Road Rage

dobbo800 · Post by **dobbo800** » 11 Apr 2018, 11:25am

This is why it's not worth getting into a confrontation with a driver. You never know who you're dealing with.....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-us-c ... ge-scuffle

Ouch. Take care out there.

mjr · Post by **mjr** » 11 Apr 2018, 12:54pm

dobbo800 wrote:This is why it's not worth getting into a confrontation with a driver. You never know who you're dealing with.....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-us-c ... ge-scuffle

Ouch. Take care out there.

As I know from experience, you don't always have the choice not to be involved in road rage. Even saying something minor like "wooo" in uncontrolled surprise from a pass on the approach to a blind junction so close you could feel the air disturbance from the wing mirror on your hand can provoke a driver into emergency-stopping, getting out and coming towards you to hit you... thankfully he was too enraged to think of putting his car into reverse because while I could U-turn, I didn't have a whole lot of options to get off that road anywhere soon.

It is not the fault of the motorcyclist for either putting his hands up (while arguably wrong, few people can say they've never expressed exasperation like that on the roads - I suspect we've all seen far worse hand signals) or even for telling the driver to pull over (not usually an option for a cyclist as the motorist accelerates away after cutting you up) and I am astonished by the above told-you-so post.

Hopefully what looks like dashcam footage from a following car means that it shouldn't be too difficult to punish either the driver or the registered owner for assaulting him with a car. I think cases like this should be made into examples that it's not OK to go around on a short fuse using a large heavy motorised vehicle as a weapon against other road users.

dobbo800 · Post by **dobbo800** » 11 Apr 2018, 1:06pm

"I am astonished by the above 'I told you so' post".

Are you referring to my post? If you are then you have chosen to take it the wrong way. I was simply pointing out that it's best to avoid this type of confrontation, if you can, because you never know what the driver will do. Most will just hurl abuse at you but there are some who will run you down. That's all. No preaching. Sheesh.

mjr · Post by **mjr** » 11 Apr 2018, 1:40pm

dobbo800 wrote:If you are then you have chosen to take it the wrong way. I was simply pointing out that it's best to avoid this type of confrontation, if you can, because you never know what the driver will do. Most will just hurl abuse at you but there are some who will run you down. That's all. No preaching. Sheesh.

People cannot avoid road rage confrontations other than by avoiding all roads. It only takes one person to confront - that raging motorist may well have chosen to confront someone else if the motorcyclist hadn't said anything. Have you ever been confronted by a road rager? If so, could you have avoided it?

Maybe it should have said that cyclists shouldn't confront others but that's not what was written.

brooksby · Post by **brooksby** » 11 Apr 2018, 2:41pm

Will that incident be treated as an attempted murder, under the convoluted American laws (just been reading about murder-by-association) ?

Username · Post by **Username** » 11 Apr 2018, 3:34pm

dobbo800 wrote:"I am astonished by the above 'I told you so' post".

Are you referring to my post? If you are then you have chosen to take it the wrong way. I was simply pointing out that it's best to avoid this type of confrontation, if you can, because you never know what the driver will do. Most will just hurl abuse at you but there are some who will run you down. That's all. No preaching. Sheesh.

He was referring to a post that was deleted by a moderator.

It's worth bearing in mind that this incident happened in America. Wouldn't be surpised if the person driving that car also had a gun in there. Reminds me of the nutcase from the Wolfcreek films.

OP you are right about not knowing what you may encounter.

dobbo800 · Post by **dobbo800** » 11 Apr 2018, 5:43pm

mjr wrote:
dobbo800 wrote:If you are then you have chosen to take it the wrong way. I was simply pointing out that it's best to avoid this type of confrontation, if you can, because you never know what the driver will do. Most will just hurl abuse at you but there are some who will run you down. That's all. No preaching. Sheesh.

People cannot avoid road rage confrontations other than by avoiding all roads. It only takes one person to confront - that raging motorist may well have chosen to confront someone else if the motorcyclist hadn't said anything. Have you ever been confronted by a road rager? If so, could you have avoided it?

Maybe it should have said that cyclists shouldn't confront others but that's not what was written.

I commute 2500 miles a year on my bike, mostly on the road, so, yes, of course I've experienced my share of road rage. And I'm acutely aware some drivers can be provoked by the smallest perceived 'slight'. A small shake of the head is usually enough to kick them off. All I'm saying is these situations can escalate very quickly and it's best not to react if you can, and to ignore provocation. To remind me to (try to) keep a cool head I have a sticker on my handlebars which says 'let it go'. If I have to I will stop, get off the road, and let the idiot drive away. Do I care if he (or she) thinks he's 'won'. No.

The guy on the motorcycle was provoked and he reacted which in turn led to an ugly situation where he might have been killed. The driver is a dangerous fool and I hope he goes to jail. This was my point - you never know if you are dealing with one of the nutters who will try to kill you or someone who will just tell to FOxtrot . . . . .

Cheers

mjr · Post by **mjr** » 11 Apr 2018, 5:59pm

dobbo800 wrote:I commute 2500 miles a year on my bike, mostly on the road, so, yes, of course I've experienced my share of road rage. And I'm acutely aware some drivers can be provoked by the smallest perceived 'slight'. A small shake of the head is usually enough to kick them off.

And it might not be "a small shake of the head". It might be that you were looking behind, as cyclists do. We cannot avoid these ragers in practice. That's my point.

dobbo800 wrote:All I'm saying is these situations can escalate very quickly and it's best not to react if you can, and to ignore provocation. To remind me to (try to) keep a cool head I have a sticker on my handlebars which says 'let it go'. If I have to I will stop, get off the road, and let the idiot drive away. Do I care if he (or she) thinks he's 'won'. No.

If that's it, if that's all one does, then I feel that's being an enabler of the motoring domination of our roads and the literal marginalisation of cycling. Report the offenders to the police. Log the incidents on whatever map you think you can persuade the government to look at. Pester the politicians to do something - especially through the CUK's RoadJustice campaign.

Phil Fouracre · Post by **Phil Fouracre** » 11 Apr 2018, 6:30pm

Never a nice situation, and scary at times. I've always wondered about 'road rage', and exactly what would kick it off. I had a friend years ago who was always having road rage 'incidents', and couldn't understand why. I then travelled with her as a passenger and knew immediately :-)

a very awkward conversation followed.

Cyril Haearn · Post by **Cyril Haearn** » 11 Apr 2018, 9:15pm

Phil Fouracre wrote:Never a nice situation, and scary at times. I've always wondered about 'road rage', and exactly what would kick it off. I had a friend years ago who was always having road rage 'incidents', and couldn't understand why. I then travelled with her as a passenger and knew immediately a very awkward conversation followed.

Would you care to explain in a bit more detail? Diolch

It is best to avoid communicating, avoid eye contact

flat tyre · Post by **flat tyre** » 11 Apr 2018, 9:28pm

Sometimes the confrontation cannot be avoided. In one instance that happened to me I was nearly killed by a builder's truck passing a line of parked cars on his side of the road, rather than move in slightly so we both could pass, he accelerated and swung his steering wheel so that he headed straight at me, there was nowhere for me to go and he missed me by mm.

Cyril Haearn · Post by **Cyril Haearn** » 11 Apr 2018, 9:39pm

Attempted murder?
Threatening to kill?
Terrorism?

Post by **Graham** » 11 Apr 2018, 9:55pm

Phil Fouracre wrote:Never a nice situation, and scary at times. I've always wondered about 'road rage', and exactly what would kick it off. I had a friend years ago who was always having road rage 'incidents', and couldn't understand why. I then travelled with her as a passenger and knew immediately a very awkward conversation followed.

You have left this as a bit of a mystery. Would you care to reveal more ?

Phil Fouracre · Post by **Phil Fouracre** » 12 Apr 2018, 8:55am

Sorry, wasn't meant to be a mystery! Just a surprisingly scary driver, poor judgment, cutting others up, gesticulating when others didn't do what she expected!! etc! etc!

thirdcrank · Post by **thirdcrank** » 12 Apr 2018, 10:07am

Phil Fouracre wrote:Sorry, wasn't meant to be a mystery! Just a surprisingly scary driver, poor judgment, cutting others up, gesticulating when others didn't do what she expected!! etc! etc!

FWIW, I think the mystery for some may be the awkward converation which followed. I presume that was when you pointed out the error of the driver's ways.

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