[Closed] "Engaged" with a driver today.. didn't go well

Primary position is your friend.

Chances are, she commutes the same route every day.
Get on eBay and buy a stinger!

Chill.

I don't let stuff like that on my commute bother me, as these people consider themselves to be in the right, no amount of 'discussion' will change them.

As long as at the end of the day, I'm safe, I know that the likes of her will still be an arsehole.

I do need to chill out a bit.. but it really does boil my pee. These people just HAVE to get past as quickly as possible no matter how dangerous and just see cyclists as a nuisance when in actual fact I'm doing the bloody mouth breather a favour by leaving my own lump of metal on the driveway and therefore reducing traffic into the city centre.

Should've chinned her. That'd learn her.

I do try to take primary when appropriate but I don't think it would have stopped this idiot - she happily went on the wrong side of the road not knowing what was coming anyway. Stinger sounds like a pretty effective revenge tool!

I have been a roadie for years and years. Its this kind of attitude towards cyclists that has made me return to MTB`ing. I am much happier in the woods away from the A holes.

I don't shy away from telling dangerous drivers when they put me at risk.

Often get abuse, but I like to think that's just an instinctive reaction and they might actually modify their behaviour in future.

I've taken to just saying "thank you very much", but sometimes the "n" is very "soft".
What usually makes them drop their eyes and think about it is when you ask what your children are going to do when your wife has to tell them "daddy isn't coming home because he's been run over by someone who was too impatient to wait 5 seconds".

I have been a roadie for years and years. Its this kind of attitude towards cyclists that has made me return to MTB`ing. I am much happier in the woods away from the A holes.

Cyclists who do this, and yet also have a car which they could be using to clog up the roads with, should be entitled to a generous discount on their road tax(*).

(*) yeah, whatever.

didn't you listen, learn the highway code you scum cyclist. 🙂

**smile and move on**

Had a very close pass from a learner on Saturday, pulled up to have a word with the responsible adult supervising who told us not to ride 2 wide, it probably looked that way as I was riding the primary and my mate wasn't. An explanation of safe passing followed, I was about to suggest we head to the police to discuss road rules when the lights turned.

If I computed regularly I think if have a camera.which is a shame

As Nobeer says - chill and let it go.

I had one on Sunday morning. Only a short section of road in an otherwise all off-road ride and I had a RH turn. In primary and had a car behind. Looked, signalled and moved out to the middle for the turn, then one final 'lifesaver' look over R shoulder and the knobber in the car was there, hard on my R gunning it to beat me to the turn just for a few seconds. I didn't chill, and gave it all the hand signals, then got a PR up the next hill 😈 🙂 .

Camera is worth it - if only for the ha! I could put this twonk on Youtube for public humiliation! You normally don't*, cos you're over it, but the option does seem to help make light of the situation.

*unless of course, you're one of [i]those[/i] types "HP34 GXP - Close PASS!!" 😉

I find it helps to look at the driver and make eye contact, rather than just looking for their car. As if to say 'do you mind if I pull out here?'

Seems to be effective. Perhaps not on these aresholes, but maybe.

Actually, this reminds me of a "chat" I had with a woman driver a while ago.
Overtook me before, almost on, a 90deg bend in the road (not a junction), which bikes can easily go round faster than cars. I caught at the next junction and pointed out how bad her overtake was, causing me to brake so as not to get squashed into the kerb. "What should I have done?" she demanded! "You could've slowed down and waited til I'd gone round the corner" "Well so could you!" she yelled, moronically.
Something about them (you know *whispers*[i] wimmin[/i]) - really don't like being told their driving is bad.
Not all of them, I might add - I have had more apologies from wimmin than fellas. 😀

This morning, doing about 25 down a hill just as we hit the 20mph zone I was overtaken by some dick who then pulled over and slammed on his anchors. Then almost immediately boxed me in against parked cars coz he had to stop for oncoming traffic and about 30ft later parked up. Soooo many unthinking idiots "Must get infront of cyclist!"

Often get abuse, but I like to think that's just an instinctive reaction and they might actually modify their behaviour in future.

No doubt first response, even when someone knows they are 100% in the wrong, seems to be "**** you", dunno if they have a think about what they've done later, gotta say I'm doubtful

I honestly believe that almost all car drivers, in much the same way as the vast majority believe that their driving is above average, do not for a second think that an overtake like that is endangering you at all. It's not a 'right' to be in front, it's just that your slower, they're faster, therefore they'll squeeze past and the obvious retort to 'that was unsafe' is that you weren't hit, so clearly it was OK. I don't agree with that, but I don't think for a minute that it's ever going to change.

All we are are moving bollards to them.

I have started to follow aP's choice in 'discussions' and point out that my boys would no longer have a father if they had killed me with their lack of consideration for a vulnerable road user.

though yesterday's 'discussion' along these lines with a lorry driver I got told to F*** off.... and that he gave me ample room..
he really really did not and cut back in early as well.
in 5 years of commuting this route, it is the first time I have properly had panic that I was going to get hurt. (massive adrenaline spike)

his company has an email now I have calmed down. I doubt they will educate their drivers.. but the least I could for others sake is try.

his company has an email now I have calmed down. I doubt they will educate their drivers.. but the least I could for others sake is try.

i once got so angry at an addison lee driver who nearly t-boned me, i raced after him, caught him at the next set of lights on park lane - he wound down his window to start, i lent in took his keys and rode off! no words from me were said!

I still feel bad about it today - red mist is a terrible thing!

Primary position is your friend

And who is my friend when drivers still overtake me on blind corners when I am already in primary position?

Last Sunday a man beeped and pointed to his head suggesting I was mad after he had to go completely onto the wrong side of the road to overtake me on a combined blind corner and blind brow of a hill.
I actually drove along the same bit of road yesterday and saw what it was like from a drivers perspective and it was probably the worst position to overtake anywhere in my area (and I live in an area of narrow roads and many blind corners). You would basically have to be a moron to even think about passing someone.

This sort of thing happens at least once on every ride and I really don't know what you can do about it.

Saw a new highlight in stupidity on Sunday night. Someone overtook me on the wrong side of a traffic island, instead of waiting 5 seconds for me to clear it.

Craziness.

Saw a new highlight in stupidity on Sunday night. Someone overtook me on the wrong side of a traffic island, instead of waiting 5 seconds for me to clear it.

I have seen this exact thing happen, with the added stupidity that the driver also hadn't looked ahead and realised there was a queue of cars, so was also now on the wrong side of the road with queuing cars on his left, oncoming cars approaching and nothing to do except come to a skidding stop and reverse back round the island and onto the correct side of the road. lucky for him the driver following him had seen what was going on and left room for him to do so.

The bonkers bit about that is that if the island hadn't been there he might have just done a close pass instead and plowed into the back of the queuing cars instead of ending up on the wrong side of the road!

The guy had clearly just been in 'must overtake cyclist' mode, and not even looking a cars length ahead, when stuff like that happens you just have to despair!

A large number of drivers don't give any thought at all to what they are doing; they just rely in being able to brake or steer out of trouble. Obviously the trouble is never their fault.

The maddest thing is when you are riding up to a blind bend, on a blind brow in secondary because surely nobody would be stupid enough to overtake there.

Then a Range Rover does so, leaving you an exemplary amount of space as it crosses entirely into the opposite lane.

I never get involved. It's just not worth it. At no point is anyone going to say "gosh you know what, you're totally right, I was driving like a ****, thanks so much for pointing that out, I'll mend my ways immediately"

Absolute best case is you might get a "sorry". Everything else is a downward spiral from there ending in the point where you get deliberately run off the road. (like that recent case where the guy motioned for the woman to stop talking on the mobile and she followed him, ran him down then drove off.)

The guy had clearly just been in 'must overtake cyclist' mode, and not even looking a cars length ahead, when stuff like that happens you just have to despair!

Most drivers are incapable of looking beyond the end of their bonnet. The number of overtakes I get when they need to brake / stop 10 yds ahead is unbelievable.

[i]like that recent case where the guy motioned for the woman to stop talking on the mobile and she followed him, ran him down then drove off[/i]

Actually he spoke to her because she had pulled out on him due to being on her mobile. But beside the point. Thankfully, there aren't many psychos like that around.

Had it on Friday in London NW whilst riding home

Cycle lane blocked by a big delivery van (Camden Council built a loading bay in the cycle lane!)

so I ride on the highway next to it. its a speed controlled area with 20mph speed limit, I'm bang on 20mph.

A car comes up fast behind, beeping horn, revving engine until I "get out of the way" which meant her trying to overtake dangerously between me and a traffic island, misses my right arm by a foot, I shout "give me some space here".

She then screeches to a halt (in the road), gets out, horrible aggressive woman screaming, splitting, swearing "I'm gonna get my man merc you!" effting cyclist c**t,....etc.

I amazed how angry she is...

3 young children in the back of her car. She then drives off through the red light, nearly hitting another car. 2 witness come up to me, they've seen it all, want the Police?

I thank them but tell them not to bother as it happens all the time

[i]it happens all the time[/i]

Gotta love that London!

Was out riding in the Yorkshire Dales at the weekend and the number of drivers who happily overtook me on blind country road bends made me cringe.
All to save them a minute or two.
I guess if a car had come towards them on the bend they might have managed to stop in time, or more likely swerved left to avoid the oncoming car, probably turning me into a pink paste between car and drystone wall 🙄
When driving I've actually had other drivers behind me get irate with me for waiting for a safe spot to overtake a cyclist in front.
It's not just motorists, it's the population in general which is in moral decline imo.

I never get involved. It's just not worth it. At no point is anyone going to say "gosh you know what, you're totally right, I was driving like a ****, thanks so much for pointing that out, I'll mend my ways immediately"

Absolute best case is you might get a "sorry".

Agree, although not always easy to avoid a hand gesture which can lead to car stopping, pointless argument etc,.
Still waiting for the first person to say "sorry"

All to save them [s]a minute or two[/s] no time at all whatsoever.

I gave someone the ****er sign yesterday morning on my commute to the station. First time in 18 months of doing it...

When I first started commuting by bike, I thought I'd be waving and drivers on a daily basis.

Me and the lad nearly got taken out this morning 🙁 We were just rolling on down the road when someone pulled out of a side road on our right and pushed us into the kerb.

She'd pulled over further down but only because of the look of horror on the pedestrian that was walking towards he's face.

She apologised but when you've just nearly run over my 2 year old that doesn't really feel like enough

I don't try and reason with drivers who nearly kill me anymore, but if I get the opportunity (and I'm in a particular mood) I'll just leap in with as much as abuse as possible.

I particularly like (if there is someone in the passenger seat) "is that your wife/husband? No wonder you're so angry".

Was out riding in the Yorkshire Dales at the weekend and the number of drivers who happily overtook me on blind country road bends made me cringe.

Was driving from Swaledale back to Skipton on Sunday behind a load of day-trippers and some of the passes I saw were shocking - no consequences because no-one happened to be coming. And it gained them zero time on me whatsoever, even when I had to wait for a minute or so to get past safely.

Trouble is, every time they get away with it, it reinforces that this is OK in their minds.

Got beeped for waiting 20 seconds to overtake a rider approaching a blind crest. 🙄

Driving standards around the Dales are pitiful.

Driving standards [s]around the Dales[/s] are pitiful.

Was driving from Swaledale back to Skipton on Sunday behind a load of day-trippers and some of the passes I saw were shocking - no consequences because no-one happened to be coming. And it gained them zero time on me whatsoever, even when I had to wait for a minute or so to get past safely.

Trouble is, every time they get away with it, it reinforces that this is OK in their minds.

Got beeped for waiting 20 seconds to overtake a rider approaching a blind crest.

Driving standards around the Dales are pitiful.

It's probably all the tourists :/

Was thinking about going for a road ride this evening... makes you think especially what seems like daily disaster stories about cyclists being killed or maimed, let alone the OPs experiences.

Had a good one near Spittal of Glenshee on Saturday. Driver of a hired Mercedes (I'm a Postie in the Highlands, you quickly learnt recognise, and be wary of hire cars....) decided that he really had to overtake me on a short uphill, leading to a blind bend/brow. Fortunately for him the driver of an oncoming Discovery was very alert and calmly braked to a halt. I left it to him to discuss the matter with the Merc driver - he was less angry than me! I suspect he was also going to get an ear bashing from his passenger, who covered her face with a map.

I drive many miles on Highland roads, and can honestly say that I have never been seriously held up by a cyclist - just don't get me onto the subject of badly driven Motorhomes....

I had nutter-lady-in-Megane all over my boot again today. She leaves our business park at 5:10, and clearly has to get to the other end of Bridge of Allan to the nursery school about 43 seconds later. I 'meet' her about once a month.

It was a pleasure to wave out cars at side roads, cruise past the shops at barely 25 and wait behind a cyclist until there was no other car to be seen, in either direction. 😆

I swear she handbrake turned into the nursery yard...

Driving standards are awful. Saying that I was reversing in Dorking the other week, some 20m from the junction behind me. Two cyclists turn into the road, taking the full width of the road and give me a mouthful of abuse. Why? Obviously, because I started reversing before they entered the road and my precognition had let me down.

When driving I've actually had other drivers behind me get irate with me for waiting for a safe spot to overtake a cyclist in front.

I get this all the time. I just purposefully wait even longer before overtaking the cyclist because I'm a spiteful bastard 😈

I had a guy clip my handlebar once in his mad rush to beat me to a junction. I pulled up alongside him just in time to hear the central locking being engaged. The traffic on the road we were joining was really busy. I had about five minutes of sitting next to him, tapping on his passenger window and asking him to explain his actions. He wouldn't even look at me, just stared at his door pocket. Some people are just dicks

reading all the replies just confirms one thing.....it aint gonna change out there on the roads in the near future..
One thing extra though. If you EVER come into contact with any vehicle, YOU will be the one coming off worse..

RIP Nicky Hayden GP rider killed whilst riding his bike..

esher shore - Member 
Had it on Friday in London NW whilst riding home........I amazed how angry she is

3 young children in the back of her car. She then drives off through the red light, nearly hitting another car. 2 witness come up to me, they've seen it all, want the Police?

I thank them but tell them not to bother as it happens all the time

Why would you not report this? If it happens 'all the time' then surely attitudes need to change and maybe by reporting it to the Police they can start to deal with it, even if that means revoking people's driving licence so they aren't on the roads anymore, or at least for the length of the ban

Key the fekkers when you catch up with em at junctions 😉

OK,

Same old argument over and over.

Talking, screaming, criminal damage and violence won't help, however...

What about being armed with some bumper stickers, something along the lines of:

ROAD USERS BEWARE
I AM A SH!T DRIVER

Or something like that?

When you catch up with them, do it obviously or discretely and then just cycle off and spend the day happy in the knowledge you have just helped society.

I'd buy them, just make them with really sticky glue 😉

I genuinely think half the issue is that the average driver mistakenly assumes all cyclists to be cycling at roughly the same speed that they cycle at (when they last rode a bike) - which in most cases would be relatively slow - hence the desire to overtake before a bend, misjudging pulling out etc.. for the most part it's not malice, it's just misjudging the amount of time they've got, in my experience..

I genuinely think half the issue is that the average driver

[slightly tongue in cheek] Would it be illegal to ride with a longish pole sticking out the back of the bike with a wire brush attached to it? If you come too close your car gets scratched

Separately, on Monday was the first day of AMAZING weather in London this year. There were loads of cycle commuters, it was packed. To a certain it was quite nice, but the standards of cycling were unbelievably poor, all sorts of bad cycling happening - undertakes, poor overtakes, slow wobbly pootlers trying to filter to the front, turning without indicating etc

They clearly hadn't been on a bike since the end of last summer

One thing extra though. If you EVER come into contact with any vehicle, YOU will be the one coming off worse..

I had a guy clip my handlebar once in his mad rush to beat me to a junction. I pulled up alongside him just in time to hear the central locking being engaged. The traffic on the road we were joining was really busy. I had about five minutes of sitting next to him, tapping on his passenger window and asking him to explain his actions. He wouldn't even look at me, just stared at his door pocket. Some people are just dicks

Lift their windscreen wipers up and fold their mirrors in, they'll then have to get out.

I've bought a gravel bike end of problem?? Now it's deaf dogwalkers, loose dogs, dog crap, horse riders. The cyclists lot is NOT a happy one! Hopefully the Snowdonia hills will be quieter this weekend on the hardtail! 8)

Yes Rallybiker, I reckon you can expect Snowdonia pretty much to your self this bank holiday weekend with a sunny and warm forecast. Enjoy the queues.

four door slapdown - an almost enjoyable alternative to venting

catch up - they will stop at some point in town
open rear nearside passenger door
ride on
confusion, followed by realisation they need to get out

it's a wonderful leveller

open rear nearside passenger door

And an option that 2-stage central locking has largely made impossible. 🙁
Besides, if you're going to do things like that you need an escape option - a park, one-way street or something that you can get away into.

Part of the reason I never get involved is that on commutes you're going to be seeing the same vehicles - the BMW that you fold the mirrors in and open the doors/boot on today is going to be overtaking you again in 3 days time...

Most drivers are incapable of looking beyond the end of their bonnet.

This

remarkable that out of all the STWers, none of us/you have ever done anything wrong 🙂

open rear nearside passenger door

My mates daughter did that to a motorist who close passed her a few years ago.

Few weeks after the event, I was at his and we were talking about driving etc and I said to his daughter " hey how about you when you opened that woman's back door at the lights "

Her face dropped and I realised that she hadn't told her dad. He then said to her, quite abruptly, " you did what ?!?!? " as she explained what had happened, I thought I'd dropped her right in it till he held his hand up to high five her

Lift their windscreen wipers up and fold their mirrors in, they'll then have to get out.

I've taken to pushing the boot release buttons on SUV's these days as they pull away from traffic lights, you need to time it right though as some won't work when the car is moving. Most are powered now so they open up fully as they drive away 😆

I really don't get why people are like this. Much as I enjoy "making progress" I've never once been held up by any significant amount of time by waiting until it's safe to pass a bike. I get that in heavy traffic bikes and cars will be going past each other in turns, but why be a dick about it?

I've resorted to a knock on the window/ride off to let them know their dickish pass was pointless, giving the finger, or just shouting "wasn't really ****ing worth it" on the way past. Engaging is reserved for people that deliberately or massively negligently severely endanger me, and 2 of them have been charged and taken to court in the past year (incidents happened about 2 years ago), one arrested but gave no comment for hours in the station (no witnesses could be traced). And that's without a video camera, which makes you look a bit of a nob and is something I can't really be arsed with.
Traffic free paths are generally safe, but don't get me started on agressive Mr "I'm walking my dog on a stupid extendable lead despite literally hundreds of cyclists wanting to go past safely and I'm going to have a go at even the ones who I force to stop for going too fast" walking stereotypes.

I really hope all of you talking about opening doors, keying and messing with mirrors are just being internet big men and don't do this in real life.

If you do it's not going to do anything other than make stupid angry people more angry, reinforce their opinions of 'cyclists' as dicks, and make things less safe for everyone else, it might feel good for 5mins but overall you'll have made a bad situation worse had an overall net negative impact, please be better than that.

remarkable that out of all the STWers, none of us/you have ever done anything wrong

I can say with confidence that in over 30 years of driving I have never driven dangerously towards a cyclist.

And yes, of course every driver has done things wrong but not all have consciously put saving a few seconds ahead of potentially killing someone.
As proven on every ride, people will overtake on blind corners. That is nothing but dangerous driving. This mornings example did involve a car coming the other way so person who overtook me had to brake hard and swerve back in. I could see this was going to happen so managed to avoid being hit but I shouldn't really need to be should I...

Got hung out to dry by a woman in a Beetle as she overtook me with nowhere to go (as I was keeping pace with traffic in a 20 zone) and then squeezed me into the curb/hedge when a car come the other way.. ended up slamming brakes on to avoid getting squashed/crashing. Good start.

This is one of my pet hates too. I religiously stick to primary when I'm moving at the same speed as the traffic. Still doesn't stop some clowns trying to squeeze in front despite being the normal distance from the car in front.

Last night on our weekly night ride I saw a woman in a car driving into a 30 limit with her body and head unusually leant forward and her head virtually against the driver's side window. As we passed I saw her looking furtively up and down - I'm pretty sure she was looking at her phone in her hand and was convinced that trying to hide this by looking like Del Boy trying to conceal a wad of notes in his jacket was the way to go.

Some people are just ignorant, thick and inconsiderate. Usually this is not a problem, but put them in charge of a ton or more of heavy machinery and it becomes an issue.

Things that baffle me with people driving are myriad.

Why do cars risk a close pass on a cyclist in the run up to a junction where they will have to stop anyway?

Why, when I am driving, do I often get stuck behind someone who dawdles at 40 mph on a safe road where the limit is 60 mph, but when we get into a 30 limit with houses, parked cars etc they still stick to 40?

Why do people coming out of traffic light controlled side roads in congestion do that thing where they turn and head slightly back the wrong way up the road so they can turn sharply in to be part of the next queue?

[i]remarkable that out of all the STWers, none of us/you have ever done anything wrong[/i]

I have! I'm shit me. I haven't caused a cyclist danger, but I did nearly pull out on one on a small (not mini) roundabout. It's stuck with me though, so I've never done it again. I was in a hurry (a bad thing to be in a car) and as I approached the roundabout my glance right must have (well, it did) coincided with the woman on the bike being obscured by the windscreen pillar. I was about to pull out, having just slowed a bit, when I saw her giving me a (deserved) filthy look. [url= https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_blind_spot ]A-pillar blind spot[/url] is a thing. I just found that.

Also the other weekend I overtook a bike, then round the next bend had to stop due to a parked car and something coming the other way! ARGH! Said to my son, I hate it when people do that to me. And to the cyclist (though he couldn't hear me) 'go up on the pavement!' He did!

Yeah, I avoid drving as much as possible, cos I'm nearly as shit as all those other morons out there. But I do indicate. So not [i]that[/i] bad.

The only time I've nearly hit a cyclist was driving into low winter sun with the cyclist in the shadow of a hedge.
I saw them in time, but it shit me up a bit, because it was very easy to miss them in such high contrast lighting.

The only time I've nearly hit a cyclist was driving into low winter sun with the cyclist in the shadow of a hedge.
I saw them in time, but it shit me up a bit, because it was very easy to miss them in such high contrast lighting.

Yes, I've found it hard to see cyclists in that situation and although I've not had any near misses (they were in and out of the shade so I saw them OK) this is why I try to use a bright rear light in those situations.

Whilst nobody's perfect (I have once pulled out in front of a cyclist due to poor weather conditions and not being able to distinguish their light from those of the cars in the queue I was joining, for instance - they stopped, I apologised profusely) we're not talking about momentary lapses of concentration or missing things in low visibility here - the OP is talking about totally half arsed zombie driving with a total disregard for everyone else and their safety.

Everyone might have an accident, but a lot of the people putting cyclists at risk aren't boy racers or anything like that, they're people that just don't engage their brains or plan ahead beyond "must pass cyclist, cyclist is slow therefore I can squeeze past regardless". I've even had this sort of thing when I'm towing kids down quiet streets, it's ridiculous and totally avoidable.

Ladders - Member
All we are are moving bollards to them.

Correct.

A fella local to me and his dad got done for chasing down some motorcyclists and giving them a battering

The pair then boxed in the bike riders and launched a violent attack with an iron bar, cracking one of their helmets and leaving another with eye injuries after having fingers pushed into his eyes.

[quote=weeksy ]remarkable that out of all the STWers, none of us/you have ever done anything wrong

I'll join in the chorus on this one - I've made a few mistakes when driving, have written off my own car (and probably also the one I drove into). I do try to be extra careful around cyclists though. As phil suggests though, we're not talking about people just making mistakes, we're talking about people having seriously wrong attitudes - if I did endanger a cyclist I'd be apologising profusely.

Funny incident on the way home - there's a bit of my route where you transfer from pavement to road after a shopping precinct - the road has short bits of cycle lane marked on it. So I did my usual down the dropped kerb onto the road, come down the inside of 2 or 3 cars waiting for a turning right car. Red Astra overtakes me a few secs later giving it the full shake hands with your penis sign! What? I follow knowing I'll catch em in the next queue. Astra turns right at the next junction - a cul de sac. I fiollow , just wanting to know what the signage was for. Couple of bends catch the car, quickly does a 3 point turn and drives off past me! As it goes past it's a young woman / gives me the finger and speeds off the opposite way out of the junction. 😆

The ones who overtake just before joining the end of a queue are easy to stop. Just ride in the middle of the road. It will stop 99% of them overtaking. The 1% who still go for it are the idiots who I wave at when riding past them a few seconds later.

I very rarely get into any arguments these days. One thing I have thought of though is carrying a photo of my kids somewhere accessible, then if I do get the opportunity to 'engage' then I would show it to them and ask how they'd feel if by their stupid driving they caused the kids to not have a dad. Never done it though. One day maybe.

just seems like a common commute day to me.

I gave a woman the bird tonight for overtaking a cyclist on a bend in the opposite direction to me, she was heading right for me until she realised...i doubt she batted an eye-lid.

Also this week I had a deliberate close pass, after i kindly let a motorist out at an island, i heard a pip behind me, and then he obviously deliberately drove as close to me as possible, to point out his frustration at my kind gesture.

Back on the bike this week after being out and about or working from home last week..

At least it's not just me given some of the experiences described in this thread!

I agree with the primary comments above - even in a full fat primary position some people will still always go for it.

Had ANOTHER half baked overtake today through a 20 zone outside a school with 5 sets of speed bumps by a Fiat 500, she drops back after attempt 1 before going for it AGAIN - overtakes on wrong side of road (as I'm in primary) cuts in and immediately slams brakes on for next set of speed bumps (as she had to do 30+ to get past me) and an emergency braking manouvre from me to stop me having a head/Fiat interface.. Then I roll past her and another car at the lights 50 yds down the road that are on red. FFS.

If only there was a fully off-road route to the office with nice berms and drops.. Sadly not too many of them on the way into Newcastle city centre.