Didn’t you ever see Kung Fu? You only fight when you have absolutely no choice. George Bush should have watched more Kung Fu.

I’ve only had the wherewithal to do this once but man! You should have seen this guy’s face who I did it to; he was so enraged but he couldn’t do anything. I totally disarmed him and he couldn’t reply at all.

Like my old boss used to say, “Kill’em with kindness.”

If that won’t work there is always breaking off rear-views and busting tail-lights, not that I have personal experience do such bad, bad things.

I live in Queens, and I know a lot of drivers. When they say that it’s “about survival” for them, what they actually mean is that it’s about status. If they couldn’t afford to drive, they might have to move into a smaller house, or (gasp!) an apartment, maybe even in a neighborhood with lower-class people! The only survival that’s at stake is their egos, swollen by their Escalades.

Also, stop the “middle/lower class” fudging. Name a car-dependent lower-class neighborhood in NYC. I don’t think you can. The lower-class ones have good bus, train and/or subway service, and the ones that don’t aren’t lower-class. Hollis Hills? Not lower-class.

many places, having a car *is* about survival. it’s ridiculous, and a sign of the totally mixed priorities that result in car-dependent middle/lower class neighborhoods. yes, it’s wrong, but it’s true. if i lived in an area of queens that’s far from the subway, i’d cling to my car, too…unless i could see a clear value *to me* to giving it up.

when you’re expecting folks to act in a way that is maladaptive given their particular immediate environment, there’s a limit to what you can expect. especially if your argument is about bleeding hearts…’oh, what havoc you’re wreaking on the poooooor of the world.’

§ 1146. Drivers to exercise due care. Notwithstanding the provisions
of any other law to the contrary, every driver of a vehicle shall
exercise due care to avoid colliding with any bicyclist, pedestrian or
domestic animal upon any roadway and shall give warning by sounding the
horn when necessary.

So has honking at a cyclist ever been considered vehicular assault by a court?

(As for the system being the root of all evil and drivers not being responsible for their own wanton driving, can we PLEASE not even go there.)

The real issue to my mind is, as you say, encouraging “socially, environmentally, and economically productive activity.” The thoughtless aggression that you (and I) witness daily is the result of withholding that kind of productive work from thousands of our fellow citizens. If you were stuck in traffic daily, breathing poisonous air, enroute to your unfulfilling job in order to provide for your family you might get verbally abusive too.

Fight the system, not the victim.

Similarly, for a turning motorist to accellerate to enter a crosswalk so that they can “beat” the pedestrians with the right of way is to fail to yield and threaten the pedestrian. Motorists do the same thing when there is double-parking opposite the bike lane on a single lane road–cars “race” the bicyclists to get into the bike lane even though it is illegal and dangerous to do so (Here’s an example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gK6r9ocFk9w )

These maneuvers are routine and give rise to the “road rage” that Ali is talking about. I disagree with his proposal for pounding on the hood of a car, as well as with the blocking tactic extensively discussed in a S’blog post last year (couldn’t find it to link to it, but the bicyclist who was almost hit positioned himself in front of the SUV that nearly hit him and wouldn’t move ’til the guy rolled down his window).

On the other hand, hand signals, facial expressions and verbal comments that unequivocally communicate to a motorist your unwillingness to yield to them and the impropriety of their conduct is often quite effective. And if the motorist has the window up and there is no way to establish visual or audio communciation, then I think its OK to gently knock on the car to get the motorist’s attention (as I do in the clip above) and advise him that he has unlawfully failed to yield.

You may get a hostile reacion back ( http://nyc.mybikelane.com/post/index/2302 , http://nyc.mybikelane.com/post/index/2171 ), but c’est le guerre. And there are ways to escalate without resorting to violence. After numerous calls to his employer, I have not seen the fellow with the interesting hand gesture (linked above) blocking the bike lane I travel each morning.

I’m wishing for a civilized and humane city that prioritizes human beings over automobiles and encourages socially, environmentally and economically productive activity over motoring. I’m wishing for an NYPD that cares to enforce our city’s traffic laws. I’m wishing for justice, plain and simple.

How many times have I been “beat up” by reckless NYC drivers? Daily, I’d say. Every time some thoughtless jerk blasts his horn five feet away from me — at twice a day, I reckon — my body registers it as a kind of beating. My adrenaline flows, my heart rate increases, my body heats up. Psychologically I feel anger. Physically I feel stress. And who knows what sort of beating my lungs have taken from living and working in this city for all these years. My grandfather was killed by a drunk driver before I ever knew him. Does that count as a beating?

All I’m saying is that I’m ready to fight back.

And, of course I’m an anonymous person sitting at a computer. What’s your point? So are you.

Believe me, jail is nothing like prison.
Be careful what you wish for, you might get it.

Presumably you have lived in the city for a while.
Therefore you have run into your share of horn-honkers and reckless drivers (and cyclists).

This happens to me weekly, if not daily.

So, of all the countless times you have encountered such reckless individuals, how many have you beat up? It must be in the hundreds for sure!

Or, is this tough talk from an milquetoast on an anonymous blog?

Or is your name not really Ali, as you sit behind your computer in your office, but is it really Walter Mitty?

If the law-breaking driver breaks my nose first, so be it.

I will put my nose on the line and take the law into my own hands because the NYPD doesn’t seem to care one iota about enforcing New York City’s motor vehicle laws and I’m sick of it.

The next driver who drives dangerously or needlessly honks his horn anywhere near me: Beware. I am ready to do physical damage to your vehicle and I am ready to fight you.

I believe that tens of thousands of New Yorkers feel similar anger, and while they are not prepared to get physical like me, they would be happy finally to see justice done on Midtown’s streets.

Is that so?
Ali, ever been to prison?
If so, which one?
Ever been sent to Bing?

The reason I ask is that I don;t know too many felons who spend all day blogging away.

“I aim to break his nose.”
What happens if he breaks your nose first and maybe a few teeth, Mr. Tough Guy?

Thanks for the advice but I don’t ride a bike in NYC. I walk to work in Midtown every day.

I expect the NYPD would do as good a job of enforcing against me as they enforce against these jerk-off drivers that I experience daily. I’m not worried about prison. I’m much more worried about getting crushed by a runaway cab or turning truck or something.

My point is simply this: I’m sick of it. And if an NYC driver ever gets out of his car to start something with me, I aim to break his nose.

You eventually will wind up looking like a toothless sailor.

Welcome to NY.

It’s not a very long stretch of track, but I still banged on the hood of FOUR delivery trucks and other vehicles that managed to get into it. On a Saturday afternoon! Hopefully my sailor language will deter at least one of those people from doing it again. Alas, there will be many to take their place.

I really hope it doesn’t end up being the same situation as the painted lanes in Brooklyn: nice and safe for exactly as long as it takes for drivers to get used to seeing them.