Hollywood bus driver attacks cyclist, LAPD handcuffs cyclist

On Sep 27, 3:04 pm, "
wrote:
On Sep 27, 6:49 am, Kenny wrote:

Although I sympathize with the cyclist, I take the basketball rule of
thumb to vehicular activity, that is, "no harm, no foul." Maybe, when
I'm in a bad mood I'd flip'em off, but I'd never seek a confrontation.
I mean there are jerks everywhere. Jerks on the road, at work, in
public places, you can't educate them all. If you tried you might go
postal.

Close only counts in horseshoes and hand-grenades?

Joseph

Couldn't have said it better myself.

On Wed, 26 Sep 2007 21:49:16 -0700, Kenny wrote:

Although I sympathize with the cyclist, I take the basketball rule of
thumb to vehicular activity, that is, "no harm, no foul." Maybe, when
I'm in a bad mood I'd flip'em off, but I'd never seek a confrontation. I
mean there are jerks everywhere. Jerks on the road, at work, in public
places, you can't educate them all. If you tried you might go postal.

Point well taken.

But whatever the cyclist did, there's no excuse for the bus driver
threatening or "shoving" him with her bus. If she had rammed any other
vehicle in anger, she'd probably go to jail, and/or lose her job.

Matt O.

On Tue, 25 Sep 2007 21:34:47 -0700, Bob wrote:

On Sep 25, 9:33 am, Matt O'Toole wrote:

LA bus drivers (and cops) do tend to be surly, but this is over the
top:

http://laist.com/2007/09/24/hollywood_bus_d.php

It's a bit unwise to form an opinion on an incident based solely on the
word of one of the participants. Somewhere there may be a post (in some
LA Metro bus drivers NG undoubtedly) from this female bus driver
generating all kinds of sympathy for *her* version of events... "This
huge bearded guy on a bike just went berserk slapping the side of my bus
as I passed him, shouting profanity at me, intentionally blocking the
street, and threatening me and my passengers. Why, some of my passengers
were so frightened they got off the bus and ran away! The police showed
up but of course they let him go. Cyclists *always* get away with it."
g

"...so I got really ****ed off and rammed him..."

Your point is well taken, but there were plenty of other witnesses to
this, including a friend whom I consider credible -- a former LA
prosecutor, then private attorney defending the MTA against lawsuits. If
not for this, I might not believe an event written up in LA-ist or
Craigslist or Whatevertheblog even happened.

But it's easy to understand why things like this do happen:

* Bus drivers have to deal with all kinds of crazies -- people who
assault/intimidate drivers and passengers, or intentionally cause
accidents so they can sue the city

* Because of this, MTA bus drivers have a "hot button" to the LAPD, who
arrive assuming some troublemaker is disrupting bus service. Not knowing
what's going on and fearing the worst, they respond aggressively, but then
can't back down once their adrenaline is flowing.

* Bus drivers know the deck is stacked in their favor, and take advantage
of it when they're having a bad day. Give the driver a little lip and
she'll call the cops and say you threatened her. Some drivers have a bad
day every day, but their union ensures they remain employed.

* LAPD may take it upon themselves to "discourage" people from messing
with the LAPD or the MTA.

So it's easy to see why this stuff happens, but it's still unacceptable.

"No harm, no foul" should apply to all of us, including bus drivers and
police officers -- and hotheaded ******s on bicycles.

Matt O.

wrote in message
oups.com...


In general, here in Chapel Hill NC the bus drivers are good with
cyclists.

Yeah I have had good luck with them in Vancouver. I think they have an
understanding, or at least and appreciation of cycling in traffic, as
they get to deal with the most atrocious drivers all day long but
aren't exposed at a personal risk to themselves.


Ditto here in Seattle. I did get nearly run down by some driver last week,
but the fact that it is so rare is what made it notable.

I realize as I ride up Third every morning (bikes and buses only during rush
hour) that we're just like these annoying mosquitos around the rhinos of the
buses. Like a rhino, they aren't very nimble, but once they get going, they
move along just fine, and you probably don't want to make them mad at you.

--
Warm Regards,

Claire Petersky
http://www.bicyclemeditations.org/
See the books I've set free at: http://bookcrossing.com/referral/Cpetersky