Do you really think that someone driving like a total wker is only doing so because they honestly don't know any better and following a word of advice from another driver involved in an incident with them, they will change their driving ways?

The only time drivers are likely to be in any way receptive to education is when they are learning prior to taking the driving test. I suppose that they may also be likely to take on board something said by traffic police if pulled over by them (or maybe not).

Bottom line is: They may be driving like a dangerous idiot but you're neither their driving instructor nor the police. Best just to accept that fact and be grateful that their stupidity didn't end up with you being embroiled in an accident caused by them.

When I first started driving in and out of London I used to use the M25/A13/Highway etc. I used to regularly get pissed off and trigger happy with the horn and the lights, especially on the A13. After nearly being run off the road and brake tested at 70mph by people with less brains than an egg I decided life was too short to continually lose my temper with idiots, get home really stressed and eventually kill myself/get killed/kill someone else and started using the A2 instead.

I still use the horn or a brief flash of the lights to indicate annoyance which I know is stupid. I'll also shout at the odd cabbie or moron for trying to block me from filtering or pulling out onto a roundabout and halting ALL the traffic when there clearly isn't anywhere for them to go. Oh, and I sat on the horn for about a minute on Saturday when a bloke in a miniscab wouldn't pull away from the green light at the west end of Limehouse. He went apest and started bouncing around his car like a caged ape until he realised the light had been green the whole time then slowly pulled away.

To be honest a lot of the time when a cyclist or minicab pops out of the ether broadside in front of me I'm too busy trying to make evasive manoeuvres without mowing anybody down or crashing into something to worry about shouting.

Coming to the aid of someone vulnerable being menaced in a road rage incident is a different scenario from confronting a driver because they did something stupid that impacted you.

(As it happens, many moons ago I was walking along and saw some idiot drive through a red light at a junction, nearly causing an accident as a woman had to stand on the brakes to avoid hitting him. The idiot jumped out and started banging the woman's window (she couldn't move as he was now blocking said junction) and I pointed out that he was the one who jumped the light. Looked like he might start a fight but luckily he just effed and blinded at me and drove off. Somehow I don't think he improved his ste driving as a result of the argument but it was worth intervening from the point of view of providing help to the woman being harassed).


I don't think that fear of reprisal is going to make people who can't drive properly or more likely just don't give a toss about driving properly, to change their ways.

You may only want to have a 'helpful word' but they may decide to take the situation in an entirely different direction. Even if it just turns into a silly shouting match, I doubt they'll take anything away from it.

As far as I can see there is next to zero chance that confronting a random moron driver is going to result in anything productive but an appreciable chance that something negative will come out of it.

So had I been in the passenger seat of her car, I should have just let him bang and swear away?

I don't see what point you are trying to make here ... You switched from discussing a general principle that people should 'have words' with someone who drives stupidly (ie. initiating an incident yourself), to a specific scenario involving defending someone vulnerable who is already caught up in an incident.

Two pretty different scenarios although they both might fall under the classification of 'road rage' incidents.

Yeah, sorry.All I mean is, where do you draw the line I guess.As I say, I do ignore 99% of the stupidity I see, but I find it hard to fall in to the "don't ever bother" camp.Part of me is probably glad that there are others who feel the same.

I once calmly told a guy that we should just stick to what we are good at.For me, that was driving, for him, eating KFC and Burger King (he was a tad portly).
It obviously didn't go down as well as his 5th McFlurry, because he really upped his verbal assault

Lol, i like that one, simple and to the point. I'll have to remember that

I must say that I've relaxed a lot more on the roads as I've got older.

I had a few road rage incidents in my 20s - along the lines of someone cutting me up, me gesticulating at them, them getting out of the car and getting very aggressive.

The last one: Islington around about 2000. I had an MX5 (roof down) and was driving down a side road with cars parked either side. A car (old 3-series, big alloys, ...) coming the other way pulls into a gap to let me past - thanks. But, as I'm about to pass he moves outs lightly causing me to brake and shake my head in a WTF manner. Apparently, this upset him as I was disrespecting him. I carry on to the end of the road (a dead end) to hear the sound of a car reversing furiously. Yes, it's rude boy who blocks me in, gets out of his car and goes mental telling me he's going to call his friends and they will all come down and "jack me". This is the bit I'm quite proud of: I say, all white and middle-class putting on my poshest voice, "What, jack me as in wk me off?" with a perturbed expression on my face. Didn't make the discussion go easier, though. Eventually he got in his car and drove off as I was dialling 999.

Now? I see appalling driving on the roads all the time but I just take a deep breath and don't let it get to me. Too many psychos out there who would take far too much offence to any suggestion that their driving wasn't wonderful. When my sons are old enough to drive, that's a key thing I'll drill in to them: you never know when the other guy is on day release.

Having said that, when London drivers try to knock me off my bicycle, I do still find it hard not to let loose with a few choice words - often as much in fear of my life as anything.

I've had a few 'moments' over the 18 years I've been driving but only on one instance did it lead to an exchange of words.

It was probably about ten years ago. I was on the M6 and some tool had been sat in the outside lane for ages when the road was pretty clear. I passed him on the inside, he sped up, I pulled into his lane to overtake someone and he saw this as me cutting him up. Yes, it was perhaps not the best driving on my part but I was frustrated.

Anyway, he flashed and gesticulated like 'they' do, and then followed me off the next junction and down the slip-road. I pulled up at the lights at the end of the slip-road, and he pulled up next to me. I looked across, he opened his window, I opened mine, and his big-red face shouted...

"You big !"

And then he drove off.

I still don't undertand what happened.