Road Rage

LDN-Flyer
LDN-Flyer Posts: 97
edited June 2009 in Commuting chat
Has anyone here ever lost it with someone driving a death machine?
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Comments

  • jrduquemin
    jrduquemin Posts: 791
    It does get tempting to go postal on these steel-coffin driving morons, particularly when they're talking on the phone, or doing their make up!!! GRRRRR

    But I rise above it and just swear a lot as I ride past them :lol:
    2010 Lynskey R230
    2013 Yeti SB66
  • cee
    cee Posts: 4,553
    I am fond of the witty comment in place of the rage which ineveitably looks stupid.
    Whenever I see an adult on a bicycle, I believe in the future of the human race.

    H.G. Wells.
  • DonDaddyD
    DonDaddyD Posts: 12,689
    Yeah I lost it with a Cab driver who nearly left hooked me when moving out from being parked. He didn't indicate, look or even had his wing mirror out (it was turned inwards to protect it from passing vehicles when parked). Once I realised that he didn't even have his wing mirrors out I frankly switched and became that person I very rarely almost never become.... :shock:

    "Please don't make me angry, you won't like me when I'm angry"
    Food Chain number = 4

    A true scalp is not only overtaking someone but leaving them stopped at a set of lights. As you, who have clearly beaten the lights, pummels nothing but the open air ahead. ~ 'DondaddyD'. Player of the Unspoken Game
  • Headhuunter
    Headhuunter Posts: 6,494
    Cab drivers can be complete nightmares, their vehicles have an amazing turning circle and they just seem to spin them out into the middle of the road like dodgems sometimes and expect everything to come to standstill for them.

    It's either that or slamming on the brakes and cutting across the bike lane to get at a fare on the pavement. One cab driver did that whilst I was blasting down Tooley St, I literally had to hop onto the pavement to avoid being crushed against the curb and almost wiped out the guy the cabbie was trying to pick up, I just couldn't brake in time had no option, it was either slam into the rear/side of the cab or take evasive action onto the pavement. I let rip at the cabbie and he acted as though he had done nothing wrong... typical.

    Lost it last night when some dozy woman in a Mini started to pull out in front of me from a side road, I slammed the brakes on and yelled as loud as I could, luckily she saw me in stopped in time so I swerved round the front of her. If she hadn't stopped I would have slammed straight into the side of her stupid car
    Do not write below this line. Office use only.
  • Soul Boy
    Soul Boy Posts: 359
    Oh yes, but it wasn't me, honest

    http://www.bikeradar.com/forum/viewtopi ... =#15192043

    page 19, someway down
  • LDN-Flyer
    LDN-Flyer Posts: 97
    Glad to see i'm not the only one. I had a moment the other day after a guy nearly killed me just before earls court. Rinding along a nice clear one way system, no parked cars, four other cars / vans manage to pass me no problem. This motherfuckerin a small lorry comes by doing well over the speed limit and skims my shoulder with his wingmirror.
    So after the WTF wobble i catch up with this guy at the lights. Before i get there i make a pouint of deciding not to act aggressve in any way.

    Gentle tap on passenger window,
    Drive won't wind it down,
    Make my way to the other side of the lorry van thing.
    He winds down the window.

    Dialogue

    Me: Excuse me mate you just his me back ther...
    Driver: Didn't see ya
    Me: You didn't see me? It was a clear road and i'm wearing a bright green top ?
    Driver: didn't see ya
    Me; I think you need to pay more attention with your driving, you could have killed me! (Getting a little irate)
    Driver: Whatever, you shouldn't be on the road, crazy fucking cyclists weaving all over, fuck off.
    Me: It was a straight line! You could have killed me you fuck!
    Driver starts swearing more rubbish about cyclists.
    My SPD'd foot makes contact with his front light, followed my the inevitable pop.

    WTF moment, get back on the bike and flip him one. Take a nice little d-tour the wring way down a oneway street.

    Oops,
  • Porgy
    Porgy Posts: 4,525
    I've been on the receiving end a few times. Mostly cab drivers as it happens.

    One time I had a cab driver overtook me on a mini roundabout in Paddington while i was indicating right and had begun to maneouvre. I swore at him and for the next twenty minuted he hunted me down. I was trying to get to Hyde Park, but this guy kept coming out of different side roads and driving at me, even mounting the pavements to get at me. I was diving behind trees - with my bike. Loads of people saw it happening and I don;t think they could believe their eyes. Eventually I got to Hyde Park where he couldn't follow.

    another time in Paddington - a black cab driver deliberately mounted my rear wheel at a red light becasue I was in front of him. I had witnesses there too, but can;t remember why I never maanged to get him to pay for new wheel.

    And finally a nice friendly black cab driver got out of his cab to kick the shit out of me after running me over - this was Paddington too.

    And another one in Paddington - a bloke jumped off a routemaster bus straight into my path while i was going about 25 mph. I just missed him. told him he was a cnut and he punched me and ran off. I needed to have stitches, but I did get the day off work.

    These days I stay away from Paddington.
  • LDN-Flyer
    LDN-Flyer Posts: 97
    Yeha Paddington sounds crazy. Cab driver wise just last week i was chased down the goldhawk road after shouting at a cabbie who nearly knocked 4 cyclists off. The fucking was honking and revving his way down a bus lane almost intent on hitting someone, I slam his window with a flat palm and say "What the hell are you doing ?" the usual cabbie response of F**kC&&T etc etc etc then he chases me and i mount the pavement to escape.
  • LDN-Flyer
    LDN-Flyer Posts: 97
    Of course saying all this, its nothing compared to the stress of the tube every morning :p
  • Porgy
    Porgy Posts: 4,525
    LDN-Flyer wrote:
    Of course saying all this, its nothing compared to the stress of the tube every morning :p

    I stopped using the tube regularly about 15 years ago becasue of rage incidents I saw going on and feeling my own anger levels beginning to rise.
  • Headhuunter
    Headhuunter Posts: 6,494
    Porgy wrote:
    I've been on the receiving end a few times. Mostly cab drivers as it happens.

    One time I had a cab driver overtook me on a mini roundabout in Paddington while i was indicating right and had begun to maneouvre. I swore at him and for the next twenty minuted he hunted me down. I was trying to get to Hyde Park, but this guy kept coming out of different side roads and driving at me, even mounting the pavements to get at me. I was diving behind trees - with my bike. Loads of people saw it happening and I don;t think they could believe their eyes. Eventually I got to Hyde Park where he couldn't follow.

    another time in Paddington - a black cab driver deliberately mounted my rear wheel at a red light becasue I was in front of him. I had witnesses there too, but can;t remember why I never maanged to get him to pay for new wheel.

    And finally a nice friendly black cab driver got out of his cab to kick the shoot out of me after running me over - this was Paddington too.

    And another one in Paddington - a bloke jumped off a routemaster bus straight into my path while i was going about 25 mph. I just missed him. told him he was a cnut and he punched me and ran off. I needed to have stitches, but I did get the day off work.

    These days I stay away from Paddington.

    Bluddy Hell Porgy, I'm amazed you still cycle with what you've been through! I think I would have jacked it in by now...!
    Do not write below this line. Office use only.
  • gtvlusso
    gtvlusso Posts: 5,112
    edited May 2009
    Mate - you are not alone.

    I have to live with the fact that I broke a fella's jaw and knocked some of his teeth out after he knocked me off (fairly deliberately). I feel like a twat now, but he did assualt me first by pushing me after I had got up off the floor. I had a several witnesses to the event who were prepared to testify against him for dangerous driving and assaulting me pre my punching his lights out......

    Not my finest hour......I felt great at the time. But now feel that I lowered myself and the whole of the cycling world to his level.

    Still, he will think twice about messing with a lycra and floura clad bloke on a race bike again!!
  • Porgy
    Porgy Posts: 4,525
    Porgy wrote:
    I've been on the receiving end a few times. Mostly cab drivers as it happens.

    One time I had a cab driver overtook me on a mini roundabout in Paddington while i was indicating right and had begun to maneouvre. I swore at him and for the next twenty minuted he hunted me down. I was trying to get to Hyde Park, but this guy kept coming out of different side roads and driving at me, even mounting the pavements to get at me. I was diving behind trees - with my bike. Loads of people saw it happening and I don;t think they could believe their eyes. Eventually I got to Hyde Park where he couldn't follow.

    another time in Paddington - a black cab driver deliberately mounted my rear wheel at a red light becasue I was in front of him. I had witnesses there too, but can;t remember why I never maanged to get him to pay for new wheel.

    And finally a nice friendly black cab driver got out of his cab to kick the shoot out of me after running me over - this was Paddington too.

    And another one in Paddington - a bloke jumped off a routemaster bus straight into my path while i was going about 25 mph. I just missed him. told him he was a cnut and he punched me and ran off. I needed to have stitches, but I did get the day off work.

    These days I stay away from Paddington.

    Bluddy Hell Porgy, I'm amazed you still cycle with what you've been through! I think I would have jacked it in by now...!

    I did consider jacking it in - but I've had about 3 years of uneventful cycling now with no accidents and no assaults. I've finally learned how to avoid trouble :)
  • Jehannum
    Jehannum Posts: 107
    While cycling to work in the outskirts of Sheffield 20 years ago, I was cut up by a mondeo exiting a roundabout. I put my steel toecap through his nearside rear light cluster [ in trying to keep my balance, honest! ;-) ]. He stopped and wanted to fight in the street. I was all set to have a go, too. Fortunately for both of us the car following him was an off duty policeman who suggested he'd be better forgetting all about it and going on his way, seeing as the fault was his in the first place.

    Doog.
    Reduce your carbon footprint - ride a metal bike!
  • LDN-Flyer
    LDN-Flyer Posts: 97
    gtvlusso wrote:
    Mate - you are not alone.

    I have to live with the fact that I broke a fella's jaw and knocked some of his teeth out after he knocked me off (fairly deliberately). I feel like a fool now, but he did assualt me first by pushing me after I had got up off the floor. I had a several witnesses to the event who were prepared to testify against him for dangerous driving and assaulting me pre my punching his lights out......

    Not my finest hour......I felt great at the time. But now feel that I lowered myself and the whole of the cycling world to his level.

    Still, he will think twice about messing with a lycra and floura clad bloke on a race bike again!!

    I know what you mean, i felt i might have overreacted but the guys attitude was all wrong and something had to be done about that.
  • gtvlusso
    gtvlusso Posts: 5,112
    LDN-Flyer wrote:
    gtvlusso wrote:
    Mate - you are not alone.

    I have to live with the fact that I broke a fella's jaw and knocked some of his teeth out after he knocked me off (fairly deliberately). I feel like a fool now, but he did assualt me first by pushing me after I had got up off the floor. I had a several witnesses to the event who were prepared to testify against him for dangerous driving and assaulting me pre my punching his lights out......

    Not my finest hour......I felt great at the time. But now feel that I lowered myself and the whole of the cycling world to his level.

    Still, he will think twice about messing with a lycra and floura clad bloke on a race bike again!!

    I know what you mean, i felt i might have overreacted but the guys attitude was all wrong and something had to be done about that.

    Some people are simply thick and you will never get through to them.....It is very sad and I feel sorry for them, they cannot think of the consequences of their actions......the consequence in my case in that he got knocked out unexpectedly...! It was a quality punch and he was a big lad....!
  • cjcp
    cjcp Posts: 13,345
    Yes.

    In one instance, I threw my mtb down before walking over to the driver's side window after he clipped me with his mirror trying to switch lanes near Clapham South tube.

    There have been other instances too. I consider myself a reasonable bloke who just doesn't take very kindly to being put in danger by cr@pwits who don't pay attention.
    FCN 2-4.

    "What happens when the hammer goes down, kids?"
    "It stays down, Daddy."
    "Exactly."
  • I have endless road rage tales which put me in both a good and a bad light. In fact I see the rage almost everyday.

    My current strategy is to adopt a zen-like calm and simply rise above it all. It's not easy all the time and sometimes the mask slips, but it's the best bet all things considered.

    It's not worth getting shot because someone cut you up.
  • dilemna
    dilemna Posts: 2,187
    It's not worth getting shot because someone cut you up.

    It's going to happen sooner or later if any of the above stories are anything to go by :cry: .
    Life is like a roll of toilet paper; long and useful, but always ends at the wrong moment. Anon.
    Think how stupid the average person is.......
    half of them are even more stupid than you first thought.
  • il_principe
    il_principe Posts: 9,155
    I try to remain calm but I've ad a few instances. Lowered myself to the level of spitting this week - spat through the open window of a mini cab who came within 1 cm of eitherkilling or seriously injuring me on Edgeware road (middle of 3 lanes). He'd wound his window down to tell me to "get off the fcuking road" when I caught up with him, so I told him to fark off and spat through his open window before shooting off. Thank God for rush hour traffic, didn't see him again.

    When your life's being put in danger and the adrenaline is up I can see why many of us tend to react angrily in response to moronic driving.
  • rise above it
    cycle on
    and NEVER underestimate your opponent.....
  • Porgy
    Porgy Posts: 4,525
    I really try hard to not lose it these days. It's unbecoming for a man of 42 to be brawling in the street.

    I'm developing the art of taking the piss out of cab drivers instead of attacking them. The last was two days ago. There's that strecth of road between London Bridge and Tower Bridge where I seem to have all my rage incidents these days. There was this bloke who stepped out into the cycle lane in front of two cyclists including me in order to get in a cab. Waiting two seconds hadn;t occured to him.

    So I very calmly and politiely explained that it probably wasn't a good idea to jump in front of speeding bikes just to save two seconds catching a cab. He was fine realised he'd done wrong. Then the cab driver jumped in and told me to calm down. I was already pretty calm, until then. So I told him to mind his own business.

    "It is my business - he's my customer, and I'm looking after him."
    "ahhh isn;t that nice, looking after your baby"
    "yeah he's my baby"
    "going to bum each other later then?"
    "why don;t you fuck off and have a wash?"
    "why don;t you get some more brain cells? Can you do that?"

    He wound his window up and drove off.

    I admit it's not Wilde, but it was more fun than hitting each other. :)
  • gtvlusso wrote:
    Mate - you are not alone.

    I have to live with the fact that I broke a fella's jaw and knocked some of his teeth out after he knocked me off (fairly deliberately). I feel like a fool now, but he did assualt me first by pushing me after I had got up off the floor. I had a several witnesses to the event who were prepared to testify against him for dangerous driving and assaulting me pre my punching his lights out......

    Not my finest hour......I felt great at the time. But now feel that I lowered myself and the whole of the cycling world to his level.

    Still, he will think twice about messing with a lycra and floura clad bloke on a race bike again!!
    in nine years of training in tae kwon do at 2nd dan black belt i have never seen anyone break a jaw n knock teeth out with a punch .... this is possible with a side SNAP KICK . but WOW UNBELIEVABLE.....maybe you should take up a martial art,boxing to teach you self control DISCIPLINE.
  • NGale
    NGale Posts: 1,866
    last ride I went on with the guys in Dartmouth saw a slightly unsavoury incident. I was the one sworn at and threatened, two of the guys I was with including the good Commander decided they were going to try and extract the man from car via the half open window to show their displeasure.
    Officers don't run, it's undignified and panics the men
  • Bhima
    Bhima Posts: 2,145
    Was in a car today and passed a cyclist who had a t-shirt on with big red words printed on the rear:

    "Cyclists have metal clips on thier shoes, so if you want to keep your teeth where they are, don't be a dickhead driver"

    Not sure how effective it is but, as a passenger, I could read it so I assume it must work sometimes...

    :lol:

    I was once going through the city centre and saw a cyclist kicking the crap out of a truck driver who had probably knocked him off a few minutes earlier... Bike was crushed under the wheel of the truck so the cyclist picked up the remains of the frame and smashed the driver's head in with it! Was a proper old steel tank of a frame too. Driver was out cold! :shock:
  • always_tyred
    always_tyred Posts: 4,965
    I confess, I was once forced into a side road by one of those angry old "what did I do with my life?" men in a beat up people carrier. I did my usual knock the knuckles on the back wing. When he got out and attempted to punch me it occurred to me that doing this in that perticular part of town dressed in lycra probably wasn't a great idea. I suppose it counts as "rage" that I held the bike between us and shoved the pointier parts at him a few times. I suspect it hurt to punch items such as brake levers, chain rings and so on. Not that he flinched. Twas but a scratch.
  • bomberesque
    bomberesque Posts: 1,701
    I banged my fist on the roof of a very large merc, which was changing lanes without looking on Orchard Road in Singapore once many moons ago. the lady inside looked typical of what is very unkindly known as a "tai tai" in that part of the world (married to money, preofessional shopper) and was fully bedecked in Coco Chanel outfit and lodsa jewels. She looked like she'd had a heart attack at the fact that I'd managed to penetrate her personal space with only a gloved fist to the roof of her boat. I'm sure she wasn't being malicious, just oblivious, the way merc/bmw/RR drivers so often are

    Don't think I lost it though, I'm usually a lot less angry on a bike than I am in a car .... which is one erason why I ride!
    Everything in moderation ... except beer
    Beer in moderation ... is a waste of beer

    If riding an XC race bike is like touching the trail,
    then riding a rigid singlespeed is like licking it
    ... or being punched by it, depending on the day
  • King Donut
    King Donut Posts: 498
    Bhima wrote:
    Was in a car today and passed a cyclist who had a t-shirt on with big red words printed on the rear:

    "Cyclists have metal clips on thier shoes, so if you want to keep your teeth where they are, don't be a dickhead driver"

    Not sure how effective it is but, as a passenger, I could read it so I assume it must work sometimes...

    :lol:

    :lol::lol:
    Brilliant! I'm off to find meself one...
  • Fireblade96
    Fireblade96 Posts: 1,123
    I've fairly much got over my road rage cycling days. Nowadays rather than swearing/ gesticulating/ kicking cars I generally resort to either the Sorry Shake of the Head, or for ultimate power the Waggy Finger of Disapproval. Both make your point without being overly aggressive.

    In the past, particularly on my motorbike, I have been known to respond badly to people trying to kill me. I used to live in Paris and commute round the Peripherique. Filtering between lanes 2 & 3 is what bikes do.As I was doing so, a car driver looked in his mirror, made eye contact with me, but switched lanes anyway right in front of me. I hit the brakes, somehow avoided hitting him, but decided to admonish him as I passed by swatting his mirror. I forgot to take into account the fact that I was doing probably 20mph more than him and rather than just bang the mirror, it exploded into a very satisfying number of expensive pieces :twisted:
    Misguided Idealist