[SDCBC] Don't be rude to cars - PLEASE!

[Tom Yager]

Over the past 2 days, I've had two incidents.  1) Yesterday I was riding in
the bike lane East up Rancho Santa Fe road just before San Marcos.  A car
driving by threw a water bottle and hit me in the helmet.  2) Today I was
riding South on El Camino in Carlsbad.  A jacked up White F-150 truck pulled
into the bike lane behind me, almost hit my rear wheel, honked his horn, and
then swerved past me nearly hitting me with his side mirror.  He then pulled
back into his lane and drove away.

I wish both of these people were put in jail, but I ask myself; why is this
happening?   There could be many reasons, but I sense that other bicyclists
have probably pissed them off in the near past.  This past Saturday was a
real display of rude bicyclists on the road.  I saw bicyclists running stop
signs, running stop lights, almost hit pedestrians in cross-walks, almost
hitting other bicyclists who did stop at lights, yell at cars, etc., etc.
Large groups were particularly rude, blocking traffic when they could have
let cars go by with just a little effort (and little impact to their speed).
Rudeness breeds more bad behavior, politeness breeds good behavior.

This past year I have seen a cyclist taken by ambulance to the hospital
after being taken out by an enraged driver (the bicyclist did nothing to
cause this).  I've also seen a good friend killed on a bike (although not
from a driver).  Keep in mind that if you are rude to a driver it impacts
all bicyclists; and you could be visiting your wife, brother, daughter, or
best friend in the hospital or morgue.   

The roads are for everyone, let's make San Diego a good place to ride a
bike.