because there was a POS local truck in front of him, very soon as he passed me. He tried to pass the truck and the truck kept blocking him. The guy finally gets around the truck but the truck follows him into the marina. I can only hope he gave the car driver a little bit of "island justice". 8)

That's the same as people who get upset with us taking up a "real parking spot" when there aren't any motorcycle/scooter slots available.
Just more dangerous.

Try it on a 20MPH bicycle. Even scooterists turn into dick heads. There's a fucking pecking order. If one more 5'6" guy climbs out of a monster truck screaming about his right of way I might just beat the little bitch with my cane. Sheesh!

I don't see anything wrong about that card at all, whats wrong with these people saying that we need to stay out of their way! Gees, can't believe these people. Well, I'm glad you're alright though.....

Truth hurts...

Yup Tom your just above pedestrians on your bike and that ain't good. Be careful.

Honestly, I come down with the cagers on this. I don't like it.

I understand your point, Belk, but I don't think this is going about it the right way. Maybe it just needed another pass on some of the wording...

Sarcasm is very hard to convey in a written medium. It's especially hard when you're also mixing in parts that are NOT supposed to be sarcastic.

*Edited to note* None of this was sarcastic. Which was exactly my point...

I think bicyclists are BELOW pedestrians on the "respect from cagers" pecking order. Most pedestrians stay on the sidewalks, but drivers get upset when a biker is blocking their "rightful" space in the lane and/or their "progress". The same can definitely be said for slower-speed scooters, and probably for all of us with the part of the population that can't tell the difference...

That is the truth. Ten years ago I rode my bicycle with a club group three times a week. The second time I was hit by a minivan mirror, I gave up the road rides. It became a bloodsport in this town, so I limit my riding to nearby the Silver Comet Rail Trail. I have gone so far as to transport the bike in the truck to the trail.

D it's sad. I was riding up the coast on the LX and 2 kids in a truck tried to push a long distance cyclist off his bike. The guy was doing about 30. I memorized the plate number and gave it to my friend who has connections. Later that day they found the kids and the truck wasn't legal so they had a trip to jail. I slowed down by the cyclist and asked if he was ok and he said it happens all the time. He could of been really hurt if they had connected.

I think it's all just a plea for mercy.

Just because you can or have the power, does not mean you should.

A little mercy in everything in life would go a long way.

Perhaps a more merciful card would be better. That which does not harshly chide the wrongdoer, but makes them pause and think twice before they act in that fashion again.


The quality of mercy is not strain'd,
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath: it is twice blest;
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes:
'Tis mightiest in the mightiest: it becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown;
His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,
The attribute to awe and majesty,
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;
But mercy is above this sceptred sway;
It is enthroned in the hearts of kings,
It is an attribute to God himself;
And earthly power doth then show likest God's
When mercy seasons justice....

- The Merchant of Venice, Act 4, Scene 1

Show folks a little "mercy" in everything you do. If you have the power to squash, or force or dominate, how about just holding back, and letting us go?

What kind of card would you guys write? I would be interested to read a few.