it was going to happen sooner or later... Fuming!

webbhost

Well, was biking home today and (you guessed it, this is one of those threads about annoying drivers) A big white van cut me up pulling onto a road that I had right of way on.

Didn't help that the ground was wet, and had to hit the back brakes.. Missed him by a short distance.

Luck turned on my behalf then, he carried on and he had to stop at some traffic lights... so I had him!

Pulled up along the side of his van, knocked on his window and told him he needs to be more careful because he almost wiped me out.. Didn't get a decent time to give him a "bollockin" lets say cause lights went green again and was holding traffic up. I just let him go.

Funny bit was a bus was behind me and overtook me near my home and dropped someone off. As I passed this girl, she looked at me and shouted "did ya tell him!".

Very very p**sed off at it, I have been biking to work and back for about 3 years now, and have never had a major cut up. This is a first and it very nearly ended ugly.

**rant over, feel free to post your unrelated rants below!

stueyc

good work...shame the lights turned to green and he could get his sorry self off!

nice one

webbhost

I might be buying a £100 action camera to attatch to my helmet because I'm getting fed up of it. When someone finally takes me out, I'd rather have the evidence. If they dont, it could make for some cool cycling video's lol

stueyc

unfortunately it is quite a common thing...i commute each day and cannot believe the attitude of vans,lorries,buses and cars...even pedestrians towards a cyclist!....camera maybe the way forward

Alex_Simmons/RST

I've had my run ins over the years. I've generally found the "get angry" approach doesn't do much good but it's real hard to contain when you're a bit worked up on the bike. Sometimes we have to vent somehow.

If you can manage it, wave a thank you or two to those that do the right thing over the next day or so but be careful, these things tend to happen a few times together.

One day, after pulling up at the lights 100m up the road next to an idiot in a car who did exactly the same thing as you experienced, he pulled a gun out of the glove box! :shock:

Another day a mate kick in the car door of a similar offender, put his cleat through the metal skin of the car and was very lucky not to get dragged down the road!!

And the "doof doof" boys who stopped ahead of my bunch one day in the middle of the road to get the baseball bats out of the boot. That took a bit of calming by an off duty cop.

Remember, it's not easy to fight with bike shoes on!

McBain_v1

What are these cameras that can be attached to helmets :?: How do you operate one :?: Where can I get one :?: What do they look like :?:

stueyc

i always visually thank vehicles who give me a little space or allow me a position....just never seems to be the same in reverse!

respect and manners do not cost a penny...unfortunately this quality is very much in decline

webbhost

Yeah, I am very polite to other road users (except for this one instance).. If they wait for me etc etc and etc, I will either raise my hand of the handle bars, or give them a big nod to acknowledge that I appreciate their courtesy.

http://www.iwantoneofthose.com/action-camera/index.html < Action Camera.

Seems to me through a camera could actually be a considerably good safety tool on the road? Rather than people being "ignorant" towards me, maybe they'll see the camera, know they're being filmed and think twice before pulling on me.

What do you think?

stueyc

visual deterrent....could work...lease get some good evidence if things get nasty

heavymental

Theres some guy on youtube who has put a load of videos of bad driving he's seen whilst out on his bike. Can't remember where I saw the link now. He had some decent quality footage though. Those helmet cams look quite good although probably wouldn't bother unless I was being plagued by one particular motorist. Good to get for recording fast descents and nice looking mtb rides though.

Cajun

IMHO....if I were you, I'd let it go....no point in your blood pressure getting jacked up due to an inconsiderate driver, especially since that (and future) driver has not given the situation a second thought. There WILL always be 'close call' situations as well as those drivers who think it's fun to pass as close to you at 50 mph as possible. You might want to begin taking notice of license plate numbers when someone really is a threat to you.

jellybellywmb

McBain_v1 wrote:

What are these cameras that can be attached to helmets :?: How do you operate one :?: Where can I get one :?: What do they look like :?:

Pop over to the Mountain Bike Forum and ask there, these are used quite a lot by mountain bikers to film trsils downhills etc.
I seem to remember they are re-chargable and record to an SD card or similar . I have seen some fairly good qaulity footage of guys flying down mountains so the quality on a daily commute should be good.

Mark Alexander

I've always been quite calm on the bike even after being knocked off. I always try to acknowlege considerate acts from drivers of any vehicles. It's just comm,on courtessy.

SteveR_100Milers

Blimey, only one run in in 3 years! Happens every week where I live, best one is always the traffic calming width restrictors, where one direction of traffic is supposed to give way to another, yeah right....

ThatGuyOnABike

happens all the time where i live too. they go out onto the cycle path for better visability probably but it's ironic that they never see me. i once very nearly got crushed while going around the front of one such car (taking up half the cycle path, at the same time as a bus passed it and the guy started to pull out! i swear i saw him look straight at me plus why was he starting to pull out while the bus was passing and not when it had actually passed? well he slammed the breaks and cos the bus driver had seen him and me and thankfully left as much space as he could, i got away and left the driver shouting that i was an idiot. still i was getting late for college so i didn't respond and just cycled on. still lucky i didn't end squashed to the side of the rear of the bus.[/u][/i]

ThatGuyOnABike

happens all the time where i live too. they go out onto the cycle path for better visability probably but it's ironic that they never see me. i once very nearly got crushed while going around the front of one such car (taking up half the cycle path, at the same time as a bus passed it and the guy started to pull out! i swear i saw him look straight at me plus why was he starting to pull out while the bus was passing and not when it had actually passed? well he slammed the breaks and cos the bus driver had seen him and me and thankfully left as much space as he could, i got away and left the driver shouting that i was an idiot. still i was getting late for college so i didn't respond and just cycled on. still lucky i didn't end squashed to the side of the rear of the bus.

webbhost

well ok not the first one in 3 years... but the first major one that almost got me hurt. Olbviously theres been minors of people cutting me up etc but I have been going slow enough to be able to do something about it.

fossyant

If you are in road shoes, you have no chance fighting anyone, unless you can stand on grass - I'd halve loved to smack up the rear passenger of a car last year that deliberately leaned out of the window to get me, but missed, but....... 1. there were four of them, and 2.....nice new carbon soled road shoes and my best bike in hand.......... had it been my heavy MTB commuter and mtb shoes, then........ plus they are usually nutters anyway....

I make a point in thanking drivers who give way as I'm progressing through the traffic faster than them - I'm being a bit cheeky but they are fine with it - always thank them...good relations....

synchronicity

Sorry to hear about that incident... every time I am doubtful about living in another country, I try and remind myself of the bastard drivers I'd face upon my return to Australia.

You did the right thing by "just letting him go"... what else can you do right there and then without taking the law into your own hands?

The only thing you can try and do is avoid traffic at all costs, but for some people it's impossible if commuting, etc... :x

wallabyhunter

I try and remind myself of the bastard drivers I'd face upon my return to Australia.

Reminds me the average aus teenage male car passenger has a special greeting for all cyclists, something along the lines of " BBLLLAAAARGHH" at high volume, just as they are passing you.

We did a night ride some years ago along the beach road at Cottesloe/Scarbourgh In our group was a rather large, shaved headed gentleman, nice guy, but the first time you met him was "confronting" to say the least.

We met the stereotypical Aus male, the difference was this guy chased him down & caught him at the next lights. Approached silently and stuck his head in the passneger widow and shouted " BBLLLAAAARGHH" right back at them! Backed up of course that there were 10 of us & only 5? of them at the max!

cbj

Last summer I was going over old Chepstow bridge with a narrow single carraigeway road and pavements either side as fast as i could. A grumpy chap with his family in his car behind me decided I wasn't going quick enough for his liking and leaned out of his car window and shouted 'get the f@ck off the road, ride on the f@cking pavement!'

I was steaming along so he would only have had to wait 5-10 seconds max to pass me after the bridge. On hearing this, a bit of shock turned to anger so I stopped in the middle of the bridge blocking his way, he screached to a halt and noticed he was the only car behind me, put down the bike and walked back to his car.

The funny thing is mr grumpy had wound up his window and he refused to wind down the window , so I explained that I could not ride on the pavement because people were walking there and you are not supposed to, and that by the way if he spoke to me again like that I'd knock him out!

Not entirely proud of the last bit, as people have mentioned the situation could have back fired badly and I'm not the road rage type. I actually regretted losing my rag over a sad bloke who obviously had issues, but it was partially worth it to see his face change when he saw me walking back to his car.

I don't do a huge amount fo road cycling but intend to get into it again soon, I hope this sort of abuse isn't too common round my way.

synchronicity

You're lucky he didn't run over your bike...

cbj

aye, thought about that afterwards too, not at all clever really , although it was an old knackered hybrid I use for popping into town and hopefully the easton EA30 riser bars would have taken off his exhaust if he had gone for it

wastelander

Why do they always seem to do this at pinch points near junctions/roundabouts? Is it too much to ask a driver to wait a few seconds? Even when we take up a more assertive road position they still insist on squeezing us out or trying to make two lanes when there simply isn't room and even if you're at the junction itself there's always someone who just can't wait - as if they have a divine right to overtake you.

I now take an 'ultra assertive' position whenever possible, especially on roundaboust so that I don't get forced where I don't want to be. Scary at first but you soon relish the fact that that you're not going to get treated like a 2nd class road used.

Anyway, good on you for making your point to the idiot concerned.

Monty Dog

A well-known local rider - funnily enough just emigrated to Australia - in the Army cycling squad, when encoutering the 'get out of my way brigade' used to stop his bike, explain to the occupants of the vehicle that he'd like to practise his unarmed combat skills on them. 3 builders in a white van reported him to the police for his 'threatening' behaviour, regardless of the fact that they'd try to run him off the road!

Random Vince

wastelander wrote:

Why do they always seem to do this at pinch points near junctions/roundabouts? Is it too much to ask a driver to wait a few seconds? Even when we take up a more assertive road position they still insist on squeezing us out or trying to make two lanes when there simply isn't room and even if you're at the junction itself there's always someone who just can't wait - as if they have a divine right to overtake you.

I now take an 'ultra assertive' position whenever possible, especially on roundaboust so that I don't get forced where I don't want to be. Scary at first but you soon relish the fact that that you're not going to get treated like a 2nd class road used.

Anyway, good on you for making your point to the idiot concerned.

theres some pinch points on the way to my friends house

i take a right handed secondary position through them so my butt is directly in the driver's line of sight behind me and a car coming towards me (my right of way) feels there isn't the space to get past if he tried

there is a cycle lane that doesn't run through the pinch point but round it, but its so full of crap that i can't see it!


i've had some one turn left under me, i was turning left onto the same road

meagain

Brave of you. Last time I tried remonstrating with a van driver he pulled away, then jammed on the brakes and reversed straight at me at speed. Just had time to leap to the pavement. I don't doubt that had there not been other traffic behind me which caused him to drive off I'd have received a severe kicking from the three thugs in the cab. These days I never ride unarmed.

Gussio

Fair play to you for giving the guy a piece of your mind. Important to pick your battles carefully though, to avoid taking a hiding. Last time I remonstrated with a furntiure van driver for coming within inches of killing me, the stench of booze coming out of the cab was overpowering. The driver was nice as pie and very apologetic - probably bricking it that the cops would come along and breathalyse him if he kicked up a stink.

pipsqueak

A swift fist clenched thump on a vulnerable side body panel gets my vote every time - of course it is only to ward the driver !!