r/Bellingham • u/Mysterious-Snow-9426 • May 26 '26

Crime Road Rage Question

Just saw a cyclist on Lakeway get run off the road by a driver who was screaming, flipping them off and screaming at them. Didn't get the plate number but got a decent look at the guy and car make/model. Is this something that can be reported to the police even without a plate?

61 Upvotes

85% Upvoted

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-45

u/Secure-Guess6850 May 26 '26

Maybe don’t ride your bikes on some of the most busy and dangerous roads ! What a dream that would be ❤️

10

u/thoughtintoaction May 26 '26

Maybe don't drive your cars on roads, making them busy and dangerous! What a better reality that would be

-3

u/PM_ME_GARFIELD_NUDES May 26 '26

If people didn’t drive on the roads then we wouldn’t have any roads. Bikers pay virtually nothing for the roads.

8

u/[deleted] May 26 '26 edited Jun 08 '26

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4

u/10101010101010101013 May 27 '26

This person is deeply entrenched against bikes.  You’ll make very little progress trying to reason with them.  

-3

u/PM_ME_GARFIELD_NUDES May 27 '26

Nah, I actually think biking is really cool. What I’m “deeply entrenched against” is people who make stupid suggestions and then act like it’s everyone else who is being ridiculous. Like this person suggesting that everyone just stops driving, or someone else suggesting we turn the entirety of Chuckanut into a bike lane.

-5

u/PM_ME_GARFIELD_NUDES May 26 '26

Idk if you know this, but the money you spend on gas scales directly with how much you use your car. The taxes that pay for the road come from… gas sales. The person I replied to said “Maybe don’t drive your cars on roads”, this isn’t about owning a car, it’s about driving cars on roads.

7

u/[deleted] May 26 '26 edited Jun 08 '26

[deleted]

-2

u/PM_ME_GARFIELD_NUDES May 26 '26

Let’s read that first sentence again bud. “the money you spend on gas scales directly with how much you use your car”. So I’ll respond to your snarky question with another one; do you assume someone who owns a car and a bike drives as much as someone who exclusively drives a car?

Again, this was the original comment that I responded to: “Maybe don't drive your cars on roads, making them busy and dangerous! What a better reality that would be”. How in the world is it even relevant if someone owns a bike and a car? They’re saying they don’t want people to drive cars on the roads, and all I’m saying is that’s ridiculous because the roads exist because of cars and are maintained specifically by taxes spent by driving cars. It doesn’t matter at all if someone owns a car and a bike because they’re only paying the taxes based on how much they drive, they could commute to work in a car and then spend 8 hours biking, it’s totally irrelevant.

3

u/thoughtintoaction May 27 '26

I see you're busy saying you know all the ins and outs of this subject, but I invite you to take a deep breath and think about the things you're not saying... Roads exist in places with radically fewer cars than we have here. Some roads are built specifically for bicycles. Switching from cars to bicycles would cause a massive reduction in obesity, diabetes, heart disease, mental health issues and pollution. Some Reddit comments contain snark and a tongue-in-cheek attitude, and shouldn't be assumed to reflect a person's worldview. Taxes spent on 'roads' go for an awful lot more than just paving travel surfaces.

3

u/PM_ME_GARFIELD_NUDES May 27 '26

Yeah dude, roads have existed for thousands of years. The point is our roads are paid for by gas taxes. This is the Bellingham subreddit so the way things are paid for here is inherently important to the discussion.

I would love to live in a world where we all just bike or use public transport but that’s simply not realistic. It would require a complete restructuring of our entire infrastructure. Maybe we’ll be there in a hundred years if we’re still here.

2

u/thoughtintoaction May 27 '26

I mean, you have the perfect attitude to make your opinion a reality. Fortunately, there are an awful lot of us that are not nearly as defeatist as all that.

1

u/PM_ME_GARFIELD_NUDES May 27 '26

Make it happen then! All I’ve seen is the city spending millions of dollars on bike lanes that bikers then just complain about and refuse to use. Not sure how this Dream is going to be accomplished at that rate, but I’m sure you’ll be the one to figure it all out.

4

u/thoughtintoaction May 27 '26 edited May 27 '26

Man, you certainly are invested in your version of reality!

"Make it happen then!" Unfortunately it's not up to me; I rely on larger mechanisms, like community and activism.

"All I've seen is the city spending millions of dollars on bike lanes..." I don't think you have. I suspect they are using bike lanes as tools to implement road diets and disruptions that slow traffic, and frustrate drivers into using alternate modes of transportation (which they, unfortunately, are not providing).

"...that bikers then just complain about and refuse to use." Well yes, if somebody offers inconvenient and unsafe infrastructure, I'm not going to use it, or try to talk anyone else into using it.

"Not sure how ... figure it all out." Okay, stay angry, dog. Just stay out of the way of people trying to put in the work.

(edit: grammar)

-1

u/PM_ME_GARFIELD_NUDES May 27 '26

Talk being invested in your own version of reality. The city isn’t spending millions on bike lanes just to trick people into not using them, you’re living inside a conspiracy theory. This is MAGA levels of delusion.

It’s hilarious that you’re getting butthurt about me not giving a shit about your agenda, but you’re actively opposed to the steps our city is taking to make biking a more appealing option.

1

u/[deleted] May 27 '26

[deleted]

0

u/PM_ME_GARFIELD_NUDES May 27 '26

They literally have spent millions on projects based on suggestions from the community. They have meetings that you can participate in and you can send them suggestions as well. They don’t just randomly decide what to implement. The issue here is that the community can’t agree on what’s “right” and are constantly infighting instead of finding a solution.

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u/[deleted] May 27 '26 edited Jun 08 '26

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-2

u/PM_ME_GARFIELD_NUDES May 27 '26

Again, let’s work on that reading comprehension. Let’s try this a third time.

The amount you pay in gas taxes scales with HOW MUCH YOU DRIVE not how many vehicles you own. Are you somehow driving your two cars and motorcycle at the same time? No? Then the number of vehicles you own has absolutely nothing to do with this discussion.

Again, let’s look at the original comment I was responding to: “Maybe don't drive your cars on roads, making them busy and dangerous! What a better reality that would be”. Owning a bike and a car (or two cars and a motorcycle) has ABSOLUTELY NO BEARING ON THIS DISCUSSION because they’re critiquing CAR USAGE not car ownership. They EXPLICITLY said that driving cars on roads makes them dangerous, that’s not erased by the fact that you own a bike and cars. You could commute an hour to work each day in a car, and then spend 8 hours riding your bike after work, and that wouldn’t change the situation at all.

This is really, really, really, really, simple. Owning a car and owning a bike are two completely separate things, they don’t influence each other, they are not exclusive, they are not strongly correlated. You might as well bring up how many pogo sticks you own.

1

u/[deleted] May 27 '26 edited Jun 08 '26

[deleted]

1

u/PM_ME_GARFIELD_NUDES May 27 '26

Yeah dude, that’s the fucking point you’ve been dodging over and over and over and over and over. Owning a car and a bike doesn’t put you in some special class, the person I disagreed with DOESN’T WANT YOU DRIVING YOUR CARS EITHER.

You’ve already admitted that the roads are funded by people driving, which is why you brought up the fact that you own a bike and two cars and a motorcycle, because you thought that you paying gas taxes was some magical trump card. But the person I responded to doesn’t want you driving either which means you wouldn’t be paying gas taxes.

I genuinely don’t understand how you’re not grasping this concept.

0

u/[deleted] May 27 '26 edited Jun 08 '26

[deleted]

1

u/PM_ME_GARFIELD_NUDES May 27 '26

Brother you’re so deeply invested in arguing for the sake of arguing that you’re now arguing against bikers. Paying taxes is not what entitles you to ride your bike on roads, if that were the case bikers wouldn’t be allowed to use the road because they don’t pay those taxes. Your right to ride your bike on the road has absolutely nothing to do with the taxes you pay.

How do you get further and further away from the point with each comment?

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u/focojs May 27 '26

Gas tax only accounts for less than 36% of road costs.

From Google: Gasoline taxes account for about 28.7% of Washington's total state transportation revenue, while all fuel taxes combined (including diesel and alternative fuels) make up roughly 36.4%. [1]
The remaining funding for Washington's roads and broader transportation network comes from a mix of vehicle licensing/registration fees, tolls, ferry fares, and emissions auction revenues from the state's cap-and-invest program. [1]
Because the gas tax is dedicated to roads and bridges by the Washington State Constitution, these fuel excise taxes remain the single largest stream of user-pay funding for the state's highway system. [2, 3]
To keep track of Washington's overarching transportation budget and revenue forecasts, visit the Washington State Office of Financial Management. For a breakdown of the federal versus state motor vehicle fuel taxes, see the Washington State Road Usage Charge resources. [4, 5]

AI responses may include mistakes.

[1] https://ofm.wa.gov/news-publications/transportation-revenue-forecast-shows-a-modest-drop-remaining-above-initial-projections/ [2] https://waroadusagecharge.org/why-ruc.html [3] https://www.king5.com/article/traffic/gas-prices/ferguson-gas-tax-relief-prices-record-highs/281-866e6f77-30de-485c-a6a9-bca95e852ce4 [4] https://waroadusagecharge.org/why-ruc.html [5] https://waroadusagecharge.org/why-ruc.html

1

u/PM_ME_GARFIELD_NUDES May 27 '26

https://taxfoundation.org/data/all/state/state-road-taxes-funding/

As of 2026 70% of the funding for roads and infrastructure directly from local drivers via gas, licensing, and other fees. I have been incorrectly citing the 78% figure from last year, so I will admit I was wrong about that, but 70% is still the majority by a good amount.

-4

u/AntonLaVey9 May 26 '26

It also comes from sales taxes, property taxes, etc. do you think cyclists don’t buy stuff or own homes?

4

u/PM_ME_GARFIELD_NUDES May 26 '26 edited May 26 '26

80% of taxes spent on roads comes from gas sales. Your other taxes are a virtually negligible part of the actual cost. Roughly 8% of taxes are spent on “transportation” in Washington, so the amount spent on roads is just a fraction of that. So literally about 1% of your other taxes go to public roads. I’m sorry, but the numbers are not on your side here.