So this morning some guy passed me at about 40 (50 zone) a few inces from my elbow but had to stop at some lights which I new would be on red for a while. By the time I got to him my arms and legs were already "jangly" from the adrenaline or whatever. Now I'm not a hot head, I don't square up to someone who look sat my pint in a funny way or is "checkin oot ma burd". I don't get in fights – pretty good at dodging them actually and I'm normally pretty calm in a crisis. But this goes out the window when someone nearly kills me on the road.
First instinct is to belt him one but as I'm a pacifist and couldn't fight my way out of a wet paper bag thats all it is. So I'll just have a quiet word, I managed about 5 seconds before I started swearing. Not calling him directly but saying "why were you this ****ing close?" stuff like that. Not really the way to put my point across. I notice the guy with the head cam from a cpl months ago manages to articulate his arguments OK and not swear. Dunno how he does it.

Also the few people I have had a word with have always just sat there, shrugged their shoulders and say something like "but I didn't hit you did i?" (and their look is saying "…so **** off out of my way you 2 wheeled cretin") That doesn't help my mood, they don't seem to get that this is a big deal.

So how many of you in a similar situation can (and can't) calmly, without reaching for the profanosaurous, express the view that the offender drives like a blind syphilitic baboon on speed?

YOU MEAN LIKE THIS!!!!!

http://www.karoo.co.uk/NewsArticle.aspx?ID=N0168501281072734941A&category=UK
😥

bloody hell! kind of the complete opposite of the spectrum of where i want to be.

Oh, I do get the red mist on occasion, yes. But I don't ever swear. That's how I know I've been angry afterwards: I don't swear when I really mean it!
I did ask one woman (Who actually clipped my front wheel) if she got her license free off a Frosties packet though…..

I try to think about what will make my point best (acting mental or calmly asking questions) and whether it's worth getting upset about – will crap drivers listen?

I try but it doesn't always work. I try to insult them in an imaginative way ( like PP above)then ride off laughing at them.

But sometimes the red mist decends and I get all shouty.

Thanks you for the post.
Hi guys, Im a newbie. Nice to join this forum.

[sig removed, bye – mod]

But did you jump any red lights?

Donk, a lot of people on here claim to be calm when some ignorant tw*t almost kills them. I'm not! Most of the near misses tend to be women IME, so a bit of verbal is the only response available.
Hardly ever makes any difference though as these people never think they are in the wrong.

BTW I don't understand that story posted above! How badly written is that?

What's the Nicole thing?

nicoledc109 – Member
Thanks you for the post.
Hi guys, Im a newbie. Nice to join this forum.

What?!? Get rid of the advert and you'll be welcome (maybe)

My problem is that my chest gets all tight when I'm angry/have had a near death experience so I end up short of breath and barely able to talk let alone have a stream of consciousness rant at a numpty in a bm.

[edit] re: the nicoled thing – first post is a spam link – I've pointed the mods at them.

BTW I don't understand that story posted above! How badly written is that?

pretty bad, from the little info it sounds like a cyclist was hit by a car outside his house, fistycuffs ensued police called, driver came back later for some payback – but wasn't sure which house it was.

DazH no 🙂

A cyclist accused me of being blind last week after he almost rode into me and my parents (crossing the road) and i suggested he get some lights. It was darker earlier than is seasonal due to huge storm clouds and he wasn't wearing anything bright, let alone lights. It made me appreciate that cyclists can be invisible without the right clothing/lights, and you can't really debate the errors of another road user's ways in the seconds most people stop for.

You could try throwing the spokes from your rear wheel at them in a Javelin styleee.

Nothing you choose to say will make any difference, so save your energy.

Nothing you choose to say will make any difference, so save your energy.

This is absolutely true in my experience. Remember, most motorists have never ridden a bike since they were little, let alone on a busy road in a city. They have no idea what it feels like to have a car pass by their elbow at 40, let alone 30, and so cannot appreciate how scary it is. Their idea of leaving space for cyclists is probably some way different than yours.

As I see it, there are three options:

1. Knock on their window/pull up in front of their car so they can't drive off and try and explain how it feels.

2. Keep Kalm and Karry on.

3. Ride with a basket upfront, like I do. Then, your 2kg hunk of Kryptonite U lock/spray can/house keys/bit of wood with a nail in can all be kept easily to hand in order to smash a wing mirror/paint or key their bodywork/puncture their tyres.

I go for a combination of all three myself.

mansonsoul re point 3 I have noticed how cars give me a wide berth when I'm on my way home from the shops nonchalently swinging my d-lock in my right hand.

I'm the same as donk, by the time I say something I'm already too angry to be calm and polite

I wish I could be. I'd love to be one of those people who can argue calmly and get my point across without shouting and swearing 😳

I got buzzed by a chap in a Landrover twice. First time on a wide open road so I knew he'd done it for sport, and I gestured that the cause of his myopia might be masturbation-related. I was tempted to do something when I saw him parked up outside a chippy but I rode on.

Then he did it again further up the road. I caught up with him stuck in a long line of traffic at lights, and after a bit of mental arithmetic to check he'd be there for long enough, I rode up the inside and batted his mirror.

The whole thing smashed! Does this mean I get 7 years bad luck? It was worth it to see him standing on the bonnet of his Landy screaming at me!

Nice one Shibboleth!

Ooh shibboleth you are such a he-man. Can I have your autograph?

Edit: I see you already have one juvenile fan.

I gestured that the cause of his myopia might be masturbation-related.

Brilliant! 😀

I've started riding a bit further out from the kerb, which seems to stop 95% of dodgy overtaking moves (and when the other 5% drive like muppets I've got a nice bit of space to my left to help in avoiding wing mirrors etc)

Making lots of noise while the crappy overtake is happening seems to work quite well too – bellowing "Oyy! Watch it!" (or your own favourite combination of swear words) while they're alongside seems to wake them up (and often embarrass them, if everyone around looks to see what's happening)

Donk,

I've had similar experiences. I'm normally pretty calm but when you have the near miss shaky feeling in your legs and arms rational thought sometimes goes out the window.

I had an incident last week with a taxi. He pulled out a parking space without checking his blind spot and nearly wiped me out. I shouted as he pulled out on me and rode passed. We were only abot 20metres from a red traffic light at the time so we both stopped. I turned around a did the hands out "WTF look" The taxi driver started to shout at me told me to "**** off". I lost it a bit at this point – he nearly knocks me off and then starts swearing at me!! So I gave him the finger.

He's now really upset and puts on his handbrake and takes off his seatbelt, thankfully his passenger told him to calm down so it didn't go any further.

In hindsight I shouldn't have flipped him off I should have just noted his reg and phoned his company when I got to work. Don't get mad get even!

Bad drivers just don't give a F*ck. They don't care about bikes, other cars, peds, LIFE.

Ranting at them isn't going to change one damn thing.

Same goes for road rage. While driving, getting upset with an idiot in another car, won't make the slightest difference. Your protests won't be heard and they will not improve upon their bad habits.
So I don't bother with that either.

They're a bad driver, they'll probably always be a bad driver, but the one sure thing is that you telling them, that you think they're an AH, isn't going to change anything.

If you catch-up with said idiot, just open a door, preferrably a rear one, and leave them to have to stop to close it.

Swearing at them will only lower you, and remember, they don't give a sh1t.

Carry on.

EDIT: Oh, and cab drivers, they double don't give a F*ck

druidh – Member
Ooh shibboleth you are such a he-man. Can I have your autograph?

Of course you can Dullard. I might add that it was accidental, I didn't mean to break it, but 1970s British engineering had other ideas.

I'm with Twinklydave, having recently started taking the girlfriend out on road rides, I'm appalled at how many motorists deliberately buzz us.

I'm an experienced roadie, so I tend to ride quite considerately when alone, but I appreciate that an inexperienced cyclist like my other half might slow cars down too much, but risking hitting her is disgraceful. So I now ride in a defensive position behind her and in the middle of the carriageway forcing cars to wait until it is absolutely safe before they can pass.

I've started riding a bit further out from the kerb

yeah me too, i already didn't hug the kerb but a friend who does cycle training told me I should be even further out. Normally where the cars nearside wheels would be. Cars should be activley overtaking you not passing you without noticing. Takes a lot of nerve to do this on a dual carriage way tho, it just feels wrong. I've noticed on big group rides plenty of mountain bikers haven't got a clue when they get to road sections.

do this on a dual carriage way 😯

Nnnoooooooo way I ride DC.

I chose life.

Nnnoooooooo way I ride DC

The alternative is slower has more junctions to negotiate (pretty sure statistically junctions are more dangerous than straight rds) and I've been buzzed by cars doing 45 on the much narrower rd there too (30zone with one of those speed display things)

How can Shibboleth be a he-man? He likes Leo Sayer FFS!

If you catch-up with said idiot, just open a door, preferrably a rear one, and leave them to have to stop to close it.

That's brilliant! I'd never thought of that. I've often fantasised about somehow getting the keys off them and throwing them away but the logistics are problematic to say the least.

Scariest incident I ever had was whilst waiting to join a roundabout in Manchester, I heard a car with a screaming engine speeding up behind me. It was obvious it wasn't going to stop so I quickly jumped out the way on to the pavement. When it pulled alongside I was about to start a foul-mouthed rant at the driver when the passenger looked at me quite threateningly and waved what looked like a gun at me and asked me what my problem was.

I guess the lesson is to always get a look at who's driving before taking any verbal or physical retaliatory action.

Donk I've the choice of a 40 limit or a 30 slightly longer route to work for me.

I've never once ridden down the 40 limit. You'll always get some people driving above the limit who dont give a fig about cyclists.

50 next to a cyclist is bloody scary.

Not critisizing you Donk.

I passed a group of people using bikes, not cyclists, earleir this week. They were on a very busy stretch of DC during the PM rush hour.

I apporached them as the tail-end charlies were catching the others up.

They weaved and wobbled their way across the exit of the DC, onto a slip road.

Compared to the cars, it took them ages to get across the mouth of the slip road and I hated watching, waiting for them to get back onto soft-shoulder of the DC.

Truely dangerous.

I've even seen some muppet cycling along the HS of the M11, during AM rush hour. Mad.

The best reply I have come up with:

After getting cut up by a Dad dropping his little one off at school, (driver turning across me coming from the other direction)

I asked him "did you see me", he replied with the usual mouthful, bikes should not be on the road/road tax/fing this and that….

I replied calmly to his son "do the world a favour & don't grow up like your Dad" and then cycled off leaving the Dad in total melt down!!!!

Looking back the sons did manage a giggle 😉

Poor old dear nearly did for me yesterday – pulling out of a T junction to the road I was on.

She looked once.
She looked twice.
She still pulled out parallel to me forcing me into the gutter.
I kicked hard and pulled in front slightly to make myself visible, just in case those secret Govt experiments on me had worked.
I waved cheerily.
She was so surprised/shocked/psychotic she swerved into me again and I had to take immediate evasive action.
Luckily she was so flustered she screwed up the gear change so I could get ahead and fire up the Close Encounters style LED to make it bleedin obvious where I was.

Best one I saw though was some fell a cruise up the inside of a queue of traffic to the presumed offender, and just open their passenger side rear door and cycle off. Made me laugh that did.

The door thing sounds dodgy, you do it with a volvo or similar with autolocking doors and you'll be in trouble, door stays shut, driver doesn't have to stop and if he wasn't angry at you (for having the temerity to be on the road) before he is now.
I once purposely clipped (not broke) the mirror of a lunatic who had sped passed me seriously quickly in a 30zone while I was already overtaking a slow lorry. The guy started to chase me, wrong side of road, through a red light and up a one way street the wrong way. I don't do stuff like that now.

I do my best just to ignore them, can't even be bothered to have a go at people these days most of the time. When I do feel like saying something I do my utmost to remain calm and just say 'why didn't you look ?' …'you pulled out without even looking to the right, what if I was a bus ?' ..but it's pointless really becuase people just say, 'oh sorry I didn't see you' – which of we already know – what else can you expect them to say ?

Gone are the days hopefully when I used to rant and rave at people, seems another lifetime ago now. I remember once some yound kid in van pulled out on me without looking. I caught him up at the lights and tapped on the window. He wouldn't open it and just sat there staring straight ahead, he wouldn't even look at me which wound me up even more so I pulled a punch on the side of the van and made whopping great big dent in it… Kid nearly leapt out of his skin. Really stupid and really pointless thinking back on it.

Kev

See thats what really winds me up.

You are the wronged party and yet the idiot in the car still wants to spout abuse at the cyclist even though they've done nothing wrong.

I'm not perfect, I make mistakes when I'm driving and when I'm riding. When I make an error I generallly hold my hand up and apologise

I've often fantasised about somehow getting the keys off them and throwing them away but the logistics are problematic to say the least.

My mate did this a few years ago to some yob who was looking for a fight after cutting us up. After he got out of the car and started threatening me my mate calmy rode over to his car took his keys out of the ignition and then waved them at him before riding off. He went about 50m with the yob chasing him down before hurling them into a field of wheat and shouted good luck finding them ya @@@@!!

I was cut up in Ambleside a few months ago by a car pulling out of a side street. We fully stared each other in the eyes before he pulled out so I knew he saw me but still pulled out and forced me on to the other side of the road in to the incoming traffic. Luckily they're was nothing coming the other way at the time but I struggled to keep up right.
Oh yeah and I had my 18month old son on the back of my bike!!!!
When I pulled up to his window as hestopped in traffic 20ft later he basically said you shouldn't be on the road!
How exactly do you responde to that??!!