Is a driver getting out of their car an act of potential aggression?

[BentMikey]

The rear view one is by far the worst, clearly a deliberate attempt to intimidate or worse still knock her off.

That's another cyclist, the male in the white/translucent top. I also didn't see any attempt to knock off, just another "I must squeeze past".

 

[iAmiAdam]

She was never in the far left of the cycle lane, even if the cyclist is in the cycle lane I'm sure you're meant to give them some room? Which could of easily been done as there was no traffic to the right of the car, he could of given her atleast a foot.

But that's not the point, even if you don't agree with what someone thinks, there's no need to get out of your car etc.

Well played Gaz, good to know there's still some good people out there.

 

[Sheffield_Tiger]

Poor cycling skills by the woman and bad and aggressive driving by Mr Angry.
A dangerous overtaking manoeuvre by the woman, she did not look to check as she wobbled to overtake the other cyclist. She was outside the white line when there was no need to be on a busy road like that. Bad lack of perception by the cyclist.

That of course does not excuse Mr Angry for his threatening behaviour.

A perfect illustration of the negative aspect of cycle lanes being used to impart culpability onto the cyclist for "being in the bit that's for cars, not for bikes"

Yes, mistakes seem to have been made on both sides, but the mistake is not one of purely "not being in the bike lane"


On the subject of aggression by car drivers, I find these steering locks highly offensive...nigh on useless as a steering wheel lock so only really with one purpose in mind, disguising the offensive weapon as something "legitimate"

http://tinyurl.com/3647uhq

 

[Ticktockmy]

The other evening I was cycling through the village of Handcross here in Sussex, mid evening so the traffic was not very heavy, but with the cars parked each side of the road it do make the road a little narrow.

Behind me I can hear a car revving its engine and really trying to either push me to go faster or move over for which there was no room.

Each end of the high street there are pinch kerbs which really reduce the width if the road so only one car can pass.

As I approached the pinch area there was another car was coming the other way, and he stopped to allow myself and the fool behind me pass.

Fool behind me seeing thier chance pulled out and floored the gas pedal, only to find they F&%*%ed up, and drove over the pinch kerb, swerved to miss and nearly flattened me,.

They then proceeded to drive off, well limped off making very expensive noises.

The guy in the other car was shocked as he was thinking the idiot was going to ram him, luckly he got the number and was going to report it.

Turns out dare I say it” the Driver was a Lady” going home to explain why the car needed major surgery.

Hopefully she learnt a lesson.

 

[Amanda P]

In my opinion, the lady cyclist's overtake was a little ill-judged; the driver's was worse. We all make mistakes.

I fully understand Gaz's actions once the driver had stopped, and I agree that getting out the car could have been an act of aggression.

But equally, he may have been getting out of the car in order not to have to shout at her to get across his point of view - which would have also seemed aggressive. (It's hard to make yourself heard from inside a car, even with the window open, in a noisy environment like a traffic junction). In the event, he had no chance to say anything much because Gaz never gave him a chance. In the end, I think he did get frustrated, and at that point relapsed into the "go **** yourself" argument, and got back into his car.

The manouvre he then made caught on Gaz's rear view camera looked particularly stupid. I wonder if that action was deliberate, and came partly of frustration from the encounter with Gaz? - or frustration that he wasn't able to bully the woman cyclist as he'd have liked to, for the capital crime of touching his car!

For this manouvre, there can be no excuse. He can hardly have been unaware at this point that there were bikes about.

 

[Amanda P]

Oh, and I wholly agree that this illustrates nicely why there shouldn't be bike lanes of this type. In fact, since there seem to be as many bikes as cars about on this route, perhaps the cars should be confined to one narrow lane, and the rest of the road designated for bikes?

 

[scouserinlondon]

I've never had anybody get out of a car on me, but I would take it as an act of aggression and either shoot my self and leg it or take them on.

 

[As Easy As Riding A Bike]

I would put that down to a cyclist taking a chance on an overtake, out of 'lane' and accepting that any passing traffic would be close... And look at the position of the car in relation to the white lines when passing. Nothing wrong with the car's position there.

Am I reading this right? Your assessment seems to be that - well, being as she was outside the cycle lane, she has to accept a close pass.

Are you sure?

Now, the cyclist does not give the cyclist on her inside anywhere near enough room. That's not good cycling.

But arguing that because the car is in a good position "in relation to the white lines" (!!), the overtake was alright, is frankly absurd.

The driver should be in a good position with respect to the human being on the bicycle - regardless of how poor her overtake on the other cyclist is (in fact I would say that's a reason for being even more cautious, to compensate).

(To anticipate a comeback argument - I don't think the driver can argue that she suddenly swerved into his lane to overtake. She appears in the vid at 0:18, pretty much on the white line. The car overtakes her six seconds later, and in that time her line has barely deviated - maybe a few more inches to her right. As stated previously, her positioning is poor, as is the overtake - but she is in the driver's vision for plenty of time, and her line does not deviate substantially enough to justify the proximity of the pass).

 

[As Easy As Riding A Bike]

The cars position was fine.

It was not.

See my post above.

 

[oldroadman]

1. If you need to do an overtake, dominate the road space. They can't squeeze if there is no room to get alongside. From the vidoe, the skills in this area were poor.
2. Lights, it was a poorly lit area, and the "offended" rider had poor lighting, took no rear observation before moving out.
3. The whole confrontation was unnecessary, and simply provoked the driver into a worse mood, which is reflected in the cutting in incident (not excusing this), which brought danger to someone else!.
4. Lesson, take a note from advanced moto riding system, use a "lifesaver" glance before that final move, and when the traffic is as tight as this be aware what's going on around you. It's not all one way agression, as sadly we sometimes see in London (and elsewhere), but the people who get hurt are on tow wheels, where it's just body damage to a car/bus/truck.

 

[Lurker]

".... What's more important is that this illustrates how potential confrontations can arise through human error."



Surely the individuals concerned aren't acting in a vacuum? The street layout was designed by highway engineers, and they help to shape people's behaviour. So I'd suggest that the people who created this part of the cycle superhighway bear some responsibility for conflicts such as this.

 

[dellzeqq]

I'm with Uncle Phil and oldroadman on this - and, presuming this is Clapham Road and I haven't made some embarrassing error, I know this stretch of road very well. She should have looked first, signalled and been well further to the right, given the other cyclist more room, and not given the driver the option of overtaking. When I go down there on my way back south at this time of night I'm well in to the not-so-blue bit for the entire stretch, and making sure that absolutely nothing other than The Blur Known As Origamist (grrrrr...) gets past me in that lane - that way I can assure myself that Susie, who will be a little further to the left, isn't menaced.

As for the contretemps - forget it. He's one of tens of thousands who are gradually accustoming themselves to the huge number of cyclists on the A24. It's getting better day by day.

 

[BentMikey]

I'm with Uncle Phil and oldroadman on this - and, presuming this is Clapham Road and I haven't made some embarrassing error, I know this stretch of road very well. She should have looked first, signalled and been well further to the right, given the other cyclist more room, and not given the driver the option of overtaking. When I go down there on my way back south at this time of night I'm well in to the not-so-blue bit for the entire stretch, and making sure that absolutely nothing other than The Blur Known As Origamist (grrrrr...) gets past me in that lane - that way I can assure myself that Susie, who will be a little further to the left, isn't menaced.

As for the contretemps - forget it. He's one of tens of thousands who are gradually accustoming themselves to the huge number of cyclists on the A24. It's getting better day by day.

This is all true, but it still doesn't excuse the much worse overtake from the driver, or the aggressive approach that was stopped in its tracks by Gaz. That must have been quite frightening for the lady cyclist.

Gaz gets my vote for super cyclist: his commanding presence, leadership, and gentlemanly behaviour on the day. Chapeau!!!

 

[BentMikey]

p.s. Aperitif, should I say a word about chancy overtakes and not looking back?

 

[As Easy As Riding A Bike]

She should have looked first, signalled and been well further to the right, given the other cyclist more room, and not given the driver the option of overtaking.

This is all true, but sailing dangerously close to blaming the victim - especially as there is no mention of the driver's behaviour in your post.