Pretty darn pissed as I got in this morning. I got abused by a passenger in a silver 4WD Urban Assault Vehicle (which they'd probably call a city SUV) because I 'wasn't in the bike lane'.
Only thing is... There WAS no bike lane.
I was approaching a red traffic light and there is a left turning lane with a bike BOX however there are parked cars after the intersection so if you use the bike box you have to merge back into the vehicle through traffic (which, from previous experience can be stressful as the cars ignore your attempts to merge). So here I am rolling up to the traffic light with a clear road in front of me in the left through lane (there is another lane on my right). I see this 4WD change lanes behind me in my rear view and come up behind me. I stop at the lights at the front of the left through car lane and hear this little pip of the horn, which I ignore. Then the light changes green and I push off and this 4WD passes me about 20 metres ahead with the passenger screaming out the window "Use the bike lane." to which I shout back "There IS no bike lane, [richard]head."
Then the car behind him also passes me too closely for my liking.
Anyway, said 4WD gets stuck at the next set of traffic lights where the Albert St copenhagen lane actually DOES start so as I'm rolling past the car I shout "THIS is a bike lane".
Then further up he gets stuck at the red pedestrian crossing light near the park so I decide to stop and let him have it (sans swearing) and the lady driver winds down the window and the male passenger and I start shouting at each other (with me puffing away in-between shouts as I'd just ridden up the hill and had no breath). He says to me that I should have moved into the left turning lane (because there was a bike symbol painted there in the box and that supposedly means it is a bike lane... Go figure
)
I kept repeating "There was no bike lane, that is not a bike lane and I'm entitled to use THIS lane" (pointing at the lane the car is in) and he says that I should have moved left, and merged in behind him after he'd passed (except I was in front of him the whole time) and basically given up my lane for his precious car.
So I parted with "I'm entitled to use that lane, read the road rules, you'll learn the truth." I need to remember to say something like 'what gives you the moral obligation to think you know everything about driving on the roads??'
He got stuck in the traffic on Albert St and I turned left after the park and that was the last I saw of him.
Today I guess I just decided I'd had enough and I had the opportunity to actually 'speak' to the motorist. Not that it helped overly much.
I must be doing something right because I'm clearly visible enough to be a nuisance.
Feeling better now. I still love riding the bike even with the [richard]heads that think they own the road. So much better than the tram.