How Do You Let A Driver Know
- Thread starter Wester
- Start date
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) but usually just a shake of the head is enough or if you're really annoyed a flick of the Vees at them.
Hip Priest
Veteran
I try not to bother.
Gestures are either ignored, or escalate the situation.
Gestures are either ignored, or escalate the situation.
semislickstick
Guru
- Location
- Cambridgeshire
Waggle your little finger, they'll know what you are referring to.
You should probably leave it as it'll lead to confrontation and that will never end well, unless they've done something illegal in which case shop em to the police!
I've found that simply shaking my head in disbelief has made a couple of drivers become even more furious and I dread to think what might happen to the next person they encounter if they've gotten THAT angry over a head shake!
downfader
extimus uero philosophus
- Location
- 'ampsheeeer
Most of the time I ignore it, however if the risk persists I do tend to shout something like "Oi! Steady on!!" to alert to that fact.
Recently I've seen a lot of drivers with their lights off during the dark and wet. In that situation I've tried the old motorcycle trick my mate used to tell me about - point at their headlights and shout "LIGHTS, MATE!" Most seem to switch them on, I think they realise no malice in my shout if I phrase it right.
Recently I've seen a lot of drivers with their lights off during the dark and wet. In that situation I've tried the old motorcycle trick my mate used to tell me about - point at their headlights and shout "LIGHTS, MATE!" Most seem to switch them on, I think they realise no malice in my shout if I phrase it right.
Cycling Dan
Cycle Crazy
i tend to do a shake of the head, not much effort and if they look they can see it clearly and it only has one meaning, plus its not rude. win win.
That being said... there are plenty of examples where emotion has got the best of me.
That being said... there are plenty of examples where emotion has got the best of me.
Boris Bajic
Guest
We've all been cut up, pulled out on, swerved at and worse in our cars, on our bicycles and on our motorcycles.
Cars do it, vans do it, bicycles do it. Everyone does it. I'm not sure it's helpful to divide road users into drivers who cut people up and cyclists who get cut up. Poor road behaviour seems pretty evenly distributed among vehicle types.
As cyclists we can take it a little more personally as it can hurt more if it gets too intimate.
Over the years I've found that shouting and gesticulating may not always be the appropriate response.
The Internet is full of self-regarding warriors of the helium-squeak truth who feel the need to have shouty Road Tax rants or worse at motorists. They will always have the support of a few.
They will inevitably be embarrassed in years to come by their absurd antics.
Best (in my limited experience) to do nothing, say nothing, resist the urge to wave or signal.
I may be wrong.
Cars do it, vans do it, bicycles do it. Everyone does it. I'm not sure it's helpful to divide road users into drivers who cut people up and cyclists who get cut up. Poor road behaviour seems pretty evenly distributed among vehicle types.
As cyclists we can take it a little more personally as it can hurt more if it gets too intimate.
Over the years I've found that shouting and gesticulating may not always be the appropriate response.
The Internet is full of self-regarding warriors of the helium-squeak truth who feel the need to have shouty Road Tax rants or worse at motorists. They will always have the support of a few.
They will inevitably be embarrassed in years to come by their absurd antics.
Best (in my limited experience) to do nothing, say nothing, resist the urge to wave or signal.
I may be wrong.
BentMikey
Rider of Seolferwulf
- Location
- South London
Swearing or giving the finger is not likely to improve things. Mostly, the earlier advice to not talk to the drivers is best, I think. I have one exception though - that is for close passes. I'll always make a toot and a pushing out to the right motion with my arm for these, because it's fairly effective in encouraging better driving not just from the miscreant driver themselves, but also from everyone else that saw the error and your response to it. This comes with very low risk of further negative interactions with that driver.
Camera users, especially those in London, have a much better way of educating the drivers via YouTube and a Roadsafe submission. That gets the message to the driver in a way they can hardly ignore, and usually with considerable "encouragement" to improve next time.
Camera users, especially those in London, have a much better way of educating the drivers via YouTube and a Roadsafe submission. That gets the message to the driver in a way they can hardly ignore, and usually with considerable "encouragement" to improve next time.
- Location
- Glasgow
SatNavSaysStraightOn
Changed hemispheres!
- Location
- ɐᴉlɐɹʇsn∀ 'ɐɹɹǝquɐƆ
Last week I had a car driver try to turn right across my path - we were both on the main road, she went to turn right across my path (the driver turning left out of the side road was further away from me and did not even considered trying to pull out in front of me and the look of alarm on everyone's faces said it all - there were 4 or 5 vehicles trying to turn right and an even longer queue trying to get out of the side road), she baled and ended up half way across my lane having pulled out of the right turn back onto the main road when she realised her mistake, it left me with a little room to manoever the bike between the side of her car and the bonnet of the one waiting to get out. I simply smiled and said thank you and carried on around her because at that point I would have been blocking her had I have completely stopped. It clearly scared her what she had just done, so there was no reason to make an issue. I took it more calmly because I knew I could still have stopped if really needed - added advantage of it being uphill at that point.
Mostly though I just shake me head to myself and try not to engage them, occasionally I gester and give a 'what was that' shrug.
However, I have found that around where I am, most people are now recognising me and know that I will happily give them a smile and say thank you if they help me out, and generally they are pretty good - in fact at one crossroads where I routinely turn right, I rarely if ever have to stop despite it being a very busy junction.
Mostly though I just shake me head to myself and try not to engage them, occasionally I gester and give a 'what was that' shrug.
However, I have found that around where I am, most people are now recognising me and know that I will happily give them a smile and say thank you if they help me out, and generally they are pretty good - in fact at one crossroads where I routinely turn right, I rarely if ever have to stop despite it being a very busy junction.
sidevalve
Über Member
Pretty spot on really. TBH I don't get what some other comments about "drivers" has to do with this thread though, this is about learners [that's those with the big red L on the car] and that "L" means something, ie this driver is inexperienced and or upredictale and may do something stupid. It's a warning, and it should be taken as such. If it isn't a learner and they've left the plate on, well it's still a warning, but perhaps for a different reason.
Matthew_T
"Young and Ex-whippet"
- Location
- Prestatyn, North Wales
On the topic of interacting with car drivers, who here actually hits the vehicle when it is too close to you? I personally have never done this as I like to have my hands covering the brakes and I fell that if I were to hit the vehicle, it could swerve into me and knock me off (similar to Gaz's taxi driver video).
I have been in situations where hitting the vehicle was possible but it never crosses my mind actually. I guess I am too busy concentrating on what it actually happening rather than what to do next.
I have been in situations where hitting the vehicle was possible but it never crosses my mind actually. I guess I am too busy concentrating on what it actually happening rather than what to do next.
Never while being passed. But I've done it twice - the first time, several years ago, a gentle (honestly) tap on the window to remonstrate with a very close passer who later shopped himself to the police after running me off the road following our 'conversation'. I have to say that my cycling was not the best at the time and I should not have been in a position to be close-passed in the first place. However, I learned a valuable lesson about how precious a driver can be about any kind of touch on their car.
Just a couple of months ago I was buzzed really fast and really close - by a driver who was undertaking, at speed, traffic in lane 2, while I was holding a fairly strong position in lane 1 (obviously not strong enough). I caught up with the guy in a queue half a mile later, stopped at his rear wing and banged really hard on his roof. He got 'Not nice being frightened is it?' when he got out the car - and then I got off my mark while the lights were still green. I don't know that he had even consciously registered my presence in his efforts to steal a march on the cars he was undertaking.
Now I generally shrug off the odd bit of bad driving with a shake of the head as the first incident taught me that confrontation gets you nowhere - but sometimes the behaviour is so bad you just have to react.
Matthew_T
"Young and Ex-whippet"
- Location
- Prestatyn, North Wales
There have been instances that I would have liked to have a 'word' with a driver but as I live somewhere with not much stop-start traffic, the person usually makes a getaway. I enjoy speeding up to 25mph trying to catch them though.
