I shot the sheriff...

eiopago

Hello everyone,

Well

I do not know if this is the best way to start posting on this forum,
anyway, this is what happened:

Red traffic light ahead so I stop at the ASL.
I then see the usual cab driver slowly coming from behind and stopping right next to me.
I knock on his window to then indicate that he should have stopped before the ASL, what does he do?
He lowers the window and tell me these exact words "we are not in the perfect world, you idiot!", in a very angry and stressed out manner.
Now, I was polite but very firm to him and he had no right to do what he did.
What do I do?
I answered "not with you around" back, spat on his window and rode away as the light turned green in the meantime .

Opinions?

aidso

ASLs (after googling it) are a fairly new thing where I am from and I have seen plenty of people stopping in them (in a car) probably because they don't know what they are - The big bicycle picture is a puzzler.

Tbf I wouldnt have spat at his window after the exchange. I would have run you over if you can done that to my car.

eiopago

If you are a cab driver in London you know very well what an ASL is (Advenced stop line).
I f you do not you shouldn't be driving a cab in the 1st place.

davis

You lost the moral high ground by spitting.

king_jeffers

eiopago wrote:

I answered "not with you around" back, spat on his window and rode away as the light turned green in the meantime .

Opinions?

You spat on his window? If that was me I would have ran you over. As davis said you had it until then.

eiopago

wow,

I didn't know there were so many tough people here.
Isn't running over a cyclist (even because of a spit) a bit over-reacting?

If yes, then you are all wrong,
If not, then I didn't over-react by doing what I did after the abuse I got.

kelsen

eiopago wrote:

wow,

I didn't know there were so many tough people here.
Isn't running over a cyclist (even because of a spit) a bit over-reacting?

If yes, then you are all wrong,
If not, then I didn't over-react by doing what I did after the abuse I got.

Yes, running over a cyclist because they spat at you is overreacting, but so is spitting at someone because they shouted abuse at you. If you really want people's view on this incident then ask the same question in Commuting Chat. Don't expect many favourable responses though!

Oh, and welcome.

kelsen

...and spat on his window, or through his window? Be honest.

king_jeffers

eiopago wrote:

Isn't running over a cyclist (even because of a spit) a bit over-reacting?

Exactly, over-reacting

eiopago

I was on the passenger side of the cab and the window was so little lowered that the spit did not go through.
I didn't want to hit the driver and the spit ended up where it was intended to.
I'm being very honest.

Also, I did not post here to look for favourable responses, just honest ones.

ddraver

It's interesting how as "cyclists" we re all immediately up in arms if someone threatens to run us over or tells people to "flatten cyclists" or "string piano wires across bike lanes" on the Telly/internet/paper , but if someone touches our car we ve no hesitation in doing exactly the same thing...

aidso

@ddraver
It wasn't simply "touching the car". The OP instigated the confrontation by knocking the drivers' window. Why not just leave it and accept the taxi driver was a twat? We're you hoping for an apology and him to back the car up?
Secondly, by spitting on his vehicle you not only put yourself in danger by escalating the situation but further up the road, had the driver come across another cyclist that person would have unfairly been judged based on your previous reactions.

eiopago

aidso wrote:

@ddraver
It wasn't simply "touching the car". The OP instigated the confrontation by knocking the drivers' window. Why not just leave it and accept the taxi driver was a fool? We're you hoping for an apology and him to back the car up?
Secondly, by spitting on his vehicle you not only put yourself in danger by escalating the situation but further up the road, had the driver come across another cyclist that person would have unfairly been judged based on your previous reactions.

1st, I knocked on the window, I didn't try to smash it.
2nd, I put myself in "danger" by my own will hence ready for the consequences (eventually)
3rd, so let's just leave everything wrong we see, let's quietly accept when people are fool so they can continue being one.

jonnyboy77

Spitting is pretty disgusting even when required to remove a stray insect from your mouth. Spitting at someone, window or not, just plain disgusting and unjustifiable.

- Jon

Monkeypump

Spitting at someone is a disgusting action, whether justified or not.

You have (wrongly) escalated a fairly innocuous issue, even though the taxi driver was wrong for being in the ASL.

You seem to have posted on here expecting unanimous support, and are upset because the majority (so far) think you've behaved badly.

What's more, if you carry on behaving like that you're likely to find yourself on the receiving end of such behaviour (or worse). At the very least, you're going to be riding in a constantly stressed state.

TBH, you seem a bit of a plank.

ddraver

aidso wrote:

@ddraver
It wasn't simply "touching the car". The OP instigated the confrontation by knocking the drivers' window. Why not just leave it and accept the taxi driver was a fool? We're you hoping for an apology and him to back the car up?
Secondly, by spitting on his vehicle you not only put yourself in danger by escalating the situation but further up the road, had the driver come across another cyclist that person would have unfairly been judged based on your previous reactions.

So you'd have killed him had it been your car...

t4tomo

eiopago wrote:

wow,

I didn't know there were so many tough people here.
Isn't running over a cyclist (even because of a spit) a bit over-reacting?

If yes, then you are all wrong,
If not, then I didn't over-react by doing what I did after the abuse I got.

It is yes, but we're all right you're still wrong.

Fair enough point out the ASL but leave it at that. The taxi driver appears to be acting like a nob for getting angry rather than just saying something like sorry, i didn't see the ASL box.

You completely over reacted by spitting, making yourself look more of a nob in the process (its yobbish cowardly footballer behaviour).

You're making yourself look even more of a nob arguing that you were right to do what you did, when no-one else on here seems to think so.

I'd get a new user name and start again if I was you.

woodford2barbican

Taxi driver was right, world is not perfect -adapt to it.I would run you over and then spit on you.

DF33

Whatever you had in the argument with him You lost everything when you spat.

Some drivers would have got out and smacked you one for doing that.

If a copper did that it would reflect on the police as a whole as in uniform.
As said above your action reflects not only on you but on the cyclists for the next hour or two as he is still steaming from the disgusting gob on his windscreen. Then another notch permanently on his brain against cyclists.

Think next time before lowering yourself Beneath someone like him. He drove off with the moral high ground, no more educated towards ASL's and you looking like a right chavvy tw@t.

Nice work fella.

Kaise

er, you spat on his car? you are definately the most mature person we have had on here for a while.

you, my friend are what gives all cyclists a bad name! i bet you have ridden on a pavement before havent you, a pedestrian didnt spit in your face for doing so did they.........case closed

you're a nugget - simple!

andrewlwood

WHen a taxi driver or any other car pulls into an ASL, I manoeuvre my bike in front of them so they still have to wait for me to move off. Very effective.

Tackling taxi drivers on their driving always results in abuse in London;ALWAYS. I've stopped bothering. The fact they are doing it means they don't care, not that they don't know.

And spitting on his taxi was disgusting, disproportionate and, as others have said, means you lost this one when you could have won it. You've also made one more taxi driver anti-cyclist for the rest of us.

chris_bass

Am I missing something?

what abuse did you get?

you knocked on his window, he responded, maybe not politely but nothing too bad and then you spat on his car which, in my opinion, is completely disgraceful!

he shouldnt have stopped where he did but spitting on his car is 100 times worse in my book and as has been mentioned before he might now see all cyclists in that light. This could affect the way he treats other cyclists.

SimonLyons

I believe spit can be used for DNA evidence.

Bus drivers + train staff are advised to collect it when spat at.

shouldbeinbed

You're a prick

kieranb

well, you over reacted by spitting and also if you continue cycling in London you will soon ignore cases where cars pull into the ASL box, otherwise you will die of stress or assault by a road rage driver. Long term cycling in London it's best to chill out a bit (just like some forum posters here as well).

izzy Eviel

You should've tried to kill him with kindness.

Kerguelen

eiopago wrote:

Hello everyone,

Well

I do not know if this is the best way to start posting on this forum,
anyway, this is what happened:

Red traffic light ahead so I stop at the ASL.
I then see the usual cab driver slowly coming from behind and stopping right next to me.
I knock on his window to then indicate that he should have stopped before the ASL, what does he do?
He lowers the window and tell me these exact words "we are not in the perfect world, you idiot!", in a very angry and stressed out manner.
Now, I was polite but very firm to him and he had no right to do what he did.
What do I do?
I answered "not with you around" back, spat on his window and rode away as the light turned green in the meantime .

Opinions?

My opinion? That the rest of us now have to share the road with someone you deliberately spat on to make a point.

Actions have consequences beyond your own little world, you know.

So well done you.

andrewlwood

OP strangely quiet; despite assurances, I don't think he was expecting such universal condemnation...

Headhuunter

andrewlwood wrote:

WHen a taxi driver or any other car pulls into an ASL, I manoeuvre my bike in front of them so they still have to wait for me to move off. Very effective.

Tackling taxi drivers on their driving always results in abuse in London;ALWAYS. I've stopped bothering. The fact they are doing it means they don't care, not that they don't know.

And spitting on his taxi was disgusting, disproportionate and, as others have said, means you lost this one when you could have won it. You've also made one more taxi driver anti-cyclist for the rest of us.

Yeah I basically create my own ASL ahead of the taxi if it is blocked, I never say anything, basically people do not like being corrected. Telling a taxi driver that he shouldn't be in the ASL is like correcting someone's grammar or spelling on a forum, it generally doesn't result in the correctee saying "thanks mate"... As you say, tackling taxi drivers, the self appointed patron saints of London's roads, on their driving is usually unsuccessful too. In their own eyes, London taxi drivers can do no wrong and everyone else is a w@nker...