WVM has rights, you know!

[Jonathan M]

I rode to my local hosptial today for a physio appointment. The quickest route takes me through a little part of town, with just a couple of sets of lights. Between the first set & the second set I got cut up by a WVM, so shouted quite loudly at him as he passed, and from the way he looked across at me I felt he'd heard me. Second set of lights were red, and I was able to ride uninterrupted and take my position at the front of the queue of traffic.

Anyway, lights change, got going sharpish, so had made good distance, and was close to a T junction where I was going left. WVM comes haring past me, cuts me up again, before braking sharply becuase of the vehicles waiting to turn right at the T, forcing me to brake much earlier & harder than I should have had to.

So I thumped his rear door and rode round to the right hand side, more so he could see me in his wing mirror and know I wasn't happy. He starts gobbing off so I pulled alongside him to tell him he'd hacked me off by cutting me up twice. He does the inevitable "where?", as if he didn't know, and then when I told him he utters the immortal phrase "I've got rights, you know!" - what, to drive like a pillock & cut people up? To be a knob?

He then drove off, so I still do not know what the dozy tw@t was trying to say, I think he thought he was saying he had right of way, but was so thick he couldn't articulate that to me!

 

[Lazy-Commuter]

I think it's just a cliche people use when they (secretly) know they're in the wrong and can't think what else to say.

The other one is, "you were going too fast". Often said by a SMIDSY in response to being challenged. The correct response to that one is, "no you were, you should have been stopped".

The correct response to "I've got rights you know" is "what about your feckin responsibilities?"

 

[Jonathan M]

I just responded as above, he'd replied like a knob, so I told him so. I think you are correct that it was just a very defensive response to actions that he knew he'd perfomed and knew were wrong - what he didn't anticipate was the unknown cyclist actually telling him he was wrong.

 

[BigSid]

The other one is, "you were going too fast". Often said by a SMIDSY in response to being challenged. The correct response to that one is, "no you were, you should have been stopped".

Just like when my mate got knocked off his motorbike and the driver in her statement to the police said "I didn't see him, he was doing at least 65mph."

Beats me how can anyone comment on the speed of something they didn't see.

As it happens he was 110 yards away from traffic lights he'd been stopped at and he was on a bike that could barely do 65mph.

 

[Lazy-Commuter]

Just like when my mate got knocked off his motorbike and the driver in her statement to the police said "I didn't see him, he was doing at least 65mph."

Beats me how can anyone comment on the speed of something they didn't see.

As it happens he was 110 yards away from traffic lights he'd been stopped at and he was on a bike that could barely do 65mph.

"You were going too fast" roughly translates to "I didn't see you", but what it really means is "I didn't look".

Maybe she thought he was on an R1 or something .. hope he was OK.