Road Rage

Katherine Bartter depends on her bicycle to get to and from classes at the College of Charleston. But cycling the streets of the Holy City can mean running a gantlet of swerving cars, honking horns and irate drivers who don't want to share the road with her slow-moving, two-wheeled ride.

"Some of them even try to nudge you out of the way so you have to go up on the sidewalk," the 20-year-old student said. "People can be pretty hostile."

The tension between motorists and cyclists has grown across the country as more bike-riders take to the streets to help the environment, save on gas or just get more exercise.

It seems that every bikerider has a story of some red-faced, impatient motorist cutting him off or treating him rudely. Just as many motorists gripe about cyclists who ignore traffic signals, ride the wrong way on narrow one-way streets or recklessly zip in and out of traffic.

Kim Jaskiewicz navigates her car through throngs of cyclists each morning on her way to work at a King Street law firm. She's convinced someone is going to get seriously hurt.

"It's scary and dangerous," she said. "It's almost like they are challenging you. But when you're on a bike, with no metal around you, you are definitely going to lose whatever fight you get in."

Officials in some communities, including Charleston and Mount Pleasant, are working with cycling groups to ease tensions and promote safety through a mixture of education, idea-sharing and enforcement. But the relationship between drivers and peddlers remains uneasy and, at times, results in deadly consequences.

Since 1932, about 53,000 cyclists have died in traffic crashes in the United States. Last year alone, traffic wrecks killed 716 cyclists and injured 52,000 others, according to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration. In South Carolina, 26 people have died in crashes involving bicycles since 2008, and 924 others were injured, according to the state Department of Public Safety.

While some crashes are simply accidents, others have involved troubling incidents of road rage. In Los Angeles, a doctor recently was convicted of using his car as a weapon against two bicyclists who were riding side by side in his neighborhood last year. The driver reportedly slammed on his brakes, sending one cyclist to the pavement and the other head-first through the rear window of the car.

In another incident, a former firefighter recently pleaded guilty to shooting at a bicyclist in Asheville, N.C., after arguing with him about the safety of riding on a busy street with his 4-year-old son on the back of the bike. The bullet struck the cyclist's helmet, missing his skull.

Nothing of that severity has been reported in the Lowcountry, but local cyclists have plenty of tales of being buzzed by cars, heckled and honked at by drivers. One man even had a bottle tossed at him.

Cyclist Lindsay Pennington, a college student, said she knows a bike-rider who had a metal pipe swung at him after he groused at a motorist who was crowding him on the road. "The guy just freaked out," she said.

Loren Mooney, editor of Bicycling magazine, said road rage is born of frustration over the growing competition for space on America's roadways. With a recent Census survey showing bike commuting is up 43 percent nationwide since 2000, motorists and cyclists must learn to get along, she said.

"My advice for drivers is to always keep in mind just how vulnerable a cyclist is on the roadway," Mooney said. "And the worst thing a cyclist can do is take his middle finger off the handlebars because that is just going to escalate the situation."

Last year, the state passed a new law designed to clarify and expand cyclist rights, requiring drivers to keep a safe distance from bike riders and adding penalties for motorists who buzz, harass or taunt cyclists.

The city of Charleston and cycling advocates also have taken steps to improve communication and awareness through the formation of the Bicycle Friendly Community Task Force, the drafting of a bike and pedestrian master plan and other initiatives. The city is looking at everything from adding more bike racks to constructing a bike crossing on the Ashley River bridge from West Ashley into the peninsula, Mayor Joe Riley said.

"I know some people are irritated by bikes being in traffic, but they shouldn't be," Riley said. "They have the same rights as we do."

At the same time, Charleston police have been trying to get the word out that with rights come a responsibility to observe the rules of the road. Officers met with college officials and students, distributed pamphlets and stressed the need for following traffic, using lights at night and other safety practices, Sgt. Dale Wilson said. After months of education, officers switched to offering warnings and eventually to ticketing cyclists for violating traffic laws.

"The goal was not to write tickets," Wilson said. "The main thing is education. We would rather protect them than ticket them."

Mount Pleasant police also have reached out to cycling groups to listen to concerns, offer safety tips and educate officers about new biking laws, Sgt. Pat Carter said. Officers have visited schools like Moultrie Middle on Coleman Boulevard, which has a large number of student cyclists, to teach biking safety. The number of car-bike crashes dropped from 19 in 2008 to 13 this year, Carter said.

Charleston Moves, a bicycle advocacy group, supports the police efforts, including the crackdown on scofflaws, director Tom Bradford said. The non-profit has been heavily promoting safe cycling tips, but Bradford remains displeased by the behavior of some of his fellow cyclers. He even had to lecture a Medical University of South Carolina bike patrol officer recently for riding the wrong way on a one-way street.

"I said 'With all due respect sir, you are setting a terrible example,' " Bradford said.

When Bradford glanced in his rear view mirror as he pulled away, he saw the sheepish officer pedal the opposite direction. One down; many more to go.