So am I the a***hole or the motorist?

[NickD]

The way you rode - you were right

The gestures to the driver - you were wrong. All it would do is wind him up, and you are in a much more delicate position. It could have been a lot worse :!:

Ultimately, he was in the wrong, but you didn't need to rise to it/stoop to his level.

 

[orange71]

fair point. Guess I was lucky it was an old Honda driver!

 

[Harryburgundy]

Seems you did nothing wrong....maybe over use of expletives, but thats natural (to me ). Had a similar thing a few years back..but it got a little more heated....ended up shattering his wing mirror with my fist. Got arrested for criminal damage...oopps
PS I do overtake on the outside if the buggers don't leave any room, but only if I am going fast enough....ah, the old courier days!

 

[Kestonian]

Just pull his windscreen wipers away from the screen and ride merrily away (don't break them, just angle them away from the screen as you would to clean them)

Having said that ... I just ignore it and ride on. I spent most of my commuting miles swearing under my breath at people. Used to arrive in the office very relaxed!

 

[orange71]

like it

my fave retribution is this one from Typhoon in a post a couple of months back:

THink my best moment was a couple years back...drivers never learn , dont mess with cyclists in heavy town traffic...we always catch up!!!
So, get cut up, and of he goes, in a small Porsche...but whats that up ahead!!..oooh, traffic lights..and at RED! Yeeha..AND..he thinks i'm way back, and finishes his fag and just tosses it out the window..up i go, pick his still burning fag end up, and saying.."think you dropped something pal.." lob it in the back of his car...ha ha ha..mayhem!

 

[reanimation]

Yeah ya right, from a little experience, only best to shout when people put you in danger or when they beep you and for the latter best to leave it, but i rarely do unless they look scary, after all we've locally had one stabbing and a shooting this week I know about :?

One dinner i was riding my BMX past one of those silly traffic islands and a I heard a ranty shout, and some numbnut was hanging out of tow truck. Now this was when i was recovering from hitting a wall on teh BMX and spraining my muscles in my left arm. didnt stop me sprinting like hell on my racing frame BMX, i jumped on the pavement and gave these guys what for! :twisted: :evil: :twisted: :evil: :twisted: :evil: etc!

then realised I was the hare now. and lost em down teh back streets. Funny and scary, don't think I should do that again though

Honestly you need sixth sense and an air of patience commuting, its like a hard round of Paperboy game cycling through Rusholme! :roll:

 

[johnkiteman]

I'm of the keep your head down and don't make waves school.

Reason being that a nutter seriously tried to kill me with his car a few years back and the only reason I am still here is due to the intervention of my cycling buddy on the commute and several other concerned drivers.

All I did was give him the finger as he passed me on a hill 3mm away.

His antics after that would have made great TV :twisted:

 

[dyna-ti]

if theres cars in the outside lane but none in the inside lane and you are in the inside lane-----


Firstly ,your not undertaking ,the traffic in the outside lane had stopped,all you are doing is passing stopped traffic[ok the were beginning to drive away but it amounts to the same thing]
say for instance the line of cars in the outside lane had one at the front turning right preventing the cars behind that want to drive straight on ,you dont drive up to this line in th inside lane, then slow till your parallell to the last car in the line and start keeping pace with him- 'cos u dont want to undertake' :? Crazy Talk
This is what i think caused the whole thing-
the line he [said driver] was in was going too slowly,and he was possibly thinking of cutting into the inside lane,you SUDDENLY appear from his blind side[and we do]giving him a scare,he hits horn either at you OR at the slow moving bastards in front of him,you gesture him sarcastically[aggressively?]

Cars in the inside lane in front of you ,you are also in the inside lane-----


If you want around him, you DO NOT try and squeeze yourself between him and the pavement [24" space if that]
This move is illegal and even if it wasn't its the one move that kills most cyclists [:roll: madness]when the bus or articulated lorry starts turning left

If you are cruising along at a good speed in the inside lane[pavement side]and you come up to a set of lights if there are cars in front on you DO NOT 'horse it' past them with your wheels in the gutter ,ANYONE OPENS A DOOR [FOR WHATEVER REASON]
You Die
i am a road user if theres two lanes,the i take the inside lane ,the whole lane ,as i will not ride in the gutter, theres only room for 1 car OR 1 bike per lane, not 2 side by side, when you ride in the gutter you force cars to try and squeeze past u ,causing a risk of a glancing blow,not indicate, then overtake as they would if you take the WHOLE lane
If you were in the inside lane and a motor bike roars past you with his wheels in the gutter squeezing past ,i think you'd have something to say about it.
if this is the case and you squeezed past him then your at fault

your highway code is lacking
buy a copy

 

[reanimation]

^ Ouch :?

Bit heavy there! but when the dust settles there is self taught lessons that makes the future for you safer. Even when people rage me in the car and it doesn't seem like my fault there's things I can take away to prep next time. If I am riding on the inside, I wait behind the car in front and follow unless they are stopped/still.

The bike per car lane is a motorcycle training thing, great in practice and on a Motorbike, but another cause of rage in the city.
so; rules, common sense, and sixth sense for the win IMO

I certainly know a lot of teh car drivers are not using the rules or common sense so extra defensiveness needed

 

[Kestonian]

I honestly think that most drivers who get angry with cyclists rarely take out their ire on the RIGHT cyclist. Chances are that some numpty got his goat a couple of minutes earlier by jumping a red light or something, and he took it out on you.

I used to think cycling in central London was a real buzz. That's a lie, I still think it's a real buzz, but I don't do it any more - too many close calls that were nothing to do with me (and it only took one that was everything to do with me to calm me down to a really serene pace permanently), and the thought that some twunt on a mobile 'phone could leave me dribbling in a bed somewhere never to ride again.

So, ride on. Just smile. And swear profusely.