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An Anonymous Coward writes:
Velonews has this story, http://www.velonews.com/2017/05/news/legally-speaking-brought-justice_437651 which describes an incident of road rage against a bicyclist. Turns out, this was the wrong cyclist to buzz, he was a lawyer and eventually settled with the cager's insurance company for USD $4500 -- setting a price for cyclist harassment in Louisiana.
The road-raging driver had just endangered the life of the cyclist and his toddler, and now he was spoiling for a fight. It began on a calm Sunday morning in New Orleans. Charlie Thomas had gone for a ride with his young daughter Colette, towing her in a Burley trailer, enjoying the ride and time together. But on the edge of the iconic French Quarter, their peaceful Sunday morning was violently interrupted when a speeding car buzzed them, passing within a foot of Charlie and Colette.
[...] "I'm not trying to start anything," Charlie said, "but you passed way too close to my daughter and me."
And that's when the driver, motioning that he was about to get out of his car, responded with his tough-guy threat: "How about I get out and f—k you up in front of your kid?" Charlie's emotions surged, but he knew that any further engagement would be unproductive, and with his daughter there, unsafe. So he broke off the encounter, and the driver sped away.
[...] Although the incident didn't involve a physical impact, Louisiana has both a three-foot passing law and a non-harassment law on the books. Charlie filed suit seeking damages for the driver's harassment. There had never been a case setting the value of damages for a harassed bicyclist under Louisiana's law, so Charlie and the driver's insurance company were in uncharted negotiating territory.
Eventually, Charlie negotiated a settlement that established a value of $4,500 damages in a civil case for cyclist harassment in Louisiana; the proceeds were donated to Bike Easy, the New Orleans-area bike advocacy group. The official case on the books is Thomas v. Arbona, Case No. 16-03127; First City Court for the City of New Orleans. Now, any other cyclist who sues a driver for harassment in Louisiana can use the value for damages established in this case.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by AthanasiusKircher on Tuesday May 09 2017, @10:26PM
You can say the exact same thing about motorists: a minority of them drive very aggressively and terrorize pedestrians, cyclists, and motorists alike.
In the city in question, I was NEVER in fear of motorists as a pedestrian. Despite the much higher volume of cars I potentially came into contact with, I can only recall once when I had a "close call" with a car as a pedestrian that wasn't my fault. But I was almost struck quite a few times by cyclists.
Of course there are jerks in all camps. But the difference for me was the unpredictability. Cars, for the most part, basically obeyed traffic laws with an exception of speeding or an occasional U-turn or something. They'd basically stop at Stop signs and traffic lights. They wouldn't drive off the streets. Many cyclists would not obey these laws, and they'd even weave (illegally) on and off the sidewalks.
Unlike your broad brush painting of all Southerners below, I'm NOT trying to condemn or stereotype all cyclists. I explicitly said that I advocate for better infrastructure to make cycling easier and safer. But I DO think -- at least in the city I'm talking about -- that there were a higher percentage of them that rode aggressively and definitely ILLEGALLY compared to motorists.