I try not to lose my temper -I mean, let's look at facts -you are effectively arguing with someone (who you don't know and have no idea of their mental state) in a huge (relative to you) vehicle that can have deadly momentum..... Enough said to me. Since I live in the States, I'll also add in there's a likelihood they may have a firearm too (yippee! makes me feel all warm, safe and cuddly inside)
Anyway, having said all of that, I can only recall a couple of times in about 40 years where I really lost it, both of which I regret. One incident where a truck driver pulling a trailer didn't overtake at a safe place and then pulled into me, and I'm very sure he knew I was there and simply didn't care. I caught up to him at the next junction and its safe to say I screamed at him and used very choice and colourful Anglo-Saxon invective. I think only my cycling experience saved me from being squashed that day, I was not impressed! Another time where a car driver took the time to slow down beside me and start swearing at me (should add he objected to me being on the road and as far as I know, I had never seen him before, never had an interaction and was not in any way shape or form had been doing anything remotely objectionable on my commute into work). It was my first commute of the year, wasn't mentally prepared for it and just reacted; I shouted the same (shame on me) back at him, and then did the same after I subsequently passed him at a traffic light.
I suppose my point is I just try to shake my head mentally and not engage, as it's not worth it. I think if someone does something really egregious on purpose, there's very little chance they will be open to a shouty telling off, let alone a reasoned argument -and probably they are more likely to react badly! And as someone else posted, I think it's only the deliberate actions rather than mistakes that people make that upset me more (I mean, who here hasn't made a mistake?).
Finally, and I think this also gives pause for thought, let's say you are on your commute or a commonly taken bike route by you and you have an altercation.....there is now a reasonable probability that same person will be driving that same bit of road at the same time you are cycling. A sobering thought if you can't trust that person (and we all know the best way to deliberately murder someone and get away with it is to drive over them while they are on a bicycle, sadly)
But all said and done, I'm only human, and clearly even though I try to follow the above, I've lost my temper
