Aggression on the Roads...

[SuperchargedVR6]

fivepointnine said:

Its not so much the aggressive drivers that bother me; its the slow, unconfident drivers that do. I was driving home from work the other night, 50mph road, wide open, straight as an arrow, guy in front of me is doing 35, so I easily overtake him, use my indicators properly, did not cut him off or anything, he gets upset and starts flashing high lights at me and waving his fist like an idiot.

Also it really annoys me when somebody is so timid they refuse to go over 35 regardless of the speed limit (usually in 50mpg or NSL areas), yet will not pull over in a layby to allow the queue of 10 cars behind them to pass.

Seriously, if you are afraid to drive over 35mph maybe you should re-evaluate driving and take the bus.

You were lucky. I got stuck behind someone doing 25 in a 60 this morning.

Combat driving is on the rise, and for all sorts of reasons, but the dithering mincers who make a conscious decision to drive at less than half the posted limit, for no good reason, wind the already wound up people even more.

Commuter routes at peak times are hell at the best of times. People just want to get off them and into their homes as quickly as possible, especially at this time of year. Few people are tolerant of being held up needlessly. I think the happy clappy Prozac munchers who are super chilled about it are part of the "50 in a 70" brigade who force HGVs into the outside lane.

They say Speed kills, well, so does a lack of it sometimes.

[Centurion07]

Rawwr said:

lemmingjames said:

Rawwr said:

Everyone has to accelerate as hard as possible from traffic lights, away from junctions or off roundabouts. There has been a noticeable, marked step-change in the level of aggression and desire to prove something of which I'm not sure.

Maybe some just like to feel the acceleration of said cars as its the only potential moment they might be able to unleash their cars, or they just dont like pootling up to the speed limit and would rather reach it sooner rather than later?

It never happened like that in the Fiesta, where you'd expect to see a marked difference.

I'd put it down to them wanting to be in front, regardless of what you're driving, but knowing an ST is more likely to be given a bit more stick than a Fiesta therefore they get their foot down just in case.

[Antony Moxey]

V8mate said:

Antony Moxey said:

Had this this very afternoon. On a traffic light controlled roundabout in the lane marked as straight ahead when a guy pulls up alongside on my left. As the lights go green he pulls off and immediately dives across the front of me go to the next exit to the right. I anchor up sharply and press the horn, he looks out of his window, gives me the coffee beans and mouths 'fk off'.

Err, what? You're in the wrong lane, nearly take the front of my car off with a stupid move (incidentally there was nothing behind me so he could easily have just waited and crossed the lanes behind me) and yet apparently I'm to blame? Still if it's any consolation he was driving a Kia Carens which he'll have to suffer every time he steps out his front door.

He was clearly a knob, but if he didn't give you sufficient cause to sound your horn as he cut across you, why did you sound it later? I would class that as 'road rage'.

What? He cut straight across me from the lane to my left to go right nearly taking the front of my car with him. I braked sharply and leant on the horn - you don't think that sufficient cause. Admittedly it was a couple of milliseconds after he started veering into my lane (with me still in it) that I did sound the horn, but it's stretching it a bit to describe that as 'later'. And you think all that's road rage on MY part? Unbelievable.

[donkmeister]

Willy Nilly said:

Those little cars do seem to attract a lot of flack.

I experienced this first hand a couple of weeks ago when i had an A-class as a hirecar. Rarely have any issues in my old E-class, but in 400 miles in a new A-class people were much less considerate. Even got full-on dangerous driving from an hgv sat with horn blaring and main beams less than a metre from back bumper as i was doing 52mph in a 50 with nowhere to get out of his way for an entire mile. Proper nutter.

[V8mate]

Antony Moxey said:

V8mate said:

Antony Moxey said:

Had this this very afternoon. On a traffic light controlled roundabout in the lane marked as straight ahead when a guy pulls up alongside on my left. As the lights go green he pulls off and immediately dives across the front of me go to the next exit to the right. I anchor up sharply and press the horn, he looks out of his window, gives me the coffee beans and mouths 'fk off'.

Err, what? You're in the wrong lane, nearly take the front of my car off with a stupid move (incidentally there was nothing behind me so he could easily have just waited and crossed the lanes behind me) and yet apparently I'm to blame? Still if it's any consolation he was driving a Kia Carens which he'll have to suffer every time he steps out his front door.

He was clearly a knob, but if he didn't give you sufficient cause to sound your horn as he cut across you, why did you sound it later? I would class that as 'road rage'.

What? He cut straight across me from the lane to my left to go right nearly taking the front of my car with him. I braked sharply and leant on the horn - you don't think that sufficient cause. Admittedly it was a couple of milliseconds after he started veering into my lane (with me still in it) that I did sound the horn, but it's stretching it a bit to describe that as 'later'. And you think all that's road rage on MY part? Unbelievable.

Yeah, sorry, I mis-read your post. Genuine error. I was in the internet version of the 'wrong lane'.

You've got a proper short fuse there though, mate.

[Oilchange]

Whenever I toot my horn I grin stupidly, more like a grimace than a smile, and wave frantically at them. Usually diffuses the situation as they really don't know if that gurning twit actually does know them or not...

[sebulban]

Toyoda said:

Some of the macho man quotes on here have had me cracking up. All I can think of is Rex Kwando!!!

It wasn't a macho man comment it was a statement of fact.

I try and expand the point.... to make sense. But it seems a lot of people zoom in on the bit they want to respond on rather than the whole message.

[anonymous-user]

France last week.

Incident 1
A bloke in a random small French shopping car hurtled up the back of me as I was passing a truck, travelling around 130-140kmh. Headlights, horn, arm waving as I got around the truck and pulled in. He gave me the finger so I waved back. Following this he slowed to about my speed and telegraphed his next move, swerving right across me! Then some more waving as he slowed and weaved around, until the truck caught us both up and he turned off the exit. tt.

Incident 2
2 young lads in a Golf hurtled up behind me...mmmm...anyway they were almost climbing the back of the car to get past and almost immediately behind another car, who couldn't pull over because I was there I didnt speed up it just happened that this old fart was quite happy in the outside lane. They went mental. This time I just ignored it, got a couple of cars ahead in the traffic and made sure they were never directly behind me. I was always taught you can only control the gap in front and that's the last place you need a pair of little tossers like these with their anger issues! The last I saw of them they were gesticulating like a pair of Tasmanian devils headed towards Paris.

It makes the UK seem quite civilised to be fair.

I wouldn't stop for anyone and don't play games, best to just let them go. It's taken years to get to this point but it's just not worth the aggro, those two instances just confirmed it.

[Loyly]

sebulban said:

You think Jiu Jitsu isnt an effective tool against an untrained fighter in the street? Erm..... ok. Good luck with that.

ANY martial art, even ones I don't think are effective in proper combat, will RUIN some civilian on the street. Imagine even a basic Judo Player getting hold of someone and launching him through the air onto concrete.

Judo isn't a bad bet because a lot of the throws simply reverse the momentum of the attacker. However, Jiu Jitsu might be a fun pastime for men who like rolling around on mats with other blokes, but going to the ground in any sort of fight doesn't make sense if it's not forced upon you. Why take the chance of being bitten or gouged by someone on the ground, or having his pal stamping on your head as you attempt to mount the aggressor? The idea of using Jiu Jitsu, especially when defending yourself on the street, is just laughable.

[Rubin215]

Loyly said:

sebulban said:

You think Jiu Jitsu isnt an effective tool against an untrained fighter in the street? Erm..... ok. Good luck with that.

ANY martial art, even ones I don't think are effective in proper combat, will RUIN some civilian on the street. Imagine even a basic Judo Player getting hold of someone and launching him through the air onto concrete.

Judo isn't a bad bet because a lot of the throws simply reverse the momentum of the attacker. However, Jiu Jitsu might be a fun pastime for men who like rolling around on mats with other blokes, but going to the ground in any sort of fight doesn't make sense if it's not forced upon you. Why take the chance of being bitten or gouged by someone on the ground, or having his pal stamping on your head as you attempt to mount the aggressor? The idea of using Jiu Jitsu, especially when defending yourself on the street, is just laughable.

You've obviously never rolled with someone who does it properly.

Someone who does BJJ regularly at even a fairly basic level will be more than capable of dealing with your average street thug; there's plenty of footage on youtube if you want to go looking.

Edited by Rubin215 on Monday 5th December 20:59

[Slow]

Rubin215 said:

Loyly said:

sebulban said:

You think Jiu Jitsu isnt an effective tool against an untrained fighter in the street? Erm..... ok. Good luck with that.

ANY martial art, even ones I don't think are effective in proper combat, will RUIN some civilian on the street. Imagine even a basic Judo Player getting hold of someone and launching him through the air onto concrete.

Judo isn't a bad bet because a lot of the throws simply reverse the momentum of the attacker. However, Jiu Jitsu might be a fun pastime for men who like rolling around on mats with other blokes, but going to the ground in any sort of fight doesn't make sense if it's not forced upon you. Why take the chance of being bitten or gouged by someone on the ground, or having his pal stamping on your head as you attempt to mount the aggressor? The idea of using Jiu Jitsu, especially when defending yourself on the street, is just laughable.

You've obviously never rolled with someone who does it properly.

Someone who does BJJ regularly at even a fairly basic level will be more than capable of dealing with your average street thug; there's plenty of footage on youtube if you want to go looking.

Edited by Rubin215 on Monday 5th December 20:59

He made a good point though of his friend kicking you in the head while your both on the floor. Doesnt seem any good what so ever in a 1v2 compared to other things.

[Rubin215]

Slow said:

Rubin215 said:

Loyly said:

sebulban said:

You think Jiu Jitsu isnt an effective tool against an untrained fighter in the street? Erm..... ok. Good luck with that.

ANY martial art, even ones I don't think are effective in proper combat, will RUIN some civilian on the street. Imagine even a basic Judo Player getting hold of someone and launching him through the air onto concrete.

Judo isn't a bad bet because a lot of the throws simply reverse the momentum of the attacker. However, Jiu Jitsu might be a fun pastime for men who like rolling around on mats with other blokes, but going to the ground in any sort of fight doesn't make sense if it's not forced upon you. Why take the chance of being bitten or gouged by someone on the ground, or having his pal stamping on your head as you attempt to mount the aggressor? The idea of using Jiu Jitsu, especially when defending yourself on the street, is just laughable.

You've obviously never rolled with someone who does it properly.

Someone who does BJJ regularly at even a fairly basic level will be more than capable of dealing with your average street thug; there's plenty of footage on youtube if you want to go looking.

Edited by Rubin215 on Monday 5th December 20:59

He made a good point though of his friend kicking you in the head while your both on the floor. Doesnt seem any good what so ever in a 1v2 compared to other things.

In a 1v2 scenario, your best sport is the 100m sprint.

Real life isn't like the movies and, no matter how well disciplined you are, you're unlikely to win when you're really fighting more than one person at the same time.

[Centurion07]

Rubin215 said:

You've obviously never rolled with someone...

Did you actually just type that?

[mp3manager]

Judging by the amount of meatheads in this thread, no wonder there is aggression on the roads.

[anonymous-user]

Rubin215 said:

You've obviously never rolled with someone who does it properly.

Can we knock this homo-erotic talk on the head. You pick fights with scum bags you get stabbed, hurt, life changing stuff. Really, anyone with half a brain and a bit of training will be the first on their toes when trouble breaks out.

Apart from PH, where every day is a bundle in the South playground.

[Tribal Chestnut]

Interesting thread this. Forgive me for just jumping to the last page without reading it all, but I've been thinking about taking up some form of martial art for a while as I feel very vulnerable on the roads. Does anyone know of a good coach/instructor, ideally one with some fight experience, both in competition and on the street?

Edit: it seems Rubin has some special skills, but I believe he's Scotch so too far, I'm often in Chpestow so anyone between the SE and Wales would be grand.

Edited by Tribal Chestnut on Monday 5th December 21:35

Edited by Tribal Chestnut on Monday 5th December 21:35

[Rubin215]

Centurion07 said:

Rubin215 said:

You've obviously never rolled with someone...

Did you actually just type that?

It'sa term used in jiu jitsu; no different to 'sparring' in boxing, 'grappling' in wrestling, 'mauling' or 'scrummaging' in rugby or 'writhing-around-on-the-ground-like-a-pansy' in football.

If you find it homo-erotic, then aw, bless...

[sebulban]

Loyly said:

Judo isn't a bad bet because a lot of the throws simply reverse the momentum of the attacker. However, Jiu Jitsu might be a fun pastime for men who like rolling around on mats with other blokes, but going to the ground in any sort of fight doesn't make sense if it's not forced upon you. Why take the chance of being bitten or gouged by someone on the ground, or having his pal stamping on your head as you attempt to mount the aggressor? The idea of using Jiu Jitsu, especially when defending yourself on the street, is just laughable.

Personally for me - going to the ground with someone in a street scenario is not option one. I agree. I do MMA - so I have a few more options available. One of them being to run if necessary - i.e someone pulls a weapon.

If I am on my own and there are a load of guys attacking me - thats a bad day at the office for anyone. But at least 2-3 are coming to intensive care with me. I also question how Ive been such a plank to get into that sort of thing. Its never happened to me in 36 years.

But the most likely scenario, the one we are discussing, is one to one. And an untrained guy against a trained guy loses - 99% of the time unless weapons are thrown in. And even then Ive seen a knife pulled on a boxer and he got KO'd before he could think of using it. Iif there are a few of them, the odds are none of them want a proper scrap. I already accept I maybe going to the hospital if its gone that far. Im aware I can be bitten, gouged or booted - but if its got to the stage where I have to use violence its on.

Thinking jiu jitsu is laughable and mocking it by saying its "rolling around with other blokes..." is just ignorant though - and you are welcome down my gym anytime to show how ineffective it is.

[Centurion07]

Rubin215 said:

Centurion07 said:

Rubin215 said:

You've obviously never rolled with someone...

Did you actually just type that?

It'sa term used in jiu jitsu; no different to 'sparring' in boxing, 'grappling' in wrestling, 'mauling' or 'scrummaging' in rugby or 'writhing-around-on-the-ground-like-a-pansy' in football.

If you find it homo-erotic, then aw, bless...

I don't find it erotic, homo or otherwise.

I was chuckling at the "gangsta" term itself.

[Rubin215]

Tribal Chestnut said:

Interesting thread this. Forgive me for just jumping to the last page without reading it all, but I've been thinking about taking up some form of martial art for a while as I feel very vulnerable on the roads. Does anyone know of a good coach/instructor, ideally one with some fight experience, both in competition and on the street?

Edit: it seems Rubin has some special skills, but I believe he's Scotch so too far, I'm often in Chpestow so anyone between the SE and Wales would be grand.

Edited by Tribal Chestnut on Monday 5th December 21:35

Edited by Tribal Chestnut on Monday 5th December 21:35

No mate, sorry, I would be no use to you anyway; I'm old-school thug, not new-school skilled.

Personally, if you're serious about being able to defend yourself from randoms, I would recommend a mixed martial arts club.
No one discipline gives you everything; boxing is a bit outdated unless you're in the ring, judo doesn't teach you to defend against punches, most martial arts are fairly specific about their rules.
A good MMA club with regular fighters can give you a bit of everything as well as getting you used to the idea of what it genuinely feels like to have someone trying to tear your head off but without ending up in court later.