My Lame Analysis

This is the probably the last post I'll write on the Mandeville Canyon Road Rage Trial. Thompson has been found guilty of serious criminal offenses and now faces what will probably be a costly civil trial. The legal stuff will probably drag on for years, and it will be boring for spectators and a stress-o-rama for everyone that's actually involved.

This incident has provided a lot to think about on training rides lately.

I don't think this event has significance for cyclists as a group, nor does it have significance for drivers as a group. There's no war between cyclists and drivers over the roads. Thompson is an aberration. There is an order of magnitude difference between the pathetic loser who shouts insults at you from the safety of her Hummer and a psycho that hunts cyclists with the trunk of his car.

One thing I take away from this incident is that cars have the weird power to bring out the beast in people. Thompson's Infinity Sedan transformed a 60 year old dude into a would-be murderer. I have no sympathy for his actions, but I can understand his anger; during my driving career, a few traffic incidents have pissed me off beyond all reason.

Anyone can lose their temper and do something stupid. Rage is a reflex. The wise thing to do is come up with a strategy to deal with your anger and the person who caused it instead of pretending it doesn't exist.

Over a long life, most people learn to tame the beast, but in his 60 years, Thompson didn't. Cyclists pissed him off so much that he tried several times to hurt them with his car. When he finally succeeded, and a guy's head was through his car window, he still didn't wake up--he complained that an injured cyclist's bike was in the road! When the prosecutor brought charges against him, he refused to admit any guilt. When he went to trial, he made up a crazy story about the incident to try to get away with it. My guess is he'll still be mad when he's writing all the zeros on the check to pay the cyclists after they sue him, and he'll be mad when he's picking up garbage at the side of the road and cyclists breeze past.

No doubt, there will continue to be confrontations between drivers and cyclists. The question this trial raises is, how should you react when it happens?