I got spat at -- a first!!

[JamesAC]

Is this possible? Politely and at the top of your voice?

Err .. that was irony.
Sorry.

 

[fossyant]

It's a gut reaction, no point over analysing it !

There are some real scum bags out there these days - absolute pits - you have to watch out for them. She obviously wouldn't have thought anything about knocking you off - that's how little respect for others that folk like this have.

I heard some chav mum the other night on my way home swearing at her little son, no more than 5 years old, to 'F'ing hurry up then', the poor kid only said he was cold and was trotting along in the hissing rain - blimey...

 

[Fab Foodie]

If you've got someone right on your rear tyre, sounding a horn at you, then the person doing it is trying to scare you off the road; its the equivalent of standing next to you with a hammer and threatening you only much, much more serious.

Frankly, swearing at them isn't escalation. Its trivial, when compared with the provocation. I doubt very much whether it often causes the motorist, in this situation, to behave any worse.

I can only speak from my own experience where on several occasions a F-Off or a "finger" has caused a car to stop or return for another go at me and once came close to physical; assault. This has not yet happened since I've let them be. In some (but not necessarily this one), hoots and revving may simply be due to stupidity rather than aggression, shouting expletives may then appear like casting the first stone.

There is little sense in entering these battles if the chance of winning is low and little point in poking a stick into an already angry nest IMO.

 

[Cab]

I have to disagree completely with both points, someone rear ending is showing impatience, perhaps in a dangerous way but that's secondary

Impatience? Rubbish. Really. In every occasion they know perfectly well that what they're doing will scare the cyclist, they know entirely that it can only be interpreted as using their vehicle threateningly. And if they're too ignorant to know that then they should most certainly be made aware, prior to permanently being removed from the road.

And swearing at someone is provocation and is escalating the situation, almost anything that doesn't defuse the situation escalates it to some degree

Swearing is not escalation of a situation that is already way more serious and dangerous than that. Might occasionally piss them off, but they're already threatening you, its rare that they'll get worse than that. Odds are you're not more likely to get shouted at, spat at or have a beer can thrown at you just for swearing at them. They're seeing red already.

 

[Cab]

I can only speak from my own experience where on several occasions a F-Off or a "finger" has caused a car to stop or return for another go at me and once came close to physical; assault. This has not yet happened since I've let them be. In some (but not necessarily this one), hoots and revving may simply be due to stupidity rather than aggression, shouting expletives may then appear like casting the first stone.

There is little sense in entering these battles if the chance of winning is low and little point in poking a stick into an already angry nest IMO.

I've had the same happen where I haven't shouted anything, in fact only yesterday I had a torrent of threats from the window of a car for having the audacity to be on the road in front of him, delaying him from getting to the red lights by as much as a few seconds. And I've had a woman get out and try to assault me because I turned around and looked at her car when she revved her engine behind me while I was waiting in a stop box. I just don't believe for a moment that these cretins are any more likely to assault you because you've sworn at them.

 

[Maz]

Err .. that was irony.
Sorry.

Ah, right. I must've had an 'American-moment' (they don't get irony, either, apparently).

 

[fossyant]

Like cab I've seen things like this - doesn't take much to tip them over the edge - so many people get really stressed driving - you see it as a cyclist, motorist or pedestrian.

 

[Jacomus-rides-Gen]

If everyone just left home 10mins earlier, I think most stuff like this wouldn't happen.

 

[Arch]

Is this possible? Politely and at the top of your voice?

Oh yes. You have to pronounce it "fark orf", in an aristocratic accent...

 

[Maz]

If everyone just left home 10mins earlier, I think most stuff like this wouldn't happen.

It'd still happen, only 10 minutes earlier.

 

[fossyant]

That lass sounds like just the sort of girl you'd take to dinner.......charming.....

 

[Tynan]

so shouting '**** off' at another road user doesn't provoke them?

the things I learn ...

 

[Cab]

so shouting '**** off' at another road user doesn't provoke them?

the things I learn ...

Shouting at someone who is threatening you with their vehicle is entirely proportional to what the other guy is doing, arguably its dispoportionately soft on them for threatening to do something that could easily result in your death. Whether it provokes them or not is immaterial, the purpose of doing so is to draw as much attention to what they're doing as possible so that as many other people on the road are looking in your direction, reducing the risk that they'll be so stupid as to actually assault you.

I doubt very much whether doing so makes them more or less likely to carry through their threat of violence, except in rare situations where you actually have someone so close to the edge of insanity you're pushing them over.

 

[Terminator]

No swearing at them sometimes is like a red rag to a bull.

 

[Cab]

No swearing at them sometimes is like a red rag to a bull.

If the motorist is like a raging bull then he'll find some reason to go off on one whether you swear or not. I'd say that on those occasions when I've yelled back at them in a bold, loud, obscene but above all Geordie voice I've usually found that they back down.