Let myself down today with road rage

nmt

Ok so i'm just getting back into my cycling after a 3 month lay off after an operation. I went out for my 3rd ride since getting out of cast today and planned a nice quiet 20 mile loop with my 10 year old son. The route only involved 100 yards or so on a main (but not busy) road which was about 2 miles into the ride. On approaching a mini roundabout and needing to rurn right i know the road to the left is blind ie blocked by a building so i told my son to stay behind and approached the roundabout with caution, On approaching i could hear a car coming and it sounded like it was coming quite fast (although it's only a 30 zone) at this point the said car comes into view and sees me and slamms his breaks on and comes to a virtual stop great i thought he's seen me so started to pedal a little faster then all of a sudden he pulls out on me making me have to break :roll: so i give him a hand in air gesture to show my dissaprovement (from reading this forum i always said no wanker signs) but the red mist set in and i ended up givving him one this then made him pull up at the side of the road so i was ready to either tell him the error of his ways or defend myself in a fight i pulled up just behind him and started to dismount the bike then he drove off so i clipped back in then he stopped again before driving off :shock: anyway i'm sure it must have been the w@nker sign that made him stop but on getting home it started occuring to me he may have pulled over to appologise who knows but either way i saw the red mist and did what i thought i wouldn't do and if front of my son :oops:

Anyway on a good note the rest of the ride was great managed to get just shy of 20 mile in but had to stop for my son a couple of times who was moaning about his back aching so some investigation required to see what i can do for him.

ooermissus

I wouldn't worry too much about it. Danger makes people get angry much more easily, and I am sure having your son there exacerbated that. Problem with road rage is how fast it can go out control - when I was a courier I gave a BMW driver the finger and was then chased a long long way through a housing estate near Kings Cross. I have always thought that he planned to seriously hurt or kill me. Glad you enjoyed your ride.

elderone

To be fair the bloke could have been a nutter and hurt you,then what would have gone through your sons mind.No doubt you were in the right but you weren,t alone and for that reason you should have just bit your lip IMHO.
Sometimes discetion is the better part of valor.

danlikesbikes

Easy to say in hindsight for us, but I have been there myself & did feel a complete tool afterwards. Hope you now can look back at the enjoyment of your ride with your son & maybe try and remember this feeling of guilt so that next time you don't repeat. I know thats how I always to think about how I behave towards other car users now, plus as others have said he/she could have been pulling over to say sorry to your and your son and you scared the life out of them.

Don't sweat it too much though as it shows you have a conscience that you care enough to feel bad about it, as there are plenty of others who think its OK.

Kieran_Burns

I like to post this vid I took when I read threads like this:

http://youtu.be/HRBQq1jQlNU

Please excuse the out of breath responses from me... I was completely knackered at that point.

k3vinjam3s

The above situations where the motorist sees the error in their ways is a very rare thing imo. I used to get angry but then realised it was taking the enjoyment out of my riding. My new approach is to CALMLY let the driver know he was too close or in the wrong and should be more careful as next time he could seriously harm a cyclist with his 1.5 tonne weapon. Find this gets an apologetic and calm response and makes the driver think for a second and realise his approach to cyclists isn't right. I honestly think going in shouting and screaming only fuels the motorists dislike of cyclists and could potentially make him think even less od us in the future. Don't get me wrong though I'm prepared to go to war if need be, one thing I won't do is back down to someone who thinks they are invinsible in a car.

rick_chasey

You know yourself it wasn't the best thing to do.

Just take it easy. As far as getting angry goes, a miss is as good as a mile.

nmt

I try and stay calm these days and i don't tend to flip out when someone pulls out on me when i'm in my car but that's probably because i've got protection around me.

It was probably that i had my son with me coupled with the fact that i know 1st hand that careless driving can leave people scarred for life.

12 Year ago i was hit by smidsy (no not smidsy on these forums ) whilst on 2 wheels i was only travelling at 40mph but got hit head on by a car turning right across my path which in turn left me with some serious leg injuries after dislocating my knee to the extent that it left me with all 4 ligaments in my knee snapped 1 nerve stretched 1 nerve snapped resulting in permanent loss of movement in my foot and also a snapped artery behind the knee that needed emergency surgery for an artery bypass graft to get the blood supply back to my foot and also having to have fasciotomies on my leg (google image fasciaotomies and you will see the afermath of being careless for the sake of a few seconds) 12 year of pain later and barely unable to walk without pain and piling on the pounds (i mean stones) i tried cycling (mtb) to get fitter and lose some weight and found that if i possition my foot in the right place on the pedal i can avoid the painfull part i really enjoyed been out on the bike so bought the road bike last October and so far i'm loving it although i have yet to do any more than 25 mile.

elderone

Thats some scary story mate,and quite understandable why you can get angry.Just take it easy and enjoy in the knowledge that these idiots wont go away so best try and take it in your stride.
good luck.

Bustacapp

i don't think I'd ever take my son out on the roads. He's only 5 though. Might take him down the Rainford Bypass in summer (cycle lane).

slowbike

Ever is a long time ...

Ok, he may still be a bit young, but how is he going to learn how to ride a road if you don't teach him?
My brothers kids are similar in age and already great on the quiet roads

Bustacapp

Slowbike wrote:

he may still be a bit young, but how is he going to learn how to ride a road if you don't teach him?

I'm hoping he'll never want to. Not with what I'm reading on this forum on a daily basis. I often have second thoughts myself!! :shock:

slowbike

Bustacapp wrote:

Slowbike wrote:

he may still be a bit young, but how is he going to learn how to ride a road if you don't teach him?

I'm hoping he'll never want to. Not with what I'm reading on this forum on a daily basis. I often have second thoughts myself!! :shock:

If you take everything you read on this forum at face value you'd never get on your bike!

Road riding is dangerous - but you can mitigate most of it by taking certain precautions and in my book, learning to ride your bike on roads is important - even if you don't do it again ...
It's like learning to swim, you never know when you might need the knowledge, so learn and then you can ...