Almost Offed

[HLaB]

Must admit I was annoyed at my reaction for the opposite reason couple of weeks or so ago!

Touch wood nothing has happened, but I was similarly upset with my lack of reaction a few years ago too I was almost out of the Urban area almost passing a driveway in a little village (the driveway is on the crest of a hill, ramped and at 45deg, ish and wide) when a 4x4 shot passed me and up the drive way; that left hook was bad enough but the idiot was towing a 9ft trailer . I'm glad looking back now it was on the crest of the hill I'd only be doing 10-15mph a sec later I'd be doing 18-22mph which meant I could do an instant track stand but I wih I'd went up the driveway now and had a word with them but that was only about 7miles into my planned 100 and I wasn't letting him spoil my ride.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Cycle-commuting (at any speed) involves heavy exercise, it also involves exposure to frighteningly disparate risks of damage. Both of these promote adrenaline production, adrenaline is a stress hormone involved in what is correctly known as 'flight or fight' response.

For a car-driver to reacted to a close pass with a flight or fight response, it would be disproportionate. For a cyclist who has just experienced a potentially life-ending event such a response is entirely proportionate.

So no, parity with other road users is not the question here.

From what I remember of my studies....

Proportionality is not a concept that can be related to a genuine flight or flight response. Consideration of proportionality requires the rational mind to be in charge. In the event that a genuine fight or flight response is triggerred, and some triggers may be seen as trivial in the eyes of others as stress responses are funny things, the rational mind will be AWOL for quite some time.

For a driver to react to a close pass with a fight or flight response would be entirely in keeping with his or her evolutionary 'wiring'.

 

[jig-sore]

i had something very similar last year when that young girl left hooked me. funny how your emotions work.