The 2016 Shitlist

This post is about the drivers who did me dirt in 2016. The boorish SOBs who shoved me off the road, passed me within inches, threatened me verbally or worse, and plenty more who blasted a horn in my ear. For a lot of these, I have video. For a lot of these, I have plate numbers. I went to the police with a couple. For a whole lot of these, as soon as it happened, I pulled over and tweeted the plate, if I did not already have it on video.

Everyone should do this. Call out plate numbers. It's good practice for when you have to.

I went through my Twitter feed, my Facebook posts, and my YouTube playlist I titled "Motorists Behaving Badly".

I should explain what a fucking horn is. A fucking horn is where someone comes up behind or alongside me and lays on the horn, to startle or alarm or force me to move over. Beyond being boorish, it's unsafe, not a whole lot different from coming up behind someone and popping a paper bag behind their head. On a bike, it's unnerving, causing possible loss of control. I will tell you nicely once, if you do this: Please stop.
* * *

2016 Shitlist


January

1 Jan
https://twitter.com/bus15237/statuses/683006871087742976
JNC-3661 grey Dodge, first #fuckinghorn of the year. Andersen St under railroad tracks. Where the hell did you expect me to go?

3 Jan
https://twitter.com/bus15237/statuses/683733718134034432
JYP-2140 #fuckinghorn while *I was driving the car*. I was going 25 in a 25 zone! Pulled over so I could get the plate, & him off my tail.

20 Jan
JFT-5505, high speed thread-the-needle pass, Perry Hwy just before Lindley Lane.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBb-IsIZ4WI
Reported to Ross Twp police, who followed up on this. No charges pressed.
https://www.facebook.com/unicycleintransit/posts/10153813221418955
Same incident I posted last Wednesday, but this time with the plate number: "JOHN FRANK THOMAS FIVE FIVE OH FIVE" Now, to talk to the Ross Police.
https://www.facebook.com/unicycleintransit/posts/10153804704743955
How I almost died this morning. Hey JFT-5505, would you cut off a car that closely?


February

3 Feb
JZG-0283, #fuckinghorn, Perry Hwy northbound at Washington Blvd
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBb-IsIZ4WI
https://www.facebook.com/unicycleintransit/posts/10153843199078955
Classic case of a fucking horn. Pulls right alongside me and honks. The two cars at 0:11 and 0:25 figured out how to pass slower traffic without using a horn.

4 Feb
https://www.facebook.com/unicycleintransit/posts/10153837347573955
As I sat at a red light in West View on motorcycle this morning, someone pulled up behind me and snapped my photo. Say what? Ten seconds earlier he was laying on the horn. Best I can figure is that I wasn't doing fully 25, and had let a space grow in front of me, but I could see I was going to be fourth in line approaching a red light.

8 Feb
https://www.facebook.com/unicycleintransit/posts/10153844981208955
Post-script to the day: At one point today I was driving 28 mph in a 35 zone, and a car comes up behind me and lays on the horn. All I could think of was, what an entitled ass. How would he know if I'm carrying something delicate? Or maybe having engine trouble? Or looking for an address? At a different point today, traffic was at a standstill for 20 seconds while a family of turkeys made their way across the road. Sorry, pal, you don't get to go fast because of a number on a sign.

14 Feb
https://www.facebook.com/unicycleintransit/posts/10153859900513955
How dare I drive 35 mph over a posted-35 bridge? HONNNK! (McKees Rocks Bridge, westbound, around 10:30 this morning). Later, how dare I start to change lanes after signaling and the signal blinking two full times? No, I have to wait for the Lexus going 20 mph faster to get past me first.

(Browns Hill Rd heading away from the bridge about 1:30.) The damned nerve of some people.


March

6 Mar
https://twitter.com/bus15237/statuses/706618731590504448
FRR-2803, dark green Jeep-like. Fucking horn & super close pass. Give this fucking idiot a ticket. Perry Hwy past Cemetery Ln.

8 Mar
https://www.facebook.com/unicycleintransit/posts/10153911966698955
East Street close pass, JPD-0473
Front and rear view of earlier stupdity: Two cars pass me after following me down Concord to the right onto East St. The first one is fine, gives me a full lane pass. The second one decides to pass me within two feet.
Front video: https://youtu.be/UVnjRfOurQQ
Rear video: https://youtu.be/Omk8yJbD4DE


19 Mar
https://www.facebook.com/unicycleintransit/posts/10153948118498955
When I'm doing 22 in a 25, there is no reason to ride my butt because you want to do 35+. When I'm doing 32 in a 35, there is no reason to ride my butt because you want to do 45. Both happened to me today -- the 22 on a bike, the 32 driving a car.


April

6 Apr
...sequence starts...
https://twitter.com/bus15237/statuses/717876049569325056
I get 10.1 miles of my 10.4-mile bike trip home, and _then_ get a horn in my ear, or as I call them, a fucking horn, to startle or bully.
https://twitter.com/bus15237/statuses/717876402377383936
I don't know what it is about that last half mile of Perry Highway, but if I'm gonna get honked at, it's usu w/in sight of my house.
...sequence ends...

12 Apr
https://twitter.com/bus15237/statuses/719876492457476097
EGP-2255 small dark red car, very close in-lane pass. Perry Hwy near Thompson Dr.
https://twitter.com/bus15237/statuses/719877926360113152
What's maddening about that one was, at next light, 0.1mi later, he rolled down his window to argue. So that was deliberate.

21 Apr
https://www.facebook.com/unicycleintransit/posts/10154052698588955
Judge Manning has decided at least one case this week that pissed me off, and a few more that have me scratching my head. First, the guy driving his Mustang 85 mph while high and drunk, killing a girl standing in her own front yard, gets to walk. I think there were more, but that's just this week. (An earlier version of this post said he decided against a cyclist who was obeying the law. The decision happened as described, but it was a lower magistrate, not Manning, I have been informed.)

25 Apr
https://twitter.com/bus15237/statuses/724735772771774464
GJH-9608 blue econobox, #fuckinghorn, again almost eyesight from the house. PerryHwy at Lee.



May

3 May
https://www.facebook.com/unicycleintransit/posts/10154081515803955
Someone passed me on posted-35 East Street, crossing the double yellow to do so. Which would be fine if I was going 14 on a bicycle, but I was going 35 on a motorcycle at the time.

4 May
...This next one was City Councilwoman Darlene Harris
https://twitter.com/bus15237/statuses/727861085907386368
GPJ-8259 grey Jeep, white female, 50. Overweight, smoking. #Fuckinghorn, yells at me to stay in the bike lane. There WAS no bike lane.
https://twitter.com/bus15237/statuses/727861232598945793
This was in the 15 mph part of East St; I was doing 23.
https://twitter.com/bus15237/statuses/727861524426051586
When we start requiring drivers to acknowledge that cyclists have a legal right to the road, this bullshit will stop.
https://twitter.com/bus15237/statuses/727867341812420608
Also, my front camera was on. I might have a good view of her face when I caught up w/her (of course) at the next traffic light.
https://twitter.com/bus15237/statuses/727868077891850241
Meanwhile, I had just biked 7mi of McKnight Rd & most of East St wo any trouble at all. Just her, right there, where I'm 133% of speed limit
https://twitter.com/bus15237/statuses/727966662088114176
I checked my camera. No, didn't get pic of Jeep driver, but do have decent audio. Will process & post when I get home.
Front video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0V3mkBxZm0
...end sequence

4 May
https://www.facebook.com/unicycleintransit/posts/10154084095953955
This is a public service announcement: When driving your car, turn off the motherfiretrucking phone. Last night, two good friends got mowed down by a texting driver, who stopped _not_ because he hit the cyclists, but because he also plowed into a parked car. No, the cyclists are not all right.
And, yes, I am emotionally a wreck.

5 May
https://www.facebook.com/unicycleintransit/posts/10154086348918955
I chose not to wear my front camera today, traveling by motorcycle. Mistake. I missed being able to video a car drift left over the center line *three times* in a half mile. Clearly texting. Around noon, Perry Hwy by the park & ride.

6 May
https://www.facebook.com/unicycleintransit/posts/10154088581698955
Walking westward from the bus tonight, on my road at the height of rush hour, I get to the blind curve. 12 cars in a row were on or over the paint line into where I would have to walk. This is the same curve where, when biking (going east), I get flat up against the yellow line, going uphill at about 6 mph for upward of 20 seconds. Without a bike there, they're coming around that curve at 35-40 mph. And that's also why I don't squeeze onto the shoulder on the bike, because they'd be flying around there and not see me until they were on top of me. On foot, I can see them and jump into the grass.

12 May
https://twitter.com/bus15237/statuses/730941869811761152
The only unpleasant part of the trip home was getting honked at by the Shaler Shop'n Save, as usual.


25 May
https://www.facebook.com/unicycleintransit/posts/10154133453478955
The next $175 I can lay my hands on, I am getting a new rear camera. This morning, I'm on West Commons alongside Allegheny Center, turning onto South Commons, then onto Sandusky. I'm sailing along at 20+ mph (posted 25), and I'm just enough in front of this black car that I got to the Sandusky light first. I also have a car in front of me. The three of us get the green, we all turn onto Sandusky, and poor baby sounds the horn because he has to follow a bicycle up to the light at Lacock, where the car in front of me waits for pedestrians before turning right. Meanwhile, I can slither by and actually get a little space up to the next light at General Robinson, but four seconds later, same black car right on my butt. I had a red for a short bit and now he's less than a car hood length off my back, tailing me past the Warhol Museum up to the bridge. Then of course goes screaming by me on the bridge (two lanes southbound). I caught up with him, of course, as he got stuck behind a van on Sixth Ave at Wood Street. The van wasn't going anywhere for a few seconds, so I slid in between him and the van, sideways, and screamed at him, "Really?" Then got back in the lane and followed the van up Sixth. The impatient idiot turned onto Wood.

26 May
Rolling coal, Babcock Blvd by Ross-Shaler line
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=909McEzZizM
https://www.facebook.com/unicycleintransit/posts/10154137292468955
If you know your vehicle can do this, and obscure your plate so nobody can report you when you do, you suck.


June

4 Jun
https://www.facebook.com/unicycleintransit/posts/10154156837628955
The power was off for over an hour this morning, so I walked up to Perry Hwy and rolled video for 15 minutes. Hardly anybody follows the rules.
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERCf_wvd6wE


9 Jun
https://twitter.com/bus15237/statuses/741041809309245440
JYJ-3133 white Jeep, first wouldn't give me 4ft. Then of course I caught him. Didn't wanna know what the law actually said.
https://twitter.com/bus15237/statuses/741041990624804865
His wife was impressed I could quote the law, chpt & verse.
https://twitter.com/bus15237/statuses/741043472862478336
Also worth noting the male driver of JYJ-3133 threatened to run me over at the next light.

https://www.facebook.com/unicycleintransit/posts/10154171939093955
And a shout-out to the driver of JYJ-3133, in a white Jeep in Millvale yesterday, who said he'd run me down if he caught up with me at the next light, because I dared to take the lane -- just yards after a sign that clearly says "[bicycle symbol] MAY USE FULL LANE". He beeped at me after seeing me in traffic two more times in the next 15 minutes, so I know he knows me on sight now.

17 Jun
https://twitter.com/bus15237/statuses/744011884190404608
HVD-1645, red Caddy SUV that then turned onto Edwood, why was it necessary to blow a horn in my ear while I was walking on t'other side?


July

9 Jul
https://twitter.com/bus15237/statuses/751837651406360576
JGL-?045 "?" was a 5,6,8,9 not sure. Silver 4-door sedan. First laid on the horn bc I was going too slow. Then passes me *& the bus* ...
https://twitter.com/bus15237/statuses/751838037773025281
...on a curve, at a traffic light. Somehow no oncoming traffic. This is on downhill 19 in WView btwn McD's & WVwParkDr.
https://twitter.com/bus15237/statuses/751838486207102977
Further note that I was in the car at the time! Not on a bike! Passes a car going 20 then a stopped bus & tries to cut in front of the bus.

12 Jul
https://twitter.com/bus15237/statuses/753011320245612544
KCM-2589 red Jeep-like thing, unnecessarily close pass, both right wheels on my side of the lane line when I'm clearly taking the lane.
https://twitter.com/bus15237/statuses/753011624458457089
This occurred on Perry Hwy, Ross Twp, in front of Pines Plaza, less than one mile from my house.


16 Jul
https://www.facebook.com/unicycleintransit/posts/10154268445973955
Adding JPY-1934 to my shitlist. I'm on the motorcycle, on a 2-lane road (Ferguson Rd in Hampton, between Mt Royal and Duncan), going 35 in a 35 zone. This car comes up behind me somewhere around Post Rd and tailgates me all the way down to Duncan. No more than a car length back for over a half mile. I pull away from the stop sign at Duncan, the driver pulls away right after, and again comes up right behind me, but this time also puts on the high beams and lays on the horn, and continues to follow me, barely a car length back. We get up to the corner at Peebles, and I get in the left turn lane to make the left, and he goes screaming past me going straight. OK, fine, there's nobody to tangle with so I abort the left and follow him down to Babcock. He tops out at about 51 mph, never going less than 45. The damn nerve! I've seen the high beam thing on a superhighway, but on a suburban two-laner where there's no passing? Fuck you, pal.


18 Jul
https://twitter.com/bus15237/statuses/755181384323465217
JXF-7341, silver car, passes me on the right in parking lane as I am getting to the right to make a right turn. Brighton by Calif/NCharles.
https://twitter.com/bus15237/statuses/755181527709941760
I am on the motorcycle, going 25 in a 25 zone.

21 Jul
https://twitter.com/bus15237/statuses/756152149780946944
HNC-9261 #fuckinghorn McKnight Rd. Had 250 yards to pass me, lays on horn, passes, makes immed R turn. On front video. Did not engage.

23 Jul
https://twitter.com/bus15237/statuses/756963112322990080
@PGHtransit KBZ-7491 gold/tan SUV turns L dir in front of moving bus, Sandusky/GenRobinson. Props to driver for avoiding crash!


August

8 Aug
https://twitter.com/bus15237/statuses/762650413166424064
GXY-9750 white Prius, #fuckinghorn, verbal abuse, Perry at Highland, WView



9 Aug
https://twitter.com/bus15237/statuses/762966929619517440
JXT-0440 white car, #fuckinghorn McKnight Rd. At that moment I was going 27 mph, pretty fast for the curb lane on a 40 road.


19 Aug
https://twitter.com/bus15237/statuses/766788610888704004
HVH-7696 white SUV, ignorance, honks instead of passing, then full bore pass. Perry Hwy nb, WView.



September

2 Sep
https://www.facebook.com/unicycleintransit/posts/10154407209023955
Stupid drivers on McKnight. I'm slowing for the red light ahead. Car on right passes me and changes lanes left because of the bus. Car on left had been directly behind me, passes and changes lanes right, nearly sideswiping the other car. They didn't touch, but it was close. The one on the left was most at fault, choosing to get back in the center lane when the left lane he got into was wide open. He just wanted to move in front of me.

7 Sep
https://twitter.com/bus15237/statuses/773667626404806657
JXF-8177 black SUV, tonight's #fuckinghorn awardee, Perry Hwy 1/2 mi from my house.


21 Sep
https://www.facebook.com/unicycleintransit/posts/10154462077918955
Last night's ride home was almost uneventful. I forgot about the nine-inch pass by a Pittsburgh motorcycle cop at the corner of Grant St and the Busway. It was actually two cops. One was in a marked car in the left lane, but his buddy on two wheels rode alongside and passed me in my lane, while I was taking the lane. So he managed to squeeze between me in the center of my lane, and the police car on his left. No lights, no siren, not responding to a call, not in any particular hurry, AFAICT.


October

9 Oct
https://twitter.com/bus15237/statuses/785211508531888128
YZL-2589 grey pickup, passes me on R in intersection of Perrysville & Ivory, has to climb median to do so, and #fuckinghorn, too.

14 Oct
https://www.facebook.com/unicycleintransit/posts/10154532594643955
I got another "fucking horn" on Perrymont this morning, as I took the lane approaching the top of a blind grade. Wasn't the car directly behind me, but the second in line. We all get up to the very long light at McKnight, I put down the kickstand, set the bike sideways in the middle of the road, and stormed back to have a word with the blithering idiot. She didn't put down her window, but I gave her an earful nevertheless. "Do you know WHY I have to take the lane here? So YOU won't try to do something senseless like trying to pass on a blind grade! And then decide to take ME out when you find a car staring you in the face! Next time, hold your horn, and be patient!" I did not swear. And the guy I had to walk past, twice, thanked me and told me that he knew the rules and gave me the space I needed. I thanked him in return. And as I got back to the bike, the light turned green.

18 Oct
I am hit from behind and thrown to the pavement after being tailgated over 200 yards. 7800 Perry Hwy, about a half mile from my house. Car stops; does not run me over. Police and ambulance respond. I am transported to Allegheny General Hospital. Treated and released. This has been resolved legally. Police filed no charges against the driver. Case is closed.

20 Oct
https://twitter.com/bus15237/statuses/789161071269511168
HTZ-3306, silver grey GM SUV, yells at me on Grant St to get in the bike lane. There is no bike lane on Grant St.


25 Oct
https://twitter.com/bus15237/statuses/790922524783681536
JSS-0222 black Subaru? Grant Ave, Millvale, punishment pass and verbal abuse; then made L turn 100 yards later anyway. I did not engage.

30 Oct
https://www.facebook.com/unicycleintransit/posts/10154587132343955
Tfw you're driving a car 31 in a 25 zone, and someone comes up behind you and leans on the horn because you're holding them up.


November

11 Nov
PA plate "PUGDOGS" #fuckinghorn, Perry Hwy soutbound just before Lindley Lane
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZBuA9Zu6Ls


13 Nov
https://twitter.com/bus15237/statuses/797957126232690688
JBJ-5271 white Caddy, close pass & close pull back in, Perry Hwy 100' b4 my turn onto Perrymont. Literally can see my house from here.

22 Nov
Perrymont unsafe pass
Front video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUi2CL8MXko
Rear video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvt73oUAlYs
https://www.facebook.com/unicycleintransit/posts/10154656483513955
Sure, pass me at the very top of a blind grade. With an oncoming car you could not possibly see. (It happens at about :55 in the front video. Rear camera, in first link, shows the guy never even thought about slowing as he approached.)

25 Nov
Perry Hwy past HOV, close pass
Rear video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fSYPOoCA48
https://www.facebook.com/unicycleintransit/posts/10154664040863955
46 seconds on Perry Highway. If you see that the two cars immediately ahead of you are changing lanes to avoid something, maybe you should think about getting over, too. The driver of the Jeep waited until the very last second to start to pull around me.

29 Nov
https://twitter.com/bus15237/statuses/803768433506746369
Car passes me on right on inside of a blind curve. When did this become OK?
Front video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ks1WEQnTGlY
Rear video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJNwunjAOho&t=37s
https://www.facebook.com/unicycleintransit/posts/10154674479303955
Pretty sure passing someone on the right on the inside of a curve is illegal. Pushing me into the opposite lane is just bonus points. Film at 11.


December

16 Dec
https://www.facebook.com/unicycleintransit/posts/10154740076233955
Once more, I took evasive measures not to be killed. On foot this time, walking Perrymont, on that same curve where the car passed me on the right, this car comes out of that same curve and does not straighten out. Aims directly for me on the shoulder. I jump into the snow, he straightens out and continues up the road.

21 Dec
https://twitter.com/bus15237/statuses/811617866239705089
JYJ-6028, white ?Toyota, someone tell this fuckhead what 75-3301c1 means. #fuckinghorn, verbal abuse, tried to force me into line of parked cars.
https://twitter.com/bus15237/statuses/811618302694981632
Perry Hwy in Perrysville, barely 1.5 miles from my house. I'm wearing orange vest, taking lane bc there's nowhere else TO be. https://www.facebook.com/unicycleintransit/posts/10154757099253955 Wish I could have gotten today's idiot on video. Blared on the horn repeatedly, then pulls alongside me to chew me out for not riding on the shoulder. Good trick, with 15 parked cars along the curb. PA plate JYJ-6028. White male, 35-40ish. As usual, only 1.5 miles from home. Perry Hwy in Perrysville, between the 7-11 and the fire station.

21 Dec
https://twitter.com/bus15237/statuses/811624516191391744
EFT-8510, do I know you? Long horn, directed at me, but going the other dir on an empty 4-lane road. (Perry just S of HOV Lane entrance.)

28 Dec
https://twitter.com/bus15237/status/814139007336665089
KBZ-3566. Arrest this asshole and take away his license. I had to bail so as not to get hit at speed. No attempt at all to pass me. Video!
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPpivPC6y_k&t=8s
https://www.facebook.com/unicycleintransit/posts/10154781205148955
KBZ-3566 is going to get a call from the authorities. This is me, bailing, because the car you see at left made no attempt to change lanes to pass me. The left lane was empty. It's a four-lane road. Broad daylight. I'm wearing a blaze orange vest with a blinking light on my bright yellow helmet.

28 Dec
https://twitter.com/bus15237/status/814143944212750337
KCG-8367 inches away pass starting from light. Video.

* * *


Take note how many of these are on
:

1. Perry Highway between Pines Plaza and my house, a distance of about a half mile.
2. Then another set within the next mile, down to the hamlet of Perrysville.
3. A third clump is along Perrymont Road, within 0.9 mile of my house.
4. Along Babcock Blvd in Shaler, near the Shop'n Save

Both in quantity and quality, most of the trouble I face is within a mile or so of my house. I don't face nearly as much grief inside city limits. * * *

I have been keeping track like this for years. I only dug back through 2016 because it's a lot of work to assemble this list in this format. What I really want to do is see if there are any repeat offenders. What else I want is to know if anybody else in metro Pittsburgh has had bad encounters with any of these. If anything truly bad happens, this could be very useful in showing that there is past history, particularly if there is intentionality involved.

Expect no apologies for language or tone. If my life is being threatened, I will use whatever language is appropriate at that moment. If you feel you are in some way offended, YOU owe ME the apology for valuing some absurd decency standard more than my life and safety. And you can bet I will call you on it. I don't care who the hell you are, or how long I've known you. Grow the fuck up, and understand that language has a purpose, and some words are there to convey feelings, and being mortally threatened tends to bring out various words. If you're offended, YOU need to change, not me.