Abusive motorists

[CanucksTraveller]

Not an abusive motorist (or at least I don't believe they were), but I definitely had a slightly weird pass last week:
I was on a quiet country road (national speed limit), pootling along (not even in primary), no traffic about at all, other than the car coming up behind me doing maybe 40mph. Then from a couple of hundred yards behind me, he or she leaned on the horn for what, 6-8 seconds as they came up behind until they were well past. The pass was generous, they went entirely over into the other lane. I have no idea what that was about. Giving me warning of approach? No idea. Sometimes you want to politely enquire what they're thinking... just to satisfy that itch and understand what the thought process was. It was mildly startling, that's for sure.

 

[Toshiba Boy]

I'm not sure whether it is just an Oxfordshire thing or it happens in other parts of the country. When the weather is warm and sunny, and cars are often being driven with the windows down, occasionally one will overtake and a male passenger will scream loudly as they pass. It also happens with the driver screaming as car passes in the opposite direction. I have had two unrelated incidents of this on the same 20-mile ride. I can only think that the point of this is to startle the cyclist so they might lose control and fall off (What a laugh that would be?). Fortunately, I am not easily startled and and can do nothing more than just ignore it. It's not exactly a torrent of abuse but just seems weird.

Generally fairly good down here in sleepy West Somerset, but I did have the above happen to me when riding down a B-road into a small town a couple of years ago. Window down, teenager in the front passenger seat leaned out and screamed something totally unintelligible at me as they zoomed by far too closely. Their mistake, as traffic backed up at small roundabout as they entered the town, I drew up alongside, leaned slightly in, and, totally ignorining the tw*t in the passenger seat said to the now slightly worried looking teenage driver, "'Ere mate, I think your boyfriend fancies me in all me lycra" and then blew them all a kiss, much to the amusement of the two further teenagers in the back seat.

N.B. I had already scoped my left turn exit with a potential bike/pedestrian only through section 20 yards away if it had been required (which it wasn't).

 

[Faratid]

Yebbut it's a pretty specious argument that the tax paid on motoroised road vehicles is not road tax.

No such thing as beer tax, it's been alcohol excise duty since 1066

No it isn't a specious argument. There is no such thing as road tax, and the roads are not paid for from vehicle tax.

 

[Profpointy]

No it isn't a specious argument. There is no such thing as road tax, and the roads are not paid for from vehicle tax.

alcohol tax doesn't fund government alcohol either.

Apart from being a specious argument it isn't going to convince anyone but instead convince them even more that cyclists are twats

 

[Drago]

I think its a symptom of an overloaded road network and a frenzied live style most people live, result is bearly contained anger, us cyclist in the meantime are blissfully unaware what troubles them.

It's a generous thought, but I don't buy into it. The very motorists who kick off are the ones who are contributing to the road network being so overloaded. They are the problem.

If they can't handle the stress and emotional pressure of navigating the overcrowded highways, overcrowding of which they are a part, then they're not fit to be in charge of upwards of a ton of kinetic weapon.

 

[al78]

No it isn't a specious argument. There is no such thing as road tax, and the roads are not paid for from vehicle tax.

I agree, but perception trumps logic where humans are concerned, and people only believe or accept what they want too. That is why stupid, careless and dangerous decisions and actions are taken regularly. What we need is a justice field surrounding Earth which ensures consequences only happen to the perpetrators.

 

[al78]

It's a generous thought, but I don't buy into it. The very motorists who kick off are the ones who are contributing to the road network being so overloaded. They are the problem.

In my locality, it is not just the number of motorists, it is the Horsham unwritten law which states that roadworks which necessitate temporary traffic lights must take a minimum of a month, even when they have been scheduled for two or three weeks. The length of time the roadworks take should be inversely proportional to the magnitude of inconvenience to the road users (cyclists included). The green phase should be a maximum of 12 seconds, especially if the temporary traffic lights are only a hundred meters away from a primary traffic light controlled junction.

 

[snorri]

I've come to the conclusion that the OP was simply trolling and the motorist abuse never happened.
The OP made three posts on two days on this thread, there has been no response to the question of what form the abuse took, and no details of the location, road layout etc. have been given. The OP has not posted on any other thread in the forum.
We have enough genuine complaints against motorists without needing false claims which do more harm than good when it comes to getting along amicably with other road users.

 

[confusedcyclist]

If they can't handle the stress and emotional pressure of navigating the overcrowded highways, overcrowding of which they are a part, then they're not fit to be in charge of upwards of a ton of kinetic weapon.

Don't blame the gullible, blame the marketing departments selling the myth that motoring buys freedom in the form of steering wheel shaped manacles. Our humble peers have been duped into believing they need to travel often ridiculous distances from where they live and work, burning finite fuels all in order to to earn a pay cheque for the car payment, the road tax (sic), the polluting oil extraction industry, deep sea oil wells, the leaky container ships, the contaminated land, the asphalt roads, road building, pothole repair, DVLA, the road police units and the (sadly ineffectual) criminal justice system. All this, when the humble bicycle could do it at a fraction of the price, and 100x the joy.

Actually, blame the gullible too, just don't forget the consumerist system is geared up to extract as much wealth as it can at every step in order to absorb any possibility of overproduction and inevitable deflationary collpase of the economy. If it never leads anyone to question why, it is winning. There has to be another way.... if only we knew how?

🚶‍♂️🏃‍♂️🚶‍♀️🏃‍♀️

 

[Drago]

While I hear what youre saying Brother, I do blame the gullible.

Sure, the advertised myth of freedom and sex appeal are clearly bullpois, but people actually want to buy into it and do so gleefully.

No one is twisting their arm into buying a Ford Tippex GiT, instead of a much cheaper but deeply uncool Dacia that will easily reach eacppxactly the same speed limits of the slickly marketed alternatives. They actually want to be misled and to ne seen to do so. They actually want to spend money they haven't got, to buy cars they can't afford, to impress people they don't know, and then get frustrated when the self-perceived status they've bought turns out to be of no tangible advantage. Not only do they want to buy into the myth, they're desperate to do so

Sympathy quotient = zero.

PS, you're completely bang on about the rest of it and had me nodding sagely while reading your wise words.

 

[confusedcyclist]

No one is twisting their arm into buying a Ford Tippex GiT
SNIP
Sympathy quotient = zero.

I doubt you of all people, Drago, underestimate the average human's level of stupidity, but I suspect your tendency to blame the individual leads you to underestimate each person's vulnerability to manipulation by external factors. I don't blame you though, this was an attitude I once held myself. Not only do people feel compelled to participate because of the state of the economy, but as I'm sure you can concede there is an entire industry devoted to fabricating desires in people, who, if it were not for clever psychological manipulation, might never have considered signing themselves up to a life of servitude of credit repayments for some goods they likely would never never come across.

To be so impervious to such tricks, takes a level of agency that the majority of humans rarely posses, and our culture does a poor job of instilling such agency, because rallying against consumerism would collapse the living standards of those who depends on that very system for their income. Even those of us who have practiced and honed our skills and are able to operate on the fringes of this culture for our own financial wellbeing do sometimes suffer moments of weakness. It only needs to be such fleeting moments, and the industry trying to manipulate you otherwise finds a way in. Short of living like a monk, with no screens, personal computing devices and away from towns and cities*, it's almost impossible to avoid their attempts at manipulation, so don't be too judgemental of the folk who fall prey.

Unfortunately our market economy requires sustained growth, and so the system is desperately trying to dupe us all in to being good consumers. Being mindful of this, is really the best defence, and degrowth economics is our only real means of fighting back. Those links are to a dictionary on lean logic by David Fleming, I thoroughly recommend anyone interested in these topics considers having a good look.

*There's nothing wrong trying, I radically limit my consumption of consumer goods and services, but I'm not so good at the spiritual stuff

 

[Drago]

Oh, don't worry - they positively queue up to be manupulated. Even better, if they can't afforded to have market forces manipulate them they can get a PCP plan which allows them to be manipulated.

Most folk aren't wealthy enough to casually submit to such market manipulation, and actually have to put a fair bit of effort into it.

 

[confusedcyclist]

I don't doubt that individuals do silly things, but the culture in which our children are moulded, if we let it, is definitely skewed to encourage submission to the consumerist mentality. That's where agency, knowledge and alternative culture comes in. It takes a quite radical attitude to go against the grain in that regard.

 

[Drago]

In my case its pragmatism. Mr Money Mustache is a man after my own heart, and shows what you can do instead if youre not chucking money up the wall in the pursuit of consumer happiness.

 

[al78]

Unfortunately our market economy requires sustained growth ...

Which is unsustainable. You can't have infinite growth on a finite planet with finite resources.