Letting cars know they need look out for runners!

[Dale]

I live in the sticks, so the situation is a bit different, but when I started running again, most of my neighbors would fly up my 25MPH road at no less than 45 and paid no regard to "non-automotive" users. The first few weeks were pretty harrowing, but I adopted a "wave at everyone" approach, thinking that they'd feel bad about running down someone they knew versus a total stranger.  It worked.....aside from a couple of teenagers with freshly minted licenses, almost all drivers now give me a wide berth and slow to sub-light speeds when passing me.  Now, I only need look out for the logging trucks that occasionally lumber up and down the road.
I do travel for business at times to busier metro areas and their my strategy includes running neighborhood/back roads as much as possible, but I still give the wave.  Sticking to neighborhood roads especially raises the odds that I'll encounter the same drivers over the week or two I'm there, and some do actually associate the wave with "friendly runner" and slow down accordingly.  I never cross in front of a car unless I've managed eye-contact with the driver (legacy of being hit by a car as a child) at an intersection, and generally make a quick 'judgement' as to the person's character before I risk crossing in front....if questionable, yield to run another day.

[Jim Skaggs]

What I do is pack a sidearm in plain site.......I wish.  Usually they get the evil eye from me, perhaps a car slap if they're really close.  sometimes if they're not looking at all, I'll yell really lous when I'm next to their car.  That usually gets their attention.  No one has thrown anything at me (yet).  I also tend to look way ahead and plan what I'm goping to do if some car looks like it might be a problem, maybe I'll slow down or speed up.

[Logan Fielding]

Lots of really good ideas and suggestions I have heard before.  I usually run behind the cars when they pull towards the intersection but I didn't do it yesterday.  Some drivers are rude but everyone is entitled to their opinion I guess.

[Dee Smith]

I've slapped a car once.  It was during a 15k that use to be part of the NUTS series (now the Striders series).  Anyway there two groups of runners about fifteen yards apart crossing an intersection.  Some idiot who looked like he was just leaving the party from the night before and had been drinking all night decided to dart his vehicle between the two groups.  He almost hit me and a female runner.  I slapped the side of his car pretty hard.  He turned the car around around and drove along the side of us for the next half mile screaming "who hit my car?"  I don't know whether anyone had seen me do it, but no one said anything and we kept running and ignored him.  He finally drove off.  I got a good laugh at that one and it actually made the run more enjoyable. 

[Kory Wheatley]

I actually hit the side of a pickup this week on my tempo run because the driver turned right in front of me that I had to put my hands against the truck's bed to stop myself from slamming into it.  I've almost been hit some many times that I've learned several techniques to avoid disaster.  1.  Run behind the car if their pulling out a side street.  2.  Try to make eye contact and wave my hands. 3.  Try to run where there's no turning streets (which is very hard). 4.  Wear as much reflective apparel as possible.

[Shauna]

I have never slapped a car, but my husband has.  One time, my husband and I were running together on a dirt path next to a canal.  Some middle-school-aged boys were on bikes, and one was coming straight at us.  We both YELLED at him to get out of the way.  He looked kind of sheepish and said, "I was trying to ride in between you."  We were less than 2 feet apart!  I yelled again and told him he couldn't ride close to people like that.

I also got knocked down by a someone on a bicycle when I was walking across campus in college (on my birthday!).  Obviously, cars are much more dangerous, but you gotta watch out for bikers too!

[Dave Holt]

Some of my favorite car encounters:  Jeffrey mentioned one, this year during cross-country (although I really didn't like getting the phone call involved); one time in college I jumped over the hood of a car that was encroaching on an intersection (probably shouldn't try that one anymore); and although I usually feel like yelling back, a simple smile and wave usually confuses the driver more and leaves me feeling less violent and able to continue enjoying my run (to the tenth of the mile!).

[Jon Allen]

Dave- not to the hundredth of a mile?   

[Dave Holt]

YES!  To the thousandth if I could!  In my Nikes!  I just used a lot of exclamations!

And Jon I didn't mean to come across as taking it personally - to me it just seemed that a couple of post had taken more of a critical tone than I had ever seen on here before.  In fact, I think the mileage board has the potential to be the most negative thing on this blog - if it was used to try to keep up with Sasha, Clyde, Logan, or any other of these mileage hogs (which I guess I have to throw myself into sometimes) instead of just another cool way to look at what yourself and others are doing.

[James Barnes]

Dave,

Sorry for sounding so negative, you "mileage hog" you!  I do and will give people a hard time about their mileage recording because it is so funny and extreme, and it is my nature to tease.  For those who know me, they will know it is all in fun, for those who choose to be offended, maybe they really do have a problem, I don't really care.  Besides, if anything is that addicting we have taken it way too far and need to step back and re-evaluate why we run, and have a little more fun. 

I will not mention any of my car encounters as not to offend the more sensitive bloggers, but I do have some goodies!

[Jon Allen]

Dave- yeah, we weren't trying to be critical.  I think the whole thing is funny.  Everyone is anal about some aspect of their lives, some in mileage, some in clothes, some in food, some in hairdo, etc.

It's best James not mention his car encounters, since some of them probably involve him mooning the car in anger as it drove away.

[James Barnes]

No Jon, No mooning, but very good stories!

[Dawson Hinton]

I am acctually sad to say that I have NEVER had the opportunity to slap a car yet.  Of course one reason could be that I have only been running for 11 months now.  Also, the fact that I am 6'6'' and 250 pounds makes me quite a bit more visible than most of you!!!

[Jon Allen]

You'll get your chance if you keep running.  Don't worry.

[Aaron Shakow]

This comes up both on a bicycle and while running.  It's very out of character for me to blow up like that, but I have on several occasions, once or twice with my training partner there. I always felt very embarrassed about it. Part of it I think is the increased blood levels of adrenaline/testosterone associated with physical exercise, priming us to respond in aggressive ways we might not while at rest.

As for the underlying frustration, a lot of it is probably about primate social behavior, a.k.a. hierarchy: who owns the roadways? The fact that rude/dangerous drivers are disproportionately SUVs may have something to do with their poor sightlines, but many SUV owners also feel entitled in a way that gets my goat both politically and on a practical level. Eventually I've come to the conclusion that (a) reacting doesn't make me feel any better, and actually winds up making me more frustrated (b) that the discipline of NOT reacting is good for me; (c) that my willingness to get enraged by incompetent/inconsiderate drivers was destroying the peace and satisfaction I got from running; (d) that relations between bicyclists/runners and cars are troubled enough, and each time I react with hostility, I increase it just that much; and (e) that given my vulnerability on the roadway and the fact that some people are freaking nuts, aggressiveness can be quite dangerous.

So now I imagine myself as an ambassador in a foreign country with very strange mores, and somehow it's much less annoying when drivers behave bizarrely. I'm ready for it, and they're not really in my baboon troop, so it's not such a big deal when they pull rank.