Getting it off my chest...

[mumbo jumbo]

First truly serious incident for ages this morning. Sod's Law meant that I didn't have my helmet camera on otherwise I'd have some interesting footage to post. (Wretched DogCam. Immediate upgrade to a Contour on the cards...).

This happened on the Stratford Road heading into Birmingham close to the Shaftmoor Rd junction (or the College Arms for those who navigate by pubs). To cut to the chase, this involves me riding in primary away from an ASL in preparation for a lane change. Mondeo saloon accelerates through the gap (me to car in right hand lane) as close as you can pass without actually hitting me. I screamed and gesticulated at him which promted him to brake test me (the 2 incidents are only a couple of seconds apart). I didn't hit him but it was an awkward halt and I managed to fall off into a standing position rather than onto the ground (if that makes sense?). He then drove off the 100 yards or so to the back of the queue at the next lights - on the road into town. He wasn't even turning left off the main road. He just wanted to jump ahead of a few cars in the lane he should have been in (and failed on account of the brake test).

That's where I caught up with him. The passenger window was already down so he knew what was coming. The "conversation" is a bit of a blur. We were yelling at each other at the same time for most of it. My crime was being in the middle of the road. Apparently he had to go that close to me to avoid hitting the car coming the other way (which doesn't make sense - the cars in the next lane were going in the same direction). I remember suggesting that if I drove like that around his wife or kids he'd probably smash my face in. Then someone hooted at us and he burned rubber away from the scene.

I still had about 4 miles into the office and calmed down on the ride but when I got to my desk (with 30 minutes til a client meeting and stuff to do in the meantime) and someone asked how I was I could barely talk about it and was physically shaking.

I have envisaged conversations of this nature with drivers before. In these imagined conversations I have been calm yet forcefully educating the culprit in the ways of the Highway Code etc. In situ, I completely lost it. Frothing-at-the-mouth, effing-and-blinding lost it. I didn't even get his reg number or talk to any witnesses. I don't blame myself for losing it but I seriously wish I'd managed to hold it together a bit better.

OK - it's off my chest now. And relax . . .

 

[upsidedown]

I would seriously think twice before you engage somebody around there. I grew up around there and there are some right nut jobs about.
Easier said than done I know; glad you're ok.

 

[Hip Priest]

It's always best to keep your cool, but we're only human. I got passed heading into a pinch point by an Iceland van about half an hour ago. I shouted 'f-ing hell' instinctively, but managed to restrain myself from taking it any further.

I tend to avoid speaking to drivers.

 

[Ashaman42]

I bellowed at a driver last night (not that they heard me, I often have an ineffectual bellow and they had their windows up) and caught up in anger and gesticulation I managed to a) nearly cut across someone else's path (they were stopped so not too bad) and b) raise a hand to apologise for said cut across...whilst cornering...in the wet

I'm normally good at not riding angry but failed last night.

 

[400bhp]

Should we class these encounters as road rage (the OP)? I guess it is.

Just an observation, not condemming & not pontificating (done it myself a few times).

I've managed to start waving and shouting hello rather than swearing/gesticulating.

 

[Blue]

The guy was a d;ck. You exist on a higher plane. Forget it.

 

[DresdenDoom]

It was a sad day when radio aerials went internal. Windscreen wipers are still available though, or if you have an escape route go nuclear and take out a wing mirror.

 

[Little yellow Brompton]

It was a sad day when radio aerials went internal. Windscreen wipers are still available though, or if you have an escape route go nuclear and take out a wing mirror.

The 80's despatch rider's response of a paper bag of curry powder ( or dried vomit) into the front air intake ( infront of the windscreen) might be worth a re visit.

 

[DresdenDoom]

The 80's despatch rider's response of a paper bag of curry powder ( or dried vomit) into the front air intake ( infront of the windscreen) might be worth a re visit.

Dried vomit? Some folk have the foresight to produce (or find) some vomit and then take it home and dry it? Then they take it with them in anticipation of the happy day when they can chuck it in some unfortunate SMIDSY's face? 10/10 on the Baden-Powell scale

 

[Little yellow Brompton]

Dried vomit? Some folk have the foresight to produce (or find) some vomit and then take it home and dry it? Then they take it with them in anticipation of the happy day when they can chuck it in some unfortunate SMIDSY's face? 10/10 on the Baden-Powell scale

What can I say? I only read "BIKE" back in the 80's I'm not responsible for it's content.

 

[jonathanw]

Dried vomit? Some folk have the foresight to produce (or find) some vomit and then take it home and dry it? Then they take it with them in anticipation of the happy day when they can chuck it in some unfortunate SMIDSY's face? 10/10 on the Baden-Powell scale

 

[DresdenDoom]

What can I say? I only read "BIKE" back in the 80's I'm not responsible for it's content.

I read it in the 70's mostly. Mark Williams, LJK Setright. Those were happier times

 

[Little yellow Brompton]

I read it in the 70's mostly. Mark Williams, LJK Setright. Those were happier times

Setright was very much on the same mould as Alastair Cook, he took you on a journey that meandered and twisted but then brought you back to the start with a new perspective. Mark Williams, was he the one who became editot in the 80's and dragged the magazine down to being a lads mag?

I miss Setright.

 

[DresdenDoom]

Ummm Mark Williams was the founder of Bike in the early 70's, then came back for a bit to try and rescue it from the doldrums. He still writes for it occasionally. I liked Setright a lot, straight and upright with unbending but mostly good opinions. He is, like the entire cast (bar one) of the Carry On films, dead now. As I said, happier times.