Aggressive dangerous tailgating bully

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benb

Evidence based cyclist
Location
Epsom


This was extremely intimidating. I'm wondering if I should have got in the middle as soon as I was aware of her terrible driving. I didn't want to let her past, because there wasn't room to do it safely; I didn't trust her to complete the overtake without knocking me off, especially with that enormous trailer.

When I made the "back off" gesture, she made a gesture that basically said "What? Where do you expect me to drive?".

Just awful.
 

Hip Priest

Veteran
Terrible driving, though I tend to put that sort of thing down to incompetence rather than bullying. Some people just haven't got a clue how to safely pass a cyclist.

I just got right-hooked by an identical vehicle (without the wendy house on the back).
 

Canrider

Guru
Does the red van and trailer not pass you similarly close(ly)? Confession--I'm watching with sound off as people are sleeping, but this looks like incompetence/hesitance to decide to pass or stay back (echoing Hip Priest) rather than deliberate intimidation.
 

Hip Priest

Veteran
Does the red van and trailer not pass you similarly close(ly)? Confession--I'm watching with sound off as people are sleeping, but this looks like incompetence/hesitance to decide to pass or stay back (echoing Hip Priest) rather than deliberate intimidation.


I was thinking that the Range Rover might've been following the van, given that they both had trailers. Would explain the impatience (but not excuse it, obviously).
 

buggi

Bird Saviour
Location
Solihull
Yea definitely get in the middle. After a particularly bad ride home one night (close passes galore which totally wound me up) i decided the next day that no matter what happened, i wouldn't get riled. Cycling through road works where the left lane was coned off, i was aware of the build of traffic and was actually contemplating moving inside the cones when... the driver behind beeped me. i looked behind and he was literally 8 inches off my back wheel. I looked at him, gave him a cheery wave and then moved into the middle of the lane and stopped pedalling, naturally slowing down to say... ooo, i dunno... 5mph??? i remained at that speed for the next 500 yards until the roadworks came to an end. I gave him a cheery wave as he roared off in a mood.
made my day :highfive: and i chuckled all the way to work.
 
OP
OP
benb

benb

Evidence based cyclist
Location
Epsom
Does the red van and trailer not pass you similarly close(ly)? Confession--I'm watching with sound off as people are sleeping, but this looks like incompetence/hesitance to decide to pass or stay back (echoing Hip Priest) rather than deliberate intimidation.


The red van was also too close, but at least they just went straight past rather than sitting right on my wheel, and half alongside.

It certainly felt like bullying/intimidating behaviour to me. I don't think you can drive half alongside a bicycle only a few 10s of cm away from them without it being deliberate.
 
Take the biggest vehicle on the roads and complain about the smallest. that was deliberate, what on earth was that wendy house thing? Vanity plate too, the sure sign of a nobber.
 
Yea definitely get in the middle. After a particularly bad ride home one night (close passes galore which totally wound me up) i decided the next day that no matter what happened, i wouldn't get riled. Cycling through road works where the left lane was coned off, i was aware of the build of traffic and was actually contemplating moving inside the cones when... the driver behind beeped me. i looked behind and he was literally 8 inches off my back wheel. I looked at him, gave him a cheery wave and then moved into the middle of the lane and stopped pedalling, naturally slowing down to say... ooo, i dunno... 5mph??? i remained at that speed for the next 500 yards until the roadworks came to an end. I gave him a cheery wave as he roared off in a mood.
made my day :highfive: and i chuckled all the way to work.
I don't go in for winding numpties up but that made me :smile:
 

Sara_H

Guru
What was that thing being towed? It made me wonder (coupled with the fact you also got passed by a transit towing a caravan) if they were part of a funfair convoy, in which case, as others said, she may have been concentrating more on keeping up than your safety.
 
What was that thing being towed? It made me wonder (coupled with the fact you also got passed by a transit towing a caravan) if they were part of a funfair convoy,


Carnies!

Circus folk. Nomads, you know. Smell like cabbage. Small hands.
 
Yea definitely get in the middle. After a particularly bad ride home one night (close passes galore which totally wound me up) i decided the next day that no matter what happened, i wouldn't get riled. Cycling through road works where the left lane was coned off, i was aware of the build of traffic and was actually contemplating moving inside the cones when... the driver behind beeped me. i looked behind and he was literally 8 inches off my back wheel. I looked at him, gave him a cheery wave and then moved into the middle of the lane and stopped pedalling, naturally slowing down to say... ooo, i dunno... 5mph??? i remained at that speed for the next 500 yards until the roadworks came to an end. I gave him a cheery wave as he roared off in a mood.
made my day :highfive: and i chuckled all the way to work.

Whilst I admit that many of us have done similar (or worse) things, I do think that these things can ramp up hostility and might elicit some sort of unwarranted resentment in the driver being 'punished' or those following that vehicle.

This is not a criticism - I have done much worse. It's just an observation. It might make you feel good for a moment or two, but it avails you (and the rest of us) nought.

On the OP, I am pretty sure (on the basis of no knowledge at all) that that was ignorance and inexperience rather than bullying. Some drivers are simply unaware of how their vehicles might intimidate or present a risk to other road users.

There may also be an element of "Overtake... Ooops, no, I've got a trailer". I've driven with a trailer quite a lot and on a straight road it can be easy to forget it's there until you squeeze the loud pedal and remember the extra mass. I do not defend this driver for their shocking driving, but I do not think it is bullying. They did, after all, pull back when you indicated. Poor, but not a bully.
 

kedab

Veteran
Location
nr cambridge
i find that i have to tell myself to remain chilled during my rides before i set out and it does help. if i don't, i'm liable to get all huffy with the first bit of crap driving i'm subjected to, which isn't good for anybody. example:
i was about 15 miles from home last sunday morning, on the second lap of my loop - i'd set out dead early and the first lap was wonderful, practically no traffic and what there was, was all good, anyhoo, 15 miles from home and there's a filter across my lane on a fairly busy part of the a10 - couple of passes approaching the filter are alright, then some doofus, not seeing the car sat in the filter as he tears up alongside me has to drop his anchors...i looked back and he was still sucking my wheel so i gave him the old coffee beans...he then pulls up alongside me (after the filter) with his wife and kid in the car! he's got the window down and i say, 'get on with it then you dangerous sod', he utters something unintelligible and his wife says to him, 'just leave it, come on' to which i say, 'go on, get on your way, listen to the wife' and he roars off in a huff...now, the coffee beans were a bit of a red rag to a bull, i'll admit, but it's the fact that not content with one crap piece of driving he then decided it was quite alright to test my bike skills by driving a foot away from me at 20+mph...the doofus. didn't have the camera with me either which was an @rse but i've decided i'm not sticking anything to my shiny new helmet :ohmy: anyhoo...must remember to tell myself to remain chilled.

end of story...sorry i had a bit of word vomit there.
 
OP
OP
benb

benb

Evidence based cyclist
Location
Epsom
What was that thing being towed? It made me wonder (coupled with the fact you also got passed by a transit towing a caravan) if they were part of a funfair convoy, in which case, as others said, she may have been concentrating more on keeping up than your safety.


It looked like a food stall or something similar.
 
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