Taking off the door mirror...

[ColinJ]

Not if the driver is a 'Kenneth Noye' type.

Like this one ...?

 

[Banjo]

How do you tell?

If he doesnt kill you he isnt the type

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Like this one ...?

Who killed someone who accidentally clipped his door mirror?

 

[uclown2002]

Like this one ...?

Exactly. You have no idea what that driver is capable of if provoked.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

I have to admit that sometimes with the adrenalin running I could be tempted (but havent yet) .

I dont think illegal acts like this can possibly promote anything good for cyclists in general though.And of course one day the driver may see red and run right over you in a rage.

One did actually follow me into the car park at work once. But that is another story. As is the one who did it when I was driving....

 

[ColinJ]

Who killed someone who accidentally clipped his door mirror?

Exactly my point. If crazies exact the death penalty for accidental damage, they would have no hesitation in inflicting it if they catch you damaging their beloved cars deliberately!

 

[ColinJ]

[QUOTE 2915494, member: 45"]Sentenced to 13 years minimum.[/quote]
It happened just down the road from where I cycled as a teenager ...

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Exactly. You have no idea what that driver is capable of if provoked.

You have no idea what anyone is capable of if provoked. Nor what they might regard as provocation. Do we really have to live our lives in fear of provoking others just in case they are some nutter? Clearly nobber-drivers are happy to take the risk of provoking me quite happily!

and how are we to cycle at all given any driver we encounter may have just been provoked beyond endurance by the last cyclist they met?

 

[Garethgas]

Who killed someone who accidentally clipped his door mirror?

Thing is GG, a lot of these drivers are already angry before they even encounter you so it doesn't take much for them to take it out on what they might see as an easy target.
I really don't think there's one simple answer, or one simple reason, more likely a combination of factors but I don't think provoking them further is doing our fellow cyclists any favours.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Exactly my point. If crazies exact the death penalty for accidental damage, they would have no hesitation in inflicting it if they catch you damaging their beloved cars deliberately!

and therefore we should stay home and ride turbo's? or never ride in traffic in case we accidentally clip a car and get murdered?

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Motorists will see it differently. Motorist on motorist conflict is the same herd. Remember that cyclists are different and stick out more.

and are the subject of established grudges? So perhaps the accidental contact by the driver is actually deliberate?

 

[sazzaa]

I think the vandalism and aggression of removing a mirror is completely wrong and would worry if cycling made me feel like I had lost control in that manner. That said, if a driver were to get out of their car and act aggressively towards me in person then it's possible I'd react in self defence.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Thing is GG, a lot of these drivers are already angry before they even encounter you so it doesn't take much for them to take it out on what they might see as an easy target.
I really don't think there's one simple answer, or one simple reason, more likely a combination of factors but I don't think provoking them further is doing our fellow cyclists any favours.

I think the % of folk who drive angry is vanishingly small and the % of them who would take it out on anyone a vanishingly small % of them.

I don't buy the "what about your poor fellow cyclists" reasoning at all. But I'm open to hear how folk think it works. Because if it does work/apply I'm going to start giving every gutter bunny I pass a piece of my mind about how they are letting the side down. And as for RLJ'ers. And that lot with no pedal reflectors. Well....

 

[downfader]

Exactly. You have no idea what that driver is capable of if provoked.

Equally I think sections of the cycling community demonise drivers as somehow having this capability.

I've never knocked a wing mirror off but I've been bloody tempted. Like twice this morning. Already had a bad day home yesterday, to find out that my Mother had been doored on her way home. The Police are now (at a second attempt) involved.

Twice this morning I have had drivers get right up my arse and give me some serious threatening abuse because they couldnt overtake. They've acted like spoilt toddlers and I lost my rag on both occasions and shouted back. These people need to be taken to task, I'd rather in reality push hard to force some kind of change. Force of will is a powerful thing, and I think my correspondence over some 3-400 letters last year might have helped not just cycling's image but my own bloody sanity.

I also think that if you accept cycling as part of your lifestyle you start to see the roads in a completely different context to noncyclists. There can be benefits to that as well as negatives the question is are we prepared to push and promote those benefits? I dont see that we have any choice but to.

 

[sazzaa]

I think the % of folk who drive angry is vanishingly small and the % of them who would take it out on anyone a vanishingly small % of them.

I think loads of people drive angry/aggressively, I seem to encounter them every day on the way to work, whether in my car or on my bike.