Dealing with abuse
- Thread starter Chief Broom
- Start date
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welsh dragon
Thanks but no thanks. I think I'll pass.
I have only had verbal abuse once when some t****r in a range rover shouted that I should be on a cycle track even though it was only 400 feet long and at the end of it I would have had to get off my bike and cross over the road under a railway bridge to be able to re join the road and do that on a bend. Not a good place to do all that. Needless to say I gave him the finger. He didn't stop.
lazybloke
Ginger biscuits and cheddar
- Location
- Leafy Surrey
A wave would be my choice too, if any reaction at all, but i'm struggling to remember ever getting verbal abuse when cycling. Even the school kids say nothing.
I'm less 'zen' if some idiot has used their vehicle to put my life in danger. That's when the adrenaline flows and i'll start shouting, but it's never escalated beyond that.
matticus
Guru
This is the thing; it's a lottery - everyone has different experiences, and this will influence how we behave.
I've been to A&E due to a SMIDSY, and had red wine thrown over me from a post-Badminton Range Rover [and that wasn't the most dangerous thing a passenger has done just for a laugh].
Some people have had much worse, some nothing at all. So we should be slow to judge others, IMO!
OP
OP
Chief Broom
Veteran
and then there is the spontaneous response.... which has got me into trouble before and might again. Once got chased on the london underground by telling some bone heads to go forth. My aggressive response to a outrageous piece of driving [mentioned previously] by being spontaneous/forceful wasnt in my best interest [self preservation] immediately but may have been long term.....because the driver was a local and he learnt that if he [or mates] do it again i wont passively accept it. Granted i could get beaten to a pulp but bullies usually avoid targets that fight back.
I do appreciate the sage advice of ignoring.waving/blowing kisses etc
but sometimes a spontaneous upwelling of righteous wrath wont be contained whatever the consequences!
I do appreciate the sage advice of ignoring.waving/blowing kisses etc
but sometimes a spontaneous upwelling of righteous wrath wont be contained whatever the consequences!
grldtnr
Über Member
and then there is the spontaneous response.... which has got me into trouble before and might again. Once got chased on the london underground by telling some bone heads to go forth. My aggressive response to a outrageous piece of driving [mentioned previously] by being spontaneous/forceful wasnt in my best interest [self preservation] immediately but may have been long term.....because the driver was a local and he learnt that if he [or mates] do it again i wont passively accept it. Granted i could get beaten to a pulp but bullies usually avoid targets that fight back.
I do appreciate the sage advice of ignoring.waving/blowing kisses etc
I don't and won't tolerate abusive language, if by what is meant, comments about my lawfull actions, like riding a bike on the highway,
Even more so since I had been knocked off through an 'accident', in which it's better described as negligence by the said driver.
That incident has coloured my judgement even more, I will defend myself against such incidents even more, but then I am blessed with a intimidating physique, should someone want to start something, then they better accept the consequences.
Like Drago, of this parish , I almost tipped over really obnoxious mini driver once , with his really boorish behaviour, it didn't help that he was working in the same office as me.
I had 2 wheels off the car in the air, ready for a clean & jerk , the oik got out the other side message received,
Bad blood between us ever since , but he never bothered me or said anything about me again.
Old mini's are not that heavy once you got them moving.
roubaixtuesday
self serving virtue signaller
Suspected road rage murder today. Maybe food for thought for all of us tempted to respond robustly to abuse.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-68067359
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-68067359
grldtnr
Über Member
Don't wish to belittle the wine throwing Incident, hope it was decent glass of plonk !
But I have to say, I wouldn't have been sanguine about such behaviour,
Would have been little chance in seeking restitution, or retribution, but perhaps a prime example of use of head cams, that behaviour would have attracted the police attention ,
Well at least I hope so !
matticus
Guru
I hope it wasn't - a terrible waste!
Gillstay
Veteran
No they looked busy in the police station, but I was given serious attention and very professionally dealt with .
As was he !
It helped that it was only the second time I had cycled in Worcester and so had not had chance to have had history with the chap as he had a grudge against someone. When he first cut me up I asked what his problem was and he just pointed at his mirror.
By the third set of lights he was still cutting me up and all the other cars were staying away, so it would have clearly shown up on the city CTV.
Roadrat77
Well-Known Member
- Location
- Birmingham
I had some neanderthal in a high end black 4x4 coming the opposite way on an otherwise empty side road pull right over the centre line and scream "get over your f****g own side you c**t!!" For absolutely no reason whatsoever as I was in the gutter - looked a complete thug and was probably such a wonderful asset to his neighbourhood if you like class A drugs.
Maybe once or twice a long time ago. But about 8 years ago I started riding my trike 95+% of the time. And on the trike never. I think for the same reason drivers give trike riders a wide berth when passing. We think they feel we are some kind of a handicapped person, and they dont want to be caught abusing us, in any way.
Gillstay
Veteran
In Ireland we got off the greenway when it ended and cut back down the shore road wildlife watching.
A Toyota 4 x 4 came down the road and quite crowded me to such an extent i stopped after he passed and looked back.
He stopped and talked to my partner. When she caught up fuming to herself I asked what he said.
`The cycle way is over there'.
She said politely ` Yes we just got off it'.
' Well they spent millions to keep you people off the road'. Then he drove off. Cowardly git.
A Toyota 4 x 4 came down the road and quite crowded me to such an extent i stopped after he passed and looked back.
He stopped and talked to my partner. When she caught up fuming to herself I asked what he said.
`The cycle way is over there'.
She said politely ` Yes we just got off it'.
' Well they spent millions to keep you people off the road'. Then he drove off. Cowardly git.
templehead
Active Member
I've only been back on a bike a couple of years, but the only grief I've had is from my 'brother' cyclists. Two idiots from a local club, in full garb with the name of the back of their shirts, overtook me so close as to almost brush my hand on the end of the bars. Presumably they felt that the fact that they were overtaking me and they did not, like me, have a 250W motor for help was a point worth making? The other time, I was loading up outside the local Tesco and about to set off, having been fiddling around removing the D-lock, when a Proper Cyclist looked up from the conversation he was having with his mate and said "that thing's got more keys than a car... why don't you just get a car?". I'm not normally one for such things, but he was told to f*** off and mind his own business.
