I almost swore at a driver yseterday...

Hi all

A couple or more lines up in your newsreader Paul began the thread "I
had reason to swear at a driver this evening..."

His restrained retort to the driver who almost killed him was "just
enough to stay alive, you stupid woman" - very restrained indeed,
Paul.

Anyhoo, I was on my way to the shops yesterday, riding about four feet
away from the kerb and signalling my intention to turn left into the
shopping parade 20 or 30 yards ahead when a following car honked its
horn mightily - several times. My crime was to delay that car by all
of two of three seconds.

Not being the owner of a speedo (neither cycle nor swimming types) I
cannot say for sure or my speed. However, if I had to hazzard a guess,
I'd say I was slowing from a slow 15mph to an even slower 10mph. The
car was accelerating away from a roundabout and cannot have been
moving at more than 15mph itself.

Ignoring the fact that being in the premier riding position is a good
thing I was deliberately riding away from the kerb for two other
reasons: I did not want the car to overtake me at the point and I
wanted a gooc d view around the bend I was about to take.

My response was as equally restrained as Pauls: "Oh, for God's sake."

Of course, I was entirely in the wrong. As a cyclist, I naturally have
no business being on the road.

James

"Adrian Boliston" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"James Hodson" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Anyhoo, I was on my way to the shops yesterday, riding about four feet
away from the kerb and signalling my intention to turn left into the
shopping parade 20 or 30 yards ahead when a following car honked its
horn mightily - several times. My crime was to delay that car by all
of two of three seconds.

The trick is to *pretend* that you have simply not noticed the honking or
revving. Show an angry response and you will make their day.

My earpieces and radio mean I can feign indifference with great credulity.

--
Simon M.

Adrian Boliston said:

The trick is to *pretend* that you have simply not noticed the honking or
revving. Show an angry response and you will make their day.

I have found that slowing down at each bout of honking and then starting
to look for problems on the bike ( the car driver is obviously trying to
attract your attention to a major fault on the your bike or they would
not be sounding their horn ;-) ) works great

Allan

James Hodson typed:

Quoted message said:

My response was as equally restrained as Pauls: "Oh, for God's sake."

I, in a similar situation, stopped the bike in the middle of the lane, got
off, walked to the car and politely enquired "Were you beeping your horn at
me ?" (No other traffic about, but car in a 'pinch-point) ... At which point
the driver feigned all ignorance and wouldn't wind the window down .. until
I left ... As he drove away I could swear I heard him shout a few
expletives, bit I may have mis-heard them .. 😉

Quoted message said:

Of course, I was entirely in the wrong. As a cyclist, I naturally have
no business being on the road.

Of course ... 😉

--
Paul ...

(8(|) ... Homer Rocks

"Allan" <"amv.2f"@uc(delete)df.gla.ac.uk> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Adrian Boliston said:

The trick is to *pretend* that you have simply not noticed the honking

or

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

revving. Show an angry response and you will make their day.

I have found that slowing down at each bout of honking and then starting
to look for problems on the bike ( the car driver is obviously trying to
attract your attention to a major fault on the your bike or they would
not be sounding their horn ;-) ) works great

I've got another trick with speeding motorists coming towards you. Simply
point behind you animatedly and mouth the words "speed gun". Then watch as
they slam their brakes on as they pass by you! Works every time.

--
Simon M.

Adrian Boliston said:

"James Hodson" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Anyhoo, I was on my way to the shops yesterday, riding about four feet
away from the kerb and signalling my intention to turn left into the
shopping parade 20 or 30 yards ahead when a following car honked its
horn mightily - several times. My crime was to delay that car by all
of two of three seconds.

The trick is to *pretend* that you have simply not noticed the honking or
revving. Show an angry response and you will make their day.

Hi Adrian

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, and I do agree with you. However, it's
rather hard to pretend I did not hear a multiply-honked horn when the
sound came from all of three feet behind my right shoulder. In fact, i
didn't act angrily; rather, I just acted in a fed up or a "not again"
manner - raised eyeballs etc.

When I was used to drive I did my best to give other road users both
their own space and the benefit of any doubt (after all, it's best to
think that everyone else is stupid). Sadly, road rage does seem to
have become far more prevalent than it was in my driving days.
Everyone seems to want to get to wherever they're going yesterday ...
or sooner. Had I been the car driver rather than the cyclist I would
have merely taken my foot of the accelerator and let the bike rider do
as he wished. I should point out that I didn't cycle in my driving
days so wasn't particularly aware of any cyclist-specific needs.

For some reason, this incident annoyed me for several hours after the
fact. Usually I just put these things to the back of my mind, a vast
and ill-maintained area.

The more serious the incident, the less I worry about it, probably
because I'm glad to have escaped unscathed; and vice versa also is
true.

James

Paul - censored said:

James Hodson typed:

Quoted message said:

My response was as equally restrained as Pauls: "Oh, for God's sake."

I, in a similar situation, stopped the bike in the middle of the lane, got
off, walked to the car and politely enquired "Were you beeping your horn at
me ?" (No other traffic about, but car in a 'pinch-point) ... At which point
the driver feigned all ignorance and wouldn't wind the window down .. until
I left ... As he drove away I could swear I heard him shout a few
expletives, bit I may have mis-heard them .. 😉

An approach I have tried occasionally. Whether it actually has any
effect is a debatable point but it does make the rider feel a tad
better.

Sometimes I have thought about adopting a similar but more aggressive
option: throw the bike on the ground and marching up the car driver's
window and demanding they leave the car. However, being a chicken at
heart, I've always rejected this choice a second or two after I'd
thought of it.

Yesterday I was on my road bike - far too nice for shopping, but so be
it - and I didn't particularly want to damage that by throwing it on
to the tarmac. I'd rather damage it by falling off! Had I been riding
my ancient Trek, well ...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Of course, I was entirely in the wrong. As a cyclist, I naturally have
no business being on the road.

Of course ... 😉

I abase myself.

BTW, is Homer Rocks a Springfield beauty spot or some sort of nuclear
powerlant workers sexual disease?

James

Simon Mason said:

I've got another trick with speeding motorists coming towards you. Simply
point behind you animatedly and mouth the words "speed gun". Then watch as
they slam their brakes on as they pass by you! Works every time.

I'll keep that one in mind, Simon. But the car that honked me
yesterday was trying to overtake me.

James

James Hodson typed:

Quoted message said:

Yesterday I was on my road bike - far too nice for shopping, but so be
it - and I didn't particularly want to damage that by throwing it on
to the tarmac. I'd rather damage it by falling off! Had I been riding
my ancient Trek, well ...

My old Dyna-Tech is so used to being thrown down the road (and hills and
mountains and stuff) mainly UNintentionally, that an odd pique of anger from
me does little more than add yet another small scratch or dent .. 😉

Quoted message said:

BTW, is Homer Rocks a Springfield beauty spot or some sort of nuclear
powerlant workers sexual disease?

I subscribe to the powerlant workers sexual disease theory .. YMMV.

Up until earlier this year I could have been described as a 5'4" high Homer
body double .. now I'm down to a 32" waist, and decreasing by the month, I
feel somewhat humbled by someone who can sit around consuming beer all day
and basically doing not a lot.

I like The Simpsons cartoons too. 😉

--
Paul ...

(8(|) ... Homer Rocks

"James Hodson" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

The trick is to *pretend* that you have simply not noticed the honking or
revving. Show an angry response and you will make their day.

Hi Adrian

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, and I do agree with you. However, it's
rather hard to pretend I did not hear a multiply-honked horn when the
sound came from all of three feet behind my right shoulder...

I would not worry as they were probably simply testing the horn to make sure
it worked properly, or they had seen a mate and were trying to attract their
attention.

On Thu, 15 Jul 2004 19:47:08 +0100, "Adrian Boliston"

() said:

"James Hodson" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

The trick is to *pretend* that you have simply not noticed the honking or
revving. Show an angry response and you will make their day.

Hi Adrian

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, and I do agree with you. However, it's
rather hard to pretend I did not hear a multiply-honked horn when the
sound came from all of three feet behind my right shoulder...

I would not worry as they were probably simply testing the horn to make sure
it worked properly, or they had seen a mate and were trying to attract their
attention.

Usually the case, but to make sure it's not an old friend that I may
inadvertently upset by ignoring, I give a few friendly blips back on
the Air-Zound and a cheery "Hello!". Just in case.

:-)

--
Matt K
Waikikamukau,NZ

Whingin' Pom said:

On Thu, 15 Jul 2004 19:47:08 +0100, "Adrian Boliston"

() said:

"James Hodson" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

>The trick is to *pretend* that you have simply not noticed the honking or
>revving. Show an angry response and you will make their day.
>

Hi Adrian

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, and I do agree with you. However, it's
rather hard to pretend I did not hear a multiply-honked horn when the
sound came from all of three feet behind my right shoulder...

I would not worry as they were probably simply testing the horn to make sure
it worked properly, or they had seen a mate and were trying to attract their
attention.

Usually the case, but to make sure it's not an old friend that I may
inadvertently upset by ignoring, I give a few friendly blips back on
the Air-Zound and a cheery "Hello!". Just in case.

Indeed, it can be embarassing when you find that it is a friend/ aged
auntie and you haven't responded with the cheeriest of waves, maybe
using the swiftly upraised forearm with fisted hand style instead of
the open palmed wiggling of the wrist style.

A

On 16 Jul 2004 11:55:00 +0100, Ambrose Nankivell

() said:

Whingin' Pom said:

On Thu, 15 Jul 2004 19:47:08 +0100, "Adrian Boliston"

() said:

"James Hodson" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

> >The trick is to *pretend* that you have simply not noticed the honking or
> >revving. Show an angry response and you will make their day.
> >
>
> Hi Adrian
>
> Hindsight is a wonderful thing, and I do agree with you. However, it's
> rather hard to pretend I did not hear a multiply-honked horn when the
> sound came from all of three feet behind my right shoulder...

I would not worry as they were probably simply testing the horn to make sure
it worked properly, or they had seen a mate and were trying to attract their
attention.

Usually the case, but to make sure it's not an old friend that I may
inadvertently upset by ignoring, I give a few friendly blips back on
the Air-Zound and a cheery "Hello!". Just in case.

Indeed, it can be embarassing when you find that it is a friend/ aged
auntie and you haven't responded with the cheeriest of waves, maybe
using the swiftly upraised forearm with fisted hand style instead of
the open palmed wiggling of the wrist style.

I used to have a job which involved a 20 mile round trip commute,
involving a part of the A303. On day 3 of my employment there, I was
returning home through torrential rain with very poor quality
waterproofs. Not nice. I was not a happy boy. I was even less happy
when a twunt in a Merc hurtled past me laying on his horn. A hearty
shout of "[censored]!" followed by the suitable gesture made me feel much
better. Until I found out the next day that the MD of the company
drove a Merc...

Oops.

--
Matt K
Waikikamukau,NZ

Whingin' Pom <[email hidden]> wrote in
news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

I was even less happy
when a twunt in a Merc hurtled past me laying on his horn. A hearty
shout of "[censored]!" followed by the suitable gesture made me feel much
better. Until I found out the next day that the MD of the company
drove a Merc...

Oh I don't know, maybe it was a test to see if you were a sound judge of
character. I'd say you were spot on in your judgment.

Graeme

James Hodson said:

Sometimes I have thought about adopting a similar but more aggressive
option: throw the bike on the ground and marching up the car driver's
window and demanding they leave the car.

Years ago, a friend of mine did something like this, only he threw his
bike on the bonnet of the car.

He made quite an impression.

(The driver had just knocked him off by trying to park on the bit of
road that my friend was riding on).
--

Cheers,

Al