Give em grief or water off a ducks back

notsoblue

Its always tempting to "close the gap" with particularly egregious road users. I think some of them behave badly because a) They feel kinda separated from everything when they're in their car and b) they think they can drive off and get away with it. In traffic this doesn't always work. So yeah, its tempting.

clarkey cat

I ride with such serenity and foresight I am never involved in any form of altercation.

Applespider

If it's there's an easy opportunity to have a word (eg. at the front of the next set of lights) then I'll say something to them along the lines of 'hey mate, that felt a little close when you passed me - could you give me more room next time?'. That generally gets a reasonable response since they're genuinely not aware of how close it felt.

If it's a real idiot who looked like they did it deliberately (e.g. shouting abuse about bikes being slow or being overly aggressive in their passing), then I subscribe to the theory that whatever I say is likely to make it worse and create road rage - so should I end up catching them up in slow moving/stopped traffic, I pass them and wave cheerily. And karma does take care of some it (see last week's anti-rant when a moron in a car tried to cut me off and drove into the van in front instead - doh!)

Completely agree with the 'thanks' gestures. There are quite a few times where I've noticed a car/van holding back slightly to make it easier for me to move out to pass a bus or stopping to let me carry on uphill on a narrow stretch of road. They all deserve a hands up thanks for being considerate in the hope they'll carry on for other cyclists too. That said, we've got just as much a responsibility not to be selfish gits on the road either and push forward unnecessarily too.

Kieran_Burns

clarkey cat wrote:

I ride with such serenity and foresight I am never involved in any form of altercation.

You SEE thousands!