Near Misses Volume 2 (So close you can feel it)

yeah I know, but that unfortunately means people cycling in them need to get used to drivers getting used to them..

but of course as always - use the road by expecting the unexpected anyway..

I hate to say it - but everything after 18 seconds just didn't need to happen.

You aren't going to convince an ignorant gobshite that they are an ignorant gobshite.

.....

(however - there are times I would have absolutely followed them and I wouldn't have been as polite about it either.. - but doesn't mean it's a good idea..)

100% agree with that. And as I have got older I have definitely seen growth in this direction from myself, but still very much a work in progress. It's sometimes very much a "fight" reaction having been threatened, so there can be a fair bit of instinct to battle agains.

"Following someone to where they were parking would fall into that category for me, because if I was followed by someone I didn't know, I'd be preparing myself for it to become physical."

This all day every day.

What he did was careless and ignorant; you'll be a busy road user if you spend your time trying to correct all of those that you will encounter.

Before you follow anyone in again it might be worth keeping in mind that there is a very small percentage of people who would have reacted very badly to you approaching them twice, shouting at them with a flashing light near eye height.

Swearing, shouting and following someone into a car park would be behaviours I'd avoid unless I was looking for an escalation; you never know who that other person is or what they are capable of.

I agree with a lot of your posts AJR - but (as we have found before!) we have to agree to disagree here.. because we always fundamentally disagree on these matters.

(Although reading between the lines I probably don't train dogs the same way as you do either.. :D)

You (any of us) are not responsible for policing. Two wrongs don't make a right. Arguing with people achieves little (often just makes things worse by enforcing us vs them stereotypes).

I mean - look at Seths example - who won there? No one. Seth got a sore foot for his troubles and the "driver" just doubled down on his attitude (and I would say very unlikely to change behaviour in a positive way. I would even assume that he will absolutely make sure to not respect the next cyclist he comes across).

yeah - and thats why I say we park it there - I take your point. There is a greater than zero chance they will reflect on their behaviour. I agree with this part, but I think more likely to behave worse in the future...

It's something Id love to be able to work out how to conduct a study on tbh as the question has came up before a good few times on these forums.

I keep saying it here, but the vast majority of drivers would probably be surprised if you stopped them and said they were too close.

If they didn't hit you, they were far enough away, like any inanimate object they might drive past or around.

On top of that, having a random stranger explain to them that they did somthing wrong, and what that was, is not going to engender some sort of come to God moment about cyclist safety. Most people just get defensive.

"Teaching" them by deliberately delaying them, or whatever other tactic? I can't see how anyone thinks that might make people be more considerate.

People are automatically on the defensive if people challenge them about something, particularly if they are unaware they were in the wrong in the first place.