Motorists versus bikers: Los Angeles road rage incident shows drivers losing it

Christopher Thompson, center, with his lawyer, Peter Swarth. Thompson was convicted of six felonies and a misdemeanor after he stopped his car abruptly, causing two bicyclists to crash into his car.

AP photo

Dr. Christopher Thompson's conviction in Los Angeles in an incident in which he was accused of stopping abruptly in front of two bike riders illustrates the growing strife between drivers and bikers, Megan Daum writes in the Los Angeles Times.

Prosecutors said Thompson stopped in front of the cyclists after passing them and shouting at them to ride single file, The Times reported.

"Cycling-related accident rates are decreasing, but cycling injuries are getting worse. That suggests that riders may be tangling with something more than a mere fall, like a car door or fender. Daum writes. "And though most drivers, mercifully, don't harbor as much animosity as Thompson, I suspect there may be more of him out there than we might like to think.

"... Cyclists make a lot of us feel like lazy slobs. ... Whereas drivers' carbon footprints grow more beast-like by the hour, cyclists create no exhaust other than the sweet fatigue they feel as they drift off to saintly sleep at night.

"Of course, moral superiority is insufferable, but you still shouldn't try to run it off the road or teach it a lesson with the family car. You might win on the street, but in court, it's a different story.

Tags: bicycling,