has this ever happened to you?

aripallaris

so i was riding along a one direction - two lane road (830am so no excuses that he didnt see me). both sides totally clear.. im on the left about a cars length door away from parked cars. a woman in front opened her door but im a decent and safe distance away. along pulls a car from behind, and starts to move closer to me as if you veer me close to the car door. now bare in mind he had a completely free lanes to the right and a massive amount of room in the left hand lane. he holds his speed im doing aroun 18 at the time. i turn round and give him the what fors and speed up to get to safety.he was literally trying to force me closer to the car door.

he then speeds up and over takes me, and quickly applies the brakes so that i go smack band into the back of him. the messed up thing. he had kids in the back, his wife in the front.

when i got to the junction at the end of the road i was honestly about to pull him out of his car and remind him of the beatings his mama gave him as a child. if it wasnt purely for the fact his wife and kids where there id have honestly lost my rag. he could have easily cause serious harm to myself. absolute loser .

shm_uk

No, this has never happened to me

andyrr

Nope, tho' probably been reasonably close - it's just that the car driver doesn't think you should take the space YOU believe to be required.
I have had a number of arguments/discussions with car drivers when they do not believe I am entitled to ride more than a gnat's away from the kerb. I had a fairly good-natured discussion with one driver last week who proclaimed to be a cyclist himself but said I was riding in the middle of the road and would get myself killed doing that. I was probably about 2/5 of the way out from the LH kerb and was positioned there because on that stretch of road there were multiple drains/smallish holes/rbad surfaces and if I didn't move out slightly more than normal then cars would try to pass me and there wasn't a load of extra space for a car to pass me when another was approaching from the other direction too.
In your situation I'd firstly be extra vigilant of him pulling a stupid maneoever like the one he did - cover the brakes for example - and be aware of not antagonising him too much especially if the road was quiet and he might feel he could actually cause you injury. Guess a helmet-cam is the ideal but at least take an note of his number - even a quick camera-phone pic and let him know you are doing that.
Actually a few years ago as I rode along, decent speed (20 - 25 Mph+ ?) I skirted 1 car and with 1 or 2 more parked at the LH roadside ahead I kept a similar distance from the kerb. Car tooted at me and at the lights he threatened to put me under his wheels and kill me - charming ! I My anger then saw me drive the streets a few days later where he'd turned off but I didn't spot his car.

king_jeffers

aripallaris wrote:

when i got to the junction at the end of the road i was honestly about to pull him out of his car and remind him of the beatings his mama gave him as a child. if it wasnt purely for the fact his wife and kids where there id have honestly lost my rag. he could have easily cause serious harm to myself. absolute loser .

Kids or not you did the right thing its really not worth the hassle and fallout. Kudos!

EKE_38BPM

You did the right thing, but in the dim and distant past I have left a trail of dented body panels and broken wing mirrors to drivers who have done that to me.

I'm much more zen now.












Usually.