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I've been cycling for years and seen some pretty dodgy & inconsiderate driving but bar a few shared hand gestures I've never actually had an angry exchange of words, until today.
I was climbing up a narrow road with lots of cars parked on the right hand side and met some bloke driving down my side of the road with clearly no intention of stopping or making any effort to allow me past, despite passing a gap in the parked cars he could have steered across into. I on the other hand had nowhere to go (although I could perhaps have stopped earlier & let him past the parked cars - I tend to be a considerate cyclist but tend to be less so when someone else is making no effort to help out).
Anyway, he kept coming but had to slow and I just managed to squeak through. No harm done and that should have been that. Perhaps it was the sad shake of the head (I do this a lot) but he felt the need to shout "I don't need to move for you you f**ing prick" and I felt inclined to stop and shout after him that he was on my side of the road.
All fairly minor and inconsequential with no getting out of the car or shouty threats of violence (although I was a little concerned that he might come back around for another go). I'm not sure really why it's upset me up and I'm feeling the need to share. I should probably just tick it of the list of things that have happened to me as a cyclist (like getting knocked of a couple of years back).
Anyway, that's all.
Distracted driving is one thing. Seeing a driver weighing up whether to intentionally mow you down (which is what this guy was doing) tends to cause a much stronger reaction from me. It's someone deciding that if you don't get out of their way they are going to kill you.
This might sound like an exaggeration but it's not. People like these deserve to ****ing die and I genuinely hope this guy meets a very painful end.
Congratulations on making it this far without having to chat to drivers who are always right! 😉
I know what you mean there are some weapons grade throbbers about, you'd think the Kids being off and the roads being a bit clearer would improve their moods, but it's almost the inverse.
My own aggressive interaction back in October prompted This similar thread, I was just stunned by the Barely contained rage at the time...
I tend to just assume there's something deeper and more fundamental affecting them, a broken relationship, personal financial crisis, bereavement, etc... Doesn't excuse them viewing people on bicycles as legitimate targets for them to target/endanger as a venting mechanism though.
IME/IMO neither party ever comes out of these things feeling better, but take solice from the fact that it didn't escalate to fisticuffs or wingmirror smashing...
It was all very slow speed and I managed to squeak through. I should I think have stopped and let him through as he was nearly at the end of the row of parked cars, but I didn't; there was no need to get shouty though & he was on my side of the road with a gap he could have used to allow me through.
From your second paragraph, I read that he had already started overtaking the line of parked vehicles before you reached them? If so then he had right of way.
(although I could perhaps have stopped earlier & let him past the parked cars
This bit.
I guess there's a question of whether it was one continuous line of parked vehicles or whether the space made it two 😉
Look on the bright side you’ve had to feel like that once he has to spend every day being an angry see you next Tuesday.
obviously not a nice experience but I’ve found thinking about it like that makes me happier so that’s what I do.
I had a hilarious one on hols a few weeks back - massive Range Rover squeezes past my partner , ends up behind me (close), I say "You're not gonna fit through there are you, you prick" (he was a prick cos he'd just caused my partner to brake and alter her position on the road!) Woman in the passenger seat went absolutely berzerk! She was opening the door like she was gonna get out and fight me, shouting F OFF! This was on a beautiful sunny day in Dorset, on the road down to the beauty spots. So my response was to laugh and wish them a lovely day! This caused even more apoplexy and as we turned off to the nice quiet bridleway to the coast, she was still shouting and ranting as they drove off a long way from us! I bet they had a terrible day and parking was impossible. Still amuses me.
It's all part of being a cyclist! There is always some nobber who is more than willing to scream abuse at you from safety of their car
I remember last year some clown in his range rover gave us a close pass whilst hurling abuse for daring to be on the road. Unfortunately for him he didn't realise just round the corner was a set of temporary traffic lights.
Oddly enough he wasn't so brave when we asked if he wanted to get out the car and chat about his issue...it was utterly pathetic. I'd have had more respect for him if he'd got out and attacked us with a crowbar. Instead he just looked straight ahead looking rather sheepish trying to pretend we weren't there.
There's a little old lady near the top of a hill where i sometimes ride who does the same - just doesn't see cyclists as having any of the same rights or even an object of any relevance in road world. She drives a hulking great big range rover that will take up the whole road as she passses parked cars. I cannot really have a confrontation with her as i could with white van man.
Oddly enough i've driven the same hill and as i have committed to getting past an angry cyclist suddenly appears out of nowhere.
I take solace in the fact that most of them will pop off with a rage induced heart attack well before I breathe my last. One particularly purple gammony lady in a Range Rover who didn’t like me cycling in a shared cycle lane (she thought it was a pavement) was especially incensed at me pointing this out.
From your second paragraph, I read that he had already started overtaking the line of parked vehicles before you reached them? If so then he had right of way.
(although I could perhaps have stopped earlier & let him past the parked cars
This bit.
Yes you're right, so I suspect I aggravated him by not stopping although there was a gap of a couple of car lengths he could have pulled across into to let me through.
There's a hill I regularly ride down where I'm forced onto the wrong side of the road by parked cars & I always pull into gaps, however tight) to let folk through when I can.
I think what wound me up here was his shouty insistence that he didn't have to move for me (I took that to mean as a cyclist, he may have pulled in for a car).
Anyway, no harm done.
I think there’s something in the Highway Code about giving way to uphill traffic? I thing this is regardless as to which side of the road that obstruction's are situated.
I think there’s something in the Highway Code about giving way to uphill traffic?
Perhaps you're thinking of the bit that is relevant to single track roads and passing places? When two vehicles meet between passing places the vehicle heading downhill should be the one to reverse back.
Its not just cyclist, but it does seem to a lot of drivers...
Theres been road works on the main road near me on and off for months now, when they're digging the road up its down to a single lane and traffic lights. This is on a section of road that is basically part of Leeds ring road. Inevitably people try to find ways of jumping the queue's and start going off down the back streets.
The nice quiet back lane with no footpaths and a 20mph speed limit being one of them. This lane leads to woods and fields where people go to walk their dogs and kids play. So I remind the rat runners to slow down as they are trying to save a few minutes.
Last night, as a Golf GTI passed me and my dog at what I though was significantly more than 20mph, I gave the slow down signal and chuntered to myself. He then stopped and started reversing, here we go I thought....
"what did you say", "I said slow down, it's a 20 limit here", "I was only doing 20". At this point I just laughed, said something like "yer right" and walked off up to the field entrance. He then started getting proper angry, "yeah, you better walk off. I'd walk off if I were you, go on **** off you big dick"....
I was tempted to thanks him for noticing but I just carried on laughing to my self and shaking my head.
They are always in a hurry, but not so much of a hurry they can't stop and shout abuse.
The world is full of utter bellends like the one you encountered. I think you have done very well not to have a verbal altercation until now. Just forget about it. He's an utter dick, but unless you want to stand and argue, and maybe get in a fight, then shrug it off and move on. I used to give all the verbals back, hit wing mirrors... all that, but it was clear that this would end in a fight eventually. I didn't want that, so now just let the bellends be bellends and one day, some comeuppance will occur.
On a side note, I did see that happen once. A huge fella on a bike came steaming past whilst I was riding to work. Like rugby forward huge. A taxi then pulled alongside him, shouted something abusive at him, then turned hard L and the huge fella went into the side of taxi, denting it and putting the huge fella on the floor. I was going to see if he was alright but by the time I caught up he was on his feet, livid, had got the driver's door open and was in the drivers face......er, reminding the driver about the highway code or something. I didn't really want to be a witness to the highway code lesson.... but it looked well, er, explained as I got going again.
I had an old guy a few weeks ago, not wanting to move over a little bit due to parked cars. He thought he was Mr Big in his big Merc 4x4, except I was in a bigger van. I just slowed and edged closer as he started shouting, he then moved into the three foot gap he had to the curb. All I did was point at all the space he had, my sensors told me I was as close to the edge as I could go.
OP did well not having had minor shouty incident so far. I've had a fair few commuting. One guy threatened to run me over - my crime was being in the middle of the lane in front of him, in stop start traffic. He got stuck in the traffic and tried to catch me. Mr hard man until the point I shouted 'I've got your reg'. I didn't, but him panicking gave me his rear plate, so I just diverted into the local police station. Police investigated, and paid him a visit, but no cameras, but the incident was 'added' to the list of 'complaints' logged against the car - so these would add up when he did something properly 'wrong'.
I've shouted at some people that have cut me up, so loud, they physically jumped out of their seats as they had been paying no attention to the road. I've thumped a few cars when they pushed into my lane.
He got stuck in the traffic and tried to catch me. Mr hard man until the point I shouted 'I've got your reg'.
An Amazon driver who started mouthing at me once became very polite and apologetic when I asked who he worked for. I could see the thought filtering slowly into his head, 'I'm causing a road rage incident in a sign-written and obvious van. Do I want to keep this job?'
I encountered a good few irate drivers when I was commuting to work and back before Covid. I was always courteous and obeyed the rules of the road but some people just hate you because you're on a bike, especially in rush hour. Generally I would just ignore them or smile but there was one particular incident where I didn't...
I was on my way home down a busy two lane road from an industrial estate into town and some Turkey teeth Love Island reject in a BMW stopped his car, got out, comically puffing up his chest and threated to beat me up. I think he was annoyed because he pulled out in front of me at great speed then I filtered through the stationary cars and stopped in front of him at the red light (in the cycle box). I'm not one for confrontation at all but in this instance I got off my bike and told him to f***ing try it, which I think took him by surprise. He started bleating on about me cutting through traffic, to which I replied I was allowed to do. Best part of if it was the visible embarrassment of his female passenger which I gleefully pointed out. He deflated when the lights changed and a few other cars were beeping at him/us.
Further down the road he tried to cut me up by swerving into the bus lane whilst shouting obscenities, so I blew him a kiss. The other cars then wouldn't let him back into lane before the next set of lights so he was hanging out the window like a rabid dog as I cruised passed again.
There was a newly installed bus lane camera so hopefully he got a nice little letter and fine from the council.
I saw him a bit later undertaking at well over the speed limit so clearly just a weapons grade bellend.
Congratualtions on making it this far without one.
Try commuting in Glasgow! While verbal altercations weren't a daily occurence, they weren't that rare.
My two favourite ones naturally involve Taxi drivers.
First one was a taxi performing a U-turn in front of me, from a parking space on my side. Except the oncoming lane had traffic in it so he just blocked my lane, sat at 90 degrees to the flow of traffic. He had his window down. "Hey" says I, not particularly aggressively, i just wanted him to acknowledge I existed. "Just ignore me then" I said. "I WILL ****IN IGNORE YOU YA ****IN PRICK" came the response then he drove off once there was a gap.
Second one, nearly get knocked off by another taxi making a right turn across me as I travelled down the road. I absolutely shat myself and half swore / screamed. Taxi drive puts down his window and chummy as you like says "It's okay pal, i just didn't see you"
Two ends of the Glasgow experience right there!
Police investigated, and paid him a visit, but no cameras, but the incident was 'added' to the list of 'complaints' logged against the car - so these would add up when he did something properly 'wrong'.
I think that's the point - drivers like that won't do it as a one off. There'll be more incidents - so if everyone reports, it gets noticed.
Never let it go - always report.
Forgot to add - this pretty much sums up road riding for me (some days). 😂
I used to get wound up by stuff like this and then slowly had an epiphany - it was spoiling my day but not theirs. So I changed my approach. If anyone gets mouthy I laugh at them. Drives them potty as I ride away laughing. I also like a line in creative insults "hope yer next crap's a pineapple" or "Thrombus!" ( bloody clot in medicalese)
Cars that pull out of sideroads infront of me - I scream until they see me then at the last moment pull a stoppie right at the drivers window - scares the shite out of them thinking a cyclist is about to come thru the window
I think there’s something in the Highway Code about giving way to uphill traffic? I thing this is regardless as to which side of the road that obstruction's are situated.
The problem with the Highway Code is the same thing with traffic lights, they can’t physically enforce the rules and stop a 2 ton metal box hitting you.
I’d always choose the least path of confrontation/interaction with cars/drivers, life’s just too short without engaging in something that could make it shorter.
Go more Zen you’ll have a more relaxing cycling experience 🙂
He got stuck in the traffic and tried to catch me. Mr hard man until the point I shouted 'I've got your reg'.
An Amazon driver who started mouthing at me once became very polite and apologetic when I asked who he worked for. I could see the thought filtering slowly into his head, 'I'm causing a road rage incident in a sign-written and obvious van. Do I want to keep this job?'
I had an altercation with an SGN driver in Glasgow, he pulled out from the left blocking the cycle lane I was in forcing me onto the road, I gesticulated to him like 'WTF' and he stuck 2 middle fingers up at me. Remembered his registration and sent a complaint - few emails back and forth, 2 from his manager who was very apologetic. He definitely got his knuckles wrapped for it.
Have had numerous run-ins on the commute into Glasgow (also with other cyclists!), almost got into a few scraps, its not worth it.
(although I could perhaps have stopped earlier & let him past the parked cars
Perhaps. But it's not always possible to make the right decision without hindsight. Commuting I used to get frustrated at people who would assume I'd jump out the way because car greater than bicycle, so sometimes I'd hold my ground but other times would just pull in to the side. Mostly try to assess what was going to be the quickest way for both parties.
Unfortunately I find it only takes one short incident to ruin an entire ride. Part of the problem I find is simply that you rarely ever get the right of reply to these people- 9 times out of 10 they verbally abuse you and then they're punching the accelerator and out of there and I think that's what often leaves you with a lingering sense of frustration for so long afterwards. Its not that I want to stop and fight them but often just offer an explanation.
A little while ago me and my mate were stopped at a junction with temporary lights. When they turned green we pulled out and turned left then immediately stopped as we could hear an ambulance with sirens coming down the same road so naturally we waited to let it past. This meant by the time it had passed and we started again the lights had changed and we were filtering up past contraflow traffic. It actually wasn't a big deal as it was a fairly wide road but so many drivers assumed we had ignored the lights and we must have got three lots of verbal abuse as they went past- so literally getting bollocked for letting an emergency vehicle go past us.
In the rare instances where you get to reply to angry drivers I usually just ask them if they're a nervous driver as they seem stressed.
I don't bother to engage. If they sound the horn I like to wave as they must know me 😉 . Commuting into central London has been fine, but out in Hounslow - OMG. Three near misses in one ride last week. I let out the loudest F-bomb as the car pulled across me. Of course he apologised, but the onlookers faces! They. Just. Don't. Look. I have front flashing lights, rear radar light and Fly6, and shortly a GoPro for the London commute after having killed a Fly12.
A family member has secured over a 100 NIPs with camera evidence from his commute into Bristol. He's a solicitor. My recording is for post-accident.
Unfortunately I find it only takes one short incident to ruin an entire ride. Part of the problem I find is simply that you rarely ever get the right of reply to these people- 9 times out of 10 they verbally abuse you and then they're punching the accelerator and out of there and I think that's what often leaves you with a lingering sense of frustration for so long afterwards. Its not that I want to stop and fight them but often just offer an explanation.
As I said above I used to end up feeling like this but now take the approach of "let it ruin their day but not mine" so laughing at them or a nice imaginative insult and ride away. I takes some effort to start doing this but now its a reflex for me. they are fuming angry and I am laughing at them for being ridiculous. I end up happy, they have a bad day 🙂
I had a 'fall out' with a delivery driver some years back. He'd cut the corner entering a side road near my house, forcing me to swerve onto the curb. It was a large flatbed from the local building merchants. I turned round to follow him, but he stopped and reversed his truck at me - again had to jump on the curb. He was actually delivering to a house, so he ended up getting out of the van and threatening to kick my head in. Got a bit shouty and a neighbour came out and stopped it. I said I'm a customer of yours and I'll be speaking to the MD.
Fired an email off to them, had an email back very promptly apologising from the MD and if I wanted to take it to the police they were OK with it. I didn't but told him I'd never use them again for supplies, and haven't.
Smile and wave really confuses folk. Often they go nuts.
Unfortunately I find it only takes one short incident to ruin an entire ride.
It's usually not one incident though, and the person who gets the rage is the third or fourth person who does something stupid, however trivial.
When I'm riding on the road I try to treat every situation as if I am driving.
If another driver is already established on my side of the road and passing parked cars, I wait in the car the same as I wait on my bike. Even if I can see there is a gap they could pull into experience tells me that some drivers will just keep coming.
There is a road near me where this is a frequent occurrence but it's not possible to wait for every car to pass. There are always places to pull in, but the road has a kink so the are not always visible from the end. Drivers have driven past places with ample room to pull in (usually 3 car lengths) and come bumper to bumper with vehicles coming the opposite direction.
My last altercation was with (suprise suprise!) a taxi driver. They decided to come past me on a fairly narrow bit of road just before the crest of a hill with a bend. I could see the car coming the other way and they could too, so they just moved back over while alongside me. It was bloody close... but I saw they were pulling into a car park on the right so I ducked in via the cycle/pedestrian entrance and - politely - pointed out they were far too close to me when they came past. Their reply? 'What else was I supposed to do?' and my suggestion of applying the brakes and waiting a few seconds simply did not compute. It was like I just suggested they piss on their dog or something because they were just aghast at that idea. So the exchange of words got heated and as I rode off they started reversing quite aggressively at me before starting to get out their vehicle. Turns out they were not a very mobile gentleman which was actually funnier than it had any right being. I still can't decide if I am happy with myself or not for what I did next. I left the car park because I'm not sharing space with someone willing to drive backwards at me but then ducked back into the entrance previously in time to inform their potential passengers that their driver had just tried to knock me off my bike twice, one time being 100% intentional. They did not get in the taxi.
Isn't there a saying about being in the right yet also being dead? Better to just let the knobbers through at times.
During COVID I had an altercation that turned physical. Some massive fat bloke didn't like my assesment of his mum's driving (Overtook on a downhill and as soon as in front slammed on the brakes to turn right). Anyway fat bloke ran at me, I tackled him to the ground, as we had a little wrestle he started making really strange noises, I honestly thought he was having a heart attack and was going to die. I stood up and he was on the floor unable to move gasping for breath. At this point had I been of a violent disposition I could have knocked seven bells out of him.
Anyway since then I use a camera on my bike every ride and try to be more relaxed. The camera helps as reporting drivers gives me an outlet. Don't want to be up for a murder charge.
I think the fat bloke recovered he just needed to get his breath back.
I didn't think it was unusual to get verbally abused. Mind you, I did report a van driver to his company the other day.
The worst was probably the taxi driver "touch my car again and I'll f******* push you off the road".
I can think of 3 occasions where drivers have passed me then stopped their car and waited for to have a go at me, fortunately just verbal"
I have had mostly verbals, but one throbber said a couple of insults, because I filtered past him and I might have given him the finger in response. Then he went straight to nuclear and stopped his car in traffic and got out and chased me on foot! I was on a BMX too, which helped with the chase that followed because I had some drainage channels to clear. He was quite fast and had covered quite a lot of ground before he gave up and headed back to the now huge queue of traffic backed up behind his car.
Anyway, don't antagonise the throbbers. I was younger and more inclined to do so then. Now I move on and forget about them.
I’ve only had one really memorable one (I posted about it years ago). Riding in a mixed road group with a few I hadn’t ridden with before. One guy was getting very angsty about what to me seemed normal driving. We were cycling along a busy stretch of road with a fairly good/wide cycle path. mr Angsty started riding in the next lane it seemed to me to be a bit confrontational. The car behind mr Angsty and him started having words and the car drove off. 2-3mins later and there was huge queue of two lanes of traffic (no cycle lane) and we were filtering down the traffic. Mr Angsty cycles up to the drivers car and smacks the cars wing mirror really hard then rides off. Cue driver getting out of the car blocking me from filtering.
Mr Car driving was incandescent (love that word) screaming at me “I going to expletive kill him” over and over. Literally red faced with rage. “Do you know him?” “Nope”.
I was extremely calm. I told him his car was fine - no damage. i pointed out that he wasn’t going to kill him since he then wouldnt see his (completely sacred looking kids in the car) family again and eventually his wife & father persuaded him to get back into the car. I literally thought he was going to have a heart attack.
You can see how situations can spiral out of control. I could actually see the driver running over mr Angsty if he got the chance. He had lost all control.
it turns out mr Angsty had something of a reputation for this and had been asked to leave some cycling clubs. It’s not always the drivers that start these situations
mr Angsty and I had words after the event!
Have we done this one yet?
https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/mum-traumatised-after-dog-walker-32200394
The comments are predictably unhinged.
Reach Plc must rub their hands together with glee when this type of clickbait lands in their lap. They've used that clip on practically every local rags website for the past week. Why something that happened on a towpath in Manchester should end up on "Devon Live" i've no idea.
Anyway, whether the cyclist's speed was acceptable or not, pushing a woman into a canal is the act of an utter arsehole. I hope he ends up in court.
There are so many brain dead drivers out there, it's quite concerning and every time I have an incident I wonder why I bothered with a road bike! I don't seem to get much verbal abuse, usually just beeps and dangerously close passes, though was almost hit head on by someone overtaking round a blind corner a few months ago - luckily they saw me and pulled back in at the last second, otherwise I might not have been here writing this. I also love it when they look straight at you whilst continuing to pull out of a junction or roundabout straight into your path.
Anyway, whether the cyclist's speed was acceptable or not, pushing a woman into a canal is the act of an utter arsehole. I hope he ends up in court.
Where, hopefully, the punishment is for him to be attached to a bike and pushed into a canal. Then jail.
I went out for another ride today & came back the same way as I did last Wednesday.
Coming down the same hill at virtually the same spot where angry man's 4x4 had been there was a car on my side of the road passing the parked cars (some sort of sign perhaps as I virtually never see traffic on this bit of road).
I carried on a bit until I could edge in a few inches & stopped as before to allow the car to edge past, deja-vu.
Except this time the driver was a nice elderly lady, beaming from ear to ear who thrust her arm out the window to the shoulder and waved vigorously in thanks as she crept past. I smiled back & we went on our separate ways 😊
Such a very different response to an almost identical situation.
As has been pointed out, it's the person not the vehicle.
I had one recent experience, I was half way across a (small'ish) roundabout when a car approached from the left, I was already on the roundabout and leaning when the driver looked directly at me then carried on but as he did this he gave me the middle finger!
Now I'm usually fairly calm but I barely managed to stay on my road bike, as I braked my bike stood upright and I almost created my own exit directly in to a lamp post. The shock of almost crashing and the guy sticking his finger up at me made my blood boil.
Now I know the road well and knew there were temporary traffic lights a short distance ahead, I just needed the traffic light gods to be on my side.
I approached the first car in the queue and it was that car! I'm not going to lie, I was raging and the guy genuinely looked scared when I pulled up to his window. He locked the door and ignored me, I can't remember what I said but he didn't respond and the passengers (that he was trying to impress) gave the impression that they knew he was being a dick.
The lights turned green and I waved all the cars behind him on, I explained this wouldn't have happened and he would've been on his merry way if he'd waited at the roundabout.
Just as the lights changed to amber I cycled off, leaving him to wait in the queue for a second time.
Not my proudest moment but had I crashed at the roundabout I would've been in a horrible mess at the side of the road and (more importantly!) my bike would have been wrecked. Maybe this incident will make him think twice in the future?
Since the pandemic road driving has got much worse, everyone is in such a hurry and cyclist are seen as a massive inconvenience. I've cycled in other countries and their attitude towards other road users is so much better and everyone feels more relaxed as a result.
Have we done this one yet?
We have just got to accept that all outdoor space is for taking dogs for a shit. Everywhere is their garden and if you don't like it you'll get your ****ing head kicked in alright.
Nobody really wins when it gets verbal and you just spend the next few hours annoyed. So...
Step 1: Eyeball driver and quickly estimate your chances of winning in a fight.
Step 2: If yes, strike car. If no, zero response.
Nobody really wins when it gets verbal
Disagree. My one above left them fuming and me laughing, so I call that a win. If I'd struck their massive and very expensive vehicle, who knows where it would've gone.
Every situation is different, assess and act as appropriate, not according to any bollocks rules someone else has made up.