Being called rude is more offensive than irresponsible driving, apparently

doozerie

On my commute this morning I stopped at a red light in the middle of my lane at a T-junction. I was turning right and stopped in the middle in the hope that my bike would trigger the traffic light sensor there as otherwise I'll never get green. Middle of the lane is the best bet anyway, of course, to avoid cars driving past and swinging left at the first hint of a green light. Anyway, I'd been there about 30 seconds when a car pulled up and basically positioned itself close to my back wheel and to the right of it as if she wanted to push past me. The traffic light was still red and as her right wheels were now over the centre line she made it awkward for traffic whose light was green to turn right onto the road we were on.

When we got a green light she tried to pull past me even as I was making the same right turn as her. While making the turn, I turned round, and shook my head at her. As a parent, I seem to now be endowed with the debilitating power of severe disapproval 'cos once we'd straightened out she pulled alongside me with her passenger window open and asked what I was shaking my head for. I told her she had been in the wrong at the junction. She continued to drive alongside me, pushing me towards the curb several times, as she argued that I was the one in the wrong. She refused to answer my repeated question of why she had stopped her car spanning the two traffic lanes, just bullishly insisted that I was in the wrong somehow or other.

A couple of hundred metres further along we ended up back at square one with her asking "what were you shaking your head for?", so I summed it up by saying it was because she was an idiot. I might just as well have spat in her face, apparently, as she lost the plot. There was a truck parked (illegally) in the cycle track up ahead and she deliberately stayed alongside me until she stopped her car inches from the back of the truck. I was penned in so had to stop. She yelled at me that calling her an idiot was "incredibly rude". Now, I am the parent of a toddler so I am no stranger to exasperation at times but my toddler has never even come close to inducing in me the kind of speechless incredulity that yer wan did. Apparently she can drive as she likes, with no regard for other road users, but by jaysus don't you dare be rude to her. I despair.

Cookie_Monster

she sounds like an idiot alright

ednwireland

thats car drivers for you unfortunately, that disc on the window gives them that right apparently

seanybiker

At least she now knows she is an idiot.

doozerie

Can someone please give me a hug. I just need a hug...

califano

Make an in vogue Garda comment to her:pac:

Captain Havoc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39qdhbkTko4

Icyseanfitz

one internet hug for you in all fairness what a tool, watcha going to do though unfortunately this world is full to the brim of idiots with a false sense of entitlement most of which also have a superiority complex

ROK ON

I have found that the women when losing an argument with a man are often prone to refusing to engage and just state that you are rude.
I don't understand women, live with 3 of them (missus and 2 daughters).
They are all daft as a brush.

julio_iglayzis

That's a nasty start to the day man. She sounds like a complete weapon.
On the bright side, the sun is shining and apparently will be for the weekend, here's hoping you get a spin with no hassle in.

RobFowl

I don't think that was rude at all. I mean she does pay road tax......

langdang

Icyseanfitz wrote: »

idiots with a false sense of entitlement

Was gonna say it - another "entitled" member of society - you meet em everyday...

unionman

You handled it as well as you could under the circumstances. I'm willing to bet that anyone handling a situation as badly as she did is every bit as wilfully idiotic when she's not in a car.

droidus

Report her for dangerous driving. Im pretty sure its illegal to use her vehicle to box you in in the manner you describe.

el tel

Nothing winds bad drivers up than seeing the incredulous shake of the head. It's especially gratifying when they challenge you back, all hurt that you've slighted their skill at the wheel.

Lumen

Next time be more polite - address her as "poppet".

HivemindXX

The correct response is:

"Incredibly rude? Sorry you are incorrect. This is incredibly rude you dozy <beeping> <beep>. <Beeping> <beepers> like you give honest <beepers> a bad name. Now why don't you use <beep> off like a nice little <beep> before I force feed you the <beep> sandwich you deserve. " <muttered beeping> while you unzip and water the passenger side seat. *

* note this may actually get you beaten up / arrested.


Personally I usually save that sort of thing when some Hyacinth Bucket style person utters the phrase "I've never been so insulted in my life" after some mild rebuke. Obviously you change the start of the response to "Really? That's so hard to believe, what with you being such a <beep>. Well this will really be a shock then..." *

* actually I never do this, but I hope that someone somewhere has and the poor sheltered recipient of the rant is still sitting there with a shocked expression on their face years later. The closest I've come was when someone had "never been so insulted in their lives" when I pointed out that they were queuing at the 10 items or less register with a full trolly containing at least 50 items.

Haldir

monument

With close passes or people beeping I'm trying my best to not shout something like "****er" or "**** off", but it still happens too much.

Sadly I've kind of got worse at it, as drivers generally have gotten better, I now expect less things to happen. I'm mostly shocked that drivers still think they can beep cyclists out of it or disregard them one way or another.

While I'll defend my self coming out with such in the heat of the moment under pressure of a car a few inches way etc, I still don't like it, know its not good to be shouting and know it can just make things worse. I'm annoyed with my self for sometimes not being able to control it.

Waving is good is a good alternative, I have to remember to use it more. And I've used shaking my head for some time -- mostly towards other cyclists -- but must try to more towards misbehaving motorists too.

murph226

You should have hit her with the C word!

poolboy

murph226 wrote: »

You should have hit her with the C word!

CARazy?

langdang

poolboy wrote: »

CARazy?

Curvey I'd say - they love it when you call em that.. just as she rolls down the window say a sleazy "Hey Curvey" with a sly wink/eyebrow raise and run one hand one a lycra'd thigh. Then disappear before she really loses the plot...

fat bloke

I must remember that one - gesticulate that they've a tail light out or a flat tire or something. That's really good.

The gas thing about the OP's story is that the driver was genuinely oblivious that she had done anything untoward at all. That's the amazing thing.

I was down the pub with a couple of mates during the week and one of em mentioned that he had gotten a loan of a bike and started cycling. -That day like. So it was his first day on the bike. He did 3 miles or something and was well chuffed - you gotsta start somewhere eh?

But then he came out with the following, which I thought was.... apposite.

"...and the cycle lanes are sh1t!". He was genuinely incredulous.

I nodded sagely and silently.

He continued:

"Yeah, I mean when you're in the car, you're wondering why the fcuk don't they use the cycle lanes, but they really are sh1t!!"


<sigh>

One convert at a time. It's going to be a slow process . But I reckon as the Dublin bike scheme and the btw scheme and the can't-afford-the-fcuking-petrol-anymore scheme take hold and encourage people onto bikes there will be a gradual change in the vehicular zeitgeist.

Tau

doozerie wrote: »

On my commute this morning I stopped at a red light in the middle of my lane at a T-junction. I was turning right and stopped in the middle in the hope that my bike would trigger the traffic light sensor there as otherwise I'll never get green. Middle of the lane is the best bet anyway, of course, to avoid cars driving past and swinging left at the first hint of a green light. Anyway, I'd been there about 30 seconds when a car pulled up and basically positioned itself close to my back wheel and to the right of it as if she wanted to push past me. The traffic light was still red and as her right wheels were now over the centre line she made it awkward for traffic whose light was green to turn right onto the road we were on.

When we got a green light she tried to pull past me even as I was making the same right turn as her. While making the turn, I turned round, and shook my head at her. As a parent, I seem to now be endowed with the debilitating power of severe disapproval 'cos once we'd straightened out she pulled alongside me with her passenger window open and asked what I was shaking my head for. I told her she had been in the wrong at the junction. She continued to drive alongside me, pushing me towards the curb several times, as she argued that I was the one in the wrong. She refused to answer my repeated question of why she had stopped her car spanning the two traffic lanes, just bullishly insisted that I was in the wrong somehow or other.

A couple of hundred metres further along we ended up back at square one with her asking "what were you shaking your head for?", so I summed it up by saying it was because she was an idiot. I might just as well have spat in her face, apparently, as she lost the plot. There was a truck parked (illegally) in the cycle track up ahead and she deliberately stayed alongside me until she stopped her car inches from the back of the truck. I was penned in so had to stop. She yelled at me that calling her an idiot was "incredibly rude". Now, I am the parent of a toddler so I am no stranger to exasperation at times but my toddler has never even come close to inducing in me the kind of speechless incredulity that yer wan did. Apparently she can drive as she likes, with no regard for other road users, but by jaysus don't you dare be rude to her. I despair.

I would have been tempted to squirt her with my waterbottle.

How did this end? Did she eventually just drive off? I would have been reluctant to start cycling again in that situation - she might have just kept hassling you.

Keep_Her_Lit

As Haldir’s cartoon strip above says: "When people are confronted, they meet it with anger. But when you meet it with the unexpected, they are forced to think".

When out on the road, a surefire winner when subjected to the wrath of cranky wimmin is to dismount, clear one’s throat, go down on bended knee, fill your manly chest with God’s fresh air and launch into a fabulous serenade ….

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfpgE1EoOjs

[OK, so Renato doesn’t look like he’s just hopped off a bike … his suit is just a bit bulky, that’s all. He’s actually quite trim looking in lycra.]

doozerie

Tau wrote: »

How did this end? Did she eventually just drive off? I would have been reluctant to start cycling again in that situation - she might have just kept hassling you.

She drove off. I'd like to think she did so because she realised the stupidity of the situation and her own actions and was embarrassed enough to want to flee the scene, but I imagine she really just felt that she had given the rude cyclist a proper telling off and her work was done. 50 metres further on she got stopped at a red traffic light and I stopped beside her, the very same happened at two more sets of traffic lights. She stayed within the lines of here lane at those junctions though so maybe she learned something from the encounter after all!

It was all very bizarre which is why I didn't even note her license plate and report her to Trafficwatch. I should have administered a quick wedgie to her to discourage her from doing it again, 'twould have been in keeping with the whole surreal nature of the incident.

alphabeat

you defo should have waved it at her.

Cookie_Monster

fat bloke wrote: »

"...and the cycle lanes are sh1t!". He was genuinely incredulous.

I nodded sagely and silently.

He continued:

"Yeah, I mean when you're in the car, you're wondering why the fcuk don't they use the cycle lanes, but they really are sh1t!!"

maybe everybody should be made ride a bike around Dublin for one day, just to gain this understanding.

SerialComplaint

Take out your phone and take pictures of her (or even just pretend to take pictures of her) - it drives them really crazy.

maximoose

One convert at a time. It's going to be a slow process . But I reckon as the Dublin bike scheme and the btw scheme and the can't-afford-the-fcuking-petrol-anymore scheme take hold and encourage people onto bikes there will be a gradual change in the vehicular zeitgeist.

I think the Dublin Bike scheme is making the cars v cyclists problem worse.... It's opened the floodgates for a lot more "casual cyclists" who just use it for nipping around town or getting to and from work, who give absolutely f*ck all notice to the rules of the road and pedestrians and just pedal around thinking life is wonderful and they can do what they like.

mitresize5

My favourite one, and it only works for women in big cars of SUV's unfortunately, is to say

'Love, if you cant drive it then dont take it out'

in your most patronising tone

drives em mental

fireblade001

Would like to know, what type of car was said idiot, sorry, woman driving? What hair colour and age?
I'm taking bets on blonde, 30year old and BMW, Merc or 4x4 jukebox driver.

p15574

Similarish thing happened me the other day when, cycling down Tara St (4 lanes), with me in the right-hand lane as I was turning right when I crossed the Liffey - and that road is definitely NOT one you want to traverse in moving traffic. I had possession of the lane - just - by being about a foot inside the lane, but got honked out of it by a taxi driver behind me who then swerved around me, undertaking me and then moving back into my lane and speeding off. When I eventually caught up and (politely) asked him why he honked at me, he said it was because I "shouldn't have been cycling there". When I said I had as much right as him to be in that lane, he got quite angry and said that "cyclists have to stay in close to the kerb"...

I'm sure he also spent the day telling passengers about "bloody cyclists", even though he was the one in ignorance of the law.

Raam

p15574 wrote: »

...but got honked out of it by a taxi driver behind me...

His journey is more important than yours. You should know that.

SleepDoc

p15574 wrote: »

Similarish thing happened me the other day when, cycling down Tara St (4 lanes), with me in the right-hand lane as I was turning right when I crossed the Liffey - and that road is definitely NOT one you want to traverse in moving traffic. I had possession of the lane - just - by being about a foot inside the lane, but got honked out of it by a taxi driver behind me who then swerved around me, undertaking me and then moving back into my lane and speeding off. When I eventually caught up and (politely) asked him why he honked at me, he said it was because I "shouldn't have been cycling there". When I said I had as much right as him to be in that lane, he got quite angry and said that "cyclists have to stay in close to the kerb"...

I'm sure he also spent the day telling passengers about "bloody cyclists", even though he was the one in ignorance of the law.

Send an email to the taxi regulator. This is the reply I got to a complaint I made earlier.

Good morning Mr xxxx


I have unsuccessfully attempted to contact you on the mobile number provided. I have investigated your complaint submitted regarding an incident with a Small Public Service Vehicle on the x x 2010. Please be advised that the driver in question was formally interviewed and provided a statement under caution. The driver has been reminded of his duties and responsibilities as the operator of a Small Public Service Vehicle, specifically that he is required to behave in a civil, orderly and respectful manner. Your complaint against this driver will remain on file and the matter is now considered closed. Thank you for taking the time to contact the Commission, should you wish to discuss the matter further please do not hesitate to contact me.

Kind regards

Joe Kineen
Enforcement Officer
Commission for Taxi Regulation
35 Fitzwilliam Square
Dublin 2, Ireland