Road rage against cyclists is it just me?

I'm a service engineer so more or less drive for a living covering 4-6000 km a month and cycle when I can (injured) and can also see both sides.

From cyclists point of view cycling close to gutter /ditch just isn't an option in this country with state of our roads. Drivers just need to CTFO and have a bit of patience, in the bigger scheme of things being behind a cyclists for 1-2 or even five minutes will not slow you down that much.

From drivers point of view cyclists can't under any circumstances jump lights or cut corners descending hills . Every time I drive Connor pass or Healy pass in summer I come close to installing a cyclist on my bonnet as a trophy when some looper thinks he is descending a stage on tdf on a closed road. Jumping lights is crazy and needs no explaining

Drivers need to slow down and just to be seen I think it's no harm when cycling to have our rear lights flashing on our bike and another attached to back of helmet , anything to make us more visible.

Something I've noticed over the years was that IMO Cork city drivers are more patient when it comes to cyclists than Waterford or my own limerick

I had a few silly ones in the past few days - always a bit curious if I get a few in a row (as in did I do somethgin wrong or was I just in a bad mood). But on mature reflection I've decided they were down to carelessness/attempted bullying by drivers.

#1 - in the centre of the left lane on Alfie Byrne road heading towards East Wall road about 80m from the green lights with a car about 20m ahead of me. First car passes me on the right and gap decreases to about 15m (we're all moving at the same speed in the left lane). 2nd car moves in and gap is 7m (ok so far - proper passes etc). Third car attempts to follow suit. No room but gently eases across me to the point where 2/3 of the is ahead of me and the rear passenger left door is getting closer and closer. I let a roar (just a loud hey") and bang the door (gently enough but loud enough to be heard). Driver backs off - not sure if they were annoyed, emabarrassed or what but at least I got their attention.

#2 Shortly thereafter in the right hand lane about 150m short of East Road with cars waiting at the top of the lane to make the right turn, another car starts moving across into my lane with me adjacent to the drivers side door. I shout "don't". They keep coming - a louder "Don't" and they back off and move in behind me. About 100m after the turn I hear a "How dare you etc" from the irate driver as they pass me (plenty of room to spare it has to be said). Couldn't catch them to explain the isssue.

#3 was a simple left hook the day before. Driver a bit confused as to what they had done wrong.

The problem was If I hadn't been paying attention in all three cases, I'd have ended up on my a$$ on the road. What annoyed me (not much tbh, I'm used to it) is that I'm convinced that #1 and #2 knew I was there and decided to attempt the move anyway. #3 seemd to misjudge the space. It took the bang on the car/shout to get them to stop.