Coal rolling and other fun

A recent story from the Houston, Texas area has the cycling world, at least my cycling world, talking. You might have seen it. A group of riders were 75 miles into an Ironman training ride when they were passed by a 16 year old who was driving a diesel pick-up. He slowed down and then accelerated, producing a cloud of diesel exhaust, forcing the cyclists to ride through it. He did it a second time. Annoying, rude, immature and dangerous. He hit six riders, sending four to the hospital. And ruined about $40,000 worth of bikes, triggered thousands of dollars in medical bills and caused immeasurable family worry and trauma. These cyclists are someone's father-husband-brother-son-teacher-mailperson-etc. They are all drivers, too. What the kid was doing is not all that uncommon. It's called "coal rolling," intentionally blowing exhaust on a group of pedestrians or riders. It happens to my ride group at least three times a year, maybe more. You can tell it's intentional because the driver will always look in his rearview mirror to see how effective he was. There are after-market modifications to bypass pollution control systems to make the cloud bigger, especially in diesel trucks. However, I doubt the local coal rollers have availed themselves of this probably illegal option. I invite you to search coal rolling videos on YouTube. You can contact the California Air Resources Board at 1-800-END SMOG to report offending vehicles. Coal rolling is just another way to harass cyclists. For some reason, we cyclists are sometimes perceived as an enemy in a culture war that we don't even know we're fighting. I'm sure most drivers who harass riders aren't thinking their actions all the way through. It sounds like fun to coal roll bike riders, put tacks out on the road, throw a bottle or lay on the truck horn as you pass within three feet. That 16 year old (probably) didn't really mean to actually hurt anyone; he was just having fun. He wouldn't have done it if his mother was sitting next to him. Riders can hit the pavement hard when a flat occurs and, if they are in a group, take other riders down, too. Startling a rider with a horn blast in their ear can send them into a ditch. If it is your intention to hurt riders, not just scare them, you are just evil. A "Life in the Bike Lane" theory: Drivers don't get angry with bowlers or pickleball players because they have their dedicated space in which to partake of their recreational choice. Bike riders are on roads belonging to cars (I can write an entire column on why that's not true. Oh, wait. I have already done that.). Is the purpose of the harassment to teach bike riders a lesson for some previous transgression by some other rider? Or is it an altruistic attempt to somehow make cyclists better/safer riders? Do you really think scaring me will make some other cyclist on some other day get out of your way? (If so, you need to clarify your understanding of "general" and "specific" deterrence.) As I have said many times in this space, we cyclists will get in the way of some drivers, even if we are doing everything exactly right. We don't want to endanger ourselves or anyone else. Like drivers, we will occasionally make a mistake or dumb move. Yelling at us, buzzing us or coal rolling us will not help. If you think it's all just good fun, try with your mother in the seat next to you. Tom Frady is a Lincoln resident and avid cyclist and driver.