Its a hard balance but a lot of the near misses I have seen have come from someone holding up another person (who just happens to be in a car) for just a few seconds and out of impatience they then try to squeeze through at the first opportunity 
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Iām not a lawyer, far from it. But I have worked in an industry where the legal distinction between āpracticableā and āpossibleā are also very important, as they are in āas far to the right as practicableā¦ā
Iām not going to weigh in on where in the lane to ride. However, as far to the right āas practicableā is not the same thing as saying as far to the right āas possibleā. IE the word practicable is not nearly as binding as a lot of people interpret it to be.
If anyone wanted my opinion the verbage could probably be removed completely. All that it has accomplished is confusing drivers (and many cyclists).
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I commute to work on the bike most days. I only have a few miles of bike lane, but I have probably twice that distance with no bike lane and no shoulder. There are times to take the lane, there are also times when it is counter productive. There is no blanket ātake the laneā scenario. Anyone who says otherwise is foolish. I deal with close passes every day. Most of them are controlled and I donāt think anything of it (one section is a three lane road with no shoulder and 50 MPH speed limit). It is only the uncontrolled (aka distracted) drivers that are the concern.
The only times I have āshare the road!ā problems is the one area where I am forced to ride between lanes because the right lane is a turn only lane, that really creates confusion as I am not far right (the lanes are short, few hundred feet). And I occasionally run into people who get upset when I am passing them in traffic, but that isnāt terribly often. Mostly just the inattentive that are the problem.
I had an incident several years ago on the 25 MPH residential street where I lived (same town, but I moved). A large contractor van passed as close as possible, intentionally, as I was riding to work. I caught them at the next light, looked at them, and said āWhat the fuck?ā
Driver and passenger jumped out, and jumped me. Passenger got behind me while I was still on the bike and the driver faced me (probably literally twice my weight) and took a swing. He actually missed and fell down. Got back up and took another swing which connected. Then they ran and got back in the van. It was witnessed and I was next to a gas station/convenience store, but no one stopped to say anything other than something like āThat was fucked upā.
I called the cops, who came out and questioned what I did to instigate the situation. He tried to find a way to blame me for the situation. Then, with no effort, said that without the vehicle in sight they wouldnāt be able to do anything about it. I told him I had video, but he basically said if I could get a license plate that they might be able to locate them for a lineup. If they did it would probably just be a misdemeanor and nothing would happen to them.
I spent the next several months keeping an eye out looking for that van again. I eventually found them on a day I was on my horse. I was riding around the block (lots of horses in my town, we have horse trails instead of sidewalks) and realized that the van was parked in the back yard a block over.
The driver and passenger were out doing something in the front with a third person, all shirtless. The third guy had a huge swastika tattoo.
I should add, I have had several negative police encounters now, so I wonāt deal with them anymore. On the bike it is a waste of time, at home I am armed. One of those cops talked shit about my military service, and his fat ass didnāt go to the middle east like I did.
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Thatās disturbing on so many levels. I have a crazy long story which is not worth writing here. But, the lesson of my experience was you never know who you are flipping off. You never know what they are going throughā¦
In no way am I condoning what they did to you @JSTootell or me for that matter. What scares me the most is how quickly my calm, passive, ego can turn violent with the flip of a switch. Iām a work of progress and am usually really calm when around other aggressive people. But, from time to time the absurdity of needless violence and hate fills me with rage. I theorize for me it has something to do with my daughters death 22 years ago. Still hard to digest. Hard to remember.
Point is I was raised by uber passive parents. Supported in every way from day one. I can not imagine what happens mentally to kids who are not loved and treated like animals. No right from wrong. No hope. Never knowing love. How we can be so noble and evil at the same time is fascinating. And scary.
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OK, back on the subject at handā¦below is the contact info for the Waller County DA.
You know what to do.
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Johnny, have you thought about a Garmin Varia Iām not saying itās the panacea, thereās still idiots out there but at least you know they are coming. I ditched the cameras they did nothing to stop those idiots spooking me and only gave me something to fester on after the event 
The other benefit I find with the Varia, you know when they are not there, a camera wonāt tell you that, and you can relax and enjoy your ride 
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His parents will have to cover the cost and if it was a nice truck chances are his parents have money. So they will be on the hook because he is a minor.
Being able to finance an $80,000(?) truck and financially compensate half a dozen vehicular assault victims are two very different things.
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How easy is it for kids to get car insurance in the States? A lot of companies here wouldnāt cover a kid and a expensive car and those few which would charge a massive premium.
I live in an area thatās as bike-friendly as I can reasonably request, and Iāve still recently bought pepper spray.
Alone? It would likely be impossible. Added on to a parentās policy? That is pretty easy as long as the parent(s) are insurable and they can afford the expense.
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In my experience this makes an aggressive driver even more aggressive. I agree that it can help reasonable drivers but the closer you are in the middle the more likely you are to further aggravate that angry driver and make them act even worse. Obviously all of this is my n=1 from riding in the unfriendly PNW but 
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Cheers, Alone wouldnāt be impossible here but it would probably be prohibited by expense but even going on their parents here for what sounds like an expensive motor would not be covered by most companies or probably be prohibited on expense also.
Likely a regional thing, but my experience biking - and especially running - on roads in Vermont is that the pickups tend to give me the widest berth, and its regular cars that come closest.
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16 yr old with an F250/350, those arenāt cheap trucks. Mommy & daddy will probably pony up $50K+ in attorneyās fees to keep junior from doing any time. Heāll likely be charged with Reckless causing SBI, 3rdĀ° F, but possibly plea deal to lesser. Some probation, lost of license, community service, and victim impact panel. He might even be able to get the record sealed since heās a minor, 1st offense, and no alcohol involved. Sucks, but thatās how it may play out.
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Ah yes, America, the place where a 16 year old can drive a 2.5 ton SUV with 400bhp, but he canāt vote or drink a beer 
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donāt forget the lawsuits from the victims. I would imagine he hits his insurance maximums. It may not sound like a severe punishment for him, but his parents probably gonna have some life-changing expenses.
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I have had to work through a lot of anger issues over the past several years. I have a lot of depression issues, and one of the ways I found to deal with depression is to get angry. And being angry is far better than depression. I did have a road rage incident where I ran someone off the road and jumped out with the intention of pounding their face in. That was when I started working on calming down. Hard to balance the emotions.
I was raised very passive, mostly always have been.
Insurance is based on risk, not value. The risk of a truck causing a high payout is small, typically, since they donāt normally get used in risky ways. But a sportscar of even half the value may be a high risk vehicle.
But some people have access to more money than brains (I say access because Americans love credit debt). I see a lot of people with no education and a poor understanding ofā¦anythingā¦getting work as a contractor or something with a lot of pay. They might be making hundreds of dollars an hour to dig a ditch with a tractor, so they can afford to have an $80,000 truck, but they might still struggle to read at the 8th grade level. This isnāt a generalization or slander, I am in that sort of business. I see it all the time. I know someone who makes well over 6 figures a year who canāt help his teenage children with homework and puts no emphasis on them exceling because he made it into a good paying job without graduating high school, so why should they waste their time?
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Sharing for those looking for updates on the case. The DAās office is posting updates. Things are moving too slow for my liking, but at least thereās a bit more info on why here: District Attorney of Waller County
It t least sounds like he is taking this seriouslyā¦ā¦or he is just playing the game.
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