Bicycle & Skate Law
Motorist Harassment - Winter Update
by Ray Thomas
Ray Thomas is a Portland bike lawyer.
One would think that with fewer bicyclists on the road during the wet winter months motorists would be more tolerant of our presence. However, perhaps a perverse dynamic is at work such that drivers with a malignant attitude toward bicyclists are more motivated to hassle a solitary cyclist on the road in front of them. In any event, we have seen a disturbing number of harassment incidents this winter and this article is offered as a refresher on what you can do about harassment if you or a friend are an intended target.
Harassment Severity Should Determine Your Response
If you are harassed by a motorist, you need to analyze the severity of the hazard created by the motorist's actions, and gauge your own energy level for creating a considered response. A "considered response" is necessary because, while Oregonians are proud to point out that we do not shoot each other over parking spaces, nevertheless, provoking a motorist into an uncontrolled confrontation is stupid and dangerous. If someone endangers you by violating the law, it is probably not worth taking them to traffic court for some technical violation of the Rules of the Road. Instead, translate your anger into writing a letter. Memorize their license plate number, obtain their name and address from the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) (an easy procedure, just call the Bicycle Transportation Alliance (BTA) or our office), and then write the driver, or better, the driver's employer if they are in a work vehicle, letting them know what the law provides regarding your right to use the roadway, citation to the traffic code violations they committed in your presence, how their conduct made you afraid and angry, and finally, that you are going to wait until you hear from them before you decide about whether or not you will pursue the matter with a citation for a moving violation in traffic court. Writing the letter is therapeutic, and in most cases you will hear from the worried motorist. While you may not get a direct apology, your follow up provides an excellent learning experience for most drivers, who are keenly aware of the effect a potential traffic code conviction will have upon their insurance rates and driving record.
A recent example illustrates the value of the letter writing approach. A Portland bicyclist received a "close shave" from a small pickup while riding along Front Avenue near Waterfront Park. He noted the license number, obtained the registered owner's name through DMV, and then, since the incident was not serious enough to merit a criminal prosecution, wrote a letter along the lines outlined above to the motorist. Shortly afterward he received a long rambling letter back from the motorist, who claimed that he was not the driver, some mistake must have been made, but then he went on at length in providing an elaborate legal justification for the actions of the driver of the pickup truck, interspersing his argument with frequent biblical and legal citations. While the driver may have been unwilling to admit his involvement, his response shows that the message was received loud and clear.
However, if you were truly placed in danger, or injured, or if the motorist behaved in an outrageous manner, then you owe it to yourself, and to other riders, to pursue the matter further.
It is not worth going to traffic or district court, or bothering
police agencies over any incident which is not sufficiently serious
to justify charging one of the following traffic offenses or misdemeanor
crimes:
Assault IV
Menacing
Reckless Endangerment
Harassment
Reckless Driving
Careless Driving
HARASSMENT BY MOTORISTS - KNOW YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS
Each of these offenses involves serious and dangerous driving misbehavior.
What Do I Do?
If your harassment by a motorist is serious enough to take to court, you will have to be able to identify the driver, the vehicle, and usually the license plate number.
Call The Police
Tell them what happened and what laws were broken
by the motorist. Hopefully,
law enforcement will be sympathetic and will have sufficient time
to investigate and cite or arrest the driver. However, if the police
are not responsive to your initial contact, do not give up, call
the BTA or our office and we will help you to initiate a prosecution.
Be aware that even though the Motor Vehicle Code gives you a right equal to that of any motorist to use the roadway, in the eyes of many people, bicycles are a toy and should always get out of the way of motorists. Part of your job as a bicyclist in the court system will be to educate everyone you contact about how you are exercising your legal rights to share the roadway with automobiles, and that on the day you were harassed you were also recognizing and abiding by your responsibilities as a roadway user.
If any motorist spits on you, throws something out of a vehicle in your direction, pretends they are going to run you off of the road or hit you, swerves their vehicle in a menacing manner toward you on your bike, or touches you or your bicycle in any way, then it is important for you to prosecute them, even if you are not hurt. The reason is that perpetrators of crimes usually get away without being identified or apprehended. If you are a victim of harassment by a driver, it is likely that your incident is one of many and, if you do nothing, the next time the driver goes after another bicyclist a serious injury may result.
In a recent incident, a young man and woman riding mountain bikes side by side on the roadway began to move into single file when they heard an overtaking vehicle behind them. Apparently, they did not move fast enough as the driver began honking at them, and then as a van filled with people passed by at a high rate of speed, a passenger spat upon them. When the bicyclists caught up to the van at a traffic light, the angry cyclists yelled at the occupants of the van. Suddenly, a passenger in the van swung his door open into the female rider, fracturing her leg in several places. Fortunately, witnesses called the police and an investigation was begun.
Finally. . .
You do not need to become a bicycle militia member in order to stand up for your legal rights. Motorist harassment of bicyclists is a serious problem and is an event which intimidates riders from enjoying road riding. Since before the turn of the century, the League of American Wheelmen, now League of American Bicyclists, has led theafe roads for bicycle riders. A psychological profile of our culture would reveal that there is an identifiable percentage of motorists who cannot stand to see a bicycle rider in the lane of traffic in front of their vehicles without honking or in some other manner communicating their disapproval. Whether our response is a simple polite letter with an invitation for an apology, or a full scale criminal prosecution depends upon the severity of the hazard created by the motorist's behavior. If you are involved in an incident and do not get cooperation from law enforcement in initiating a prosecution, attend one of our free legal clinics and we will show you how to get started. While being spit at, or sworn at is a foul form of interference with an otherwise nice day; on the other hand, arrest for a serious traffic offense is a good, and legal, way to even the score.