Buffalo & Doozerie - The mild musings of two grumpy old men!

CramCycle

Aiming to turn right coming upto a junction on the road (right turn lane). I was at the rear of a small Fiesta. As I pootled along, keeping back enough in case they suddenly stopped or swerved, I became aware of the inconsistency of their speed and keeping up with traffic. Immediate suspicion of a phone in hand was validated when the right turn light went red and I overtook the car on the left to get into the advance bike section. Low and behold, not only was the driver facebooking away, their baby girl was in the back seat, awaiting their impending rear ending of a vehicle somewhere along the journey.

We were not in slow moving traffic, nor on a quiet road but alas, FB cannot wait. I politely gave a little shout and the window was rolled down. I pointed out, very politely, that she had a child in the back, might want to consider hanging up the phone. Maybe my friends are wired differently. I am sure some of them behave like this driver but most would be so ashamed once the child was brought up they would either go schtum or look ashamed.

Not this driver, in fact, around the corner (I turn immediately left after going right), she swung in to make sure I heard her telling me to F##K OFF.

Weepsie

She probably hopes someone will rear end the car and get her a bit of compo. Its shameful to be how careless are to other people. If she wants to crash fine, but the kid didn't ask for its parent to be a moron.

My mild musing is to the pedestrian in whitworth road who though looking straight at me decided he'd gamble and cross the road. He couldn't even see what was coming the other way. I broke on time to avoid him, but it was very close to a collision.

Chuchote

CramCycle wrote: »

Aiming to turn right coming up to a junction on the road (right turn lane). I was at the rear of a small Fiesta… not only was the driver facebooking away, their baby girl was in the back seat, awaiting their impending rear ending of a vehicle somewhere along the journey.

We were not in slow moving traffic, nor on a quiet road…

Not this driver, in fact, around the corner (I turn immediately left after going right), she swung in to make sure I heard her telling me to F##K OFF.

A lovely example for her child. The Irish Mammy at her best.

Alek

I came across a special breed of a fellow cyclist today. Full gear, red carbon Spesh, bidon in the rear pocket.

I have noticed from a distance that his bike is swinging left and right while going along a straight road, like he was climbing off saddle. His hips were also rocking more than Lemmy in his best years.

I caught him at the lights and asked: if you don't mind, are you comfortable with this saddle position? It seems way too high....

- I'm fine!

At this stage he was ready to roll through the red light. I was stopped. Toot! - we heard from an impatient motorist behind.

- WHY DON'T YOU RELAX A BIT FOR THE FCUK SAKE!!! - he roared and then turned to me - Aaaahh, women drivers! They always...

- Men are no better... I said a bit shyly, not wanting to unleash his inner demon with my usual reply to this misogynistic BS. But the light turned green and he was already in the front.

With a prospect of observing the not-so-teasing moves of his derrière, I decided to overtake.

I could hear he sped up. So did I.

As the next lights were turning red I slowed and he suddenly swooshed by me, almost getting under a car on the right. Another TOOT!!!, much more assertive as well as deserved.

- WHAT THE FCUK DO YOU WANT, I HAVE RIGHT TO USE THE ROAD, YA FCUKING BWAHA MRAWHADWAFUKAEEEJEEET!!!!!!!! - erupted from his mouth with appropriate amount of saliva, straight into the car's side window.

I watched this in awe and with ice cold feeling that I am not innocent of road rage myself. It was like a distorted mirror of a few incidents I had with taxis, yet his asshat mastery was at another level, and attack was brutal and instant.

Unrecognizable stream of filth continued to flow for a while, accompanied by almost Italian body language.

Finally lights have changed again and I put the foot down to escape any possibility of him trying to find an ally in me.

He continued to break reds and I kept overtaking him on my steel touring bike with panniers, bar bag; jeans, hoodie and all.

I've heard him panting behind me and couldn't help feeling a bit of satisfaction visualizing his hips finally giving up, legs falling away on both sides, still clipped, and the look on his face when trying to figure out how to stop without falling over now.

Weepsie

I might have had Alek's fellow road user today, but for the bike and dress. However, it was the weirdest and quickest case of road rage and anger I have ever witnessed.

I was stopped at the head of a queue at a red light in Drumcondra (near the Skylon). Semi clipped in, one foot waiting to push off.

Light still red and one guy goes on through. Still red, another guy follows and comes very close to me as I'm clipping in and balancing myself.

I give a semi audible, but under the breathe "F*c sake". As much to myself as anything as i deemed it careless by both.

First guy then slowed down to a saunter, second guy kept trying to pass, and I was in behind both of them. First guy was getting agitated and looking around, I shook my head nearly involuntarily, but they were both being eejits. Second guy passed first guy. and I went to overtake him too. At this point he flipped.

"Are you shaking your head at me!!???!!" he said at least twice. I just said he broke the light back there and went on my way. He decided to speed up and cycle beside me, pointing and spitting and giving out "So what", "What's it to you" "pr!ck". He was also a bit all over the path and on footpath at this stage.

He ducked ahead of me, and then cycled on. Slowed down to give me another earful. "Are you the police of the road?" "Is it your job?" - I said it's my job to make sure I get home safely. He said, I'm hardly going to stop and when I can save two seconds (which is moronic as he slowed down immediately after ploughing through).

More insults came forth. He then started purposely wobbling his bike in front or beside me. I said my goodbyes and picked up my pace. I had to slow to overtake some cyclists spread across the path. He busted a gut to follow me it seems and then was even more erractic in front of me. He very nearly clipped his back wheel off my front wheel but I was attentive enough to him. Had I wanted, I could've knocked him off his bike into the wall beside him but I carried on.

Coming up to a junction with a red light ahead and a bus stop. "Ladies first he said". I pointed out there was in fact a light he might want to break, which I admit was a bit passive aggressive and very smart arsed. He called me a pr!ck again. It's lucky for him he didn't go for the light, as he would've been under the wheel of a bus.

I take that route regularly. I imagine I'll see him again.

He is either having a very, very bad day, or something in his life his stressful right now. That's what I tend to think these days if I get a reaction like that. If not, he is the biggest arsehole I've had the displeasure of meeting on the road as he wanted me to do something. He was looking for an excuse to throw a dig.. I'm slowly learning to be a bit more Zen with people as they don't like when you don't react.

mjsc1970

Weepsie wrote: »

I might have had Alek's fellow road user today, but for the bike and dress. However, it was the weirdest and quickest case of road rage and anger I have ever witnessed.

I was stopped at the head of a queue at a red light in Drumcondra (near the Skylon). Semi clipped in, one foot waiting to push off.

Light still red and one guy goes on through. Still red, another guy follows and comes very close to me as I'm clipping in and balancing myself.

I give a semi audible, but under the breathe "F*c sake". As much to myself as anything as i deemed it careless by both.

First guy then slowed down to a saunter, second guy kept trying to pass, and I was in behind both of them. First guy was getting agitated and looking around, I shook my head nearly involuntarily, but they were both being eejits. Second guy passed first guy. and I went to overtake him too. At this point he flipped.

"Are you shaking your head at me!!???!!" he said at least twice. I just said he broke the light back there and went on my way. He decided to speed up and cycle beside me, pointing and spitting and giving out "So what", "What's it to you" "pr!ck". He was also a bit all over the path and on footpath at this stage.

He ducked ahead of me, and then cycled on. Slowed down to give me another earful. "Are you the police of the road?" "Is it your job?" - I said it's my job to make sure I get home safely. He said, I'm hardly going to stop and when I can save two seconds (which is moronic as he slowed down immediately after ploughing through).

More insults came forth. He then started purposely wobbling his bike in front or beside me. I said my goodbyes and picked up my pace. I had to slow to overtake some cyclists spread across the path. He busted a gut to follow me it seems and then was even more erractic in front of me. He very nearly clipped his back wheel off my front wheel but I was attentive enough to him. Had I wanted, I could've knocked him off his bike into the wall beside him but I carried on.

Coming up to a junction with a red light ahead and a bus stop. "Ladies first he said". I pointed out there was in fact a light he might want to break, which I admit was a bit passive aggressive and very smart arsed. He called me a pr!ck again. It's lucky for him he didn't go for the light, as he would've been under the wheel of a bus.

I take that route regularly. I imagine I'll see him again.

He is either having a very, very bad day, or something in his life his stressful right now. That's what I tend to think these days if I get a reaction like that. If not, he is the biggest arsehole I've had the displeasure of meeting on the road as he wanted me to do something. He was looking for an excuse to throw a dig.. I'm slowly learning to be a bit more Zen with people as they don't like when you don't react.

Jeez, life is way too short for all that nonsense isn't it. I mostly commute by motorbike, sometimes by bicycle. Like you I just wanna get to work/home in one piece, stress free.

doozerie

There are days when it seems like the world's arseholes choose you to unleash their nastiness upon entirely because you ride a bike. I try to remember that their motivation for picking on a cyclist really has little to do with the bike and more to do with their own issues. It's a struggle to maintain that perspective at times however.

Occasionally though you are reminded that arseholes are not selective at all. That they are arseholes through and through and that they are angry with the entire world, not just with cyclists. It's strangely reassuring.

So I should perhaps be grateful to the driver of the Mini a few weeks back, he reassured me greatly. I was driving my own car at the time, it's disappointingly not bicycle shaped so I couldn't have been mistaken for a cyclist. I approached 2 cyclists ahead. I know the road well, the climb is deceptively taxing, it's a relatively narrow road with blind bends near the top. Lot of very good reasons for me to slow behind the cyclists and match their pace for the mere couple of hundred metres before the road opens out after the top of the climb.

While trying to ogle their bikes I noticed a Mini approaching fast from behind. I dabbed the brake pedal so that my brake lights would remind him of why he should really slow down pretty soon. When he finally and suddenly slowed to my speed he was less than a car length behind me. I glanced in the rear view mirror to see him throwing both hands in the air. Not like he "just didn't care", more like he cared a lot, he cared enough that we wanted to care my car right off the road.

I laughed. His actions were more pathetic than funny really, but laughing seemed like the thing to do. He gunned his car even closer to mine. I'm not precious about my car but I also don't want to be rammed, but there's not a lot you can do in that situation. The only option was to maintain my current slow speed, obviously speeding up and driving through the cyclists or overtaking them and possibly hitting an oncoming car on the blind bend ahead weren't valid options. I was comforted though by the fact that his Mini versus my Octavia didn't seem like an evenly matched fight, plus he'd find it hard to explain to his insurance company how he was in the right if he rear-ended me.

So I held my speed steady. He glared at me. I pointed at the cyclists ahead. He didn't deserve an explanation, his antics were inexcusable whatever the circumstances, but I was giving him an excuse to pull back in the horns he had sprouted. He just flared his nostrils and gunned his engine again and closed to within a metre of my bumper.

I don't like bullies, the temptation was to stop the car and walk back and ask him what exactly he was trying to do. But that is a terrible idea for a whole bunch of reasons. Far better to potter along at my current speed and watch him implode in my rear view mirror. Which he kindly did.

He backed off by a couple of car lengths and then accelerated up to my bumper again. He did this a couple more times, throwing both arms in the air in between times. It was quite the performance, very polished, tantrums clearly are not new to him. This continued down the other side of the hill, as there still wasn't room to safely overtake.

By the time he swung an angry right off the road behind me we'd covered about 500m at most. The overall delay he experienced couldn't have amounted to anything more than a few tens of seconds. Yet, he angrily mimed a life that was ruined. Utterly. Ruined. And several times too, within that short period. It was an impressively comprehensive mental collapse, Reader's Digest style.

But to that driver I have to say thank you. Thank you for reminding me that people like you don't pick on others just because they are cyclists, you pick on them because you are a tosspot to the core and you consider absolutely everyone to be a valid target of your petulance. Thank you for reminding me that the problem is not us, it's you, all you.

CramCycle

doozerie wrote: »

I don't like bullies, the temptation was to stop the car and walk back and ask him what exactly he was trying to do. But that is a terrible idea for a whole bunch of reasons. Far better to potter along at my current speed and watch him implode in my rear view mirror. Which he kindly did.

I feel like this on occasion, and thankfully follow your lead with the, what a terrible idea rationale. The thing is though, one day, if this driver keeps it up, he will meet someone who will stop. They will get out. They will go to explain their feelings. One day though, one of these drivers will find that the person does not use words or grand hand gestures, but more physical means.

I am not sure the point of my story, except for highlighting more stupidity by the mini man.

magicbastarder

doozerie wrote: »

I also don't want to be rammed, but there's not a lot you can do in that situation. The only option was to maintain my current slow speed, obviously speeding up and driving through the cyclists or overtaking them and possibly hitting an oncoming car on the blind bend ahead weren't valid options.

reminds me of when i was driving from the N11 to enniskerry once - a windy quite narrow road if you don't know it - and it was dark; and someone plonked themselves less than a car length behind me when i was doing what i considered a reasonable speed in the conditions for such a road (can't remember now, let's say it was less than 50km/h). given that i had a car so close behind me - dangerous in itself - i slowed to account for the fact, and the slower i got, the closer he got. it became a fascinating psychological experiment; he clearly did not realise that the closer he got, the slower i drove, but he was not confident enough to overtake.
oh, to be young and relatively foolish again. but when someone is driving so close to you, that you cannot actually see their headlights in the mirrors, what are you going to do?

Leroy42

Weepsie wrote: »

Light still red and one guy goes on through. Still red, another guy follows and comes very close to me as I'm clipping in and balancing myself.

I give a semi audible, but under the breathe "F*c sake". As much to myself as anything as i deemed it careless by both.


"Are you shaking your head at me!!???!!" he said at least twice. I just said he broke the light back there and went on my way. He decided to speed up and cycle beside me, pointing and spitting and giving out "So what", "What's it to you" "pr!ck". He was also a bit all over the path and on footpath at this stage.

But really what business is it of yours? So the guy wants to break a light, let him. And if you are going to go around deciding that you are going to pass judgement on people then at least do it properly not muttering under your breath your displeasure and disdain.

Sure the guy over reacted but if you are going to carry on like some sort of head teacher and scold the bold kids then you are going to come across that.

magicbastarder wrote: »

given that i had a car so close behind me - dangerous in itself - i slowed to account for the fact, and the slower i got, the closer he got. it became a fascinating psychological experiment; he clearly did not realise that the closer he got, the slower i drove, but he was not confident enough to overtake.

Or to put it another way, you felt that the guy was too close so to teach him a lesson you slowed right down to p1ss him off. Maybe you should concentrate on your own driving instead of actively seeking to disrupt others and then laugh about it afterwards.

Guys seriously, then is a line between being assertive of your rights and actively seeking to annoy others. If someone causes, or is likely to cause, danger to yourself then by all means say something or try to help avoid the situation but both these cases, especially the second, are actively making the situation worse

magicbastarder

Leroy42 wrote: »

Or to put it another way, you felt that the guy was too close so to teach him a lesson you slowed right down to p1ss him off. Maybe you should concentrate on your own driving instead of actively seeking to disrupt others and then laugh about it afterwards.

yeah, of course i was aware it was going to piss him off.
what are you supposed to do if someone is driving less than a car length behind you on an unlit twisty road, where speeding up and driving off is not a sane option? you realise how intimidating that scenario is?
i hadn't been driving that long, so it was certainly a new experience for me.

odyssey06

Leroy42 wrote: »

Or to put it another way, you felt that the guy was too close so to teach him a lesson you slowed right down to p1ss him off. Maybe you should concentrate on your own driving instead of actively seeking to disrupt others and then laugh about it afterwards.
Guys seriously, then is a line between being assertive of your rights and actively seeking to annoy others. If someone causes, or is likely to cause, danger to yourself then by all means say something or try to help avoid the situation but both these cases, especially the second, are actively making the situation worse

I think in this instance, slowing down was the proper course of action to take... if the guy behind won't drive at the proper braking distance, drive at the speed for which that distance is the proper braking distance.

Dermot Illogical

If someone brushes past while you're balancing at a light they want to break, then it becomes your business. But I agree it's wrong to mutter about it. Clearly audible abuse is best, as long as you're bigger and/or faster than him.

Leroy42 wrote: »

But really what business is it of yours? So the guy wants to break a light, let him. And if you are going to go around deciding that you are going to pass judgement on people then at least do it properly not muttering under your breath your displeasure and disdain.

Sure the guy over reacted but if you are going to carry on like some sort of head teacher and scold the bold kids then you are going to come across that.

Dermot Illogical

odyssey06 wrote: »

I think in this instance, slowing down was the proper course of action to take... if the guy behind won't drive at the proper braking distance, drive at the speed for which that distance is the proper braking distance.

The motivation may have been a bit off, but you definitely don't want a lot of speed on those bendy roads when some knob is tailgating you.

doozerie

Leroy42 wrote: »

Sure the guy over reacted but if you are going to carry on like some sort of head teacher and scold the bold kids then you are going to come across that.

This seems to crop up a lot when it comes to calling attention to crazy antics on a bike, the people who do so often get labelled as misguided wannabe parents/teachers/police/etc. Whether by intention or not that attitude essentially downplays the personal responsibility of the person on the bike that is behaving irresponsibly. By portraying the person complaining as nothing more than some kind of moaning minny it effectively categorises the person on the bike as no more of a concern than a misbehaving child. Sure, the antics of the latter are childish, but that's just one aspect of it, their behaviour is actually a lot more serious and concerning than that.

If I tell someone that I saw a motorist driving through a red light they would generally tut and agree that such behaviour is irresponsible and unacceptable. If I tell someone that I saw a cyclist running a red light quite a few would shrug their shoulders and wonder why I care. If I provided some context such as the cyclist almost colliding with a small child in the process, or similar, that brings out the disapproval but the default attitude of many people is simply "sure, what harm?". Many people go further and respond with "sure, what's wrong with you, what they do has nothing to do with you and no-one got hurt".

I don't get that. What other people on the road do *does* have something to do with me. It is relevant to every other road user. We seem conditioned to delude ourselves that someone that routinely ignores the rules of the road on a bike is harmless. Here is a challenge for anyone that considers such behaviour as harmless though, stand in front of such a person and see how harmless they feel to you as they approach on their bike - if your natural inclination is to avoid the collision then clearly you don't really believe they are harmless.

Even if you refuse to believe that a cyclist poses danger to others, how do you think such people will behave if and when they sit behind the wheel of a car? Do you really believe that they have some kind of switch which they flick to "Obnoxious" when on a bike but which they can easily set to "Considerate" when driving?

If we choose to ignore their behaviour on a bike we essentially feed their entirely self-serving attitude that their behaviour and attitude towards people they share the roads with is acceptable. If we don't believe such behaviour is acceptable then what should we do? Should we remain silent and expect others to somehow influence the behaviour of such people, or should we make an effort ourselves to try to influence their behaviour for the better?

Everyone will make their own choice there, personally I vote for the latter. It doesn't mean that I'll say something to everyone I see act like a muppet. Sometimes that's clearly not the best course of action, but it means I'm willing to say something when I believe the situation warrants it. Does that make me some sort of head teacher? I don't care, to be honest.

BoardsMember

doozerie wrote: »

Whether by intention or not that attitude essentially downplays the personal responsibility of the person on the bike that is behaving irresponsibly. By portraying the person complaining as nothing more than some kind of moaning minny it effectively categorises the person on the bike as no more of a concern than a misbehaving child.

I don't believe that's the case at all.

I think Leroy's opinion about the "head teacher" is wrong: some might applaud a person ticking someone off, like you would for instance, as would I. Others, like Leroy, might see it as meddling, which personally I don't understand.

Either way, I don't see how it follows that it downplays the transgression, from whichever standpoint you are coming from.

The fact that, for example, I might get involved in stopping or commenting on someone breaking a red light, when someone else seeing the same thing ignores or does not get involved, says more about the relative personalities of the people, rather than how those people judge the actual transgression.

And I don't think it follows that, by not commenting/getting involved, one is somehow complicit in encouraging bad behaviour. I think that is ludicrous, to be honest.

Weepsie

Leroy42 wrote: »

But really what business is it of yours? So the guy wants to break a light, let him. And if you are going to go around deciding that you are going to pass judgement on people then at least do it properly not muttering under your breath your displeasure and disdain.

Sure the guy over reacted but if you are going to carry on like some sort of head teacher and scold the bold kids then you are going to come across that.

In breaking the light, the other guy very nearly hit me when I was waiting. I had been shaking my head in disbelief at his increasing annoyance at the one guy. I do that sometimes, it's nearly automatic and it was a matter of 1-15 seconds between it.

Carry on like a head teacher? Pot, kettle and black are springing straight to mind if you want to start lecturing on the rights and wrongs of criticising people.

My behaviour is not the reason that guy was an a$$hole. He will cause someone an accident, or he will assault someone.

Chuchote

Weepsie wrote: »

My behaviour is not the reason that guy was an a$$hole. He will cause someone an accident, or he will assault someone.

What is the best way to calm someone who's in a rage?

Weepsie

Chuchote wrote: »

What is the best way to calm someone who's in a rage?

Probably to ignore them and let them tire out, but he when he started putting my safety at risk that became hard to do.

robyntmorton

Magic, I know the exact road you're referring to, commonly called the 20 bends. I am a relatively confident driver, and I wouldn't want to overtake around there if it can be avoided. That said, I wouldn't try to bully someone into speeding up too. Really you did what you needed to do in holding your line and a speed that you were comfortable with. Experimenting on them is not necessarily the best option, but they would still have been at fault for hitting you.

magicbastarder

robyntmorton wrote: »

Experimenting on them is not necessarily the best option, but they would still have been at fault for hitting you.

i should point out that 'experimenting' was not my primary reason for slowing down, that comment was meant to be mainly light-hearted; the primary reason to slow down was '****, if there's a pedestrian on the road and i have to brake, the guy behind me won't have time to brake'.


it is the one thing i'd like most in a car - an ability to clearly signal someone behind that they're too close. i had it again recently on the old N2, on the 60km/h section, which most people exceed - i was doing 60, and a car again sat on my rear bumper; probably between one and two car lengths behind me.

Chuchote

magicbastarder wrote: »

it is the one thing i'd like most in a car - an ability to clearly signal someone behind that they're too close. i had it again recently on the old N2, on the 60km/h section, which most people exceed - i was doing 60, and a car again sat on my rear bumper; probably between one and two car lengths behind me.

I'd guess that a lot of Irish drivers are not aware of the correct distance to leave between you and the car in front; an American friend told me that over there the guideline is (something like) two of your own car's lengths between you and the car in front in normal zipping-along traffic, more in the wet or if you're going fast.

robyntmorton

magicbastarder wrote: »

i should point out that 'experimenting' was not my primary reason for slowing down, that comment was meant to be mainly light-hearted; the primary reason to slow down was '****, if there's a pedestrian on the road and i have to brake, the guy behind me won't have time to brake'.


it is the one thing i'd like most in a car - an ability to clearly signal someone behind that they're too close. i had it again recently on the old N2, on the 60km/h section, which most people exceed - i was doing 60, and a car again sat on my rear bumper; probably between one and two car lengths behind me.

I completely appreciate that. I'd ease up a little too, and flash the hazards a couple of times if I really need to point out how close someone is.

Leroy42

Weepsie wrote: »

In breaking the light, the other guy very nearly hit me when I was waiting. I had been shaking my head in disbelief at his increasing annoyance at the one guy. I do that sometimes, it's nearly automatic and it was a matter of 1-15 seconds between it.

Carry on like a head teacher? Pot, kettle and black are springing straight to mind if you want to start lecturing on the rights and wrongs of criticising people.

My behaviour is not the reason that guy was an a$$hole. He will cause someone an accident, or he will assault someone.

I don't have an issue with you calling the guy out, I don't have an issue with safety, I have no gra for cyclists breaking the lights.

Your issue was not the just guy breaking the lights. Your issue was the way he reacted after you reacted to him. You muttered under your breath (although obviously loud enough for him to hear) and he took exception to that and then you started "racing" him.

And why are you balancing at the lights. Stop and put your foot down like you are supposed to. He obviously assumed you were going to stay in one place not move about, and he passed too close.

So enough with the pot, kettle etc. He didn't handle it well, but either did you. Don't come on here acting like you had nothing to do with the escalation of the event.

On the driver, come on! He slowed down to piss the other guy off. Simple as. "I was worried about hitting a pedestrian" etc. So why were you going too fast in the 1st place.

I have no issue with any of the actions taken, but don't pretend they are anything other than what they are.

cjt156

Leroy42 wrote: »

And why are you balancing at the lights. Stop and put your foot down like you are supposed to.

Leroy42 wrote: »

But really what business is it of yours?

Leroy42 wrote:

So enough with the pot, kettle etc.

I'll just leave this here...

Weepsie

Foot was down, ready to push off (as I wrote) I was prepaug for clipping in and balancing myself in the process.

I never said I raced him. I overtook him when the chance allowed. He kept racing up to me and acting erratically. I calmly pointed out what he did when he flipped out. Calmly told him I just wanted to get home.

My smart arse comment at the end was not helpful and probably sent him into a rage spiral.

If hate to see how he'd react if I did properly call him out as he went past but as I said, it was two at first.

Again the irony of lecturing someone for not minding their business is not lost here

doozerie

BoardsMember wrote:

And I don't think it follows that, by not commenting/getting involved, one is somehow complicit in encouraging bad behaviour. I think that is ludicrous, to be honest.”

I didn’t say that. I was taking issue with someone criticising someone else for commenting/getting involved.

Depending on circumstances such criticism can be justified of course, but more often I find that the effect is to essentially deem the original behaviour in question as somehow acceptable.

doozerie

Leroy42 wrote:

And why are you balancing at the lights. Stop and put your foot down like you are supposed to.

Ah heyor. I’m stopping and putting my foot down to this suggestion.

CramCycle

Chuchote wrote: »

I'd guess that a lot of Irish drivers are not aware of the correct distance to leave between you and the car in front; an American friend told me that over there the guideline is (something like) two of your own car's lengths between you and the car in front in normal zipping-along traffic, more in the wet or if you're going fast.

There was an advertising campaign for years of at least two seconds. Pick a point you and the car in front are passing. Start counting slowly when they pass. You should have at least completes two seconds. Therefore in rush hour, you can be bumper to bumper but on a motorway you leave quite a distance.

doozerie wrote: »

Ah heyor. I’m stopping and putting my foot down to this suggestion.

I remember hearing years ago that it was a requirement for motorbikers, so you would see the garda MB Jockeys (not traffic corp) tap their foot off the ground at lights when stopped. They are more than capable of balancing without doing so but just to make sure they had done everything right. No proof whatsoever, whether it is a legality or just good practice or simply made up.

cdaly_

I presume it would matter more to a motorcyclist as, once the motorbike starts to fall, it would need a lot more force to stop the fall than it would need for a bicycle.