[email protected] said:
St Euan the Beatifically Enhanced. BTW, the homily runs "The proof of the pudding's in the eating". Sorry to get all pedantic on yo ass, but I've eaten bitumen pudding on about 5 seperate occasions because of careless motorists. So the proof of the pudding is that a significant minority of car drivers don't give a flying f#%& about anyone who can't hurt them back, their attitude causing me, and quite a few other cyclists both here and elsewhere, to lose skin, confidence, bone wholeness, bike functionality and money thereby. I ride defensively, or my particular version of the same, but I will not put up with and silently condone what is basically criminal negligence - i.e. operating machinery in a way that is likely to cause someone to be injured and killed. Like it or not, our police/legal system as it pertains to road travel is still, and until the oil runs out, will be heavily biased in favour of the structurally selfish mode of travel that is the car. So how do you get around it? Smile and wave (except ironically)?
This is my theory:
Motorists are like children - all this power and speed being frustrated by petty things like the safety and security of others. All those silly laws that don't apply to ME. MEMEMEMEMEMEME!!! So, if the parents (law) aren't going to set boundaries, or enforce them correctly, you don't indulge them. You tell them loudly and firmly what they are doing is wrong. You bring it forcibly to their attention. You keep on doing it in a rational, balanced LOUD manner, and soon the less self-centred of them will see what they are doing wrong. This is how all the experienced teachers, parents et c. say you should do it. You can't just keep on ignoring bad behaviour, hoping it will go away. For your own sanity and safety.
Who's flaming? I thought we were discussing, which is what these newsgroupy things are for, aren't they? I just don't like "Holier than Thou" when it comes to people's instinctive reactions to a real and immediate threat to personal safety. It's non-rational. Yes, we have to learn to moderate our beserker bicycle rage. But it's no good turning the other cheek to mechanised and systematised death. Which is what the road system is capable of, if you aren't in a Humvee. No remorse. No compassion. Little if any justice or compensation for wrongs done.
I can see that you have worked hard on the "I am calm. I am serene." thing, but hoons in F250s just don't give a **** about what your state of mind is. They just don't care enough about not running you over. A society that allows its most vulnerable to become victims, either by ignoring the problem or letting people behave carelessly as their primary right and privilege, is just a cesspit of unacknowledged brutality.
And getting into a debate with a motorist is PRECISELY what you should be doing, because you have the overwhelming moral RIGHT and DUTY to tell him (usually him) in diplomatic terms, that he (she) is an arrogant, selfish irresponsible and careless GIT/****/****HEAD (tension release: try something milder) for not driving competently, and providing suggestions as to how. It could be your 12 year old son/daughter/niece/nephew in their close proximity next, with fewer smarts and skills to get themselves out of trouble. "Choosing battles you can win"? Isn't that what Chamberlain said when he came back from Berlin that time?
M "Don't give bullies and incompetents leverage, such as the Wehrmacht, or V8 motors" H
