Driver slashes cyclist's throat in South Side attack (Pittsburgh, Penn: crime rates, neighborhood)

[irishvan]

Originally Posted by juliegt

Now that's funny in spite of the circumstances.

True!

[Garvdog]

Originally Posted by Evergrey

The randomness of the story makes me quite skeptical of its truthiness.

Wow. The closest thing I've ever heard to this is the "freeway shootings" in L.A. where apparently people were randomly targeted on the freeway while in their cars. Normally there is something amiss when someone is "randomly" attacked like this- as in it wasn't so random after all. Definitely wouldn't expect something like this in Pittsburgh.


That said, I honestly have seen more road rage here than anywhere in the U.S. I have ever lived, and that includes much larger cities with much worse reputations (Houston, L.A., Chicago). It usually ends up being some yahoo in an oversized pickup, but not always. Once I had a guy in a Prius (yes, a Prius) follow me out of a supermarket parking lot literally leaning on his horn the entire way, all becuase I did not stop to let him pull in front of me coming out of his parking aisle. He wasn't even sticking out of the aisle yet, and I didn't speed up to get in front of him or anything. I am starting to think that a lot of Pittsburghers have extremely short fuses.

[Garvdog]

Originally Posted by irishvan

Years ago I was making a right onto highland from the upper level of the whole foods shopping center pulled in front of a woman there was most definately sufficient space although she apparently did not agree. She raced into oncoming traffic to get in front of me and stoped her car and pointed a gun at me... I couldn't drive anywhere so I just called 911 and reported her license number. That was horrifying.

Hey, don't worry, it's people who hurt people, not guns (or so the NRA claims).

[green_mariner]

This scares me because my bicycle has been my primary mode of transportation. I've been harassed while riding my bike. And this is in the Atlanta area.

[Sideblinded]

Jeebus! I hope this wasn't a random attack. It is insane!

[tclifton]

While this doesn't condone violence, it at least shines a light into some of the reasons why road rage may exist.

An interesting article written by a cyclist:

Self-Righteous Cyclists Cause Share of Road Rage | The Urban Cyclist

[WhoIsStanwix?]

Originally Posted by Garvdog

Hey, don't worry, it's people who hurt people, not guns (or so the NRA claims).

Something similar happened to me as what happened to irishvan but out in front of Target on Penn. My thought since then has been to make sure I have a handgun accessable in my car, not to avoid having one. I'm not sure how not having a gun would put me in a better situation.

[bradjl2009]

Originally Posted by juliegt

I'm afraid it doesn't seem far fetched to me. An old boyfriend of mine flipped off a driver (not the brightest move) in front of him for cutting him off and the next thing he knew a guy was standing up through the sunroof and pointing a gun at him. That's as far as it went, thank God.

Another friend of mine lost her son. The teenage boy was hanging out with his friends late at night (he had sneaked out) and they were throwing rocks at cars - I know, incredibly stupid. One car stopped and a bunch of guys got out and attacked them with knives. Her son died. This was in a middle class suburb of SF. What the boy did was wrong, but he didn't deserve to die for it.

This stories are terrible but it also shows that it's better than walk away than get into trouble or fight with strangers becuase you never know how crazy someone can be.

[tclifton]

Originally Posted by WhoIsStanwix?

Something similar happened to me as what happened to irishvan but out in front of Target on Penn. My thought since then has been to make sure I have a handgun accessable in my car, not to avoid having one. I'm not sure how not having a gun would put me in a better situation.

Agreed. Until nobody owns them (which is an unrealistic pipe dream), you're at a disadvantage if you don't.

[irishvan]

Originally Posted by tclifton

While this doesn't condone violence, it at least shines a light into some of the reasons why road rage may exist.

An interesting article written by a cyclist:

Self-Righteous Cyclists Cause Share of Road Rage | The Urban Cyclist

Nope, no way, no reason for a human being to slit another human beings throat because they are so angry at them in traffic. If the person flips you the bird and tells you to sqrew off there is still no reason for the violence.


In the end those self-ritious Peformance Bike shoppers are putting their own lives in danger not signaling or following general road rules puts them in danger of being doored or hit. We are talking people being so infuriated by someone on the road that they have to cause physical harm.

Alot of it is being really self aware and aware of your surroundings and wtf is going on but some it is this scary **** that we can't control.