Tensions between cyclists and drivers in Toronto are at an all-time high as the provincial government wages its war on bike lanes, dividing the public even further on the subject in the process.

The discussions surrounding the infrastructure over the last month may be what made one recent exchange between two road users particularly fraught before it eventually ended with a biker mooning a motorist and smashing her car with his fists.

It is unclear when the disagreement took place, but the fact that viral social media pages are now sharing dashcam footage indicates it was in the last few days.

The video starts with the driver tapping her horn to get the cyclist, riding ahead of her, to move out of the single mixed-traffic lane and into the street's dedicated bike lane.

"Literally a whole lane made for you guys," she says as the driver yells, "F*** you," and she replies with the same, calling him a "d*ckhead." We then cut to a later point in the confrontation when the two are stopped at a light.

She tells the cyclist that she has him on camera, saying, "You're a f***ing d*ckhead. There's a whole lane for you back there," to which he appears to mock her, repeating, "Oh, is there a lane?" and approaches closer to her car.

"You called me a c**t," she answers. "There is literally a bike lane that our f***ing tax dollars made for you guys already. I bike too, I know how to use them. Learn how to use the road rules." 

As the anger from both parties grows, the cyclist takes things up a notch, parking his bike directly in front of the woman's car at the light — which turns green — and insultingly pulling his pants down to expose his bare behind. 

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by 6ixBuzz TV 6️⃣🐝 (@6ixbuzztv)

The driver reacts in shock, reminding him that her dashcam is recording and calling him "such a big boy" for his immaturity. She then asks him repeatedly to move, honks to get him out of the way, and tries to maneuver around him, but he follows the hood of the vehicle to continue blocking her. That is when things get physical.

As she explains in captions overtop of the clip, "he decided to block me from going and be a man child, claimed I hit him and started smashing my car hood. Then he claimed 'I didn't hit your car' after smashing the hood."

The resident on the bike can indeed be seen aggressively kicking and hitting the hood of her car.

The woman adds in her captions that she contacted police about the incident, but they were unable to track the cyclist down, as bikes do not have licence plates — another reason some drivers have an issue sharing the road with them.

As one person wrote in the comments sections of the post, "I refuse to share the road with any object that is not paying insurance to operate said object on the road all while disobeying every traffic law."

"If bikers want to ride on the road, they should need registration and insurance end of story," another added. And yet another: "They should all be licensed and have to follow traffic rules... they wouldn't be so brazen as they are now."

Most reacting to the clip condemn the cyclist's behaviour.

The should start licensing bicyclists & have them carry insurance. There are too many of them who don't follow or know the rules of the road.

— Rotten Johnny (@MrJohnnyLarue) November 3, 2024

But, vocal cyclist advocate and lawyer David Shellnutt is among those who has the opposite perspective, pointing out that despite the cyclist's outburst, he was not in the wrong for driving in the mixed-traffic lane.

"Cyclists are allowed to ride in the roadway pursuant to the Highway Traffic Act. Drivers like this would do well to calm down behind the wheel and understand their obligations as set out under the HTA," he tells blogTO over email.

"I have no idea what prompted the cyclist not to use the bi-directional lane — was it even going in his direction at the start of the clip? The only thing I would encourage him to do would be to practice de-escalation and avoid confrontations like this. We have several claims where motorists have run over people on purpose because of pointless confrontations."

Though many online seem to understand the driver's frustration at the cyclist not using the dedicated lane, Shellnutt is more concerned that the motorist appeared to "use her vehicle to push another road user out of the way," believing it was "clear the hood smash happened only after she started pushing him with her motor vehicle."