Pile driver or head butt?

Originally Posted by helmutRoole2

Okay, so this actually happened to me the other day. I live in Miami, Fla., USA. (Sidebar: I challenge anyone to find a less cycling-friendly city in American.) I was riding beside my friend -- an unnamed pro cyclist from the Northwest -- on a four-lane road separated by a tree-lined medium when I hear off in the distance a horn honking.

I moved in behind my friend, single file. As the car passed, the driver laid on the horn and yelled something out the window and then swerved in front of us. Not a terrible incident, however, I was in a bad mood.

Naturally, people who engage in this type of behavior aren't, shall we say, deep thinkers, and not to my surprise we caught him less than 30 seconds later in traffic moving slowly for a light change.

I yelled my normal line through his open car window, which is, "Get the fuck out of your car." My reasoning for using this line is simple. The proving grounds for being a tough guy isn't from behind the wheel of your car so step the F out.

Anyway, I pulled his door handle and to my surprised the door came open. He stopped. I pushed my bike into the bushes and my friend did the same. We proceeded to lean into his open door and yell at him while his Chihuahua, horrified, looked for a place to hide in the back seat. Traffic behind us stopped, waiting for what they certainly thought was the impending assault. Our motorist friend motioned for a second as if he was going to get out of his car, but I think the situation was now clear. If he were to get out, we would beat the crap out of him, which we were certainly more than capable of doing.

Is this wrong? I mean, I know it's normal to have these feelings towards asinine motorists, but is it wrong to act on them? I know one argument against is, next time this motorist comes across a cyclist, he might act out. But I think the opposite is true. I believe he'll be more concerned next time with his own safety. In my mind it's an associative behavioral scenario. He'll see the cyclists and get scared and not do thing that nearly caused him harm the last time he encountered such a situation. It's like when I was a kid I got sick on Wild Turkey and Coke and now even the slightest whiff of the aforementioned drink makes me want to throw up. I think every time my motorist friend sees cyclists, he'll think about the time he almost got his ass handed to him for acting out and instead of acting out he sit there, nearly paralyzed with fear.

So, is it wrong?