- Video shows BMW and Corvette drivers confront cyclists in a road rage incident.
- Cyclists allegedly sprayed liquid at a car before the situation escalated.
- Drivers and riders made risky choices that quickly turned a clash dangerous.
Road rage rarely starts with something serious, but it almost always ends with something stupid. A viral video from Orange County, California, shows exactly how fast a minor confrontation can spiral out of control.
In the clip, we see a group of cyclists getting into a heated exchange with the occupants of a BMW M3, a Corvette, and possibly a Mercedes-AMG sedan. While everyone manages to escape the incident unharmed, police might have something to say about the altercation after the fact.
Read: Atlanta Dad Disarms Gun-Waving Driver In Dramatic Road Rage Standoff
The footage comes from pro cyclist Luke Fetzer, who was out on a training ride with other cyclists. In the video, we see a BMW M3 driving close behind a cyclist who is very clearly in the bicycle lane. That’s a key point, as is the fact that the driver appears to be aggressively tailgating the cyclist. The rider bunny hops onto the sidewalk to get away from the BMW driver. The M3 then charges up toward the cyclist, who is still filming.
At one point, one of the occupants in the BMW throws some sort of liquid out of the car onto Fetzer. California law makes throwing objects at road users illegal, and penalties can include jail time depending on the circumstances. But the full story isn’t quite as clean-cut as the original post makes it sound. Fetzer admits this, and one of the drivers popped up in his comment section to plead their own case.
Conflicting Accounts Of Incident
The driver of the BMW claimed the confrontation started after one of the cyclists sprayed liquid, described as water or Gatorade, at the car while stopped at a light. The video itself doesn’t clearly show how the altercation began, but it does capture the aftermath, which quickly turns into a situation that looks dangerous for everyone involved.
According to Fetzer, he did spray water onto one of the cars, but only after the BMW and Corvette drivers swerved at them in traffic and yelled slurs at them. Shortly thereafter, the drivers got stuck at a light. Fetzer and his fellow rider arrived at the same light, and that’s where he allegedly splashed some water from his bottle on their car. Moments after this altercation is evidently where the video evidence begins.
To his credit, Fetzer admits that his emotions were running high. That said, his actions clearly played a role in what we see on the video. On top of that, he says that these drivers all stopped further down the road, got out of their cars, and attempted to assault the riders as they rode by. None of this, on the part of anyone involved, was big-brain thinking.
The drivers are piloting vehicles that could’ve killed the cyclists in seconds had something gone wrong. The riders, no doubt emboldened by being as skilled as they are, felt entitled to the bike lane and safe passage. In the end, everyone just looks dumb. Be safe out there, folks.
