My first experience of abuse from behind the wheel

[John Hunter]

Yesterday ...... shouting and insulting stooped in the middle of the road and holding up the traffic. All because I deigned to shake my head at him for overtaking me on the corner of a lefthand turn onto a narrow road and a tram stop. Here's what happened:

(map deleted cz I don't know how to do it )

You can see on this map that I was going up this road on the last leg of my commute home. There is often standing traffic along here because there is a junction with a tramline at the top. So, as usual, I'm cycling up the inside to turn left at the top. If you follow the map left you will see the left turn is onto a narrow mainroad, made worse by an immediatte tram stop.

At this point I must say I can't remember passing this guy on the inside - I may have done but if I did, the traffic must have been going particularly slow as it's up hill and I can't go so fast that I can overtake anything other than slow moving traffic.

So - I'm turning left onto the tram lines when this guy overtakes me on the same corner, passing me within an inch or two and causing me to really alter my path, nearly taking me off my bike. Naturally I mouth 'What you think you're doing?' ..... don't remember anything worse than that. So he stops a little further up the road, holding up all the traffic and calling me all sorts. '<inappropriate word removed> for brains', 'you need a licence', 'do you know the highway code?' etc etc

I would love to know what <inappropriate word removed> him off so much but I can't think of anything majorly wrong I did.

What really annoyed me was that I was so flustered I didn't hold my own in the argument. Kept me awake last night thinking of blindingly brilliant verbal responses which would completely leave him speechless ..... either that or reaching through his passenger window and ripping his windpipe out! I think I need help

edited ps ...... sorry about the expletive that has been removed and I've taken the map out coz it doesn't show what I wanted it to show. If anyone can show me how to embed a google street map into a post I would be grateful

[james01]

First abuse, eh? Most of us experience this kind of thing from time to time, it's unsettling and it's certainly hard to react in a calm and measured way. Anyway, welcome to the abused cyclists' club!

[squeaker]

IME, abuse from motorists can be:

1) their reaction to SMIDSY i.e. you appear on their (limited) radar at short range, although it sounds like you were ahead of this moron before the turn (and you did indicate?)
2) you overtook a car
3) their mobile phone has just run out of battery and they need another distraction

<inapropriate word removed> happens, move on

[stoobs]

Ah yes, the pensees d'escalier, as the Germans would say, if they could speak French.

One of my stock replies over the years to the Highway Code chestnut is just to say that yes I do know the Highway Code, and maybe they should go back and read it for their own benefit. It's always stopped them in their tracks (goodness knows why, though).

[John Hunter]

IME, abuse from motorists can be:

1) their reaction to SMIDSY i.e. you appear on their (limited) radar at short range, although it sounds like you were ahead of this moron before the turn (and you did indicate?) - I can't really remember how far ahead of him I was or even if I 'surged' past him as we approached the turn but I didn't need to signal as the junction has clear left and righ/straight on lanes. I was on the absolute left of the leftie
2) you overtook a car - wasn't going fast enough to overtake anything but slow moving traffic. The lights had been green for quite a while so the lane was clear (as I remember it). I think he was rushing through an amber and had had a bad day (or was just born grumpy) He obviously had issues with cyclists coz the usual tripe of you should get a licence was trotted out
3) their mobile phone has just run out of battery and they need another distraction

<inapropriate word removed> happens, move on

My wife keeps telling me to move on too but I'm currently really enjoying the fantasy of punching a hole in his windscreen and etc etc ..... like I said, I think I need help

[Si]

Could we please mind the bad language in this thread?

Have a look in the Tea Stop section of the board if you are unfamiliar with the rules on swearing.

Remember that the swearing filter doesn't catch everything, so someone often has to spend their time making the corrections manually. The rules on swearing are based upon what the majority of forum users wanted, there are ever increasing numbers of posters and posts, and there is not an increasing number forum staff, thus it may be that forum staff decide to delete whole posts rather than spend their time editing each individual occurrence if people persist. Also remember - the forum staff are not payed for their work here and probably have much better things to do with their time than running around doing corrections to inappropriate language use!

I thank you for your cooperation

[Mike Sales]

What really annoyed me was that I was so flustered I didn't hold my own in the argument. Kept me awake last night thinking of blindingly brilliant verbal responses which would completely leave him speechless ..... either that or reaching through his passenger window and ripping his windpipe out! I think I need help

Ah yes, the pensees d'escalier, as the Germans would say, if they could speak French.

Occasionally the right words spring to mind. A moton stopped fifty yards after cutting me up badly by overtaking on a (one lane) roundabout. I stopped to tell him that overtaking on a roundabout is against the Highway Code.

Him, "Did you write it then?"

Me, "No, but I've read it, unlike you."

[Mansfield Marauder]

Only ever had one motorist shout at me it was my fault I clipped his mirrow trying to squeeze past him, not my fault the useless cycle lane finishe 29 yrds short of the ASL.

[Edvardus]

Like you John, I'm usually able to think of some really good retort much later. Like (in a very calm manner, one eyebrow raised) "I venture to suggest sir, that a visit to a taxidermist might be an appropriate engagement for you". Not that they'll probably know what a taxidermist is.

[sharpy]

Hi John,
Welcome to the 'abused' club.

For the benefit of other contributors it may be of interest to note that the originator of this thread is an experieced karate-ka with many years of training behind him

As a fellow practitioner it good to see that John maintained a calm if somewhat flustered demeanour; it is also fortunate that the motorist did not attempt to escalate the incident beyond verbal abuse

[ANTONISH]

It's rarely worth replying to abuse- you are not going to change the mindset. Most people don't like their shortcomings pointed out.
If you get a driver really angry they may take it out on another cyclist further down the road, thats my compensatory thought for avoiding a shouting match, which as you are aware can lead you to have many negative thoughts about the incident.
Also I am a small man and easily intimidated.

[AllanJ]

It's rarely worth replying to abuse- you are not going to change the mindset. Most people don't like their shortcomings pointed out.
...

Exactly, there are no good outcomes from a shouting match (at best you'll spoil the enjoyment of the rest of your ride and at worst it'll come to blows).

Cars in queues make people bad tempered and in some cases the 'metal box' effect seems to puff up their bravery so they say and do things they'd never dream of if they met you face-to-face. Ignore and ride on.

Cheers
Allan

[John Hunter]

Hi John,
Welcome to the 'abused' club.

For the benefit of other contributors it may be of interest to note that the originator of this thread is an experieced karate-ka with many years of training behind him

As a fellow practitioner it good to see that John maintained a calm if somewhat flustered demeanour; it is also fortunate that the motorist did not attempt to escalate the incident beyond verbal abuse

I should get a sign made for my backpack saying "Back off .... I'm a karate-ka" OR "Karate-ka do it with focus" or summit ....

[Si]

I'm afraid that the last couple of times that such things have happened to me I've just ended up laughing at them - like the bloke that tried three times to overtake me on blind corners only to meet a car coming the other way...I got fed up of him swerving into me and gave him a loud "oi". This sent him mental - drove along side me, shouting and screaming, he went bright puce and was physically jumping up and down in his seat. He just looked so pathetic and spoilt child like that I couldn't help laughing...which, of course, made him worse. So bad, in fact, that he couldn't see the range rover coming the other way until I calmly pointed it out - at which point he panicked and nearly hit it head on, swerved around it, up the verge and zoomed off into the distance to a cacophony of grinding gears and and shrieks.

When they are this bad all that you can do is pity them.....imagine how crap they must think their lives are that they have so much repressed anger that any small incident leads them to vent it in such a rabid fashion.

[CyberKnight]

From bitter experience i know not to overly excite a moton with abuse.

One time this lorry overtook me very close and i gave it the finger .When i caught it up at the lights the driver jumped out and tried to assault me, pity he was a fat person and i just sprinted past him ..........