Best Bad Driving Excuses

mapless

I was out on a long training ride on Saturday. One incident brought a smile to my face. A small red car does the usual overtaking manoeuver within a few centimeters of me. I catch them at the next junction where there's a queue and the passenger window is open. So I lean over and mentioned that he'd just scared the living daylights out of me, to which he replied "You were wobbling over the road so I had to overtake". (I'd just reached to put a water bottle back). I admit I was left speechless and dumpfounded by such an idiotic response, however his passenger proceeded to berate him with stream of expletives about his moronic driving and ameoba like intelligence. A most amusing experience.

kamiokande

A few weeks ago a car passed me within a few inches nearly forcing me into a dry-stone wall. 50 metres further on he turned into a garden centre car park, so I though I'd follow him and see what he had to say. His excuse was "Well, I saw you, but there was traffic coming the other way, so I had to make room to get past".

londonbairn

My prang last week

"too many cyclists on the road"

Ped who stepped in front of me cue Darwinism

"you should have swerved out of the way"

whilst driving, a 4x4 pulls out in front of me, the driver did not bother looking to her right to see if there was any oncoming traffic

"i didn't see you" - maybe if you looked you might have then

ride_whenever

how about:

Him: It's a one way street mate (after forcing me onto the pavement)
Me: eeeer, not for cyclists, there is a clearly marked cycle lane with arrows this way
him: oh

Kieran_Burns

Lorry driver reversed out into my path

Screeched to a halt alongside his cab while he is still perpendicular to the road.

Me: "Didn't you SEE me?" (pointing to day glo yellow jacket)
Him: "Yeah, I had plenty of time to pull out"


:shock:

Gavin Gilbert

"It was only a local journey so I wasn't wearing my glasses"

So said the little old dear who had swung her Nissian Micra into my path. It really cheered me up as I was laying on the tarmac with a broken clavical and my 2004 season in tatters.

Not to worry.....the Hampshire Police decided it only needed an 'Informal Warning Letter' before closing their file.

mapless

"Sorry I sneezed" having just broadsided me as went around roundabout wrecking my bilke. Unfortunately he then went into a visible state of shock as I stood up effing and jeffing covered in blood. I thought the poor fella was about to have a heart attack.

On the plus side I couldn't have been run over by an nicer old chap.

AndyManc

kamiokande wrote:

A few weeks ago a car passed me within a few inches nearly forcing me into a dry-stone wall. 50 metres further on he turned into a garden centre car park, so I though I'd follow him and see what he had to say. His excuse was "Well, I saw you, but there was traffic coming the other way, so I had to make room to get past".

That's the crux of the problem, they would rather kill you than damage their vehicle.

I commute off peak (very early or late) when the roads are relatively quiet, I get loads more room from overtaking vehicles. If drivers have the space most will behave, if they don't they will try to kill you.



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Crapaud

Parked in a supermarket carpark, nothing parked for 60-70 yards and a woman reverses into my wing:

Her: "It's not my fault, this is a hire car, mine has sensors in the bumper."

Me: "It couldn't have helped that you were on the 'phone."

Her: "I wasn't on the 'phone, I was topping it up!"

Bassjunkieuk

Crapaud wrote:

Parked in a supermarket carpark, nothing parked for 60-70 yards and a woman reverses into my wing:

Her: "It's not my fault, this is a hire car, mine has sensors in the bumper."

Me: "It couldn't have helped that you were on the 'phone."

Her: "I wasn't on the 'phone, I was topping it up!"

FAIL.

Reading this I really do wonder how some of these people get themselves dressed in the morning let alone out on the road in charge of a motorised vehicle. I haven't yet had any moments like this...........yet ;-)

ince

On one of my first rides out on my motorbike after I had an rta with a car turnng across my path in to a side street I had a woman perform the same trick. I avoided hitting the side of the car this time I opted to follow her and let her know my feelings....

...." well you were going to fast" was her answer. WTF irispective of my speed (30 mph btw) she chose to pull across my path. People in little metal boxes have no concept of how much it hurts to be hit.

mrchrispy

some girl on a BMW came past way too close (you know the feeling when you swear the mirror went UNDER your arm) only to stop at the lights 100m up the road.

"a little close there don't you think? your supposed to pull out"
"well I had to get past you and there were cars coming the otherway"
"Your supposed to wait till its safe to before overtaking, I've a couple of little kids that'd appreciate it if their dad can get home alive"

she takes great offence at this point and come back with...

"well I'd appreciate it if cars didn't drive towards me"

I was, for once, speechless

crankycrank

Was driving my motorbike home and this nutter decides, without signaling or checking her mirrors, to pull into my lane forcing me to do a world class braking maneuver to avoid ending up in her boot. Turns out it was my own mother returning from the car repair shop that just put her car back together after she nearly had it folded in half (not an exaggeration) from pulling out in front of another car!!!! :shock: "Oh, hello mom. I was just honking at you to say hello"

Porgy

Woman in Lewisham turned without indicating forcing me to stop suddenly. When I complained she said she was indicating. I insisted that she clearly didn;t indicate. Then she said with an air of smugness "Oh yes I did.............but the bulb's gone".

:?

AndyManc

The word "she' seems to cropping up a lot in this thread . :roll:


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Aidy

Followed a car around a corner at about 20mph only for it to do an emergency stop. And we're talking a proper full-on emergency stop, except obviously without the mirror checking bit.

Mind, this is a nice sunny day, roads are completely clear, there's only me and the car in front of me on the road - no pedestrians even.

Him, as I'm picking myself off the ground, coated in blood: "Oh, I stopped to read a map"

Aidy

Ah, and after a car's attempted to overtake me around a corner and then pulled directly across my path into a driveway, causing me to clip the side and come off.

Her (for her husband, who was driving, remained silent): "Well! You were trying to undertake!"

Porgy

my wife knew an asian lady who thought her husband's driving license gave her the right to drive too. :?

afelstead

Rear ended and catapulted off my bike as I slowed to a stop for a line of stationary traffic 1m behind it.
Response from driver:

"Oh, I thought you were going to undertake the stationary car in front so that's why I didn't brake in time"

Not that he was going to fast and didn't look.

The Rookie

Approaching short queue of traffic, lined up to take the gap between cars and kerb (they leave a gap there as there are a lot of cyclists at that junction) when a BMW (why do they crop up almost as often as women) pulls out of the side turning, can't go up the road as the queue is backed up, so is half in the bigger road, half in the road he's exited and totally across my path, window open so I congratulate him on a world class BMW driver manouver, so he get shirty, pull up in front and then decide my helmet straps needed adjusting, kept him there long enough to P him off!

Simon

OrbitRider

I was cycling along a straight road when a car pulled out of a turn (on the right), turning right across me. I slammed on the anchors & gave the driver a blast of the Air Zound. I caught him at the next T-junction and "had a word". His reply: "well why didn't you slow down?".

Porgy

coming through Woolwich this morning - coming up to the Woolwich Ferry roundabout when this car starts moving left into my lane without signalling. I'm going about 20 mph - in the middle of the lane - which only has me in it, and have to maneouvre to avoid car. which then decides not to finish maneouvre but go right instead - clearly lane hopping to jump the queue a bit. I make angry gesture at driver. When he catches up with me alone the road a bit he's ranting and raving - says he'd seen me - don;t know what I'm so upset about - he was nowhere near me - yeah because i saw him and moved out of his way - under different cicumstances i could easily have hit him - and I I tried to explain but he's not letting me get a word in, so I shout and in the process feel myself getting angry. He moves off, van behind was beeping and made some gesture at me i was unable to fully interpet though i'm sure it wasn;t good.

For next 3 miles I keep catching up with the driver in question and eventually he gives up shoputing at me and asks me what i want. I say an apology please. Just say you're sorry and stop making excuses. so he says that he's sorry (I'm starting to feel calmer)......

.....................and that I should wear a helmet.

I'm ashamed to say I went apeshit. Followed the car along demanding that he tell me why he has the right to telll me to wear a helmet, that it wasn;t my cycling in question, but his driving, etc. etc. He wound the window up, I told him to f.uck himself, overtook and left him behind.

So - motorist f.ucks up - refuses to apologise and eventually turns things round to make it look like he was in the right and the cyclist was in the wrong. And what has he learnt from this? F.uck all.

What have I learnt. Stop wasting my time, and my energy. Once a w.anker, always a w.anker. He'll probably do it again tomorrow to some other cyclist.

Stone Glider

"What have I learnt"

Wear a helmet? :?

Porgy

Stone Glider wrote:

"What have I learnt"

Wear a helmet? :?

wear a helmet because some tw.at tells me to - isn;t there a better reason than that? :roll:



probably not