Road Rage / Middle Finger

OldmanMondeo

Does showing someone the Middle finger constitute road rage? The reason I ask is because of this particular woman who has now twice shown me the middle finger.
1st time, she pulled out in front of me on a roundabout, i.e. did not yeild, which caused me to brake and the car behind nearly hit me.
2nd time, She was making an illegal right turn, i.e. sign up stating no right turn, in doing so she was holding traffic up.
Both times I hit the horn, not agressively, but a quick blow to let her know what she had done and both times she showed the true lady she is by "flipping the bird".
I am not going to get out of my car and have words, though I would like to break her finger. Incase anyone is thinking, she drive a 05 Avensis and would appear to be a lady, rather than a girl racer with an attitude (not saying all girl racers have an attitude).

Should I report her for this?

Kimbot

You should have reported her for the illegal right turn for deffo!!

All of that constitutes as dangerous driving!! What if the car behind did hit you, she would be gone on her merry way and nothing ever said about it to her!!

DarkJager

Follow her while flashing your headlights and beeping the horn. When she pulls over, drag her her out of the car and break her hands. That will teach her....

OldmanMondeo

DarkJager wrote:

Follow her while flashing your headlights and beeping the horn. When she pulls over, drag her her out of the car and break her hands. That will teach her....

Well I was thinking of just ramming her off the road, getting her address and burning her home with her family inside......


Yes I am joking....I think.

TwoShedsJackson

You should report her, not for giving you the finger, but for the failure to yield and illegal right turn - ring that Traffic hotline and give them her reg no. (which you should have had ample time to note )

Mitch Connor

you should report people like this. Some drivers are just such morons.

I was driving home yesterday, doing 120 on the m50. then i came to the m11/n11, and had to drop first to 100 (why the hell can't people maintain speed on this road??) but then, for some reason i could not see the traffic came to a stop. I noticed a car coming up at speed behind me, so i hit the park anywhere lights, to draw their attention to the fact traffic was stpping.....AND HE FLASHED ME FOR IT!

HashSlinging

Park anywhere lights?? thats a new one on me..Also the speed limit on the M50 is 100 K/ph m11/n11 it is 120 K/ph.

Alun

HashSlinging wrote:

Park anywhere lights?? thats a new one on me..Also the speed limit on the M50 is 100 K/ph m11/n11 it is 120 K/ph.

No it's not! On that section of the M50 it's 120km/h. (Not K/ph whatever weird kind of unit that is )

In the evenings there's always a huge mess between that junction and the first turnoff to Bray. People crossing the cross hatching as if their lives depended on it when there's at least a whole km to merge, running up the hard shoulder and pushing in, it's crazyville!

r3nu4l

I would definitely have reported her to be honest.

The best thing I ever saw was a boy racer overtake a line of four cars on a back road in Kildare.

I was second in the line of four cars. The car in front of me beeped at boy racer as he went by and boy racer flips him the finger.

Car in front of me suddenly emits flashing blue lights and siren and pulls boy racer over to the side of the road...

0wn3d

That was a good day.

Atomic Pineapple

HashSlinging wrote:

Park anywhere lights?? thats a new one on me..

Yeh never heard the hazards been called that either..

Stephen

Makes sense though, considering how taxi drivers use them

Fey!

draffodx wrote:

Yeh never heard the hazards been called that either..

They're the lights taxi drivers use when they stop suddenly in the middle of the road, blocking everything, when picking up/dropping off.

They're also used by the yummy-mummies in their humungous 4x4s parked on the path blocking everything on the school run.

Love that Kildare story!!!


Back on topic; personally, I think that flipping the bird to other drivers is the rudest thing you can do. I've had it done to me in the past and, I must admit, have been close on a number of occasions to doing the same to other morons of the highways.

Report the auld witch, although there's probably nothing that the authorities can really do to her. At least it will make you feel a bit better.

OldmanMondeo

r3nu4l wrote:

I would definitely have reported her to be honest.

The best thing I ever saw was a boy racer overtake a line of four cars on a back road in Kildare.

I was second in the line of four cars. The car in front of me beeped at boy racer as he went by and boy racer flips him the finger.

Car in front of me suddenly emits flashing blue lights and siren and pulls boy racer over to the side of the road...

0wn3d

That was a good day.

Thank's for sharing that, really made me smile, little b*stard (the boy racer not you)

Mitch Connor

HashSlinging wrote:

Park anywhere lights?? thats a new one on me..Also the speed limit on the M50 is 100 K/ph m11/n11 it is 120 K/ph.

what? No its not.

From just past the slip road for Dundrum, the limit is 120 until you get to the turn off for Little Bray.

seamus

Road rage?

Depends on the context. I gave the "wanker" motion to a car that undertook me on the hard shoulder at an M50 slip road while I was coming off. I was on a bike, which while making her manouver that much more dangerous, allowed me to be much freer and more obvious in expressing my displeasure at her idiocy. I wasn't angry. I just went on about my business afterwards.

so i hit the park anywhere lights, to draw their attention to the fact traffic was stpping.....AND HE FLASHED ME FOR IT!

Maybe he was thanking you? I know, it's a long shot, but...

cavedave

"Have you ever gotten pissed off in traffic? Like, really pissed off? I think we all have. We've thrown finger gestures and wedged our heads out of the window and screamed "LEARN TO F*CKING DRIVE, F*CKER!!" We've all pulled the gun out of the glove compartment and let a few fly at the offending car. Not firing at their head or anything. Just, you know, at their tires.

Now imagine yourself standing in an elevator with three other people, two friends and a coworker. A friend goes to hit a button and accidentally punches the wrong one. Would you lean over, your mouth two inches from her ear, and scream "LEARN TO OPERATE THE ****ING ELEVATOR BUTTONS, ****CAMEL!!"

They'd think you'd gone insane."

http://www.pointlesswasteoftime.com/monkeysphere.html

Mitch Connor

cavedave wrote:

"Have you ever gotten pissed off in traffic? Like, really pissed off? I think we all have. We've thrown finger gestures and wedged our heads out of the window and screamed "LEARN TO F*CKING DRIVE, F*CKER!!" We've all pulled the gun out of the glove compartment and let a few fly at the offending car. Not firing at their head or anything. Just, you know, at their tires.

Now imagine yourself standing in an elevator with three other people, two friends and a coworker. A friend goes to hit a button and accidentally punches the wrong one. Would you lean over, your mouth two inches from her ear, and scream "LEARN TO OPERATE THE ****ING ELEVATOR BUTTONS, ****CAMEL!!"

They'd think you'd gone insane."

http://www.pointlesswasteoftime.com/monkeysphere.html

its not a waste of time, its a release for the frustration at being stuck behind such idiots on the road. And someone doing somethin wrong accidently, is very differnt to being an ignorant ********

If you were in the lift, and heading to floor 46, and the person in the lift gets out on 3, and as they walk out deliberately hit EVERY button from 4 to 46 - you'd be pissed and let them know it.

rebel.ranter

Tauren wrote:

what? No its not.

From just past the slip road for Dundrum, the limit is 120 until you get to the turn off for Little Bray.

120 what though? K/ph? km/h? kmph? ph neutral?

Alun

rebel.ranter wrote:

120 what though? K/ph? km/h? kmph? ph neutral?

I've worked it out ... K/ph is degrees Kelvin per pico-hour

Worst I've ever seen was (on a Wicklow CC roadworks sign) ... k/mph!

Mitch Connor

120 kilometers per hour - don't know which is the correct anagram from it, ya smartass!

testicle

Tauren wrote:

I was driving home yesterday, doing 120 on the m50. then i came to the m11/n11, and had to drop first to 100 (why the hell can't people maintain speed on this road??) but then, for some reason i could not see the traffic came to a stop. I noticed a car coming up at speed behind me, so i hit the park anywhere lights, to draw their attention to the fact traffic was stpping.....AND HE FLASHED ME FOR IT!

Possibly..... They were acknowledging that you had warned them of the slow down ahead, and let you know that you could turn off your "Park Anywhere" lights. Flashing ones lights is not automatically an agressive action.

testicle

Tauren wrote:

120 kilometers per hour - don't know which is the correct anagram from it, ya smartass!

You mean abbreviation.

Mitch Connor

No, i mean anagram. Thats what all the cool kids have decided it will be used for. ya old fogie.

craichoe

If someone was sitting there blocking up traffic trying to make an illegal right turn, i'd sit on the horn until they either move, or come back to confront me so i can tell them i'm calling the gardai, so they can either shift or get a ticket.

Tabnabs

What's a good response to the middle finger? The grown up thing to do is to ignore it, but what's a good comeback?

Dades

cavedave wrote:

Now imagine yourself standing in an elevator with three other people, two friends and a coworker. A friend goes to hit a button and accidentally punches the wrong one.

TBF arriving at the wrong floor in a lift is never going to kill you or some other innocent.

Mitch Connor

Dyflin wrote:

What's a good response to the middle finger? The grown up thing to do is to ignore it, but what's a good comeback?

roll down the window and shout YORE MA!

swingking

Tauren wrote:

roll down the window and shout YORE MA!

rofl

Stark

Tauren wrote:

you should report people like this. Some drivers are just such morons.

I was driving home yesterday, doing 120 on the m50. then i came to the m11/n11, and had to drop first to 100 (why the hell can't people maintain speed on this road??) but then, for some reason i could not see the traffic came to a stop. I noticed a car coming up at speed behind me, so i hit the park anywhere lights, to draw their attention to the fact traffic was stpping.....AND HE FLASHED ME FOR IT!

He might have been thanking you as seamus said. That's why I hate flashing as a signal, it's not an official signal so it could mean anything. I was driving down a road in Kerry before and I was convinced that I had entered the land where every oncoming driver was an aggressive prick. Turned out they were flashing me because there was a speed check ahead. (Made no odds to me, I was doing the speed limit anyway so they were just annoying me with their flashes).

I've noticed women drivers tend to be deadly for getting agressive when they're in the wrong by the way. Flashing lights, middle fingers, the works. I remember coming down the sliproad from the M50 to the Finglas exit roundabout before and decided to change lanes. Looked in my mirror, there's a woman in a small silver car a good bit behind me. I indicate, move into her lane (there's a load of space between us at this point). She starts flashing her lights. Then she put the foot down on the accelerator so by the time we arrived and stopped at the roundabout, she was nearly in my ass. Then I looked in my mirror again and could see her mouthing off and giving me the finger. For **** sake, so someone ended up in front of you girl, get over it.

$Leon$

It's an SI unit to km/h is the correct symbol.

Marcus.Aurelius

SI unit is Kilometres per hour, indicated as either kph or Km/h, with the latter being the textbook physics abbreviation.

Alun

maoleary wrote:

SI unit is Kilometres per hour, indicated as either kph or Km/h, with the latter being the textbook physics abbreviation.

'kph' isn't any kind of SI unit. What kind of length measurement is a 'k'?

Stark

If we wanted to use SI units, we'd all be measuring speed in m/s

ToxicPaddy

Dyflin wrote:

What's a good response to the middle finger? The grown up thing to do is to ignore it, but what's a good comeback?

Next time blow the "lady" in question a big kiss..

Drax

seamus wrote:

Maybe he was thanking you? I know, it's a long shot, but...

Thats what I was thinking. Depends on the flash - if its a short blip then I would take that as a thank you - anything longer than a second or two and its anger.

Had an interesting one the other day. Moved into the overtaking lane (to overtake another car) on the M1 as did the car behind me but traffic slowed so the left lane opened up. The guy behind me blipped his lights to signal he was moving back into the left lane. Have to say it did catch my attention. I moved in aswell. Love it when a plan comes together

blastman

Stark wrote:

If we wanted to use SI units, we'd all be measuring speed in m/s

"Yes, guard, I was below the motorway speed limit of 33.333 m/s..."

About the flashing thing, along with horn-blowing, it's almost always assumed to be an aggressive signal and people automatically get shirty about it. It's not like that in other countries, though. In Saigon, for example, when I was there, the traffic was mental, and people constantly blow their horns, but it's more to alert people that they're there, or that they are going quicker than you, so could they get through? Coming from the Irish model, it was amazing to watch (and hear!)

NUTLEY BOY

I never bother with the gesture thing as it really does nothing except to break your concentration. Also, these days, if you do it to some headbanger you could end up with a screwdriver or a knife where you don't want it !!

Rude gestures are probably not an RTA offence but could they constitute any other type of offence ? e.g. public order or the like.

UrbanFox

NUTLEY BOY wrote:

I never bother with the gesture thing as it really does nothing except to break your concentration. Also, these days, if you do it to some headbanger you could end up with a screwdriver or a knife where you don't want it !!

Rude gestures are probably not an RTA offence but could they constitute any other type of offence ? e.g. public order or the like.

See the Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act 1994.

S. (6) covers threatening, abusive or insulting behaviour in a public place.

antodeco

ToxicPaddy wrote:

Next time blow the "lady" in question a big kiss..

thats exactly what i do!! Had a big transit driver guy give me the finger after refusing to merge with me heading onto the m50. He was doing the w@nker symbol at me so i blew him a kiss!! Face was priceless!!

another idea is to pick up the end of ur car charger (the bit that goes into the cigarette lighter) and pretend ur "radioing in"

littlejukka

a big grin and a thumbs up usually does the trick. people don't seem to know how to respond. a sly wink has the same effect.

icemanjimbo04

Sorry but you should have been alert enough and traveling at a safe speed on a roundabout for this not to cause a problem or make you slam on the brakes.

If she was making an illegal turn let the Guards deal with it, and you should concentrate on changing lanes to go around her or just sit it out.

If you Beeped you horn in a driving test because of these instances you would fail your test.

The only time the horn should be used is to alert kids playing on the streets or if an animal wouldnt move off the road.
Its not there for you to have a go at bad driving..

Spitfire666

at the end of the day, get over it.
If you want to, beep her again, but just forget about it. its not that big a deal. i wouldnt say its the most offensive thing ive ever seen either as i've seen a guy on the malahide road in coolock indicate to pull of the road into the texaco petrol station and then the car i was in (not driving) pulled out and low and behold he swerved violently into the other lane (not going into the petrol station) slammed on his brakes and leaned out his window shouting and waving his fist out the window. i waved at him and he then leans out and spits in the direction of the car im in. He was a bit imbred i'd say as the spit just hit his own car as we were driving but it was still not a nice thing to do. the end of the story would be seen as encouraging bad behaviou so wont be told but he couldnt apologise enough to the lady driving the car i was in by the end of it.

overdriver

Heartwarming story, Spit!!



(Hope you're going to swing by next week to check out my new Triumph, given you're in the area??)

OldmanMondeo

icemanjimbo04 wrote:

Sorry but you should have been alert enough and traveling at a safe speed on a roundabout for this not to cause a problem or make you slam on the brakes.

If she was making an illegal turn let the Guards deal with it, and you should concentrate on changing lanes to go around her or just sit it out.

If you Beeped you horn in a driving test because of these instances you would fail your test.

The only time the horn should be used is to alert kids playing on the streets or if an animal wouldnt move off the road.
Its not there for you to have a go at bad driving..

Sorry to inform you but I was alert enough and traveling at a safe speed, if I hadn't off been I would have hit her. I was about to exit the roundabout, not enter it, had that have been the case I would have had nothing to complain about.
As for the right hand turn, why should she be allow to hold people up? The turn is clearly marked no turning right, out of a one way road. There is not enough room to pass on the inside. Why should I or other people be held up and possibly late for work because of people like her.
Your horn should be used in more than just alerting kids on a street. It can be used for alerting drivers of other hazards. Tell me this, if your driving on a dual carraigeway at 80kph and a car pulls out in front of you from a side road, what do you do, shout?
Do you agree with people being allowed to drive as they please.
My question was should I report her for showing the middle finger as road rage. I know she can't drive, but that is not what I was asking.

icemanjimbo04

OldmanMondeo wrote:

Tell me this, if your driving on a dual carraigeway at 80kph and a car pulls out in front of you from a side road, what do you do, shout?
Do you agree with people being allowed to drive as they please.
My question was should I report her for showing the middle finger as road rage. I know she can't drive, but that is not what I was asking.

If someone pulls out in front of you, you should concentrate on slowing down or changing lanes safely rather than hiting you horn and then trying to avoid an accident.

I dont agree with bad driving, but you or i are not on the roads to deal with them. Obviosly beeping your horn at her had no affect on her so whats the point, it just causes road rage.

Not much point reporting her either, showing the middle finger is hardly road rage, and if it was it would be her word against yours.. And honestly could you be arsed??

OldmanMondeo

Yeah, I am talking about not hitting the brakes or trying to avoid the other car. I mean when you have avoided the other car, letting them know that you had to avoid them. Itake it you just go merrily on your way.
As for reporting her, probably not worth my while, I only asked as it happened twice within a week with the same person.

icemanjimbo04

OldmanMondeo wrote:

Yeah, I am talking about not hitting the brakes or trying to avoid the other car. I mean when you have avoided the other car, letting them know that you had to avoid them. Itake it you just go merrily on your way.
As for reporting her, probably not worth my while, I only asked as it happened twice within a week with the same person.

Normally im really calm at the wheel.. Id drive by and give an evil look and shake me head tho..

blastman

icemanjimbo04 wrote:

The only time the horn should be used is to alert kids playing on the streets or if an animal wouldnt move off the road.
Its not there for you to have a go at bad driving..

What about someone who decides to change lanes into the spot you're currently occupying? I think I'd be inclined to blow the horn to let him know I was there.

Fozzie Bear

r3nu4l wrote:

I would definitely have reported her to be honest.

The best thing I ever saw was a boy racer overtake a line of four cars on a back road in Kildare.

I was second in the line of four cars. The car in front of me beeped at boy racer as he went by and boy racer flips him the finger.

Car in front of me suddenly emits flashing blue lights and siren and pulls boy racer over to the side of the road...

0wn3d

That was a good day.

Love that. Seen a similar thing on the N17 between Tuam and Galway last night around 9pm when it was dark. I was heading towards Galway from Tuam when some twat pulls out and over takes a line of cars coming against me. This forces me and the cars behind onto the hard shoulder to avoid said twat going head on in us. Now this happens regular enough as its a huge wide and mostly straight road and it normally would not bother me as its just a case of putting your inside wheel temporarily onto the hard shoulder to give them space to over take. But the aggresive manner in which this guy did it had to be seen... Next thing a silver Opel Vectra which had been behind them lights up like a UFO with blue lights and takes off after them. Brightened up my day!:cool:

ambro25

Typical reply to a lady's finger wave is, driving circumstances permitting, either to

(i) blow her a kiss, as previously suggested, or

(ii) sign-languaging 'You?' (finger pointing at her) then 'Me?' (finger pointing at self, sequence conveys 'you and me?') then a prayer gesture and a look of rapture - some go redder than a red light at that one

As for road rage, I've calmed down to such an extent behind the wheel that most acquaintances now think I'm on something prescribed, whenever anything caused by some prick or other happens - comes with age, I suppose . Very rarely use the horn nowadays, I just shrug it off in 95% of cases, happy to be sound, alive and with no damage... though I've been known in my younger days to drive a car or two off the road after they either accelerated while I was overtaking (gravest sin in my driving book) or did some other unprovoked nearly-as-dangerous moronic act.

But on the bike, to date I'm on my 3rd dented panel after hoofing dangerous cagers who'd rather see me off the bike than stay patiently in their place in the traffic queue

icemanjimbo04

blastman wrote:

What about someone who decides to change lanes into the spot you're currently occupying? I think I'd be inclined to blow the horn to let him know I was there.

Well firstly if they dont see you, chances are your in their blind spot.. so if you just brake a little it wouldnt be a problem. Unless overtaking you shouldnt really drive along knowing you are in someones blind spot tho..

But that isnt a reaction to bad driving.. That is similar to what i said about alerting someone to your presence on the road..