I have a friend who is a bike nazi. He carries mace, a club and a pistol. I have told him to be very careful how he uses these weapons. Obey the laws, ride carefully and watch your back.

Remember the good ol days when commuting by bike and/or car was a calm and respectful mode of transportation based on the need and availability of the driver? Naaaaaa, most of the selfish, entitled putzes on the road today weren't even born yet! This probably explains why they all act like spoiled, over-testosteroned schoolhouse bullies these days that can't keep their emotions in check - and just to be fair and equal, that goes for the women that I've seen out on the road too.

well thanks for being fair and equal, Seattlebcc

This is why I won't carry a firearm in my vehicle.

I would have thinned the herd.

Anon - you still must make sure you have a clear path to your right when making the turn, green arrow or not.
That aside, you acted as much the 'prissy little entitled shitheel coward' as your imagined foe.

I seriously question your ability to beat down anything other than your cock. Will be willing to use that tire iron on your face and car. You pussies and your guns.

A can of mace deals nicely with pussy-assed bike Nazi...

I, a pedestrian crossing with the light at a designated crosswalk got shouted at by a bicyclist making a right turn on red without stopping first because I was slowing him down on an incline. As I stepped of the curb he shouted, "Dude not cool, watch for bikes!" as he swerved around me with inches to spare. Apparently even pedestrians following traffic laws must be aware that cyclists are more equal than others.

I think I'd have called the po-po and followed his sorry butt until the PD showed up, let them sort all this out. Sad to say but let's face it, people don't work problems out anymore, a lot of them go right to violence. Be safe and considerate, a little consideration goes a long way.

Respectfully disagree #9 - calling the police often makes matters worse. Too many times the informant (caller) is the one who gets hauled off in cuffs - or worse. I understand if life, limb, or property is endangered, but for settling a dispute, the odds are not favorable. Thank you.

So I've spent a lot of my life driving and a lot of my life cycling.

In all my many years of driving, I've had exactly ONE road rage incident with a cyclist (I was actually in the wrong - it was the one time I forgot to signal, but he kept screaming at me after I'd already apologized profusely and told him I understood his frustration).

As a cyclist, I've had COUNTLESS road rage incidents with motorists, almost always when I was doing something perfectly legal, as I'm stringent about following the rules precisely to avoid that sort of thing. Guys, did you know I'm allowed into the left lane when I'm turning left? Did you know I have a right to be on the road and it's actually illegal for me to ride on the sidewalk? Did you know that blasting you horn and yelling "get a car you fucking slut!" out your window isn't amusing? Did you know attempting to run me over might actually result in a criminal charge? Those are just a handful of examples among many.

There are shitty people among cyclists, just as there are shitty people among any group of people. But before you try to tar us all with the same brush, consider how much completely unwarranted shit we take from people in cars.

And yes, the cyclist in the case anon describes is obviously an asshole.

I know from experience that a cyclist's mind is on maintaining momentum and getting where she's going efficiently. This is used to justify many corners cut in traffic laws leading to confrontations and ill will between cyclists, pedestrians, and automobiles. Cyclists need to accept the fact that they need to take some momentum losses just to maintain the social order we all agreed to when legislating traffic laws. It's not just about whether you will get hit, it's about whether you are acknowledging other people using our roadways.

So the takeaway is: DON'T ROAD RAGE no matter what type of vehicle you use. You are a total loser if you have time to waste taunting and/or chasing someone around in traffic that sucks already. And it never ends well.

@11) ...it's actually illegal for me to ride on the sidewalk.... No, it is legal to ride on the walk. However, you must yield to peds and cannot go faster than the fastest moving ped (no weaving around to pass).

This is yet another examaple of why the two wheeled free loaders need to be tested, licensed (including getting a endorsement like motorcyclists have to), and pay yearly license fee's like everyone else on the road. Driving and or riding on public roads is a privilege, not a right. Like motorized drivers, they need to prove that they know the rules of the road, and that they can operate their vehicles safely. The fees collected can be put to used to help fund all the new and expensive bike changes that are being made to the roads in this city, county and state

A measurable percentage of Seattle bike riders are entitled assholes with no consideration for anyone else, so this I, Anon comes as no surprise. I think it's time these ass-wipes paid a tab fee for the roads they use, just like everyone else. If they already pay car tabs, maybe a discount...

And those freeloading goddamm pedestrians, they need to prove that they know the rules of the earth, and that they can operate their feet safely.

@16) That old canard always gets dragged out any time an article mentions bicycles and it has been fisked over & over again. You'll look sillier if you keep chasing it.

@5 - Anon DID have a clear path to make the right turn, before the asshole on the bike squeezed up next to him (between 2 lanes of traffic no less!)

@15 Oh, I'm in Vancouver, BC, where it is illegal to ride on the sidewalk. I should have specified that.

@21) Take Off You Hoser! I had to say it, sorry.

I am usually a "freeloading" pedestrian, and see equal amounts of stupidity from cars and cyclists. Peoples manners are generally appalling on the road, regardless of what they're driving/riding.

I had a guy accelerate, and try to actually run me over not so long ago near Northgate. I almost called it in. I remembered his license plate at the time, but what can you do?

And the number of rude cyclists who have almost clipped my elbows silently coming up on me from behind, is infinite.

@15 Oh, I'm in Vancouver, BC, where it is illegal to ride on the sidewalk. I should have specified that.

So really, your comment has exactly nothing to do with the situation here in Seattle?

@24 No, it has plenty to do with it. I'm trying to illustrate that motorists often feel that they have the sole rights to the roads and act like assholes because of it. I've biked around five different cities and it's the same everywhere, even in bike-friendly Vancouver. From what my friends in Seattle have told me, it's not much different there either (possibly worse because it's more a city built with cars in mind).

I'm trying to illustrate that motorists often feel that they have the sole rights to the roads and act like assholes because of it.

In Seattle, however, it works the other way.

@26

just shut the fuck up already

Oh. It's this argument. Again. Awesome.

Seattle was designed with bikes in mind - the first streets were bike paths (cars had trouble with mud & hills), it was the cycling clubs that demanded the luxury of pavement, and the paths were turned into roads. (yes, it was redesigned for the car - and the trolleys were also yanked out at Detroit's request...)

So it's not Vancouver, obviously.

Here it is legal to ride on the sidewalk, and it is legal (if unwise) to be between lanes (at some "shearing" lanes you are required to, according to pavement markings - in order to stay out of right-turning traffic.

And obviously, no kind of license has the power to outlaw idiots and assholes.

@8 - That happens fairly regularly. What's especially grating is that the Seattle bike cops heading to the Virginia Street station do that too. They've grazed me twice (once the cop apologized). I've had a number of near misses with them when I had the WALK light, most recently in December. I've sent in queries about it twice to their website since then, but so far they haven't responded to either query.

I've had nearly the exact same thing happen to me. Which is why I often wonder why these people aren't ticketed with the same fervor that car drivers are. They ride with impunity and then get pissed when you 'infringe' on their space - which is typically the same same that they share with cars. Making it 'our space' - not theirs.

@27

just shut the fuck up already

I understand that you are an over-entitled granola eating Cascade Bike Club drone, but denial of the problem does nothing to solve the issues. Denial of your part in it only makes you look and sound like a spoiled child, which is probably what you are.

Seriously, "shut the fuck up already"? What are you? 14 years old? You certainly sound like it.

@16, You put it on the ballot and I'll vote for it.

@32 I think @27 wanted to point out that you should stop adding text/length to this discussion as your arguments are generally invalid due to your "Nazi" comparison. That's how the internet works.

@32

I only eat granola in yogurt, I don't own a bike, and I can't help it if my voice is monotonous. also, I'm fully unafraid of appearing juvenile to some idiot troll who is probably more than old enough to know better, and who wastes far too much of their time on this particular article's comment thread week in and week out.

and while I appreciate what Rojo added, no, I just want you to shut the fuck up already on principle.

I am the "cyclist" in this story, not really a cyclist; I have never been in a race, I am a guy who rides a bike to get around town, and has all his life. If this is the way you really remember things old man - you are even more of a deranged lunatic than I thought.

The image accompanying this story has it all wrong; Anonymous is a 60+ year babyboomer cruising a new four door JEEP and the guy on the road bike is a thirtysomething that doesn't wear bike caps or spandex - and I don't get frothy and angry.

You call me entitled, but you were trying to make a right on red from the bike lane on Union at Broadway where there is a huge sign that says " NO RIGHT ON RED” (where is the logic in this). You say I assaulted you, you gassed up your car when I got in front of you to make a right onto the cycle track (this it when I slapped you car, using it to give me momentum to get out of your way). You say I brandished a U-Lock, I only got my U Lock off my bike after you came up to me in the cycle track with a tire iron swinging at me. You call me a coward, but I stood there letting you swing said tire iron at me three times while I just sort of watched you in confusion (you fail to mention that on the third swing you lost your grip and the tire iron went off and hit the Porsche garage, which is when I shook my head and got on my bike and left; I don’t know where you are from but this isn’t a stand your ground state old man).



Not only are you an unreasonable asshole, but also a dishonest one, truth is, I understand, I would need to obfuscate how it all went down to, if I were you, how else can you live with your choices. You really wanted to cause me bodily harm - and over what? Really?

You call me prissy, but I am a bearded 6' and 235lbs guy - and about 30 years younger than you; I stood there patiently watching you swing your tire iron at me – just sort of feeling bad for you that morning, I never once took a swing at you – only watched trying to process what was going on with you in all your rage and madness. You’re a sad old man – and a total dick - and even if you believe in your heart (which will likely implode sometime in the future) that the incident (even if it occurred as you told in this I, Anonymous) warranted me getting taken down with a tire iron - (or as you comment suggests whatever else you were packing) well that really shows what sort of values you have towards your fellow man. You old man, should consider yourself lucky that I don't share those same values.

@36) Well, case closed!

Nice, @36. I've never actually seen an I, Anonymous with a response from the person being ranted about. We should have more of these...

@29 Whoa! That's interesting. I'm gonna go look that up.

@36 I figured there was another side to this story.

You poor, innocent fellow. It is obvious from your retelling that you were taking the high road. I mean for heaven's sake, you pulled into legal parking stall in order to exit your car with a tire iron and "answer the challenge". Don't you let anyone infer that you are just as culpable as the jerk cyclist.

@39 Respectfully, there are three sides, to every story:

Side A

Side B

What really happened.

Thank you :)

I seriouslt doubt that #36 is really the biker. Almost certainly just another entitled Seattle Hipster Bike Rider.

Next week's "I, Anonymous":

Not only do you not add anything to the conversation, Arthur Zifferelli, but you're annoying like a singular gnat in a swarm.

You know, there are so many arrogant entitled bicyclists here, that I would never expect a complaint like this to get a "fair shake", it's always the guy in the car.

Or is it?

It's a matter of perspective, and Bike Riders are not open to alternative views to their fantasies of Seattle Bike Utopia.

So whatever, shit on me, trash me all you want. It only reflects back on your small mindedness and inability to get along with other people that don't share your closed minded views.

There is no creature more sanctimonious, or with a stronger sense of self-entitlement that the Seattle cyclist...especially the Capitol Hill cyclist. Especially the helmet-less, bearded/mustached hipster-bike riding, road-rules-are-not-for-me Capitol Hill cyclist.

There is no creature more sanctimonious, or with a stronger sense of self-entitlement than the Seattle cyclist...especially the Capitol Hill cyclist. Especially the helmet-less, bearded/mustached hipster-bike riding, road-rules-are-not-for-me Capitol Hill cyclist.

@44) "...shit on me, trash me all you want."

We don't require your ersatz acquiescence.

And ziff, if you are anything but a misunderstood-teenage-wallflower-in-momma's-basement, you should really get some self-help therapy.

It's okay to just keep driving when shitty people act shitty. Escalation benefits no one.

I'm sure this is 100% real and definitely happened exactly this way, mmhmm.

Both the original writer and @36 paint themselves in most peaceful, loving way, describing their zen-like reactions in the face of an out-of-control, weapon-wielding lunatic.

I don't believe either one of them.

I don't really get all this. Maybe once or twice has a cyclist been a huge pain in the ass - one was wearing all black at night and cut me off, the other was swerving all over a lane rather than letting the dozen cars behind pass per state law.

The dozens of others? Never a problem. Folks can coexist just fine.

Does nobody have a clue about any laws? Does anybody read their drivers manual?

Yes, bikes can filter forward, but they shouldn't pass on the right in intersections when cars are turning right. Because obviously.

When cars may turn right, they are required to look out for bikes and yield to them. Obviously.

"No right turn on red" is self explanatory.

Washington is indeed a "stand your ground" state. People here think they're better than Florida but it's not true. Take away Seattle -- well, a few progressive neighborhoods in Seattle -- and Washington is Florida. Or Idaho, if that makes you feel better.

These kind of conflicts are a normal part of all traffic. If you can't handle traffic errors calmly, don't drive, don't bike, and avoid walking. Both of these idiots are road ragers who should take public transportation.

@36:

And I am the motorist who's vehicle you hit, then threatened with your bike lock when you thought you had an old man (I'm in my mid-50's BTW and my "new Jeep" is 13 years old, - so much for your powers of observation) you could intimidate and bully with your actions.

I drive this route several times a week, and I do know there's a "No turn on red" sign at that intersection, but - guess what? - that doesn't mean I can't be in the right lane (which, BTW is also adjacent to a bus stop, so would have noted - if you'd ever paid attention - the dotted line indicating the bike lane is not longer exclusive and that vehicles are allowed to enter it), to make a right turn when the light changes.

YOU pulled up on my left, in between two lanes of vehicles stopped at the light, which, as I noted in the Original Post is illegal - strike one.

YOU started screaming at me for absolutely no reason aside from your warped sense of entitlement - strike two.

YOU hit my vehicle - which you admit - BEFORE the light changed, which again, is vandalism against personal property - strike three.

YOU NEVER made a right turn gesture before pulling in front of me - strike four.

YOU then stopped in front of me as the light turned green, thus preventing me from making a legal turn - strike five.

YOU made the "c'mon motherfucker gesture", and YOU had the U-Lock in-hand before I even stepped out of my vehicle - strike six.

You did stand there looking like you were going to piss your pants when I presume you realized your height and weight no longer gave you the advantage in your pathetic attempt at intimidation. Seeing you were a gutless wonder and no real threat, I tossed the iron behind me, after NOT taking ANY swipes at you - and not coming anywhere close to hitting Aker's store front. I did then take a couple of steps toward you, whereupon you started screaming about how crazy I WAS (ironic that, given the series of increasingly crazy actions YOU had already taken), and sped off up the sidewalk, eyes wide with terror and legs pumping for all they were worth.

Now, everyone else here can chalk this up to a "he said, he said" scenario if they choose, but you and I both KNOW how it went down. And I stand by my original assessment of your stupendous sense of self-entitlement.

Why would you need to be in the right lane if you can't turn on red? It sounds like you just want to be in the way. If there is a solid white line, you should get a ticket. The SPD are busy giving out $189 camera speeding tickets, but if they actually cared about public safety, they give tickets to (1) people driving through crosswalks with pedestrians in them and (2) people crossing solid white lines.

Bicycles and bicyclists are always right. Your silly complaints mean nothing. End of thread.

#54, you should have stopped with the I, Anonymous. It was absurd enough. Your witty retort takes it out of the enjoyable "crazy driver" category and slips it into the uncomfortable "bat guano crazy delusional danger to themselves and others" arena.

@36 & @54 - its like Roshamon

I was walking down the sidewalk and a guy on a bicycle (also on the sidewalk) called me an asshole as he passed. He didn't stick around to go into detail and I still wonder what he reckoned I was doing wrong.

@55:

@54 specifically mentions a dotted white line. @36 indicates this took place at the intersection of Broadway & E. Union. They don't say which side of the intersection, but I know the West side is two lanes with a sharrow only, so I'm guessing they mean the one on the East side next to Gilda's Club. There's a #2 stop right on the corner, so the bike lane there would have a dotted or dashed lane marker. IIRC, bike lanes at intersections like this are dashed, not only because they're next to a bus stop, but because there's no designated left-turn lane there and so the only way traffic can proceed through the intersection, whether turning right or going straight, is to use the right-hand lane if there's a car turning left at the same time. It's pretty common to see cars there in the right lane making right turns when the light changes, and if I read SMC 11.53.190 correctly, this would appear to be perfectly legal, even if the line had been solid.

Traffic code requires a right-turning vehicle to occupy the right-hand lane of the roadway. If that right-hand lane is striped for bicycles, that's the one I occupy, per the code.

Point being you don't want any vehicle passing on the right (also against traffic code) while you are making your right turn.

@54 and @36: So you were both traveling W on Union making a right turn to travel N on Broadway? (Here is a streetview shot of the intersection; contestants are initially moving towards the camera and exit to the viewer's left.) If this interpretation is correct, @54's position is indefensible. I don't know the specifics of the traffic laws, but the clear intent of the road striping is that the bike lane stay open (except when the bus is at the stop) and for cars to make right turns as the guy in the linked photo is doing. Why would you get all the way over to the curb when the rightmost lane on Broadway is bike only? The only reason is to impede any cycle traffic. The way that intersection is supposed to work now is that any bike traffic (whether turning onto Broadway or continuing on Union) goes before right-turing car traffic (ergo the green rectangle with two arrows pointing W along Union that you have to drive over to turn right from Union to Broadway). My guess is that you are butthurt that bikes have been given this priority. Deal with it, dude. This is much, much better than the situation a few years ago when I commuted through that intersection on bike. Also, there is nothing wrong with bikes going around you on your left. Also, the broken white line is to show that the bus will block the bike lane -- it's not for you in your stupid jeep.

@60: Bullshit, there are plenty of places where you turn right from lanes other than the rightmost (e.g. anywhere more than one lane turn right). Also your passing on the right argument in crap (what if there are two lanes and dude in the lefthand one is turning left -- should I block the righthand lane while he turns to avoid 'passing on the right'?

I was sitting at the red light across from Joule on Saturday night and there was a angry guy on a really nice bike screaming "fuck you" "kill me" and "I hate Seattle." It looked like he was trying to run into a car or something to start something, so I just sat at the light until he rode off. Not my normal interaction with cyclists, but it was just a bit unsettling.

@11 This.

Yeah, cyclists can act entitled.

But if you drive a car in this town, you seriously need to check yourself.

Everyone here drives like an asshole. To other cars, and especially to cyclists. You practically mow people down in the crosswalks on Cap Hill and in U District.

If a cyclist hits a pedestrian in a crosswalk, both cyclist and pedestrian can be seriously injured.

If a car hits a ______ in a cross walk, ____________________.

And you all fucking drive like it, too.

Click bait...

When you and the bicyclist are ready to look up from your little hissy fit, both of you might see that I, the pedestrian, has had the signal this entire time. No pity for either one of you children. Go back to driver's ed.

I'm totally loving this back and forth with the real people! I even made popcorn.

Incidentally, the cyclist is correct.

Oh yes, and Washington IS a "Stand Your Ground" State. If a driver gets out of their car and brandishes a weapon, that is assault. The same cannot be said for someone pounding on a car since the car itself is a form of protection. Revving your engine at someone is also against the law.

Also, ever since and SPD officer told me that the bicycle lane was not a bicycle lane, I don't worry about staying it. If drivers want to drive in it or use it as a loading zone, I just use the car lane and sometimes take a little while to move back, if the bike lane somehow become clear. Also, if any car strafes me, I just block all the rest of them. Payback is a mother but it teaches the followers not to take the same chance through sketchy traffic situations.

That said, I have a lot fewer conflicts with drivers when I just take the lane and don't try to give up right of way in the name of politesse. We're all just traffic. Let's get along, yo.

Revving your engine at someone is also against the law.

What do you even mean by this? How do you rev your engine at someone?

http://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov/services/publi…

United States Pavement Markings

Yellow lines separate traffic flowing in opposite directions. Drivers should stay to the right of yellow lines. A solid yellow line indicates that passing is prohibited. A dashed yellow line indicates that passing is allowed. White lines separate lanes for which travel is in the same direction. A double white line indicates that lane changes are prohibited. A single white line indicates that lane changes are discouraged. A dashed white line indicates that lane changes are allowed.

http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/bike/Laws.htm

A bicycle is a legal road vehicle, just like a car. This means that bicycle riders have the same rights and responsibilities as drivers.

@61 looking west there is a sign that clearly says "no turn on red" before the crosswalk.

if a bicycle has the same rule requirements as a car, the bicyclist would have made an illegal turn if they had turned on red. a car is allowed to use the lane because of the dotted white line based on national traffic guidelines, just like a bus is allowed to use that space, based on the dotted white line. the bike behind the car must wait their turn to proceed straight or to turn right on green only. share the road

@69 I hope you aren't driving with that shocking lack of basic knowledge.

I love when people move here and then complain that Seattleites don't know how to drive. Most of whom you consider as "Seattleites" really aren't; in fact most moved here from back east or California. And brought along their awful driving habits with them.

And who in their right mind wants to ride a bike in this hilly, wet & rainy city anyways? No wonder why you're all angry "prissy little entitled shitheel coward(s)."

@69,

[quote]A bicycle is a legal road vehicle, just like a car. This means that bicycle riders have the same rights and responsibilities as drivers.[/quote]

Do you think this implies that you can drive your car anywhere I can ride my bike?

I drive, and I understand anon's irritation with dick cyclists, but dick drivers are a bigger problem. The roads are a communal space, and driving (or cycling) like a dick is antisocial.

I looked up the municipal code: https://www.municode.com/library/wa/seat…

1.

"11.53.190 - Driving in a bicycle lane.

The operator of a motor vehicle shall not drive in a bicycle lane except to execute a turning maneuver, yielding to all persons riding bicycles thereon. "

Cars can go in the bike lane, but they have to yield.

2. I could find NOTHING saying that it is illegal to ride between vehicles. Feel free to point to the actual code--it's not that easy to find stuff.

3-5. seems obvious that these are true or at least close to true.

@72 what a dumb question

http://images.complex.com/complex/image/…

Like motorists, cyclists are often assholes. Everyone who isn't you is an asshole. The biggest difference is that the motorist is behind a ton of metal and a cyclist is behind the clothes on their back. When someone driving a car is inconsiderate it can easily result in serious injury or death, when a bicycle is inconsiderate is generally just results in minor irritation, possibly an exclamation of "look at that fucking asshole! That's why nobody likes cyclists" and maybe an additional 8 seconds to your drive time. After dozens of close calls with drivers who simply aren't paying attention and the few who are brazenly antagonistic to cyclists, it can be easy to get a chip on your shoulder. I generally try to follow traffic laws when I'm on my bike and try not act like the entitled fucks who run stop signs, don't yield to pedestrians, blow red lights and weave though traffic in a fucking intersection etc and give all cyclists a bad name, but sometimes, especially in places with little bicycle infrastructure, a cyclist has to be aggressive to get anywhere. Intersections where the right lane can turn or go strait are the worst. If I keep right, more often then not, I have to dodge someone who wants to turn into me when the light changes. If I see someone's blinker and get between lanes of traffic so I can go straight without having to worry about getting run over by a driver who looks left but not right before turning, maybe the car behind them gets angry at the cyclist in the middle of the fucking road slowing them down. In places with poor cycling infrastructure there's no way to win except to take what you need and be branded an asshole. The cyclist in this story sounds like an exceptional prick, but I smell an unreliable narrator.

@73 driving between vehicles is called lane splitting and is illegal on a motorcycle. a bicycle is a legal road vehicle like a car, or motorcycle so has to follow the same rules unless noted otherwise

http://apps.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?…

This sounds like a great feud. I encourage OP and @36 to take this to THE PEOPLE'S COURT for resolution on daytime TV.

I know! Cyclists are out of control in this town. I mean, how many people have cyclists killed in the last year around here? At this rate we'll be in the single digits in no time. Now compare that to the drivers who are always safe, courteous, and operating exactly within the letter of the law. And no one has been killed by a car around here in ages....

Fuck this is so Seattle. Handle this the old fashioned way: meet in a parking lot, wrap dish towels around your fists, and have a sporting go at one another.

Anonymous lost me when he came out with a tire iron. If you're carrying one of those within easy reach instead of in the trunk jammed under the spare tire where it belongs you are probably a road raging asshole.

Most drivers, and most bicyclists, have no idea what the law is for drivers making a right turn on a street with a bike lane.

Having through traffic overtaking on the right side of a vehicle that is turning right is extraordinarily dangerous. Blind spots make it physically impossible to see the entire length of many vehicles, the turning driver simply can't yield to a vehicle that can't be seen. "Right-hook" crashes are extremely serious. Even Copenhagen, with all its specialized bicycle infrastructure, kills many bicyclists every year because of bicycles passing in the blind spots of trucks.

For that reason, motorists turning right on a street with a bike lane are supposed to merge *into* the bike lane before turning, making sure to yield to any bicycles already within the bike lane. This is supposed to make it obvious that the vehicle is turning, and physically prevent cyclists from putting themselves in the "suicide slot" to the right of the vehicle.

This assumption, that cars will merge into the bike lane before making a right turn, is fundamental to the standard design of bike lanes in the U.S.

Washington law is rather vague on this, using only outdated language from an obsolete UVC. Other states go into more detail, e.g., California code says

"Turning Across Bicycle Lanes
21717. Whenever it is necessary for the driver of a motor vehicle to cross a bicycle lane that is adjacent to his lane of travel to make a turn, the driver shall drive the motor vehicle into the bicycle lane prior to making the turn and shall make the turn pursuant to Section 22100 [general turning regulations]"

The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition has a good infographic for educating motorists to merge into bike lanes before turning, but of course it's annotated with the CVC instead of the RCW.

http://www.sfbike.org/news/bike-lanes-an…

Cars must yield while merging into the bike lane, which they're supposed to do *before* beginning their turn.

As you approach the intersection, check for bikes, yield, merge into the bike lane when it's safe to do so, before beginning your turn. Once you've merged right, turn your attention back to the intersection so you can avoid running over pedestrians in the crosswalk.

Once a car has properly merged into the bike lane and is signaling a right turn, bicyclists should not attempt to squeeze through to the right. That's not just illegal, it's suicidal. Pass on the left or wait your turn behind the vehicle in front of you.

I enjoyed being driven off the road and honked at on the long steep windy roads I grew up biking on. Strangely it was a couple deaths by motorists that ended up getting them to fix the roads: in retrospect it's hard to believe that no bicyclists died first. Having to put up with homicidal drivers is bound to get most bicyclists permanently bent out of shape. :\

I'm with 80. There are jerks on bikes and jerks in cars, and there are people who jump out of their motor vehicles with conveniently placed tire iron in hand to respond to a "challenge". I'd also add that jerks in cars far outnumber jerks on bikes. And, bike jerks can be really annoying, but car jerks kill people.

So after reading both sides, the likely truth is that this is what happens when two assholes cross paths. Confrontation is never worth it, nothing good comes from it. I will always leave. Because odds are either you will get hurt or you could go to jail for hurting someone else. Grow up people. But then again, that is why I keep pepper spray and a baton in the car. For that one nutjob that prevents me from escaping somehow. Because clearly, assholes come on foot, bikes, and cars. The drama makes for great reading. Where is my michael jackson popcorn meme?

I've never had trouble with a cyclist but I don't like in Seattle so I don't see many of them. What I have experienced, however, are idiot drivers who ignore my turn signal and then act surprised when I try to change lanes or speed up to keep me from changing lanes or honk at me when I change lanes in front of them AFTER signalling and giving plenty of space in front of them. I can kind of understand why some people change lanes without signalling, although I don't do that myself. But look people, when someone signals that is not a polite request for you to let them in. That is a stated intention of moving over into your lane or a stated intention of turning. I'm not asking permission!

oops, I meant I don't live in Seattle. I have no reason to dislike it, really!