Traffic altercation - what would you do?

milltown

I had an incident yesterday morning with a guy in traffic. I'll try and set the scene. I'm in a queue of stationary traffic approaching a traffic light onto a dual carriageway. To the left there is a "road of lesser importance" I think the rules of the road call it, which has a yield sign, i.e. they must yield to traffic on the road I'm on. The light goes green and the car in front of me waves someone out from the "yield" road. I know these lights give a pretty short green and I'm already tight for time so I don't wave the van that is next in line on that road out. He decides to go anyway and nearly T-bones me, stopping at the last second. I beep the horn and wag the finger, then proceed to the red light, now third in line.

Next, the guy in the van drives onto an adjacent traffic island (painted, not concrete) and starts to mouth at me. Given that this guy has just nearly rammed me while breaking a yield sign and has now stopped on a traffic island so that I can see his fury, I decide to take a photo of his reg with my phone, and his employer's name and number, lest he continues to vent his rage. He then hops out of the van and comes over to my car shouting at me "do you want my phone number?". I say "no thanks, I have the numbers I need, in case you try to run me off the road again". He claims I was in the wrong and eventually heads back to his van.

At various times yesterday I thought about either going to the Gardaí to report him or just phoning his company to suggest they try to calm him down. Eventually I figured "no harm, no foul", people get stressed in traffic and there's no need for someone to get grief in work or from the Gards over it.

Then, this morning I was at the very same set of traffic lights, second from the front, when a van drives onto the traffic island to take up position one spot ahead of me in the queue. The lights went green just then so I honestly don't know whether it's just this clown's trick for beating the traffic but given his behaviour the previous day I'm more inclined to think he saw me up ahead and had to get in front of me again.

Would you report him? If so, to his company or to the Gardaí?

Seth Brundle

Report him for what? He may claim contrary to your view of event s and then proceed to say that you were using your phone whilst driving (which you were).
However, you should never 'provoke' someone. Wagging the finger could be the straw that pushes someone over the edge in a tense situation.
I often see drivers crossing traffic islands to make up a bit of time (most common for me is adjacent to the slip roads on the M50). However, I don't take it personally and I just relax in the knowledge that they will eventually get caught if they make a habit out of it.

colm_mcm

I'd ring his boss.

Wishbone Ash

I'd give the company a ring also. If he's self employed, it will probably not do much good though.

The Muppet

If eveyone else was allowing one car filter in I can understand the other drivers annoyances with the Op for not doing so. With the density of traffic at certain junctions you could sit there all day waiting for a break in traffic to get out. There is also a section in rules of the road about consideration for other road users. While technically the op was in the right on the first day IMO he inflamed the situation by his actions.

I would just let it die, it's not worth wasting your time on.

Fey!

If we were in Germany, the rules, IIRC, dictate that you let ever second car merge
ie, you let a car go, you go, car behind you lets a car go, he goes...

Or maybe this just applies to the Autobahn.

Milltown - you probable should have let him out out of politeness, but he shouldn't have tried bullying you, and should never have gotten out of his van. However, you shouldn't have been so condescending by wagging your finger at him.

Verdict - let sleeping dogs lie.

wyndham

milltown wrote:

I decide to take a photo of his reg with my phone

You inflamed the situation. Yeah, ring the guards and tell them that you wouldn't let him out and he got pissed off at that. Don't forget to mention that he offered you his phone number and was 'mouthing' at you. He should get a 12 month ban for the mouthing alone.

XJR

As he's done nothing illegal there's no point in going to the gardai. Give his employer a ring that might make a difference, I did this once before with great effect.

Anan1

I would have let hime merge in the first place. If everyone behaved like the OP in that heavy traffic, the van would have been there all day.

Wishbone Ash

XJR wrote:

he's done nothing illegal

I thought it was an offence to enter a traffic island?

Larry David

Wishbone Ash wrote:

I thought it was an offence to enter a traffic island?

And break a yield sign!

milltown

Having slept on it again, I'm letting it go.

For the record, the finger wagging thing wasn't a literal Mourinho-esque gesture, more a "what are you doing" gesture of incredulity.

Points I would have been reporting were breaking the yield sign, driving on the island and as far as I am concerned once he got out of the van he was showing undue aggression. Day two just confirmed what sort of a driver he is.

Anan1

milltown wrote:

Having slept on it again, I'm letting it go.

For the record, the finger wagging thing wasn't a literal Mourinho-esque gesture, more a "what are you doing" gesture of incredulity.

Points I would have been reporting were breaking the yield sign, driving on the island and as far as I am concerned once he got out of the van he was showing undue aggression. Day two just confirmed what sort of a driver he is.

I think you've made the right decision. The van was in the wrong, but, without justifying his actions, one can sympathise with his frustration. Hopefully he had a bit of a think about it afterwards too.

nialler

The general rule is as was stated above, let one car out, let the guy behind you let a car out, try go over the east link from 4.30 to 6.30 where the 2 lanes merge into one just before the bridge, most regular users understand the rules but you always get the twat who pushes and pushes and forces his/her way into line, personally I just wave at them and cross my hands to let them know the rules, same in ringsend thorncastle st to bridge st and fitzwilliam quay, people let me out from the thorncastle st junction I let people out from the fitzwilliam quay junction, I think it's just a done thing and allows most people to get on their way without undue delay.

irlirishkev

nialler wrote:

The general rule is as was stated above, let one car out, let the guy behind you let a car out, try go over the east link from 4.30 to 6.30 where the 2 lanes merge into one just before the bridge, most regular users understand the rules but you always get the twat who pushes and pushes and forces his/her way into line, personally I just wave at them and cross my hands to let them know the rules, same in ringsend thorncastle st to bridge st and fitzwilliam quay, people let me out from the thorncastle st junction I let people out from the fitzwilliam quay junction, I think it's just a done thing and allows most people to get on their way without undue delay.

Sorry to go off-topic briefly, but it's 3 lanes isn't it? I cycle thru that chaos every couple of days (which is a nightmare aswell, don't get me started)..

What are the 'rules' for drivers of the 3 lanes merging into 1?

K.

TheNog

I realise this post is very late and OP has probably made up his/her mind but u should've reported it to the guards. U should have went to the station and explain he got out of his car and was being very aggressive towards you and you felt fearful for ur safety. There is not much the guards could with ur word against his but they could warn him about his conduct and driving. The van driver could then realise he simply cannot act like a yob on our roads with impunity.

We cannot simply rely on the guards to police the roads but instead ordinary citizens can be a effective deterrent to ensure that "eyes are watching". Like using TrafficWatch (though it seems no one is answering the phone)

jayok

I am with TheNog here - just because you are in a car doesn't give anyone the right to threaten you. Courtesy is just that, courtesy. If you *dont* want to let someone into your line of traffic (assuming you have right of way you don't). Common sense should be applied, but just because you decided not to let him in, is no reason to fly off the handle.

For all the posts here, no-one actually said: Well the Van driver should have just let you go, as there's someone behind you who can let him in. Maybe you were having a stressed day. He is human, he may be stressed, but throwing abuse / threatening words / etc at you certainly doesn't help the situation.

Finally, consider this, we have all been in traffic where there is a good samarthan letting in traffic from every slip road along the way. Once or twice I don't mind, but sometime the slip-road turns into a "main route". What if someone behind you was equally frustrated?

At this stage I wouldn't go to the Gardai, but I would report it to his employer. Nothing snotty just a note from a Citizen. If the employer was to receive a number of such complaints, words might be had, things might change.