You think things are weird in Bend? Over in Portland, open war seems to be breaking out between motorists and bicyclists.
According to a blog post on The Oregonian site, an altercation between a driver and a cyclist turned ugly Sunday night when the cyclist – described by police as drunk – bashed the driver’s car and then the driver himself with his bike.
And then, when a passerby came to the driver’s defense and knocked the cyclist down, an angry crowd gathered – and threatened the motorist.
According to The Oregonian, it all started when Colin Yates, 47, “saw a bicyclist pass him on the left and blow through a stoplight on Southeast 20th Avenue at Belmont Street. Yates continued driving north on 20th Avenue, through another intersection, until he caught up with the bicyclist.
“Yates honked his horn, leaned out his window, and chided the bicyclist for making other cyclists look bad.”
The bike and car proceeded a few blocks before stopping at another traffic signal, where the angry cyclist, Steven McAtee, 31, challenged Yates to a fight.
“Yates said McAtee picked up his bike and wielded it like a weapon, smashing it against [his car’s] hood and windshield.
“Yates stepped from his car and told McAtee to back off.
“McAtee turned on Yates. He lifted his bike above his shoulders and struck Yates with it, Yates said. Yates tried to use his hands to block the blows and then ducked back into his car and attempted to leave. But McAtee got in front of the Subaru and repeatedly struck the vehicle with his bike, Yates said.
“Yates stepped from his car again and was struck five to seven more times with McAtee’s bicycle, police reports say.”
At that point a passerby came up and knocked McAtee down, whereupon “nearly a dozen people – many bicyclists who were riding by and noticed the commotion – swarmed around Yates, shoving cell phone cameras about a foot from his face and accusing him of roughing up the bicyclist. …
“Officers found a confusing scene when they arrived. About 25 to 30 people were gathered, and police described the atmosphere as hostile towards the motorist.”
McAtee ended up being charged with third-degree assault, criminal mischief, DUI and disorderly conduct. As for Yates, police said he “had an imprint of a bike chain on his left forearm and grease stains on his shoulder.”
“It’s almost kind of quintessentially a Portland thing,” said Officer Robert Pickett, described as the Portland PD’s “unofficial liaison” with the local bicycling community.
This article appears in Jul 10-16, 2008.
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Bike riders think they ‘own’ the roadways!!!! I’m personally tired of the recklessness they demonstrate while pedaling down the middle of the road, pulling out in front of traffic while avoiding stop signs and/signals….”not” practicing ‘hand’ signals regarding right and/left turns, etc.. I think that All bicyclist should carry a ‘certification card’ to be allowed to ride a bike. In Fact….they should all go to “Bike Road Rule School” before they can even Ride A Bike. Maybe then, the motorist won’t try to run over as many as they have thus far this year and perhaps save the lives of other bike users in the future.
This is what makes the bike scene in Portland so much fun! Bicyclist get to ride like idiots, pay no mind to traffic laws, drive intoxicated or worse and generally get away with it. If you are a law abiding motorist and you happen to not see a bike blowing a red in your right of way and you do your best not to kill them, you still get harassed by the fool riding the bike that caused the whole mess… They should be required to have a License to ride a bike and this means a testing process and have to obey the laws the rest of us must obey. It would be nice if this same group had to pay some Federal Excise Taxes for the tires they use to at least pay for the bike lanes that the motorist pays to install and maintain. The few people who give all bicyclist a bad rap will most likely make the Darwin Awards list and a poor motorist will go to jail for the foolish behavior of the bike enthusiast, once again the motorist paying dearly for the out of control bicyclist.
There are thugs everywhere now. Next it will be a drunk motorist assaulting a bicyclist for some bullshit reason or another. At least the cyclist was cited for his behavior–now will a jury of peers and a good lawyer get him off?
I’ve cycled for years, and these types of cyclists screw it up for the rest of us. I hate them.
Bicyclists should not be singled out for having to pay a tax for bike lanes or any other kind of tax for that matter. Cars are much bigger and have protection around them and are far more likely to hit, hurt, and injure even kill a cyclist as opposed to the vice versa. There are rarely incidents where bicyclists are a threat or harm to anybody on the street, it only seems that way because the local media (for the most part) reports when a cyclist is the one at fault for not obeying the laws. I admit there are a couple of careless cyclists out there, but why should those couple have to ruin it for the rest of us law abiding (including bicyclists) have to suffer? When some drivers don’t obey the law, doesn’t that mean all drivers should be punished? As a bicyclist myself god only knows how many times I’ve come encounter with aggressive, careless drivers who have almost hit me several times. Should we raise there taxes? Make those drives pay stiffer penlaties? That would sound great to me.
well now daze bicyclists SHOULD own the road.
if car drivers had to put forth 1/2 the effort to get somewhere as a cyclist……..
:in response to “It would be nice if this same group had to pay some Federal Excise Taxes for the tires they use to at least pay for the bike lanes that the motorist pays to install and maintain.”
Most bicylclists, besides children, ARE taxpayers already, why should they pay extra for a bike lane that should be there in the first place. Not just motorists pay for the roads, all taxpayers pay for the roads, whether they use them or not. Its all the same tax fund. Anyone who generate income pays taxes, anyone who owns property pays taxes, and in most states anyone who buys something pays taxes. And licenses for bikes? wtf, good luck with that. How about a license for your shoes. We definetly need another government agency eating tax dollars
Come on guys–
“A couple of careless cyclists out there”! Where were you this weekend as Bend demonstrated that those ‘couple’ were everywhere at once! Yes–it’s great that riders don’t use fuel other than some carbs to get from point A to B, but the behavior of a MAJORITY of my fellow riders this weekend demonstrated that their heads are firmly implanted in their collective rectums! Ignoring stop signs and traffic signals, driving against traffic, riding in packs three and sometimes four abreast, using the sidewalks and shouting warnings at pedestrians who had to scramble out of the way, and operating their bikes when obviously DUI. I agree with scooter–you make me sick.
As usual, too many of us are making excuses for a too-large number of us who think they are ‘special’ and entitled to something that is ‘free’ as long as it is paid for by someone else. Sure, we all own the roads–so why don’t we play nice, by the rules, and do a little sharing? And where do you think the taxes from the gasoline taxes goes?
I know the sub-culture of the anarchist and nihilist precludes the acceptance of blame and responsibility, but let’s stop pretending we aren’t getting a free ride and causing problems–for everyone.
Maybe we need is a nice way to finger wave at bad cycling etiquette. Cyclists hurt the cause when they forget the second part of “same roads, SAME RULES, same rights.” What if the Drivers’ Licence were replaced by a “Road License?” That’s what it may come to if cyclists don’t stop it with the self-righteous rule flouting.
It’s sad to me that of all the problems in the world that people are fighting over, we are verbally and physically bashing our neighbors. Has anyone out there read about what is going on in Sudan right now? I think everyone needs to respect other people’s rights to safety, and I think people need to be safe and respectful of the laws of the road.
I ride a bike AND drive a car, so I understand both sides. Maybe those who only do one or the other should try the other side of the fence a few times. Understanding both sides is important.
I do think bike safety classes are wise. I’m not sure about a license how that would work, but a friend of mine mentioned license plates on bikes. I think that would help to identify people when they violate the law just like it helps with cars.
contrary to popular belief, cyclists don’t get up in the morning and say to themselves, well heck, I own the road and i’m going to try and piss people off. The same with motorists. It’s an issue of awareness and education and be responsible for your own actions. Educations is great, but who is supposed to pay for this education? do we double the budget of the DMV and raise taxes? do we tell the 10 year old down the street she can’t ride her bike because she doesn’t have a license? licensing is probably not a realistic idea, especially since most folks would say less government is the goal, not more. The city of Bend already has a bike registration program that most folks don’t even know exist, let alone follow. We need to be getting everyone in the community involved, employers, your neighbor, whomever. It
s in everyone’s interest to be concerned on this issue without making it an us vs. them issue. Ask people you know who drive and ride, and ask them how they behave and encourage every one to be responsible, know the rules and we can all enjoy the lifestyle here.
what’s with all the belly-aching? this whole bike vs. car this is nothing new. have we run out of things to complain about? whatever happened to the old redneck vs. yuppie thing? that was way more fun. this is getting old. there are already laws on the books. bikes must follow the same rules as cars. and cars don’t even follow the rules for cars. how many times have you been in a car and had another car cut you off or fail to yield? yet there is no call for stricter traffic enforcement? sure we have more hacks trying to get to work and don’t know which way to point the bike. cut ’em some slack, they’re the one’s who are going to get hurt if they don’t get with the program. let’s just all worry about what we do as individuals and act responsibly. there’s not a magic bullet to fix the supposed problem. everyone just needs to relax and pay attention to what they’re doin’. cyclists don’t sit around together and plot the takeover of the roads and wish for the demise of the automobile…plenty of them drive too. And not all motorists are trying to run cyclists off the road. all this complainin’ is pretty pointless.
AMEN.
Given I’ve driven cars for 40+ years and cycled for +10, whats the make me? I’m still a husband, a dad, a co-worker. I think we tend to forget its not a us against them scenario- screw the press sound-bites. Damn you’d think this was a Republican vs Democrat discussion!I’m thinking Arnold has it right. IF you cant learn to cross the line to work through it…ya got to be “girly man”!
I refuse to allow myself to choose to polarize the issue. What applies to me as a driver- applies to me as a cyclist. I can say being a cyclist has made me a much better (more aware) driver.
hmmm…I saw a woman pushing a baby stroller charge across the street without looking, right into the path of a cyclist who had to take evasive action and probably change his underwear when he got home. So, do require licenses for pedestrians, too? The U.S. has become the land of no personal accountablity..it’s always the other person’s fault or the government has to do something by golly! becausae the taxpayers demand it. How’s about we just try working together as a community? if we were all in such a hurry, we wouldn’t be living in Central Oregon.