No need to get angry with them - you’ll still beat them getting to your destination. It’s like those who decided to pull out when waiting at lights to be 1 car ahead…well done Mr.Car you got ahead by one car…how much difference is that really going to make to your journey, filter past. Job done.
Slightly off topic, wasn’t to amused by a cyclist who tried to run me down on the pavement this morning. Clipped my bag as they cycled past. No helmet, no high vis, on a pavement, charming! Although annoying and rude like the way the car acted won’t make me hate all car drivers or all cyclists. I only have an issue with the minority who don’t stick to the rules and put others in danger.
Try to be Zen with it at the end of the day we will get there quickest and look cool while doing it
I came in to work on the bike today luckily not too much filtering for me! I had a conversation with a girl in the office, she said “do you do that squeezing through traffic thing” I said “you mean filtering” she was saying how annoying it is and how much she hates it, I pointed out that she probably only hates it because she’s stuck in traffic and that if done safely there’s nothing wrong or illegal about it, unfortunately a lot of car drivers have this attitude unless they either have or know someone that rides a bike.
Quite! I was on my way home last night following a bloke on a P-reg blue BMW R1150RT riding like that. Bit of an embarrassment to the two wheeled community, he was.
If you ride regularly in London these sort of incidents are common and to be expected.
Sometimes it is down to a genuine mistake by the car driver.
If they are being malicious it is usually obvious by their body language…maybe a stupid rictus grin, hunched over the wheel with a mobile in their ‘free’ hand and often a passenger to show off to.
I usually shout something at them and ride off. I sometimes just ride off but I find it better to shout something even if they can’t hear me. This seems to help get the incident out of my head so I can concentrate properly on the next bit of road. Also- I try to shout something constructive like- ‘you’ll kill someone like that one day’ instead of the usual ‘c*nt’ as it seems to have more effect on people somehow. Maybe it helps them to realize it’s not the game or macho posturing they think it is but a real danger to us…
hmm, had a big argument with a van driver last saturday on the countryside rideout with few mates jus becoz of this sort of stupid driving behaviour…sudden move into the opposite lane to block my mate overtake him and almost push my mate with his wife on the back into the bush…we stopped on the side of the road, he stopped as well…window down and he yelled ‘I don’t feel comfortable being overtaken by you bikers’ n kept revving his van at us :blink:
so jus becoz of his comfortable feeling, he has to move out and push bikers to the bush on purpose, i reckon this is to kill biker on purpose, I jus dun understand what theory and logic he has got in his uneducated brain…
I’ve had pupils try and do this, with good intentions… they thought the bike would cut them up and were protecting their road space, a learner way of thinking, and although wrong, you can see the logic… i think most car drivers just don’t want to let the bike overtake them… pointless and dangerous…arsehole.
A couple of times I’ve had this from the same vehicle: a black Range-Rover with blacked out windows in the Herne Hill area. Twice it’s deliberately closed the gap on me after I had come to stop in front of it and once it roared off when the lights turned green and attempted to run me into the traffic island. What a charmer.
when iwas couriering things like that happened most days, drivers do all sorts intntioanlly or otherwise…this is why anticiparion is your best mate on a bike.
if i am really incensed by something a driver has done, i back off, and when im ready i get past them…quick…as i do i.slap there wing mirror, if it breaks it breaks, often it doesnt, it just lets them know how annoyed i.am, less soo these days as i no longer courier, thank foook!
I ride in London traffic every day. Most drivers will go out of their way to turn the wheel and let you pass in queues. They get a very deliberate big wave, nod, smile, thumbs up, whatever. The cage drivers that go out of their way to block me for whatever petty reason God only knows, get a physical response as well.
I think it’s important to do this otherwise these drivers will think nothing of doing it again to the next biker. If they think he or she might turn nasty though, perhaps they’ll leave them alone. I can only hope and keep trying. If just one biker has been allowed to pass safely because a car driver is wary of them after receiving some earlier, er-hem, verbal abuse, then I’m relieved.
And thank you to you bikers that look out for me on the road as well. It’s dangerous enough out there.
What you say sounds true but is actually bollox. The problem is… this stinks of the idea that you are out to “educate” other road users… but guess what…
“Communication isn’t what’s said or meant, its what’s heard”
Someone tries to teach me the error of my ways, through trying to hurt me on the road, or damage my property, I’m not listening, and I can guarantee the people whose property you damage are not thinking, “Oh he broke my mirror, I must have done something wrong and offended him…now I must change my ways and try and catch up with him to apologise for upsetting him.”
x 2 - love it and will be this week’s challenge to bring up in conversation!
