Road rage in Fremont involves SUV driver, bicyclist

A road-rage incident involving a bicyclist and motorist rattled the Fremont neighborhood with yelling, a near hit and the rider striking a sport utility vehicle's window, Seattle police said.

It ended with officers arriving at North 35th Street and Stone Way North to intervene, according to a police report.

It started around 1 p.m. Friday as a Seattle man in his late 30s was pedaling a bicycle northbound across the Fremont Bridge, when he heard honks and cries from a man driving a maroon 2006 Nissan Murano.

"You are giving bicyclists a bad name," the driver reportedly yelled.

Once on North 35th Street, the bicyclist went eastbound, trying to reach Stone Way North. But the SUV driver slowed down "several times" and tried to hit the bicyclist and run him off the road, the report says.

The bicyclist and motorist turned onto Stone Way North and began heading north. The rider headed into the right lane.

The street has "sharrows" painted on it, which are bicycle symbols that encourage drivers to share the road with riders.

But the SUV driver turned and headed toward the bicyclist "as if he was going to go straight and strike" him, the report says.

The driver, a Seattle resident in his early 40s, swerved his SUV at a 45-degree angle through the right lane, into the shoulder and near the curb.

The bicyclist, who was not injured, hit the Nissan's window with his hand and yelled.

A witness told police the driver made a "blatant swerve" at the bicyclist. She thought the motorist was "intentionally trying to strike or intimidate" him.

The bicyclist laid his bicycle down and told the motorist he had entered his lane, police said.

The driver denied to an officer that he intentionally tried to hit the bicyclist. He only yelled, he told the officer, because the bicyclist occupied the middle of the road.

The police report does not indicate whether anyone received a citation.

For months, this area of Fremont has been controversial because many riders believe the southern part of Stone Way North should have painted bicycle lanes for safety.

Some businesses, though, are concerned about the loss of traffic in the area with the addition of bicycle lanes. A Seattle Bicycle Club spokesman has said he believes many drivers are unaware of "sharrows."