An altercation on the commute

[Holdsworth]

My first argument with a driver of any kind for ages. This was on my commute back from work, end of my 2nd week in my new job on the industrial estate.

I was cycling down Macon Way in Crewe towards Hungerford Road when I stopped at these lights, which had gone red and someone was crossing on a cycle. I set off and stayed on the road as I tend not to use the cycle path on the pavement as I much prefer the road. There are very few shared use paths that I will use and this isn't one of them.

Anyway I set off on the green light and 100 yards later get a close pass by a silver car (no memory of the make/model or number plate, need to get the camera operational again!), it wasn't particularly bad and I was going to let is pass if it wasn't for obvious hand signals pointing to the path through the back window by the driver. My Airzound was nearly depleted at the time so that let out a little parp to little effect.

I eventually catch him up at the inevitable queue a few hundred yards later before the roundabout and ask him about the hand signals. Dialogue as follows:

Me: "why the hand signal?"

Driver: "what hand signals?"

Me: "the pointing you were giving through the back window"

Driver: "I was shouting at you yer prick!" (I didn't hear anything as he passed so I didn't realise he had done that as well)

Me: (I was p****d off at that remark, was going to reason with him but now...) "**** off!"

Driver: (Starts to open driver-side door)

Me: (Sensing danger I cycle off into the distance and leave him behind)


I suppose I could/should've handled it better but his attitude made me forget all of what I was meant to do in that sort of situation.

If/when it happens again I will try to keep calm, maybe even avoid confrontation altogether, so something like that doesn't happen again. I must take some form of anger management class as it takes relatively little verbal provocation for me to retort like I did today; and, as it showed in this instance, it just leads to a bad outcome and could've ended badly!

 

[Chutzpah]

Out of interest, why did you use the Airzound?

 

[BSRU]

I had one of those only yesterday morning, driver gesticulating at me to get onto the shared path as he became upset when he could not force himself past me at a pinch point.
He probably swore at me but with his windows up not much chance of me hearing anything.
At least he made himself this weeks "Idiot of The Week" deserving an upload to YouTube.

 

[gaz]

Remonstrating with drivers is not worth while

 

[kevin_cambs_uk]

Remonstrating with drivers is not worth while

thats a fair point and one I live by now

 

[Edge705]

As both a driver and a cyclist I tend to get along with cars but I too get incenced at times and one thing that really annoys me is drivers that pass you just before lights and pull right over to the left hand side not allowing the bike to get thorugh I wouldnt mind but theyve just past me!!. In response I go round the other side of them stop at the lights right in front of them and when the lights change casualy set off - I make my point and get some retribution for their ignorance. However I wonder if I ever should do this after all am I not encouraging trouble?

One such time a women driver did it 3 times in a very short stretch so I cut her up at a roundabout which was more of a danger to me than her but she crapped herself and I guess again I got retribution. some minutes later thinking about it I again put my self in a position of risk but for some reason something triggers and you lose all sense of normality

The only time I retaliate now is if a driver unwarrantly gives me a gesture or beeps their horn for no reason that I can work out but a colleague of mine goes absolutely bonkers he is always looking to knock out numpty drivers as he puts it talk about you scarpering drivers scarper when they take him on he's a mad scotsman and a big lad too ex marine!!

Unfortunately commuting is fraught with issues as the majority of time its done when most traffic is on the road you never get the same frequency of abuse on quiet country lane rides or at least thats my experience

At the end of the day its all down to respect as a driver I always give cyclists right of way but thats only because Im a cyclist if I wasnt Im not sure I would as I dont offer the same courteousness to tractor drivers

 

[cyberknight]

I had a driver nearly run me over on a mini roundabout as i was turning right he came straight across so i just shout "watch out "

I heard a "f** off " reply.

The driver must have turned around and chased me down the road because he then overtakes me , turns right pointing for me to follow .

Luckily my house was only another 200 yards or so up the road down a private drive so you cant see my house from the main road.

The point is you never know what sort of nutter is behind the wheel so it is best not to aggravate the situation ,this was one time i wish i had a camera, was i scared ? no i can handle myself but that can open a whole can of worms with assault if you "defend" yourself to much .

 

[Holdsworth]

Remonstrating with drivers is not worth while

Good point well made, one tip for the future

I know now it was probably not the smartest thing to do for the reasons outlined in your blog. We live and learn.

 

[thnurg]

At this rate I might start carrying a stocking in which to stuff and swing my water bottle as an emergency deterrent.

 

[400bhp]

Remonstrating with drivers is not worth while

Completely agree.

 

[Chris-H]

I must say...well done for getting out of there when he started to open the door.Unfortunatley for me(and my long suffering wife) if someone does that to me i tend to jump off my bike and meet them at their door giving a rather loud verbal warning,so far(thankfully) it has'nt come to blows but it makes me mad beyond reason when drivers think they have automatic rights to the roads and cyclists are a mere second best
Thankfully i have started calming down and learning to back off but its the attempt at intimidation that riles me,they soon think twice when faced with 6'3 17 stone of ranting cyclist

 

[Digital_Cowboy]

I also had one of those last week as I was going out to the VA for a doctors appointment. Only he had his window open and yelled at me "Get in the effen bike lane." The irony is that there is no bike lane where we were on the street. There is one a few blocks to the west, but where we were there are no signs or pavement markers designating a bike lane. I tried to explain that to him, and unfortunately as with the OP I responded to the driver the same why he that he yelled at me. And also as the OP wasn't able to get any vital information about the car, i.e. make, model, year or license plate number. The only things I knew for sure were that he was a white male missing his two front teeth (upper) and that he was driving a black car.

He got out of his car, and says to me "Do you want to start something." I was I think reasonably afraid that had I attempted to stop to get any information about his car that he would have charged me and make good his "threat" to get into a fight. So I did the only thing that I could do under the circumstance, I transitioned onto the sidewalk/pavement so as to keep as much space as I possibly could between us and kept moving. He shadowed me with his four-ways flashing before finally making a right turn to go on his way. I also stayed on the road that I was on because the direction that I was traveling in there was a 7-11 on one corner and a car dealership on the one across the street from it. And I figured that hopefully I'd have some witnesses on my side if it came to it.

Which knock wood it didn't.

 

[CopperCyclist]

A recent poster put up an old cartoon clip (Goofy) showing the 'Jekyll and Hyde' effect that cars tend to have on people. Personally I never bother starting a 'discussion' with bad drivers, as there's little chance of any positive effect to be honest.

 

[Chutzpah]

I think the other thing that people need to remember is most drivers aren't cyclists. They don't understand why we don't always want to use a so-called "bike lane" or shared pavement.

When I explain it to colleagues who moan about cyclists not using them they begin to see it from our perspective. Remember, from their point of view you're just holding them up (when you could be out of their way) AND as far as they're concerned you're doing something "more dangerous".

It's not until you explain how these facilities can actually be more dangerous that they begin to understand.

 

[Chutzpah]

Should add to this - I've started cycling at the weekend with a work colleague. He's more of a runner but fancies cycling to boost his fitness.

It wasn't until he was out with me and I was adopting the primary position at pinch points that he realised why "crazy cyclists" go into the middle of the road "right where it narrows".

Being on a bike changes your perspective hugely.

We're trying to control the traffic behind us for both party's safety. They just think you're being an idiot.