Road ragers should wear helmets

[Deafie]

The cyclist could have pulled out of primary without inconveniencing himself as there was just one car and not a long line of traffic trying to get past.
His self righteous attitude was provocative from the start. Obviously the motorists behavior was no better and he got the poetic justice he deserved.
When encountering adolescent nobbers like this it's best to just take a deep breath and wait for them to move on.

 

[Lemond]

Some cyclists are just riding along minding their own business when some thoughtless driver puts them in harm's way. But never mind, just let them get away with it. After all, cars and their drivers are more important than cyclists.

Just report them to the police if you think it's worth it. Don't follow and confront them and put yourself in further harms way. A close pass doesn't hurt. A punch in the chops does.

 

[PhilDawson8270]

Some cyclists are just riding along minding their own business when some thoughtless driver puts them in harm's way. But never mind, just let them get away with it. After all, cars and their drivers are more important than cyclists.

I never said that, what I did say is if they choose to confront. They shouldn't be surprised to meet aggression. It's not right, but it's reality.

 

[Crandoggler]

Which was the point I was trying to make.

 

[benborp]

FFS! A close pass can put a cyclist in hospital, subject them to numerous operations and put them in pain for the rest of their life. Anti-social driving isn't just an inconvenience it can rip lives and families apart. I know both of these things from personal experience. I also know how ineffective the police can be even in the clearest cut case of critical injury to a vulnerable road user caused by criminal driving. I don't stand back and allow strangers to carry out physical, emotional or sexual violence when I encounter it and for my troubles I've been bitten, throttled, kicked, threatened. Despite that I'm not willing to stand back and watch others cause damage. The same goes for when I encounter such behaviour on the roads. Seeing as being passive, smiling, raising an eyebrow or calmly asking if someone is OK attract as much opprobrium as standing my ground and in my experience attract more determined attempts at violence than my being calculatedly aggressive what the fark have I got to loose? From where I am and where I've been I'd much rather peanuts such as this driver are challenged.

 

[Origamist]

But if you choose to question, and antagonise somebody with such little care for your safety anyway. Being assaulted shouldn't come as a surprise.

It's like poking an angry dog, it's funny till it bites, then it's all the dogs fault for biting.

Well, this video is funny and popular because the angry and violent bully gets his comeuppance - man bites pavement. And whilst it's a simple cartoon on one level, it is also a parable about road danger, powerlessness and how cameras are a symptom of a skewed driving culture that normalizes poor road craft and, the consequences that routinely go unpunished. In addition, when people consider pointing out how they were endangered, scared or made anxious they are warned off with the spectre of "road rage". Plus ça change...

 

[cd365]

I laughed out loud at the end, really funny and he got his comeuppance. The embarrassment from social media will sting a lot more though!

 

[SteveF]

More of the cyclist's "work" here:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cawXdgL5cwg

Looking at his youtube posts he does appear to be an active poster and doesn't shy away from confrontation, I firmly believe he chased the explosive motorist down to get his point across

 

[Deafie]

I agree that dangerous drivers should be confronted (I do it regularly) but in a calm and sober fashion so as not to exacerbate a situation. it is much more effective in getting ones point across being calm and factual than emotional and self righteous.
If the cyclist in the video we are discussing had pulled out of primary for a few seconds we would not be having this discussion. I ride every day in a city noted for its aggressive drivers and since adopting a less militant attitude I have been safer and better treated by other road users. I firmly believe that you have to give a little to get a little.

 

[LCpl Boiled Egg]

I agree that dangerous drivers should be confronted (I do it regularly) but in a calm and sober fashion so as not to exacerbate a situation. it is much more effective in getting ones point across being calm and factual than emotional and self righteous. If the cyclist in the video we are discussing had pulled out of primary for a few seconds we would not be having this discussion. I ride every day in a city noted for its aggressive drivers and since adopting a less militant attitude I have been safer and better treated by other road users. I firmly believe that you have to give a little to get a little.

In other words - CYCLISTS! Know your place! The motorist's journey is more important than your safety.

 

[Origamist]

I agree that dangerous drivers should be confronted (I do it regularly) but in a calm and sober fashion so as not to exacerbate a situation. it is much more effective in getting ones point across being calm and factual than emotional and self righteous.
If the cyclist in the video we are discussing had pulled out of primary for a few seconds we would not be having this discussion. I ride every day in a city noted for its aggressive drivers and since adopting a less militant attitude I have been safer and better treated by other road users. I firmly believe that you have to give a little to get a little.

The driver in the video was not delayed by the cyclist – he plowed straight past, only a matter of inches from the cyclist. When the overtake starts, the cyclist is just clearing the silver VW Golf. He barely has a chance to utilise the parking bays to his left "to give a little". I suspect the cyclist thought that the driver would stay behind him for a few seconds as that is what most sensible drivers would do in the same situation. Perhaps if there were lots of opportunities for the cyclist to move left and the driver had been needlessly delayed for a considerable period, I could understand what you are saying, but this is not the case in the video.

 

[PhilDawson8270]

In other words - CYCLISTS! Know your place! The motorist's journey is more important than your safety.

Not really, It's nice to be courteous and give way to faster traffic when it is safe to do so. It's irritating being stuck behind slow moving tractors that don't move over when safe too.

As a cyclist, if I get to a space that I can pull in to, to let traffic past, before a safe passing point I will do.

 

[Deafie]

In other words - CYCLISTS! Know your place! The motorist's journey is more important than your safety.

What I am trying to get across, to cyclists and motorists alike, is that if road users had a little more consideration for each other situations like the one being discussed would be avoided, there is no profit to be had in acting out like spoiled children, It achieves nothing. What we are talking about here is lives and safety so is it better to act out our emotions for short term gratification or employ our intelligence to achieve safer more harmonious road conditions. Nob heads will always exist but behaving like nob heads is not the way to reduce nobbish nobbery!

 

[Lemond]

In other words - CYCLISTS! Know your place! The motorist's journey is more important than your safety.

That's not what Deafie meant at all. How about we just accept that we share the road space with other users? Pulling to one side to let another vehicle pass costs nothing. Everybody's happy, no swearing, no fisticuffs.

 

[Mugshot]

He has a camera, he has it on film, he wasn't touched. If he genuinely felt like his safety was at risk by the pass, he could quite easily pass the details and evidence onto the police.

And what if he didn't have a camera?

Being assaulted shouldn't come as a surprise.

but not be surprised with an attempted assault.

Now it's a possibility that you could be assaulted and to be honest I'd much rather not get a smack in the chops, but I will not let some bullying tosser who thinks they can act in whatever way they like with absolutely no repercussions push me around, I don't accept it in the supermarket queue, I don't accept it walking along the pavement and I don't accept it on the bike. The trouble is the more people kowtow to bullies the more the bullies bully. It reminds me of something I heard about wildebeests and lions, if all the wildebeests decided one day that enough was enough and stood up the the lions, the lions would be screwed, but they don't they keep running away and getting picked off one by one. The fact is that we should be surprised if we get assaulted, it shouldn't be accepted as the norm!!

Not picking on your posts BTW Phil.