{"id":27699,"date":"2025-10-06T16:35:23","date_gmt":"2025-10-06T23:35:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/?p=27699"},"modified":"2025-10-06T16:35:23","modified_gmt":"2025-10-06T23:35:23","slug":"they-think-they-own-the-road","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/?p=27699","title":{"rendered":"They Think They Own The Road!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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A cartoon by me and\u00a0Becky Hawkins<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Becky <\/em><\/a>writes:<\/em><\/p>\n

In recent years, I\u2019ve become involved with\u00a0local organizing efforts around safer streets. I\u2019ve had some galvanizing experiences, like witnessing a hit and run during a group bike ride on the way to a memorial for victims of traffic violence<\/em>. Another time, a driver in front of me stopped at a stop sign, signaled a left turn,\u00a0and drove directly into a cyclist who had the right of way. The cyclist was okay, just bruised.\u00a0I stuck around, and the driver a) exclaimed that the cyclist had come out of nowhere and b) asked if the cyclist and I had been riding together. I was like \u201c\u2026No? He was across the street from you, and I\u2019ve been right behind you for a minute or so?!?!\u201d Drawing panel 2 was very<\/em> cathartic for me.<\/p>\n

This comic was a beast to lay out.\u00a0It was tough to decide on the placement of characters and vehicles so that the conversation flowed\u00a0naturally.\u00a0Which direction is the reader looking?\u00a0How could the driver of the car be on the reader\u2019s left (and therefore speaking first) in panel 1? If they\u2019re leaning out the driver\u2019s side window, the truck that\u2019s pulled over will be on the passenger side of the car,\u00a0and there will be a ton of wasted space between the two drivers.\u00a0If we\u2019re viewing the vehicles from the front, the truck will be on our left. But then the truck driver\u2019s word balloon would be read first. And so on.<\/p>\n

This cartoon languished in our unfinished folder for months because I couldn\u2019t figure out the layout for the life of me. The answer came to me on my commute.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a spot on\u00a0the Hawthorne bridge where drivers have to cross the eastbound bike lane to get to an exit ramp. The bureau of transit has been adding green paint, white flex-posts, and yellow signs for the past few years. They\u2019re still considering other ways to make that crossing less dicey. The real-life placement of the warning signs and lights was perfect for framing the driver\u2019s face in panel 2.<\/p>\n

Once I had that location in mind, I went on google street view and took a bunch of screenshots looking in all directions. I dropped different views of the intersection into each panel, looking for the best way to convey what was going on.\u00a0In retrospect, the staging I went with seems obvious, but I only found it after much experimentation. That\u2019s how it works sometimes.<\/p>\n

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TRANSCRIPT OF CARTOON<\/strong><\/p>\n

This cartoon has four panels.<\/p>\n

PANEL 1<\/strong><\/p>\n

A car and a pickup truck are pulled over on the side of an overpass. There\u2019s an exit ramp with white and green stripes going across it, which in some cities indicates pedestrian and bicyclist crossings. The driver of the car, a woman in an orange top, is walking towards the driver of the\u00a0pickup, who has gotten out of the truck. He’s wearing a blue cap and a red tshirt.<\/p>\n

WOMAN: Hey there. I see you’re pulled over. You need me to call for help?
\nMAN: Thanks. I’m having the worst day ever!<\/p>\n

PANEL 2<\/strong><\/p>\n

A closer shot of the truck driver as he rants. His face is framed by two yellow caution signs with bicycle icons and arrows pointing to the green and white crosswalk lines. The concerned woman is behind him.<\/p>\n

MAN: I was just driving along and bam! A bike came out of nowhere! No chance for me to see it coming! Stupid bike riders think they own the road!<\/p>\n

PANEL 3<\/strong><\/p>\n

Looking worried, the man points to a dent on his truck’s front grill.<\/p>\n

MAN: I got a big truck so I’d be safe on the road \u2014 and see what happens? Just look at this ding on my truck!<\/p>\n

PANEL 4<\/strong><\/p>\n

From the ground in front of the truck, a hand comes up, forefinger raised to get attention. The woman is shocked; the man is annoyed.<\/p>\n

BIKER (weak shaky voice):\u00a0Sorry to interrupt but could you call me an ambulance?
\nMAN: Hey! It’s not all about you!<\/p>\n

CHICKEN FAT WATCH<\/strong><\/p>\n

Chicken fat is obsolete cartoonists’ lingo for unimportant but amusing details in the art.<\/p>\n

PANEL 2: A highway sign says “Highway to Heck.” The font is called “Highway Gothic.”
\n(\u201cHighway to heck\u201d is a reference to a Foxtrot<\/em> comic. \u201cSome songs just weren\u2019t made for Muzak.\u201d \u201cSome ears weren\u2019t, either.\u201d)<\/p>\n

PANEL 3: The logo on the front of the truck says “Dodge SLAM.”<\/p>\n

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They Think They Own The Road! | Patreon<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A cartoon by me and\u00a0Becky Hawkins. Becky writes: In recent years, I\u2019ve become involved with\u00a0local organizing efforts around safer streets. I\u2019ve had some galvanizing experiences, like witnessing a hit and run during a group bike ride on the way to … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cartooning-comics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27699"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27699\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27701,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27699\/revisions\/27701"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}