Road rage pisses me off because it's such a damn common phenomenon and I don't hear a whole lot of conversations people who drive regularly - or from the licensing process, come to think of it - about how driving a car is a really dangerous thing, and if you're an asshole, you can kill somebody.

I almost got killed twice yesterday by righteous assholes. Something about bikers apparently makes a fair number of drivers think that it's okay to be really dangerous toward bikers. A righteous driver is the worst, because they think that whatever they do is justified by the fact that you were in their way.

I yelled "Yo!" at a driver who was driving erratically. I had to swerve to avoid him twice, and the third time, he actually knocked in to me with his side. I'm surprised I stayed on the bike.

My "Yo!" prompted a barrage of screams, curses, middle fingers, and insults from this BMW driving honkey on the Upper East Side, culminating in, "I'll take you out!"

That shook me.

Surprisingly, a cop pulled up next to me as the asshole drove off, saying, "Hey, you okay?" Shaken, I yelled, "That guy assaulted me. He was swerving all over, I yelled Yo, and he started cursing like a madman and threatened to take me out." "We'll look in to it," he said, went forward, and turned off of First Avenue - I don't know if he was following the other car. Maybe, because I had lost sight of the car, who had possibly turned.

I'm really sick of this shit. I just want to bike in New York City without people thinking that they're justified in coming far too close to killing me. I'm not about to make idle threats about "the next person who does that gets their mirror smashed by my lock," because that won't stop somebody else from doing the same thing a half mile down the road (note to self: remember this please!).

It's scary, and above all, it's ridiculous. There's no reason why encountering somebody on a street should promp such vitriol, such a willingness to disregard somebody's humanity as to threaten them with such violence.

Safer streets would be nice. It's good to know that Streetsblog, Transportation Alternatives, and everybody associated with Times Up! exist and are doing good work.