Hit a car yesterday

[jonny jeez]

Just to add a little yin to the Commuter yang, I rode like a total spanner yesterday and ended up hitting the back of a green Audi.

Was a slow glancing blow that struck the chaps rear light cluster as I wobbled and weaved in a vain attempt to not meet him straight on.

After wiping down his light (it was misty) and checking for scrapes, I rode up to his smoked out window and prepared myself for an exchange.

It went just like this.

Me " Really sorry, totally my fault, I can't see any damage but do you want to pull over and check?".
Him (in thick eastern euro accent) "You ok?"
Me (flustered and pathetic) "err yeah, I'm fine but..."
Him (without a whiff of sarcasm)"well... that's ok then"

Then, with a slight smile and a shrug of his shoulders, up went his window and off he went.

What a smashing chap.

note to self, try not to look at complaining rear block when riding in slow traffic.

 

[sabian92]

Maybe where he's from, that's the done thing. I know in India it is

Ah well, least he didn't get out with a bat like in Russia.

 

[ianrauk]

Driver probs not insured or doesn't have a license

 

[jonny jeez]

Driver probs not insured or doesn't have a license

I was waiting for that...or "probably nicked"

you old cynic.

I admit I wondered the same though, as he purred away calmly.

 

[Boris Bajic]

Maybe where he's from, that's the done thing. I know in India it is

Ah well, least he didn't get out with a bat like in Russia.

I imagine the driver was just a nice person. We will never know. This has happened to me, too. There are nice people out there.

Having said that (and regarding your Russia reference) I was once being driven by a friend through Zemun (across the river from Belgrade) and he was cut up in heavy traffic by a shouty man who wanted to make a big deal of it.

My driver (and friend) was completely relaxed and let shouty man come right up to his window while held-up drivers behind honked and shouted. We were in a black 5 Series, which ought to have been a sort of warning in 1990, when most cars were Zastavas. Pal then dropped the window and lifted from the door pocket the most wicked-looking machete. He didn't wave it, he just raised it. That was the end of shouty man's fury and off we all went.

There is much wrong with Serbian society and there was much wrong with the business dealings of this pal of mine, but he didn't have to spend too much time worrying about road rage.

Another time, he stripped and cleaned a revolver while a group of us watched the Bette Midler weepie 'Beaches'. To this day, that remains one of my clearest definitions of 'juxtaposition'.

Carry on.

 

[RedRider]

I did something similar last summer in Mayfair of all places. Queue of traffic moved off but the car in front braked six inches later, saw a parking place I guess but no indication. My brake lever pierced his brake light, a clean little hole and I cut a knuckle. I was behind so accepted responsibility. Amicable exchange of details but the guy never followed it up.

 

[Arfcollins]

Clearly a stolen car. Couldn't be an Audi owner, for I have seen testimony on these pages that Audi owners are fatherless, crass, abusive half-wits.

 

[Maz]

Clearly a stolen car. Couldn't be an Audi owner, for I have seen testimony on these pages that Audi owners are fatherless, crass, abusive half-wits.

My brother drives an Audi. >>>>

 

[awfulquiet]

Clearly a stolen car. Couldn't be an Audi owner, for I have seen testimony on these pages that Audi owners are fatherless, crass, abusive half-wits.

Only applies if they're UK citizens

Know a few Germans with Audis, they're not dicks.. German BMW drivers however....

 

[Deleted member 20519]

Nice bloke, if only they were all like that! This is the conversation that followed after my shifter went into the back of a guys van.

Me: Sorry about that, I don't think there's any damage.
Him: There better not be any f***g damage you c***
Me: Have a good day

Could have been worse I suppose

 

[Moodyman]

In many parts of the world they view the car as a mere tool. It's only a handful of nations like ours where the car is an extension of their limbs. I read that in France it's customary to leave the handbrake off on a flat road if the street is busy - this is so that anyone else trying to squeeze their 2CV into a tight space could nudge the adjacent car.

 

[Boris Bajic]

In many parts of the world they view the car as a mere tool. It's only a handful of nations like ours where the car is an extension of their limbs. I read that in France it's customary to leave the handbrake off on a flat road if the street is busy - this is so that anyone else trying to squeeze their 2CV into a tight space could nudge the adjacent car.

This was a sort of half-truth, half-urban myth for many years.

Cars in Paris (and other French cities) did often seem slightly dented and unloved and this combined with that human fascination to rubbish the driving, lovemaking and cooking of every other nation in a sort of jingoistic frenzy to produce the credible 'truth' that you describe.

This view may also have been helped by the notoriously inadequate handbrake mechanism on those members of the 2CV and Dyane family equipped with front discs. The handbrake was little more than a pair of cork pads on each disc and rarely remained effective after half a dozen applications. Brilliant cars, brilliant inboard brakes, dreadful handbrake.

To an extent, cars in france are (or were) not seen as staus symbols in the way they are here. Now that the car market has become global, it it harder to distinguish national character in car production (although maybe Italy still retains something of this).

In the '50s, '60s. '70s and beyong, the French character was clearly stamped in its car production - at a time when most French people drove French cars. Free from the bizarre forces brought about by tax-friendly company-car schemes, they also tended to keep cars for longer.

This may also have accounted for the dented, unloved appearence of many city cars.

Most cars had relatively small engines (vignette was charged according to fiscal horsepower) and interiors were generally slightly spartan compared to the product of other countries. Springs tended to be softer and outside the realm of pure sportscars, it was recognised that most people, most of the time to not want or need racetrack spring settings.

A DS21 driven at 80-90% effort used to be about the fastest way to get between 2 cities. It was also comfortable getting there.

Now that we all have BMWs with rubber-band tyres on 17" rims and 'sports suspension', we have become the victims of silly marketing games.

Have I gone off at a tangent? Ooops! I should have put it is 'sport' mode. that would have kept me on line...

 

[BentMikey]

I think you need to swap order of the two words in your username, Jonny!