OM freaking G

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Hip Priest

Veteran
I tend to agree with Jonny, although we're only human.

I rarely have incidents, but tonight I found myself getting involved in tit-for-tat nonsense with a motorist. He passed me extremely closely. I ended up catching him at the next lights, and instead of staying behind him and letting him go home to his inflatable partner, I made the rather stupid decision to position myself right in front of him.

Of course, I got a 2nd close pass, so I gave him a few naughty gestures and arrived home feeling wound up.

Keeping calm is always best.
 

GrumpyGregry

Here for rides.
Yes, but happily this is only happens, at most, with a tiny, tiny percentage of bad encounters with lunatic dodo drivers. Your last time didn't even involve one (ouch!)

The issue here is how to deal with the 99.999% who cross you but don't actually collide with you.
My last but two, on road, for the record :whistle:
 

sheffgirl

Senior Member
Location
Sheffield
I've just moved further out from the city centre into a little village, and I've found the drivers to be much better than in the city centre. Actually, it is like I have only just realised how bad some people can be in comparison :laugh:. I'm not sure what it is, whether it is the traffic at rush hour that affects people or they are just not as used to cyclists, although there are a lot more in the city centre so that doesn't even make sense :wacko:
 

Shut Up Legs

Down Under Member
@mickle, I get a lot of the same behaviour from Australian motorists, and I've seen a few inconsiderate cyclists also (mainly in Summer, they're the "fair-weather" ones). I've become a bit numb to it after a while, so while I still find it annoying, it doesn't upset me quite as much. Your day did sound worse than usual, though! Hopefully, that's your "quota" for the month :thumbsup:
 

Tin Pot

Guru
So to show I'm not completely biased, I have two bad driver tales from this evening within minutes of each other.

First, a dozy bint in an Audi waiting in line on a hill rolls into the back of me after releasing her hand brake.

Second, approaching a junction traffic lights green for me, a four by four steams straight across in front of me. Luckily my wits were about me or that would've been devastating. I've never seen a car do that before - Must've been driven by a cyclist.
 

classic33

Leg End Member
Well spotted. You win 1st prize ^_^
What'd I win?
 
Interesting thread . . my vote is for calm . . February cc-ing is tough as we are all sick of the dark and cold . . stay warm, listen to tunes, and invest in expensive strobe lights .


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jonny jeez

Legendary Member
. Neither nor Mickle should have to deploy spidey-senses or other super-powers, or a transcendant zen-like calm just so we can get to work unharmed.

Feel free to scream.;)

Yebbut....you just do.

Cycling in a busy town shouldn't be undertaken any other way.

I do take your point, that we shouldn't HAVE to but until we achieve road user nirvana, we just do.

....Without the hint of a scream....
 

jonny jeez

Legendary Member
This makes sense -it takes at least 2 for a bust up. The only time I think I ever came close to one myself was after a driver pulling a caterpillar bulldozer almost killed me with an incredibly reckless move. I confronted him afterwards -not something I'd recommend btw -but based on his lack of care for my life, I was a tad on the enraged side. Still, it was my choice to do this, and again, not something all said and done that was -or was going to be -productive nor safe, especially based on the language I used.

I don't mind admitting I've had a couple of incidents in 30-40 years where if I had caught a driver... well, I'm glad I didn't because it probably wouldn't have worked out for me. The point is that we usually all have a choice to confront or not and hence get into altercations. Overwhelmingly, I can say I've chosen to not confront; the inconvenience, the remote possibility of changing someone's behaviour, the potential danger involved, etc just doesn't make it worth it (let alone if I'm fast enough to catch them!).

However, and obviously from above, I have had drivers doing dangerous stuff to me, and I think that's where the OP is coming from. I also think that if you are a good rider, you probably avoid all this stuff almost everyday -maybe to the point where you are immune and don't even classify it as a dangerous move or a "run in" after a while. I guess it's how you define what a "run in" is, or what you consider to be dangerous and inconsiderate driving. Maybe many of us have just been conditioned to expect bad driving :sad:

Couldn't have put it better myself
 

jonny jeez

Legendary Member
I've just moved further out from the city centre into a little village, and I've found the drivers to be much better than in the city centre. Actually, it is like I have only just realised how bad some people can be in comparison :laugh:. I'm not sure what it is, whether it is the traffic at rush hour that affects people or they are just not as used to cyclists, although there are a lot more in the city centre so that doesn't even make sense :wacko:
Interesting, I've noticed the polar opposite. Town drivers seem far more cycle aware and far more cycle accepting to me. Suburban and rural drivers seem to have little opportunity to experience cyclists, they seem to want to get past us more and also seem to be far more easily distracted.

Its also fair to say that at certain times of the day, suburban drivers are prone to sudden stops and uturns to drop kids off, take rat runs, grab a parking space...or just stop for a chat....than those in town.

Town driving seems to have much more purpose or perhaps function than suburban...its almost a profession.


Interesting how perceptions are so varied.

Its the spice of life!
 

buggi

Bird Saviour
Location
Solihull
maybe instead if bombarding each other with this stuff (after all we are preaching to the converted) we should bombard our MPs EVERY SINGLE DAY until they concede that the only solution is a presumed liability law?
 
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