Your worst reaction when commuting

DonDaddyD

When I was younger I saw a cyclist get knocked over in Clapham, the guy was passing cars on the left a particular woman/driver had no where to go pushed her car to the left (no signal) and knocked the guy over.

He promptly got up (in clipless) picked his bike up and swung his bike at her passenger window. I must say faced with this the women was very very apologetic and continued to say "I'm sorry" whilst the cyclist continued to try and break her car window with his bike. :shock:

Onlookers were stunned.

The worst I've resorted to is shouting at people to check their [email protected] mirrors or [email protected] stop you dip sh!t and the like.

What is the worst you have resorted to when faced with the driving incompetence of someone else? Also have you been reduced to violence? Would you condone it?

el_presidente

I once saw a cycle courier chase down a scooter, push the rider off his scooter then kick said scooter while screaming abuse. He then cycle off at high velocity. Obviously I couldn't possibly condone such actions*


*secretly I was in awe of his powers

singlespeedexplosif

left a big gouge down the side of a corsa a few months ago. Moral of the story is, don't try to kill a man who is wearing studded cycling shoes.

lost_in_thought

I used to (pre-SPDs) kick cars/vans who were overtaking too close to me, and still do thump the side of buses who are overtaking or slowly squashing me against railings.

It got so bad at one point when I was going from Liverpool St to Kensington that i considered obtaining a rock on a string to whack vehicles with.

I never did.

EDIT missed out a word!

Kieran_Burns

Well -there was the thread a couple of weeks back about me punching a car and leaving a dent in the wing. The guy almost took me out right after passing me, and it was a mis-judged swipe.

then there was the Merc that deliberately cut me up when I was a student. censored -face and his horse faced wife were laughing at my discomfort due to their selfish attitude... this made me see red.

I had these pedals that had a little stud on the outside to keep your feet on them and I'd bent the outside one out slightly... so I wheeled the bike down the side of the car and left a lovely metal deep scratch from rear wing, over both doors and the front wing.

I then pedalled off furiously through the standing traffic and got the hell away.

I was somewhat irresponsible in my youth - I HAVE calmed down now...

Eat My Dust

I've got off my bike and walked back and kicked a wing mirror off before. I've also had a fight with a driver at side of the road. These days I try and keep calm, but as I told the guy yesterday morning who wasn't happy at my swearing ( :oops: ) you'd be surprised at what can come out of your mouth when your adrenaline is pumping and someone nearly wipes you out!!

girv73

Swearing mostly, but in my youth I did kick a few cars that cut too close.

woodford2barbican

A driver who deliberately tried to knock me off got a mouthful of phlegm in his lap.

I changed my route for a couple of weeks.

alex16zx

Never had to do anything more than shout at someone (not that they can hear you!). I am lucky to have a commute down busy but never congested roads which are all pretty wide and I don't usually get any problems.

Jamey

I get quite a lot of snot building up in my nostrils while I ride. I don't know why it happens and for the most part it's pretty annoying but occasionally it comes in handy being able to clear them sideways, pretty much on cue.

biondino

Never actually kicked or scratched a car in anger, but I did lash out at an Aston Martin who very very nearly left hooked me - in retrospect I'm glad I didn't make contact as there wasn't enough traffic for me to hide in! Other than that, hammering on the window of a cab who pulled over right in front of me without signaling is about as aggressive as I've got. A few exchanges of words obviously, and the occasional hand gesture maybe...

schlepcycling

I've emptied the contents of my water bottle, which was a very sticky energy drink into the offending vehicle on a couple of occasions, once through the sunroof and once via the passenger's open window.

NGale

I am not one to snap easily, but when I do it is usually with style.

One day while cycling a driver decided he didn't want me passing him so pulled his car out on me sending me into the path of an oncoming bus. Thankfully the bus driver was quick thinking and stopped in time, but it left me shaken up at what could of happened.
The car driver thought it was very funny, so I shouted at him. He got out of his car thinking he could intimidate me, he quickly found himself spread eagled across the bonet of his car with my hand around his throat and the bus driver screaming at him for being a prat (what was actually said could not be repeated before the watershed!)

I am usually a peaceful person, but there are times! :shock:

sazzledazzle

I once threw my water bottle at a van who came so close at a junction it struck my elbow and almost tipped me off. Unfortunately my aim isn't good and it bounced off the side and hit me in the face. :oops:

I now just restort to shouting random outraged comments at them instead.

Bassjunkieuk

My worst reaction was following some tw4t into the petrol station and having a go at him.
The 2 problems with this are that the driver was about 6ft tall and rather well built (he might have been carrying fat but I couldn't tell)
I proceeded to call him a f**king pr*ck and then repeated it to his face.

This all took part at a petrol station in Brixton so not the nicest area of town and I had no idea what he was carrying about his person or in his car but his dangerous driving had got me rather annoyed so I'll explain what led to this outburst.

I was riding up from Kennington in the bus lane, in my usual postion of what you might call a semi-primary. Not in the middle of the lane (thankfully in this instance) but far enough out to avoid the slow cyclists and cr4p gutter.
He came speeding past, undertaking several cars in the bus lane and pulling back into the main traffic lane without indicating. i think he'd narrowly missed me twice before the petrol station.

After our brief exchange of words, he was rather angry and started to look like he might get violent. I have to confess I then chose this point to make a getaway! He tried to kick my rear wheel but I stayed upright.

He did catch up with me again before I hit Streatham and as he did the same passing in the bus lane again I have to admit I did mount the pavement and round the corner (lights on red) to avoid a conflict with him. Thankfully I managed to double back on myself down 2 roads and went down a (car) cul-de-sac to rejoin the main road and lost him.

Littigator

On the opposite side of the coin and the worst road rage I've had on me, I had a white van driver sandwich me into the railings on Upper Thames Street (eastbound) when he was pulling over to let a police car through, he hadn;t seen me on his inside. Luckily he didn't injur me but i banged the side of his van with the flat of my hand to protest and let him know I was there.

This resulted in an exchange of words as we progressed along UTS ending with him chucking his apple at me, sounds amusing but was actually quite painful when it hit me in the side of the head from almost point blank range.

lost_in_thought

I had pedestrian rage on my behalf once actually, a little white lorry squished me and my old bike on some railings, I somehow (good old adrenaline) managed to scramble off the bike and over the railings, and swear at the guy as my big wide handlebars creased somewhat.

By this time a builder had come rushing out of a nearby site (in the City) , pulled open the passenger door of the truck and was yelling at the guy driving something very unsavoury on my behalf. This same builder then sat me down and got one of his mates to keep an eye on the trucker while he called the police.

Bless

Also, Litts, you're a lawyer, you should have kept the apple and done him for assault...
:twisted:

Littigator

I was in carb deficit so I just ate it

always_tyred

I once ran over a blind man's foot.

This isn't as bad as it sounds. I'd completed a right turn across traffic, during which he stepped out and left me with the option of running into him orstopping very suddenly and being run over. His wife waved his white stick at me and shouted angrily, "Can't you see he's blind?!?"

I almost apologised profusely (which isn't natural for me) before I twigged that his idiot wife, very much NOT blind, had lead him out into the road.

always_tyred

I once rammed a car.

He cut me off and gave me some verbals before speeding off all of about 10 feet and stopping in a queue. I went past him and gave his car a playful squirt (from my water bottle) after which he proceeded to try to drive me into parked cars and brake test me several times. I didn't see the harm in failing the test just one time.

Poor chap was desolated. He'd even spent money on those special red Honda badges and now his car was imperfect. Didums.

doog442

I swear alot and its getting worse..im sure pedestrians look at me and think ive got tourettes 8)

I havent resorted to anything physical yet but i fear its only a matter of time

linsen

The nearest I got to an altercation with a driver was when some bloke in a white van pulled onto the nice wide green bit of road with a cycle painted on it in front of a red light. His window was open so I pulled alongside and politely pointed out that he was stopped on a cycle path. He gave me the most patronising look ever, shooed me away with his hand and said "oh go away". To this day I wish I could take the wind out of someone's sails like that. Naturally what I then shouted after him as he drove off was unrepeatable....

I did also give a young female driver a real shock after she pulled out on me as I was going along a road. She had no idea I was there (staring though her window, she was that close), and so I followed her into her college car park and told her a few things she needed to know if she was going to drive a car. I think (at least hope) she learned a lesson before something worse happens.

cjcp

Hmmmm.

1. Gone apesh*t on a taxi driver which brushed me at Vauxhall Cross.

2. Gone apesh*t on a ped who brought me down on Bishopsgate, breaking my arm and walked away. A motor cyclist blocked him from walking away, having seen the incident. Met Police intervention required (I didn't hit him, but the words coming from my mouth and the volume at which they were doing so attracted two officers from the opposite side of the junction. The ped didn't help matters when he said "these things happen". More abuse follows, the Met step in when I take the first step towards the ped - quick reactions by the Met office, I thought.).

3. Gone apesh*t on a driver who brushed me by Clapham South. Red mist descends. Threw my bike down, marched up to the car window, torrent of abuse follows.

4. Squeezed the sticky sports drink in my bottle over a car when the driver put the windscreen wiper and washer combo on when she passed me.

5. Assorted smacks on cars.

So, it seems I swear a lot. But it all pales into insignificance when one considers the damage that can be done to a cyclist.

Bassjunkieuk

Reading CJCP's post reminded me of the time I had to whack the side of a Toyota MPV coming down Denmark Hill. I was in primary in the bus lane and braking for the light's at the bottom of the hill. He came past and then over into the bus lane as soon as it finished without so much as an indicator!

I smacked the side of this car after I braked (my spidey sense's told me to back off in case he tried it.....) to avoid being squashed.

Kushtrim

A car got dangerously close to my right pedal at the bishops gate bridge roundabout. I proceeded to cycle in front of the car slam my brakes on and then through my bike down in front of the car. Walked to the window with my loudest most aggressive stance I could muster only to find as small scared middle ages Scottish woman apologising very sincerely.

I did and still do feel a little bit bad about that one, hope I didn't scare her too much.

singlespeedexplosif

4. Squeezed the sticky sports drink in my bottle over a car when the driver put the windscreen wiper and washer combo on when she passed me.

:shock:

simon_e

cjcp wrote:

So, it seems I swear a lot. But it all pales into insignificance when one considers the damage that can be done to a cyclist.

This is my argument for getting shirty. I manage to lose my rag now and then - invariably a 'close shave' type overtake (I find this more likely than anything else). The other day a following car beeped me for having the temerity to gesture and shout at the car in front of them. They were lucky they didn't stop.

My wife says "be careful you don't get someone mad stop" and I reply that when I'm like that it's the other person who needs to be careful. It's not pretty, but I'm determined to defend my right to be out there and be respected for it. If that means a bit of shouting, arm-waving and the use of some naughty words then so be it. I'm not here to placate other road users who are too selfish to drive with a little consideration for others on the road.

biondino

This is really, really asking for trouble, I know, but I almost never notice cars overtaking me too close. Am I lucky or just less sensitive to it? I commute in central London so if it happens anywhere, it happens there.

simon_e

biondino wrote:

This is really, really asking for trouble, I know, but I almost never notice cars overtaking me too close. Am I lucky or just less sensitive to it?

Perhaps you're just lucky.

Or oblivious.

Or maybe you have a special aura that even dozy drivers can detect and they give you loadsaroom

secretsam

Car related: gobbed on an X5 who cut me up to park. Simply turned and phlobbed all over driver's side window, lucky for him he hadn't wound it down, really...

Pedestrian: silly c0w was p1ssed, high or something (at 8.30AM), danced out in front of a taxi forcing him to stop, waved her arms at him, he let fly. She then carried on crossing the road in a dancey way, forcing me (coming other way) to stop. She turned to see me stood on pedals, am not sure of the exact words but I've been to football matches, have been trained to project my voice, so I gave her 110dB. I think she actually FLEW to the kerb...the taxi driver was p1ssing himself laughing meanwhile...

whyamihere

biondino wrote:

This is really, really asking for trouble, I know, but I almost never notice cars overtaking me too close. Am I lucky or just less sensitive to it? I commute in central London so if it happens anywhere, it happens there.

Cars often give more room to wobbly riders because they look more unpredictable. Maybe you're just rubbish.