First Altercation with a motorist today.

[Melonfish]

So i'm approaching a small roundabout on my regular commute to work, i'm about 70 yards off and i look behind me before thinking of moving into primary.
its a good job i did as a moving van decides he wants to get exceptionally friendly with me. bit too close for comfort so i should out and give a wave of my arm, the passenger side window is open (its hot and sunny out) so naturally he hears me
i have since learned i should have deployed the "Dissaproving finger of doom" (­© Calibanzwei) aswell, but i'll remember that for Future encounters.

he stops at the roundabout despite there being no traffic and waits for me. 'alrighty then' thinks I and pulls up to his driver side window

"What the F*** is your problem?" comes his articulate question,
"Only the fact that you nearly flattened me!" says I "you gave me no room, besides you do not overtake a cyclist coming up to a roundabout, its in the highways code" (we were both turning left)

to which he waves his arm and creeps forward he then says something i didn't catch and " should Pay road tax!!" the last bit shouted at me.
so i kept up with him and shouted back "You don't pay it either pal, it was abolished in 37!" and off he scoots.

Now it turns out he was delivering to the same street i cycle through on my commute to work, so i made a show of stopping in front of his van and reading out his registration loudly...

the close pass wasn't the worst ever but i think it just took me by surprise as i was planning on moving out into primary, its a good thing i looked first as i ended up hugging the curb almost when he shot by. i have quite a reach and i know i could have touched the van! twas a 5 tonner too.
at least it gave me plenty of adrenaline for the rest of my commute in lol.
pete

 

[Sh4rkyBloke]

You should have made a display of talking on your phone as you stood at the front of the vehicle, then keep mentioning the words "Guv", "Sarge" and "Chief". Then look like you're taking a photo of his plates, his tax disc and his tyres and then tapping on your phone as if to send the pics via SMS... then utter the words again as in "Got those Sarge?Yep.... I know..... probably not, look a bit on the bald side to me..." etc. Then simply ride off to leave him wondering if he's in the sh*t or not...

 

[ohnovino]

Never underestimate the power of reading someone's numberplate out loud.

I had a similar situation a few weeks back (driver trying to pass me into a roundabout, apparently not realising I was only about a metre from the bumper of the car in front anyway). He beeped and screamed something at me, I told him to back off watch the road ahead. He turned red-faced and started swearing at me, so I calmly read out his plate.

At that point he completely shut up and looked away. Traffic cleared and I went on to the roundabout, and when I looked back he was still stopped, even though it was clear for him to go - it was as if he felt he'd been "caught" and he wanted to keep away from me so he didn't get in any more trouble.

Maybe he thought I was a cop, or maybe he had something more serious to hide. Either way, it made me chuckle for the rest of the ride home!