Road rage - your action?

pmorgan1

What's your reaction in the event you get a dose of verbal flak from a driver who is less educated about cyclists' rights on the road?

Colinthecop

Report it to the Police then start a post in here complaining about lack of Police action 'cos they are too busy eating donuts and targeting motorists.

Well apart from the motorist that just road raged me.

I think. :roll:


(Apologies if this is no help :? )

zx6man

I ask them if they have a phone, so they can phone an ambulance if they carry on.

matt@theforce

Try to let them get on with ranting whilst laughing at them in my head. Road rage really isn't worth it

mpatts

Ignore it.

bails87

Let them do it. They've already proved themselves to be stupid, don't give them a reason to be stupid enough to use a ton and a half of metal against you.

Ride hard

Depending on the situation I either a) Curl up into a ball and cry, or b) ask the driver to wait while I go and get my mum

shadow4532

dont argue with an idiot, you may be mistaken for one yourself.

t4tomo

Politely say "Sir Arguing with you is akin to being drawn into a battle of wits with an unarmed man, and I'm not that cruel, good day."

Sadly i wasn;t'eloquant this morning and I left him with "sad w@nker"

monkimark

generally a flurry of swearing and thinly veiled threats followed by a nagging sense of regret that I wasn't more erudite and witty.

mrtuk

monkimark wrote:

generally a flurry of swearing and thinly veiled threats followed by a nagging sense of regret that I wasn't more erudite and witty.

+1

Example: Me going downhill getting a bit of speed up (still under speed limit) and taking primary - when WhiteVanMan pulls out from road on the right, then immediately stops on lhs of road causing be to brake/swerve around him. He saw me, but pulled out anyway as only a cyclist (perhaps he though i wasn;t going that fast because i wasn't a motorised vehicle!)
Me: "OOOOOOYYYYYY I was bombing down there"
Him: "Well you want to slow down then you c**t"
Me: "*** off"

I am sure i could have come up with something better to say ... but heat of the moment blurted out nonsense.

pmorgan1

matt@theforce wrote:

Try to let them get on with ranting whilst laughing at them in my head. Road rage really isn't worth it

Yeah I figure you can't win an argument with an idiot - they have more experience

awavey

mpatts wrote:

Ignore it.

+1

youll never come up with anything that will change their view so let them get on with it, smile sweetly and carry on

tootsie323

Apologise and move on.

If it happens that you're leaving a blubbering wreck of a specimen with soiled clothing, sat inside a tonne of significantly dented metal, smashed lights, snapped wipers, bent grille, punctured wheels, missing wing mirrors, cracked glass... so be it.

shaddaz

I would start arguing this with you however I try not to argue with idiots as you will drag me down to your level and beat with experience........

thats tends to p!$$ them right off

fatsmoker

mrtuk wrote:

Example: Me going downhill getting a bit of speed up (still under speed limit) and taking primary - when WhiteVanMan pulls out from road on the right, then immediately stops on lhs of road causing be to brake/swerve around him. He saw me, but pulled out anyway as only a cyclist (perhaps he though i wasn;t going that fast because i wasn't a motorised vehicle!)
Me: "OOOOOOYYYYYY I was bombing down there"
Him: "Well you want to slow down then you c**t"
Me: "*** off"

Blimey, you must have slowed down a lot to get all that exchange within earshot.

slowbike

Hardly road rage - but I had a van decide to overtake me on the last bit of my ride - just as I was doing about 25mph into a corner in a residential street - as soon as he'd overtaken he started applying the brakes and then pulled across the road into one of the drives ...

I'm quite proud that I managed a very calm but sarcastic ... "Thanks - I really needed that" into his open drivers window.
Next time he tries it I'll stop and have a word.

rallyman1978

I like to simply blow them a kiss. Maybe with a cheeky wink at the same time. Nobody knows how to react to a a 6ft2 bearded man in lycra blowing them a kiss :shock:

dilemna

If things look like they will turn ugly I always look for escape routes, but until then I give them as good as they have given me and some more if they are down right rude or have made a good attempt at scaring the sh1t out of me.

dazza12

I've had the 'You've got no right to be on the road, you pay no road tax' idiot in a battered white van in response to me asserting my road position.

Left him incandescent with rage when I simply said - 'Neither do you'.

moarspeed

Last week I pulled up at a set of lights (no ASL), the lead car (car 1) was indicating left, so I went down the centre line and went through the gap between car 1 and car 2, I stopped next to the kerb, put a foot down and lifted the back of the bike around level with the kerb...... I'm not in the way, i'm not creating an obstruction, so no problem!?!?

Young guy in Car 2 now starts revving his engine and inching forward, clearly annoyed that he'd been overtaken by a queue jumping cyclist, so I just turn round, tipped my Oakleys down off my nose and made eye contact with a "WTF are you doing, you stupid child??" expression.... Seemed to do the trick

I think sometimes they just need to realise your a human being.

If the above had failed, I would have pointed to my right SPD shoe (or more specifically the large screws protruding from the sole) and then moved my leg in a subtle kicking motion

Mark Alexander

if it's just verbal diarrhoea I smile, wave and ride on. my only exception was when someone used their car as a weapon to attack me.

anewman

MOARspeed wrote:

If the above had failed, I would have pointed to my right SPD shoe (or more specifically the large screws protruding from the sole) and then moved my leg in a subtle kicking motion

If the Police don't do anything when motorists don't know the highway code, you can be sure they'll be prosecuting you for criminal damage. Particularly as it's all about on the spot fines these days.

If you must do something like this just push the mirror either forwards or back. It causes no damage to the vehicle and causes them an inconvenience to push it back. All mirrors fold in towards the car, and most are designed to fold forwards too. The idea is to protect pedestrians in the dark.

lockstock666

I had a guy rev his engine hard behind me, long beeps, pulls alongside, winds down window and points out that there was a 'cycle path over there'. I have my reasons for using the road in this case - simply the cycle path veers off South and I head North. Which would leave me stranded on a very busy roundabout. - it's safer to stick to the road and use the roundabout normally.

But how can I explain all that in a few short seconds whilst riding along at 19 mph?

A small torrent of abuse left my mouth, to which the car made threatening movements, indicated left as if he wanted to fight me in the Esso garage just up the road and then sped off.

I should of just ignored him and taken the high road, I would give most people the benefit of the doubt, but when people really are twunts - I cant help but let them know.

When I told my wife she said "Why weren't you on the cycle path?" :x

Mikey23

Never worth mixing it. I did once and it didn't end well. If they Are off on one, they are probably out of it and nothing you can say or do is going to sort it. You can win the argument and end up dead...

Juddlinski

Stick a highway code in their mouth.

markhewitt1978

I must have terrible hearing then with all these people having exchanges. I've been shouted at, perhaps a dozen times, of those I've been able to understand not a single word.

BigLights

Where I am likely going to be living when I move to the US in the next couple of months (New York state), you are allowed to own and carry guns....without a license as long as they are not concealed...I wonder how it would change road rage if the cyclist in question had a tactical shotgun slung over his back....

Mikey23

Or arrogant roadies mouthing off at motorists over some alleged transgression if there is a possibility of a hand gun in the glove compartment ...

tonye_n

Mikey23 wrote:

Or arrogant roadies mouthing off at motorists over some alleged transgression if there is a possibility of a hand gun in the glove compartment ...

jjojjas

the truth? it depends how I feel.
If I'm in a foul mood I may well bite back, tell them to F*** off or even stop and confront them (which I try to avoid). If I'm full of the joys of life I've been known to smile, wave, laugh or just pedal onwards ignoring them.
Depends what side of the bed I get out of, how I'm feeling or if I have had a bad day at work....pretty much the same as the motorists I suspect.