I"m not expecting anyone to read this, I'm just getting it out of my system…
We're all great cyclists and they're all crap drivers. But keying cars and smashing wing mirrors isn't going to pacify the driver in the long term. If he/she doesn't see you again and take it out on you, they'll take it out on some other poor cyclist. Bad karma, kids.
Noting number plates does at least remind drivers they do have an identity on the road that other people can track them down with. I think the naughty drivers tend to think they can hide behind their wheel, giggling to their mates as they buzz us on the road.
Last week a 4×4 tailed two of us riding along a wide but quiet road and then pulled up alongside us as we rolled along. The driver leaned across the passenger (who was holding a dog on her lap) and shouted "you aren't allowed to ride like that [side by side] – you have to ride single file" whilst looking at us, taking her eyes off the road and driving one-handed while stretched across the car.
The cycling side-by-side issue is a different stw debate but one that does seem to rile drivers. In this case, we waved at her as she sped off. We debated chasing her to the next junction (it amuses me that drivers often rage at us and then forget there's a stop junction/lights 30 seconds down the road!), but figured even if we did try to reason with her, she still wouldn't change her attitude to cyclists.
I don't think that all cyclists ride that well on the road, and as a driver experiencing the situation from that p.o.v, there must've been times where you've thought "****, I didn't even see that cyclist" or, "that cyclist needs to have some lights" etc. And if you aren't, are you a hot-headed idiot cyclist with biased opinions about who's the better road user? There've been times when I've wobbled/been caught by the wind/ etc or just plainly not ridden well and acknowledged that to the driver, thinking "sorry mate, my bad".
Each one of us has our own routine for cycling on road, and reacting in different situations. Perhaps all cyclists and drivers should go to "cyclists and drivers" instruction workshops and then we'd see we're all as bad as each other.
The End.