I think I'm done with road...

[trails]

Siao said:

I didn't think of it as aggressive, he wanted to educate me and he did very well at that. Obviously if I was a nut and aw someone getting out of their car, I may have reacted in an aggressive way, but it was a risk he took I guess.

I am just about divorcing, so didn't learn my lesson!

I was always under the impression it was a public order offense...but I'm no expert, I guess if you didn't feel threatened no issue

Hope it all goes well for you!

[Siao]

trails said:

Siao said:

I didn't think of it as aggressive, he wanted to educate me and he did very well at that. Obviously if I was a nut and aw someone getting out of their car, I may have reacted in an aggressive way, but it was a risk he took I guess.

I am just about divorcing, so didn't learn my lesson!

I was always under the impression it was a public order offense...but I'm no expert, I guess if you didn't feel threatened no issue

Hope it all goes well for you!

Thanks mate, appreciated, all well now.

I'm not sure how it works and if it is a public order offense, but the way I see it is that some common sense should be applied. If you see the person coming to talk to you calmly, then you can have a "normal" conversation, even if you disagree. If they are ranting, huffing and puffing, there's no point really... But generally, I'd try to avoid confrontations, as you can never know, etc.

[President Merkin]

Tangential to this forum & discussion but a local guy who happened to be a long term & well known roadie round here had a minor bump in a traffic queue a few years ago. Luck of the draw but the guy whose car he hit was mentally very ill & stabbed the guy nearly 40 times. Turns out his mum had begged for him to be sectioned but had been ignored.


https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-36305405

Friend of mine got into a road rage incident that culminated in the other guy pulling out a machete, nothing is worth that level of madness over such trivial things & these sorts of storys have imbued me with a zen like calmness on the roads.

[Tim Cognito]

Yes, I heard of someone local who gave a car the wker sign after some sort of altercation and the driver turned around and rammed him. Never know who you are dealing with.

[Random_Person]

trails said:

plenty of info online about how successful certain high profile submitters of driving infringement videos are if you care to look.

Info online about specific well known submitters does not translate into the reality across the country of how such matters are dealt with.

[trails]

President Merkin said:

Tangential to this forum & discussion but a local guy who happened to be a long term & well known roadie round here had a minor bump in a traffic queue a few years ago. Luck of the draw but the guy whose car he hit was mentally very ill & stabbed the guy nearly 40 times. Turns out his mum had begged for him to be sectioned but had been ignored.


https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-36305405

Friend of mine got into a road rage incident that culminated in the other guy pulling out a machete, nothing is worth that level of madness over such trivial things & these sorts of storys have imbued me with a zen like calmness on the roads.

Ogmios

[President Merkin]

trails said:

Ogmios

He mostly does Sunday league football these days, B-B-B Bow Badgers!

[trails]

President Merkin said:

He mostly does Sunday league football these days, B-B-B Bow Badgers!

Ahh, thats a shame...I wonder if TfL have him tied into a contract for Zen Motoring, not really into football!

[thepritch]

Haven’t yet felt the need to give up on road riding, but suspect if I was still in Surrey then I’d consider it.

Certainly agree in not escalating things, even when you’re certain you’re not in the wrong. I’ve been brushed past a few times (bus and car physically hit me with their overtakes) and I had to really resist the natural urge to ‘fight back’ and I’m a very patient and placid individual.

‘Lesson’ learnt on one occasion of tapping the side glass of the car passing when they were too close (10cm
away). They then rammed me into the kerb. I ended up in a+e. Police said with no CCTV it was 50/50. The car driver left grinning like a Cheshire Cat as he’d ‘won’.

There are some really unhinged individuals, and you will meet them everywhere. Sadly they are allowed on the road (in cars and on bikes).

[Hugo Stiglitz]

Random_Person said:

As a motorcyclist, exposing yourself to such risk by confronting car drivers and generating conflict is really unwise. The general public are psychopaths, boiling over in a world of deadlines and social media, caught up in a ton of work related stress and at breaking point with financial and emotional pressures. The road is generally the environment where the pressure cooker explodes, and on a motorcycle you are only one purposeful swerve away from being seriously injured by these people. I have seen it before and it continues to happen.

Self preservation is absolute key, and this is achieved by being the "grey man". Much better to be a passive observer and stay alive, than try and influence something that cannot be influenced as it is already ruined, and end up dead.

Sometimes driving is soo bad something needs saying.

Edited by Hugo Stiglitz on Wednesday 10th April 14:47

[TGCOTF-dewey]

FFS and again. Forced into diving between two parked cars this time.

Two rows of parked cars, I'm halfway down these rows and car appears. Instead of stopping before they enter, they just carry on forcing me to dive between two parked cars. s!

[Hugo Stiglitz]

TGCOTF-dewey said:

FFS and again. Forced into diving between two parked cars this time.

Two rows of parked cars, I'm halfway down these rows and car appears. Instead of stopping before they enter, they just carry on forcing me to dive between two parked cars. s!

I had this today. I thought she wasn't going to stop. I certainly wasn't. The male passenger did a wker sign and she looked utterly gormless.

I was firmly there first (cars on their side) amd i glanced when entering - no car approaching first parked car, glanced up again to see her barellimg down towards me but it appears no one explained about vulnerable road users to her...

Again I wouldn't have stopped. She did when she realised this.

[stargazer30]

I did a 30mile road route yesterday. It was a really good ride too. I had one close pass at speed on a totally empty wide road. One car pass me with a red light and queue directly in front, only to cut in and immediately brake to a complete stop. One old guy coming the other way wait for me to get on top of his position and then turn right across my path whilst looking right at me and making me brake to a complete stop. He even slowed his turn to force me to stop as a F you. Also got told off by two horse riders as I went to pass them who insisted I stay behind them and not pass at all, they were letting cars pass them though, very odd.

Sounds crazy typing it but it’s a typical Saturday, the ride was fab and the majority of drivers passed safely and gave good distance.

[Solocle]

Hugo Stiglitz said:

I had this today. I thought she wasn't going to stop. I certainly wasn't. The male passenger did a wker sign and she looked utterly gormless.

I was firmly there first (cars on their side) amd i glanced when entering - no car approaching first parked car, glanced up again to see her barellimg down towards me but it appears no one explained about vulnerable road users to her...

Again I wouldn't have stopped. She did when she realised this.

Sometimes the trick is to stop

[carlo996]

There’s no point being ‘right’ when faced with cars and trucks etc…better to be alive

[JEA1K]

stargazer30 said:

Also got told off by two horse riders as I went to pass them who insisted I stay behind them and not pass at all, they were letting cars pass them though, very odd..

Most cyclists pass horse riders fat too quickly ... my own group have done this and I've gone ape with them. The best way is to slow down way before (no hasrh stopping/squeeking brakes!) and talk to the riders ... the horses need to know its a human behind them. I usually just say 'morning' or 'hello' and then the horse rider will probably explain (if required) if their horse is nervous and needs more time or space.

I come across quite a few where we ride and never had a problem ... the talking bit was explained to me years ago by a horse rider.

But then again, you always get 'one'.

[stargazer30]

JEA1K said:

stargazer30 said:

Also got told off by two horse riders as I went to pass them who insisted I stay behind them and not pass at all, they were letting cars pass them though, very odd..

Most cyclists pass horse riders fat too quickly ... my own group have done this and I've gone ape with them. The best way is to slow down way before (no hasrh stopping/squeeking brakes!) and talk to the riders ... the horses need to know its a human behind them. I usually just say 'morning' or 'hello' and then the horse rider will probably explain (if required) if their horse is nervous and needs more time or space.

I come across quite a few where we ride and never had a problem ... the talking bit was explained to me years ago by a horse rider.

But then again, you always get 'one'.

We'd actually slowed down on the approach and watched as they moved in and waved the car in front of us past. Maybe 1 minute later once the road was clear I moved out to overtake, they re-took primary position, speed up and shouted at us not to overtake at all. I was pretty knackered by then anyways so I didn't mind a 10mph trundle behind them until they entered a farm. Maybe the car's overtake had rattled the horse a bit and they just didn't want to make it worse.

[neilr]

What is deeply disturbing about UK society is that if someone boasts about a close pass or almost forcing a cyclist off the roads because " they shouldn't be there should they" or "They make everyone late " (ive heard people in real life say both) no one bats an eyelid. If you turned up at someones house and proudly boasted that you almost put a pedestrian over your bonnet or ran them into the hedge as you passed them people would have something to say about it to you .

For some reason cyclists don't count as people to a very concerning large number of people who use the road with us. Just see the post from that lunatic very early in this thread to prove my point.

The old argument of "look at how cyclists behave" is utter tosh. Many people behave like s when they use the road. THose people will also behave like s in other areas of life too.

It worries me that so many people don't see people on bikes as 'other people' but as parasites to be injured/killed for laughs. Plenty of media publications push this dangerous thinking as well.

There are s everywhere, some use bikes, some drive cars or lorries, some work in libraries. (probably less in libraries I'm guessing though)

As for me in the south east, its usually not too bad where iI am, but in the last 18mnths there has been (on certain roads anyway) a huge increase in close passing and people overtaking to turn left immediately in front of me, something that round here almost never happened before.

As for escalating things, I can't see the point, you never know who will get out and try and attack you. Just keep moving and turn off onto another road for a bit if needs be. I never understand why people stop to either confront or be confronted in these situations, Just keep moving. Once they get out, they are on foot, you're on a bike, I think I see a way out of this....

I have also been lucky (certainly compared to what I read here) in that ive had only a very tiny handful of abuse/targeted dangerous driving in the almost 22 years ive been riding regularly (ie several times a week). Good luck out there !

[JEA1K]

neilr said:

What is deeply disturbing about UK society is that if someone boasts about a close pass or almost forcing a cyclist off the roads because " they shouldn't be there should they" or "They make everyone late " (ive heard people in real life say both) no one bats an eyelid. If you turned up at someones house and proudly boasted that you almost put a pedestrian over your bonnet or ran them into the hedge as you passed them people would have something to say about it to you .

For some reason cyclists don't count as people to a very concerning large number of people who use the road with us. Just see the post from that lunatic very early in this thread to prove my point.

The old argument of "look at how cyclists behave" is utter tosh. Many people behave like s when they use the road. THose people will also behave like s in other areas of life too.

Absolutely. Unforturnately, when we have 'mouthpieces' like Jeremy Clarkson who spouting vitirol in their newspaper columns about their hatred of cyclists, then some sections of society are motovated and inspired to mirror this with aggression towards cyclists.

I mean, all you need to do is take a look on Facebook and find an article about cyclists to see the hatred towards them, often, as you say, people taking pleasure in making the life of a cyclist misery by almost ending their lives.

When these posts come up, and they're based on road safety an how dangerous cyclists are to pedestrians, I always like to chime in with these valuable statistical graphs.

[Daveyraveygravey]

I agree with what the last two posters have said completely. This is also a useful graphic, although it pisses me off they refer to "car" and not driver for obvious reasons.


Where I don't agree with a lot of you is I cannot let it go. I always shout and wave at close passes and other un-necessary bad driving. If nothing else it alerts other road users to the situation, and it might just make the perp think again next time.