S'funny, I just dont seem to get the kind of incidents that a lot of youse seem to, and I'm really assertive. I dont kid myself that the average reasonable driver actually welcomes me there, but a lot of that is down to their ignorance of the law.
The thing you shouldn't forget about the occasional psycho that does something daft, is that these folk drive like that around EVERBODY, are angry with all vehicles they encounter. The best response is to chill, and do their thinking for them.

I've mixed feelings about thanking drivers, Its fair enough when they've gone out of their way of course, but I'm not sure if its a good idea to encourage the expectation of thanks for 'simply noticing that I'm there' or 'not pulling into my priority' like a few cyclists seem to.

Now if we had proper cycle lanes / routes, covering all areas then we'd be making progress.

Now if we had drivers and cyclists that understood where a bike should be positioned on the road we wouldn't need cycle lanes. Cars only need to understand that bikes need to choose their line to protect themselves and the problem goes away. There should be an urgent publicity campaign nationwide.

S'funny, I just dont seem to get the kind of incidents that a lot of youse seem to, and I'm really assertive

Hmm. I would class myself as a very assertive as I have to be – I just think that maybe you just haven't encountered it badly me think!!

Foxyrider, 25 years of road riding on every sort of, and speed of, road in all parts of Scotland, and brief spells elsewhere, If there was aggro to be dealt with I would've found it!

>I've mixed feelings about thanking drivers,

Occasionally, as I do sometimes in a car according to circumstances (IYKWIM)

>I don't agree with moving in to the middle of a lane to try and prevent an accident. You restrict the view of the road ahead for the car driver behind you,

Ah, you'll be the one being peeling off the road at some point. If you can't see past a bike – or indeed a car – perhaps some tuition on safe overtakes/road positioning (IAM etc) would help. Apart from anything else, moving over/taking the lane gives you room to go somewhere if someone *does* cut you up.

On the subject of the IAM – the relevant handbooks are 'Roadcraft' and 'Motorcycle Roadcraft'. I believe there's also a 'Bicycle Roadcraft' where it covers 'taking the lane' – have a search on 'vehicular cycling'.

Had some silly tart* do the same crap overtake trick twice this morning – both times as I'd moved out to go past something. First – a long line of parked cars, where I was most of the way out but I actually needed to move out further to miss a manhole cover/crap road repair. Second time was a parked Police car, with a pedestrian reservation *not* that far in of it. Dunno which bit of the road she thought I was intending to occupy…

*I'm not being discriminatory, if it'd been a bloke I'd have written stupid pr*ck.

As a Cyclist/Motorist/Pedestrian I have to say the general levels of aggressive behaviour on the roads have gone up noticeably over the last decade or so, some people will act like a dick whatever vehicle you’re in/on, basically if you take a common or garden cock and put them in the drivers seat of an A4 it magnifies they “Cockishness” by a factor of about ten and they abuse just about anyone…

I think the increase of late is down to the more general “malaise” of the country at the minute, Economic crisis, Shite weather, Papers and TV news that seem to report nothing but Kiddie murders, Bankers bonuses, MP’s on the fiddle and Redundancy’s galore all contribute, plus there are just too many cars about, I do my best not to avoid driving now, certainly around town, any journey under 3 miles can be walked if you allow the time so why heap stress on yourself and I do feel better adjusted after a weekend without driving, even though I really quite like driving or at least used to…

“Road rage” stems from the old “fight or flight” response, having 2 tons of metal makes some people Err more towards the “Fight” end of things, and I think if people are feeling generally more harassed then their fuses get shorter still, I’m not trying to justify it merely looking at the contributing factors… My advice is to pity them, they’ve sat getting fatter and angrier in their tin box while as a cyclist you can glide past the jams and will have done some exercise by the end of your commute, don’t bother to wave your fingers back at them or shout, just turn the other cheek, be the bigger man (or woman) and rise above it all (easier said than done I know)…

I stopped commuting after having driver clip me. I raised my hand in anger at him, he stops further up and then we have a few words. I ride off, he then wheelspins and aims the car at me and only just missed me as I had the sense to jump the bike onto the pavement.

I had a witness, he has been charged with Dangerous Driving. Just waiting on the court date now.

@ west kipper – Maybe I am less tollerant then – no offence intended 🙂

Nah, foxy, maybe I came across as doubting the fact, and it is a fact, that there are a lot of angry, wound up folk on the roads that wouldn't dare behave like that if they weren't inside a car.
I definitely think things get worse every year, and the only thing thats going to stop it is, y'know, like actual law enforcement. 🙄
(absolutely not more stupid f***ing cyclelanes!)

wouldn't dare behave like that if they weren't inside a car.

Good point – I'm only aggressive on my bike when my life has been put in danger but I agree that people have a different persona when behind the wheel 🙂

but there is some shocking driving out there and driving attitudes

I know, my poor-driving attitude is almost legendary… 😆

In answer to Foxy's original question from the day the car was invented it's always been that way for'some' motorists.

But as lots have said above, as the roads reflect social attitudes generally so 'some' has grown and has perhaps sadly become the majority.

For those who find themselves rising to challenges (red mist) this is a recommended read: