Not too long ago, a cyclist in my town who was standing parked on the sidewalk was killed by a truck that tipped over. I was suprised by how many people said he had it coming -- that was the first comment on the local news website, and I heard elsewhere as well.<p>Well, I can take a hint.<p>I've largely stoped bike commuting because other people hate it. I have never been yelled at, harrassed, scolded, or bullied so much while using any other form of transport.<p>I follow the rules and try to act humble; you just can't win when your doing something so unpopular and are at such a physical disadvantage to other road users.<p>If I ride in the road drivers get mad and I'm risking my life, if I ride on the sidewalk pedestrians get mad and I'm breaking the law, and if I ride on the shoulder they both get mad and I can't turn or change lanes.<p>Walking is a little better because you're mostly segregated from other road users so it's harder for them to retaliate. Drivers often don't yield to crosswalk signals or to pedestrians on sidewalks in my neighborhood, but they can't generally drive onto the sidewalk just to harrass me. On a bike people can sneak up behind you and honk, encroach on your lane, and get in front of you and brake aggresively, or just curse at you and run away. Things like this happen fairly often when I bike and there's not much I can do to avoid it except not bike.<p>I see a few drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians breaking the law all the time, but for some reason, I don't see anyone claiming that this means all drivers deserve to die, only the other two things.<p>I kind of wish that different users of different modes of transport could just call truce and stop picking fights with each other, but I'm not holding my breath, and I'm not interested in getting killed over it.<p>I'm glad this is getting better in NYC but where I am it still sucks.