Is Civility on the Roads Too Much to Seek?

Civility on the roads and other public places is getting thinner and thinner these days. So much so, in fact, that a General District Court judge used a traffic case last week to call attention to the lack of it on area roadways.

It’s a sad commentary that drivers and bicyclists can’t manage to get along on the streets and roads in the region. They both have equal rights to the roadways, but in some cases one — or the other — thinks his right is superior.

That’s what brought the subject of civility — or the lack of it — before Judge Patrick Yeatts in Rustburg.

The case involved a motorist driving a pickup truck and a bicyclist who confronted one another on an April day on Town Forks Road near Leesville Road in Campbell County. The man driving the truck claimed the woman riding the bicycle wouldn’t pull over so he could pass her safely. And when he did pass, he told the court, the woman gave him an unfriendly gesture.

That provoked the truck driver to the point that he stopped his truck, according to testimony, and blocked her path. He got out and threatened her, she told the court, but that came after she had shaken her fist at him and cursed him, he testified.

New Feature

Sign up for our newsletter e-mailed to you at 8 a.m. each day Monday through Friday.

Click here

Just some friendly neighbors tussling over their right to use the public road, right?

Judge Yeatts didn’t see it that way. After convicting the man of improper driving, a traffic offense, and assault, a misdemeanor, he fined him $750. The driver appealed the convictions.

But the judge used the case to deplore the increasing lack of civility he sees not only in the courtroom, but also on the roadways. He said he can’t drive between his home and the Campbell County courthouse in Rustburg without seeing a driver cut off another driver, another driver talking on a cell phone and not paying attention to what he’s doing and drivers getting angry to the point they are swearing at one another.

What a beautiful way to start the day — cursing your neighbors out on the highway.

“It’s unfortunate ... I guess that’s our culture today,” Yeatts said during sentencing.

The judge found the woman not guilty of riding her bicycle in an unsafe manner, but he did offer her a word of caution. “I don’t know if it’s wise, ma’am, if you’re riding the bicycle, to give a person in a vehicle the finger,” he said.

He makes a good point that underlines the need for just a little consideration on the part of both the driver and the bicyclist. It’s called sharing the road.

Drivers need to understand that bicyclists have a right to the road and that just a little patience is called for when approaching a bike rider in their lane of traffic. Bicyclists need to understand that they should pull over if they are impeding traffic on the roadway. They can pull over in a driveway to let the faster moving vehicles pass them safely.

Beyond that, according to a Forest woman who has been bicycling for 20 years on area roads, it’s a matter of simple courtesy and respect for one another. “The cyclists have the right to be on the road, but along with that right, it takes some responsibility,” she said.

So let’s replace the anger and hostility that has invaded the roadways with a fresh dose of civility that acknowledges the rights of all to use them equally and without the indignity of being cursed at or flashed an obscene gesture. Is that too much to ask?