Windscreen Washed

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lejogger

lejogger

Guru
Location
Wirral
Ok... well I know this isn't as serious as many of the near misses that we have on our commutes, but tonight I'm seething at the actions of a senior bloke in his VW...
...however at the same time, I'm not sure if I have any right to be angry. What are your thoughts?

Essentially I was travelling in the left hand lane in primary around a large-ish motorway roundabout just approaching my turn off. In primary position because the filter has two lanes and I want the traffic to go around me in the outer lane once we hit the turn off, especially because it curves fairly sharply round to the left and if i'm into the kerb I can become invisible to cars travelling around fast until too late.
I got a green light at the previous set so was travelling in the high 20s(mph) approaching the cars just setting off from green to go left around my junction. I slow to allow them to take off, but sit in the slipstream of this VW who accelerates up to 30. I obviously go with him to that speed because I've got less wind resistance than normal by being behind him and was cycling pretty well tonight.

All of a sudden, the b*stard flicks on his windscreen wash and soaks me with it, before accelerating off into the distance.

Now when I told my folks about this, their first instinct was to laugh... I guess it seems pretty amusing unless you're the guy at close proximity to a car being sprayed in the eyes with chemicals doing 30mph around a bend. At least it wasn't a brake-test.

But did I deserve it for sticking too close to him? Or deserve something at least? Am I getting worked up over nothing? No harm done, but I feel like there could have been an unecessary accident.
 
campbellab

campbellab

Senior Member
Location
Swindon
Maybe his window was dirty?

Or he thought you were holding on!
 
Matthames

Matthames

Über Member
Location
East Sussex
I don't think it was deliberate, the driver probably wanted to clean their screen as it might have been dirty. Although I would probably be tempted to have a word with a driver with a badly adjusted windscreen washer to let them know that it is badly adjusted and it might work better if they got it sorted.
 
Night Train

Night Train

Maker of Things
Location
Greater Manchester
If someone tailgates me I sometimes wash my windscreen. The few drops of wind blown spray on their windscreen, at speed, lets them know they are a little close without agrevating them where a show of brake lights might.

I wouldn't do it to a cyclist or motorbike though but I would slow down a little (or not speed up) in any case to preserve my safety zone ahead while being aware of their tailgating proximity.
 
OP
OP
lejogger

lejogger

Guru
Location
Wirral
It seemed very much as if it were a deliberate action... but maybe I'm paranoid. I was right on his bumper, I must have been the only thing he could see in his rear view mirror.

In these situations where I don't want to be overtaken on a dangerous road, I always move to primary and if I can keep up with the vehicle in front it's all the better because it means I'm travelling at the same speed as the traffic, and it leaves no room to be overtaken into... and it's easier to keep up if you're in the immediate slipstream.

If he felt uncomfortable then fine, but there's ways of letting me know which aren't as dangerous as that.
 
OP
OP
lejogger

lejogger

Guru
Location
Wirral
HLaB said:
Most folk are too oblivious of things to do it on purpose, I have come across a few folk that boast about being able to do that or where you can tell by their reaction it was on purpose :wacko:
Click to expand...

his reaction was to speed up as fast as he possibly could when I shouted "OI D*CKHEAD" and then cranked after him like Chris Hoy on steroids (unfortunately without the performance)...

...I also don't know what I'd have done if I had caught up with him! maybe a polite knock on the window...
 
Peter88

Peter88

Veteran
Location
Failsworth
Night Train said:
If someone tailgates me I sometimes wash my windscreen. The few drops of wind blown spray on their windscreen, at speed, lets them know they are a little close without agrevating them where a show of brake lights might.

I wouldn't do it to a cyclist or motorbike though but I would slow down a little (or not speed up) in any case to preserve my safety zone ahead while being aware of their tailgating proximity.
Click to expand...

+1

I do this aswell when cars are following too close but would never think of doing to a cyclist or motorcyclist.
 
exbfb

exbfb

Active Member
Peter88 said:
+1

I do this aswell when cars are following too close but would never think of doing to a cyclist or motorcyclist.
Click to expand...

Again, something I do too.

When being followed by something with a windscreen, a wash of the screen is much more subtle than an overt display of displeasure.

It almost invariably ends with them pulling back a bit.
That's all you really want, a bit of space.

But yes, it's not what a biker or cyclist really wants.
Having said that, you can't really legislate against it, although there's a bit of difference between an unwitting splash and a deliberate one - but how do you tell them apart.
 
Dags11

Dags11

Active Member
Location
Wales
This happened to my a couple of days ago, hard to prove - but the warning signs prior to the dirty deed seem to add up.

Treated it with a wry smile & after a couple of minutes wiped glasses clean (after the driver was unable to see me doing this in his mirrors)

What has prompted my to reply was the chugsy BBC link about Legionnaires' disease..........what on earth is the defence to this?
 
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