A recent road rage incident between a cyclist and a driver in Park City has gone viral. The video, which was posted on TikTok and shared in a local Facebook group earlier this week, shows a 73-year-old cyclist, Gary Peacock, angrily confronting 22-year-old driver Pierce Kempton over what he perceived as dangerous driving.
The altercation, which took place on September 28, was sparked by Peacock’s belief that Kempton passed too closely while driving up Park Avenue. In the video, Peacock can be seen aggressively opening Kempton’s car door, an action he later admitted was an attempt to prevent the driver from leaving the scene. Kempton, who remained relatively calm during the incident, recorded the entire six-minute confrontation, which quickly escalated into a heated exchange.
Peacock, in his own words, “lost [his] temper” during the encounter. While he expressed regret afterward (according to KPCW), explaining that he had no intention of physically assaulting anyone, the video captured an expletive-laden tirade. The cyclist, who admitted he was frustrated by past close calls with drivers, said Kempton was simply “the subject of [his] wrath” that day.
The video has since drawn ridicule on Reddit, with Peacock’s aggressive behavior and his claim that cyclists have “more rights than [drivers]” being mocked across social media platforms. Comments flooded in, highlighting how disproportionate the cyclist’s reaction was, with one Reddit user sarcastically noting, “You cannot touch my penis when I am wearing a bicycle helmet! I have more rights than you!” The sentiment online was overwhelmingly in favor of Kempton, who has been praised for his calm demeanor in the face of Peacock’s aggression.
Adding fuel to the fire, court records indicate that both Peacock and Kempton were ticketed after the incident. Peacock received a disorderly conduct infraction, which he promptly paid, while Kempton’s citation has since been dropped –information shared by Peacock in a subsequent video. Indeed, despite the heated exchange, dashboard footage reportedly shows that Kempton did slow down and shift to give Peacock the required 3-foot berth, as mandated by Utah law. The narrow section of Park Avenue where the incident occurred, which lacks a bike lane, likely contributed to the close pass.
The incident has since become a focal point in ongoing discussions about road safety in Park City, where tensions between drivers and cyclists are becoming more frequent. Just two days before the Peacock-Kempton altercation, police fielded a call about another near miss involving a cyclist, and earlier in the summer, a cyclist was injured in a hit-and-run on state Route 32. Local law enforcement has also noted a surge in road rage incidents, prompting Summit County Sheriff Frank Smith to publicly call for calm, saying, “We live in a great place. All those road rage incidents are always followed by regret.”
Peacock’s actions, while born out of frustration, have highlighted the larger issue of road rage and the growing hostilities between different road users. As Kempton prepares to fight his ticket in court, the viral nature of the incident continues to serve as a cautionary tale about the consequences of losing one’s temper, both on the road and in the public eye.
