Road rage incident & lessons learned

On my usual commute there is a badly designed junction which has no bike
box. Poor really as it is brand new.

I followed my normal practice of going over the stop line protected by an
extended kerb / refuge & watching the pedestrian crossings. As I did so I
heard a toot of a horn from behind. I guessed it was from the 38 tonner I
was so keen to avoid & waved back with an open hand.

200m down the road the same Norbert Dresangle comes ploughing past &
although he pulls out at the front cuts back in so I am less than an arm
span away at the back, very scary.

I shout that he should give me more 'kin room & I think (its all a bit of an
adrenal blur) offer a hand gesture.

Lesson one, try not to swear & gesticulate in an offensive manner.

I am surprised when I hear shouts back as it is French Registered & LHD. I
would expect more respect from a French driver but he is not.

He stops 50m further on as do I.

Lesson two, don't stop. Who knows what type of psycho he could be? Peter
Sutcliffe was a lorry driver.

He is out of the cab & effing & blinding. He tells me that I should have
stopped & the line & I answer back. Somewhere along the line he call me a
cnut & threatens violence. Laughable he tells me to read the highway code &
only later realise I could have told him to read the sections of use of the
horn & room for cyclists.

I am bigger than him, fitter & wearing a helmet. But I am already late for
work & have not punched anyone since I left school. He calls me a ****** &
I tell him to look in the mirror if he wants to see one.

I ride off into heavy traffic so there is no way he could catch up.

Third & most important lesson. I should have got his registration to
complain to the company. He got away with it & because I wasn't calm enough
he may even think he's right.

Be safe out there.


--
Andrew

andrew wrote:
On my usual commute there is a badly designed junction which has no bike
box. Poor really as it is brand new.

I followed my normal practice of going over the stop line protected by an
extended kerb / refuge & watching the pedestrian crossings. As I did so I
heard a toot of a horn from behind. I guessed it was from the 38 tonner I
was so keen to avoid & waved back with an open hand.

200m down the road the same Norbert Dresangle comes ploughing past &
although he pulls out at the front cuts back in so I am less than an arm
span away at the back, very scary.

That's nothing...an overtaking HGV actually brushed my arm once. Mental
note to self: practise those sideways jumps up onto the pavement for
emergencies such as this.

Oh...and you're right - NEVER stop.

On Mon, 26 Apr 2004 21:20:41 +0100, "andrew"
wrote:

On my usual commute there is a badly designed junction which has no bike
box. Poor really as it is brand new.

I followed my normal practice of going over the stop line protected by an
extended kerb / refuge & watching the pedestrian crossings. As I did so I
heard a toot of a horn from behind. I guessed it was from the 38 tonner I
was so keen to avoid & waved back with an open hand.

200m down the road the same Norbert Dresangle comes ploughing past &
although he pulls out at the front cuts back in so I am less than an arm
span away at the back, very scary.

snip

More info please. Was the lorry at the lights when you got there or
did he arrive after you?


Tim

"Tim Hall" wrote in message
...

More info please. Was the lorry at the lights when you got there or
did he arrive after you?

I suspect that the OP probably arrived after the lorry and squeezed past
hoping for a "bike box". Unless the traffic is jammed up immediately
*after* the lights there would seem little gain to be made by squeezing to
the front of the queue as you simply get a silly "leapfrogging" situation.
The fact that the lorry caught up with the OP after only 200 yards means the
road must have been free flowing after the lights so he would have been
better off just waiting in line with other traffic.

andrew wrote:
On my usual commute there is a badly designed junction which has no
bike box. Poor really as it is brand new.

I followed my normal practice of going over the stop line protected
by an extended kerb / refuge & watching the pedestrian crossings.

Why? I've never found setting off from traffic lights particularly
problematic.

"Adrian Boliston" wrote in message
...
"Tim Hall" wrote in message
...

More info please. Was the lorry at the lights when you got there or
did he arrive after you?

I suspect that the OP probably arrived after the lorry and squeezed past
hoping for a "bike box".

Which is never a good idea if the lorry is at the stop line or maybe only a
vehicle behind. They have all kinds of blind spots and should the lights
change whilst a cyclist is halfway along the trucks length the cyclist is in
a very precarious position, especially if the truck driver has unusally
forgotton to signal before making a left turn (assuming bike squeezing down
the gutter), squelch comes to mind.

--
Regards,
Pete

Peter B wrote:

I suspect that the OP probably arrived after the lorry and squeezed past
hoping for a "bike box".

Which is never a good idea if the lorry is at the stop line or maybe only a
vehicle behind. They have all kinds of blind spots and should the lights
change whilst a cyclist is halfway along the trucks length the cyclist is in
a very precarious position, especially if the truck driver has unusally
forgotton to signal before making a left turn (assuming bike squeezing down
the gutter), squelch comes to mind.

Commonest cause of cyclist deaths in London IIRC

Tony

Adrian Boliston wrote:

I suspect that the OP probably arrived after the lorry and squeezed
past hoping for a "bike box".

I suspect the Norbert driver resented not being first at the lights.

--
Guy
===
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

Victory is ours! Down with Eric the Half A Brain!

in message 408d7445.0@entanet, Zog The Undeniable
') wrote:

andrew wrote:
On my usual commute there is a badly designed junction which has no
bike box. Poor really as it is brand new.

I followed my normal practice of going over the stop line protected
by an extended kerb / refuge & watching the pedestrian crossings. As
I did so I heard a toot of a horn from behind. I guessed it was from
the 38 tonner I was so keen to avoid & waved back with an open hand.

200m down the road the same Norbert Dresangle comes ploughing past &
although he pulls out at the front cuts back in so I am less than an
arm span away at the back, very scary.

That's nothing...an overtaking HGV actually brushed my arm once.

I've had that. Worse, when cycling round one of the roundabouts over the
M6, I was overtaken very close by a very fast moving flatbed artic with
no load. My memory and perception of the event is that I was sucked
under the deck by the air wash of the tractor unit. I have a distinct
memory of the steel hooks used to tie down the load going past over my
head. It's possible that my memory is exaggerating hugely, but in any
case it was a *very* frightening event.

--
(Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

...but have you *seen* the size of the world wide spider?

Andrew wrote:
Lesson one, try not to swear & gesticulate in an offensive manner.
Lesson two, don't stop. Who knows what type of psycho he could be? Peter
Sutcliffe was a lorry driver.
Third & most important lesson. I should have got his registration to
complain to the company. He got away with it & because I wasn't calm
enough he may even think he's right.
Be safe out there.
--
Andrew


Wise words indeed

I agree with all three of these lessons, but in particular I would pa
attention to #2. You cannot know the mental state of the pillock behin
the wheel. For all you know you could be about to engage in a shoutin
match with a martial-arts expert who is just itching to try out hi
latest debilitating strikes on someone - and who better than the lycra
clad cyclists who's just flipped him the bird?

Hand gestures - tempting, but I find the best thing to do is just wav
and smile. Afterall, if the idiotic motorists get het up about cyclist
on the road, they are going to stress themselves into an early grave..
and thereby free up road-space for cyclists ;

With the advent of small and cheap digital cameras (the gadget sho
sells some that are the same size as a box of matches for 25 quid) it'
easy to nab a quick pic of the offender and then you do not have to rel
on your 'little grey cells' (as Poirot calls them) for details abou
make/model/registration


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