Abuse from drivers?
Comments
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On our club ride a couple of weeks ago, some fat oik decided it would be funny to drive really close to us as he overtook the group. One of our guys shouted at him to move over and give us some room and what happened next was quite unbelievable really.
As soon as he had cleared our group, he jammed his brakes on to try and make everyone crash into him - somehow we all managed to avoid him. He then drags his fat arse out of his car and asks 'which one of us wankers wants a smack in the mouth'? Meantime, his missus in the passenger seat is desperately trying to drag him back into the car. :oops:
Cue a very rapid retreat when a large number of us come up to his car inviting him to try - don't think he realised how many of us there were and that we were fully prepared to engage in his little game!
Thankfully, this isn't regular occurrence though.0 -
To be confronted by a motorist in a built up area is one thing but being on your own in the middle of the countryside is another.
A car came speeding past me really close so i gave him the finger next thing he slams the brakes on .
I was ready to have words with him because i was really mad ,the next thing i wont forget in a hurry.
The driver got out so did the other three large fat blokes.
Im surprised i didnt soil myself because i have never felt so alone at that moment.
They came closer shouting, swearing saying they were go smash my bike up and me.
I got on my bike so fast and just pedaled like fuck,i saw a foot path and just kept riding look back there was no one there.
It took me a while to calm down ,got home and just thought did that really happen.
Now i just try to ignore morons like that because you never know whats going to emerge out of said vehicle .0 -
I have to say its hard to see why we are targeted like that perhaps it's the geeky clothes or that we just frustrate the hell out of other drivers? Just yesterday a bus driver deliberately ran me off the road. I followed him to his next stop to ask him why. I was working on the basis that if he was confused when I spoke to him, then it might have been an accident, but he immediately started yelling abuse, so I knew it was deliberate. He got upset when I snapped him and his bus with my camera as I intended to report him. He ended up getting out of the bus and smacked me round the head. 30 minutes later he was having to explain his actions to the police. I did feel sorry for his passengers who were stuck waiting the whole time.0
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My goodness what a plonker. Every likelihood he will lose his job. Some of these stories are very scary. I've never had any deliberate abuse but did have a little altercation with a 4x4 at a traffic calming point where I had the right of way but he thought he had. Much beeping and waving of arms ... I just put it down to error and got on with life.
I wonder if it is because of the positive riding stuff that we are encouraged to do for our own safety, primary and secondary road position and overtaking on the outside etc. your average motorist will be expecting us to be hugging the kerb and cycling on cycle paths. When we dont, they may assume we are taking the p***. How is it possible to educate the average moron?0 -
The only solution is BikeKnife(tm).
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JamesB5446 wrote:The only solution is BikeKnife(tm).
maybe some sort of handgun down the back of the bibs would be better and more visible.0 -
Happnd to me today car full of neds flew past peeping the horn and shouting at me. I was in the cycle lane so not in their way. They must have forgot they were stopping at the shop about 500 yards along the road. By the time they were getting out of their car I was beside them and off the bike they nearly shit themselves. I told them what they were and took their reg and said im reporting it to the police . Im not as they wont do anything but the neds might think again the next time.0
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Why are people so horrible? Theres a guy I know who hurls abuse at others and another guy who takes advantage of other peoples kindness to the point of using them for their money (I think this is bordering on theft). I always wonder do these people go out and try to be this horrible to others? Do they ever reflect on how bad a person they have become and think about how this makes others feel?
Am I the only person who tries to be nice and kind, because I think it makes you a better person?"The Prince of Wales is now the King of France" - Calton Kirby0 -
Yep, it happens.
Here's a trick...eye contact. Most drivers don't do it, and gob off to other road users because they are in their safe cocoon. Eye contact means engagement, hostile or otherwise. Look 'em squarely in the eye, and say your piece.Ecrasez l’infame0 -
I dont get it too often but when i do il just grit my teeth and keep moving along.
However i have given some muppet motorist a bit of verbal on a mini roundabout once as she cut me up quite badly, its even better when their windows are down so they can hear every syllable.Specialized FSR XC Comp
Scott Speedster S550 -
Someone came up right behind me today, gave me the horn for absolutly no reason, made me jump. I was ready to turn round and give them the "what you playing at face"... Turns out it was my dad in his car following me as he came back from work!!
Not so much abuse, but i've had people shout things at me from the other direction very occasionally, can only guess what's going on in their 'ickle minds. :roll:0 -
Honestly can't say I've heard anything yet.
Only been cycling since 23rd of July but not a peep from motorists, no horns or anything.
Just a couple of elderly women drivers pulling out right in front of me as I'm going 20mph through Farnham, nothing extraordinary.....yet.0 -
Haven't had anything major on my bike. I get more abuse when on my scooter, even had one bloke try and block me and give me a mouthful about what nuisances scooter riders are. I reckon he was thinking I was a 17 year old nutty rider, when I am a 48 year old sensible driver.
I also have had loads of abuse driving a car. To be honest a lot of people say stuff hoping you don't hear. It is rare for them to stop you and give you a mouthful.0 -
Only one incident of note and a bit of a lesson...
Coming over Cocking Hill on a Sunday morning and some middle aged fat bloke in a S-Max gave a long beeeeeeeeep as he went past for no apparent reason so I gave him the nescafe beans sign. About half a mile up there was a traffic que going into Singleton with matey going nowhere so as I went past I gave him a look, unfortunatly two cars further up the cars were hard against the edge of the road so I slowed down, unbalenced, could'nt unclip in time and fell over.
What could I do? I got up and laughed, my mate called me a w@nker and laughed some more and we headed back off, but it was a rather embarrising situation.
All in all I have had more abuse in my car than on my bike.0 -
Its always confused me as to why we have motorbikes/mopeds restricted to 30mph? fast enough to kill ourselves but slower than most cars will drive on a 30 limit road and slow enough that we don't learn how to ride them properly or have any ability to accelerate out of danger.
Personally if my kids want mopeds when they are older, i will tell them to wait until they are in their 20s and get some thing with enough power to get them out of trouble.0 -
diy wrote:Its always confused me as to why we have motorbikes/mopeds restricted to 30mph? fast enough to kill ourselves but slower than most cars will drive on a 30 limit road and slow enough that we don't learn how to ride them properly or have any ability to accelerate out of danger.
Personally if my kids want mopeds when they are older, i will tell them to wait until they are in their 20s and get some thing with enough power to get them out of trouble.
Amen, 30MPH scooters are a pain. Luckily I only go 3 miles to the train station and 3 miles back0 -
had a weird one over the weekend. Had a car overtaking another on a long downhill, he would of seen me a mile off on the arrow straight road we were on but decide to overtake as I was passing said car in the opposite direction, therefore pushing me onto the grass. I put my hand up as if to ask what the hell he was doing (no swearing) and got yelled at and beeped!!
Then again on my way to work yesterday, travelling along an A-Road and theres an HGV in a layby. As I reached the very back of his trailer he decided to pull out with no indication, forcing me into the middle of the road (at about 25mph). Scared the life out of me but thankfully I reacted quickly enough to avoid a head on collision with traffic coming the other way!0 -
Left hand drive probably0
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still, you should signal right?
these stories kind of scare me, but luckily i have a nice quiet route i take on my commute, earlier in the morning before the roads clog up. so i shouldn't be put in many bad positions to often.
i think my main lesson from this thread is to just ignore abuse and horns, because people like that aren't interested in learning about why they are wrong, and outsmarting and embarrassed said dumb people wont make you feel that good either....because its not exactly difficult
Bikes: CAAD8 105, CAAD10 105.0 -
Agreed.
I've got a helmet cam just in case the worst happens, but I can't stand the people who chase after drivers who've given them abuse after a bit of bad driving shouting "Put your reg into youtube when you get home". To show the driver what they've done wrong.
The driver knows exactly what they've done, they just don't give a s**t!
Just ignore it and carry on safe in the knowledge that the driver will be dead of a stress and cholesterol induced stroke/heart attack while you're still merrily pedalling away!0 -
Does anyone else get intimidated by drivers behind, who you are holding up when you are riding about a metre out from parked cars to avoid getting doored?
They seem to think we should ride about 6 inches from parked cars all the time. They need educating. Should be told why we do this as part of the driving test.
And a word of warning to anyone who rides past schools during drop off time, I saw a chap get doored whilst he was actually riding in the cycle lane by a kid not looking and jumping out of the passenger door outside a school.Cannondale Killer V
Trek 6500
Cannondale Bad Boy
LOOK KG176
Giant TCR Composite 10 -
I try to just keep my head down and concentrate on riding. If there's an incident I try to work out how I could avoid the same situation in the future, regardless of whether I think it was my fault or not. Whilst I have no hesitation in shouting out or giving hand commands to drivers to avoid an incident, I try avoid doing anything afterwards - attempting driver education isn't very rewarding, however tempting it might be ;-)
Conversely, I try to wave thanks when drivers are polite simply because it helps me stay positive and enjoy the ride more. One negative incident can really impact enjoyment of the ride, if you let it.Karlos69 wrote:Does anyone else get intimidated by drivers behind, who you are holding up when you are riding about a metre out from parked cars to avoid getting doored?
Personally, no. In my experience most incidents with drivers (or feeling intimidated) have arisen from me not being assertive enough, not from being too assertive. A metre from parked cars doesn't sound like enough space to me anyway ;-)0 -
I also try this - usually when I've noticed the driver has held back rather than squeezed past - or hasn't pulled out of a side turning - just a raised hand or nod - I do this in the hope that it makes them realise that I appreciate their patience ...slowondefy2 wrote:Conversely, I try to wave thanks when drivers are polite simply because it helps me stay positive and enjoy the ride more.
Although I did have to wave one car past when he stuck behind me despite it being clear to overtake - it wasn't him that I was bothered with - it was all the vehicles behind that this driving instructor was holding up!0 -
Don't get too much abuse aside from a few close passes, I find the majority of motorists are perfectly patient and polite with just a few idiots that ruin it for the majority. That said a white van man chucked a load of water over me the other day when I was half way up a small climb, as it was a warm day and I was feeling quite sweaty I thought it was jolly nice.
One thing that does annoy me to no end is drivers who seem to think that the use of cycle lanes is compulsory, although I do use cycle lanes I avoid the shared cyclist/pedestrian ones like the plague, would rather take my chances on the road.0 -
Karlos69 wrote:Does anyone else get intimidated by drivers behind, who you are holding up when you are riding about a metre out from parked cars to avoid getting doored?
They seem to think we should ride about 6 inches from parked cars all the time. They need educating. Should be told why we do this as part of the driving test.
And a word of warning to anyone who rides past schools during drop off time, I saw a chap get doored whilst he was actually riding in the cycle lane by a kid not looking and jumping out of the passenger door outside a school.
I also get irritated by that, especially when there is plenty of room to pass, i quite often wave to people to go past.Specialized FSR XC Comp
Scott Speedster S550 -
Dashik wrote:estampida wrote:I have never had a motorist give me angry words
maybe cos i look a little scary
or i'm 6'4" and athletic in build
most people have heard the stories of people picking a fight with a football player..... then discovering they are pro athlete's and the hard man act doesn't go much further than hard man words....
I seen motorist's pick a fight with cyclists and they pick on the smaller 1's
seen 1 guy give this girl a row for nothing, the lack of eyebrows and the headscarf on her head says she is not that well but I was doing the same thing and he did not challenge me.........
picks on female cancer patients instead - bunch of cowards
but if you cant hack confrontation avoid it
My partners just about finished radiotherapy for Breast Cancer after Chemo and an op. I'm not a big fella but you would not like to know what I would have done to a muppet if they had been rude enough to abuse her when she had her headscarf and no eyebrows..... Mind you they've grown back in like Dennis Healy's.......
On a lighter note I was very pleasantly surprised at the courtesy shown to me by car drivers in Glenrothes on my first run on a bike in 30 years. After 8 years as a driving Instructor I was impressed.
You can't be serious lol I've lived in Glenrothes all my life, and it's nothing short of a cess pit infested with dole bums junkies and teen mums!
I regularly get tossers shouting at me here...must be my face lol0 -
I read on here a while back that you should always ride a metre out from the kerb to give yourself some space to move into, best advice I ever had! I don't get much abuse but do make a point of being a courteous cyclist. If someone's waiting behind me on a blind bend, as soon as I can see that it's clear I wave them on and then give a thumb-up. Usually I get thanked by the motorist and that feels a lot nicer than someone squeezing you because they're frustrated. My biggest issue with motorists doesn't seem to be WVM or young idiots but elderly ladies in hatchbacks who trundle past with an inch of room, usually on an empty road...0
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Doesn't work for the roads I ride to work on (and back) - some of these are wide enough for a cyclist and 2 cars - providing the cyclist isn't taking up a significant portion of the lane. I change my position in the road depending on my speed and the road - not clear to see to overtake and I'll move out, clear to see and/or I'm going slowly and I'll move back in ... as I know the road I'll also move out for known potholes & "dangerous" drain covers... but make sure I do it so it's a smooth transition ..bottom_bracket wrote:I read on here a while back that you should always ride a metre out from the kerb to give yourself some space to move into, best advice I ever had! I don't get much abuse but do make a point of being a courteous cyclist.
I get very few close passes - although one car did overtake me only to have to slow down for the 30 limit and sharp corner - which was a pain because it slowed me down too - but I guess they didn't know that I can do that corner faster than a car!!0
