Muppet Driver

Commuting, Day rides, Audax, Incidents, etc.
vak11
Posts: 13
Joined: 18 Feb 2013, 1:37pm

Muppet Driver

Post by vak11 »

This morning on my short commute to work I was in a slow moving traffic. I was in the secondary position. A lovely old gentleman in an old banger decided that he wanted to overtake me. Unfortunately for me he misjudged the gap between myself and the tipper truck in front and our relative speeds. Therefore instead of waiting and pulling in behind me he decideds to start pulling in parallel to me which left me with little choice but to move towards the gutter for 'self preservation'. When the traffic came to a stop I indicated to him that he needed to leave more space between me and him.

His response was that he should be just to the left of the white lines at the centre and that I have to be further over to the left (probably on the pavement) to facilitate his position. As the discussion was getting nowhere I decided to resume my secondary position by getting in front of the car in the secondary position. To this action I received a lot of beeping and hollering. The driver continued to drive uncomfortably close to me (without making contact) however was behind me. Eventually I turned off into the dedicated cycle path across a park while he continued with the rest of the traffic.

Clearly he did not understand the highway code and with hindsight I should have asserted by riding position as it would have been easier to have let him go infront and stayed behind him - would have been a lot safer too!

Any suggestion on how to handle similar situation better in future will be much appreciated.
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TrevA
Posts: 3551
Joined: 1 Jun 2007, 9:12pm
Location: Nottingham

Re: Muppet Driver

Post by TrevA »

I would have let him go in front. I've been in a similar position of having a person driving very close behind after an altercation. Made me feel very uncomfortable and much better to have them in front of you where you can keep an eye on them.

No point in trying to prove a point, if you get knocked off! Even if you are in the right.
Sherwood CC and Notts CTC.
A cart horse trapped in the body of a man.
http://www.jogler2009.blogspot.com
Postboxer
Posts: 1929
Joined: 24 Jul 2013, 5:19pm

Re: Muppet Driver

Post by Postboxer »

Open his boot or rear passenger door.
nez
Posts: 2080
Joined: 19 Jun 2008, 12:11am

Re: Muppet Driver

Post by nez »

Kick his car. No don't really. But visualising it makes it go away.
BearOnWheels
Posts: 46
Joined: 12 Mar 2011, 7:10pm

Re: Muppet Driver

Post by BearOnWheels »

I try to take a Darwinian perspective…I hope that eventually these individuals will (hopefully) self select themselves out of the evolutionary process…by self terminating through reckless or even dangerous driving….

Unfortunately they tend to take others (like cyclists) with them…
Still its a thought..
Dynamite_funk
Posts: 538
Joined: 2 Nov 2011, 9:10am

Re: Muppet Driver

Post by Dynamite_funk »

BearOnWheels wrote:I try to take a Darwinian perspective…I hope that eventually these individuals will (hopefully) self select themselves out of the evolutionary process…by self terminating through reckless or even dangerous driving….

Unfortunately they tend to take others (like cyclists) with them…
Still its a thought..


I'd prefer it if they learnt and spread the good word
Flinders
Posts: 3023
Joined: 10 Mar 2009, 6:47pm

Re: Muppet Driver

Post by Flinders »

BearOnWheels wrote:I try to take a Darwinian perspective…I hope that eventually these individuals will (hopefully) self select themselves out of the evolutionary process…by self terminating through reckless or even dangerous driving….

Unfortunately they tend to take others (like cyclists) with them…
Still its a thought..



Trouble is, most of them manage to breed first, so evolution doesn't operate very well in the context.
Postboxer
Posts: 1929
Joined: 24 Jul 2013, 5:19pm

Re: Muppet Driver

Post by Postboxer »

I think human evolution may well be slowing down or stopping, due to greater social mobility and online dating.
snibgo
Posts: 4604
Joined: 29 Jun 2010, 4:45am

Re: Muppet Driver

Post by snibgo »

vak11 wrote:When the traffic came to a stop I indicated to him that he needed to leave more space between me and him.

I totally agree with the sentiment. But saying so to a driver is like telling a tiger to trim his claws. It is entirely pointless. At best he will ignore you. More likely he will tell you where you should be cycling. At worst he will "teach you a lesson".

When a car paces me, alongside me, I brake until he is clear. It's an automatic reaction.

That doesn't mean I'm timid. In slow-moving traffic I'm usually in primary, moving at the same speed as motorists. I don't want cars squeezing past me, and there's no reason for them to want to apart from MGPTB (Must Get Past The Bike). When I need to overtake a parked car or slow tractor, I move further out, with my right arm out, making my intentions very clear.

I don't get in front of muppet drivers, especially if we have exchanged words or gestures.
nez
Posts: 2080
Joined: 19 Jun 2008, 12:11am

Re: Muppet Driver

Post by nez »

I'm sure this is the right response and is what I had in mind when I suggested kicking cars in your mind to get the mad driver out of it (your mind). Like snibgo, I'm pretty good at taking what people call primary and I'm pretty good at avoiding situations which allow people to make fools of themselves. But some folks will take whatever chance they get. Yesterday I took up the entire side of the carriageway approaching a pedestrian island, so the man behind me accelerated past like a madman, braked hard, cut in on me, almost wiped out the road furniture then sat sedately in the queue for traffic lights 50 metres up the road. Since there was no advantage to him in it I prefer to think it was misjudgement. On the way back I waited at a controlled crossing (toucan? It takes bikes too) crossed on a green light and was almost wiped out by a woman running the red light. Her passenger's face was a picture. I was covering the brake as she approached, as there was something about her. Maybe it's the alignment of the moon and stars. :shock:
Psamathe
Posts: 17650
Joined: 10 Jan 2014, 8:56pm

Re: Muppet Driver

Post by Psamathe »

Postboxer wrote:I think human evolution may well be slowing down or stopping, due to greater social mobility and online dating.

I don't think human evolution is stopping. But rather, those "evolutionary pressures" (the characteristics that give an individual an advantage) are changing. And given we are in effect creating those selection criteria ourselves, it may be that we are driving ourselves down a "dead-end" (i.e. creating pressures that make us as a species less well suited to our environment). Normally, environmental factors would quickly take over and those pressures change to be more appropriate. But we are causing changes to e.g. the environment to be so quick (in evolutionary terms) that we may suddenly find ourselves as a species "high and dry" being unsuited to the environment we have created.

Ian
Ayesha
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Joined: 30 Jan 2010, 9:54am

Re: Muppet Driver

Post by Ayesha »

Muppet cyclist
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nez
Posts: 2080
Joined: 19 Jun 2008, 12:11am

Re: Muppet Driver

Post by nez »

snibgo wrote:MGPTB (Must Get Past The Bike). .

isn't the point of acronyms that they're shorter?
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661-Pete
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Joined: 22 Nov 2012, 8:45pm
Location: Sussex

Re: Muppet Driver

Post by 661-Pete »

nez dans le guidon wrote:
snibgo wrote:MGPTB (Must Get Past The Bike). .

isn't the point of acronyms that they're shorter?

Ah - but they can then be re-used without explanation. I'm sure the first person* to coin "SMIDSY" had to explain it.

*Anyone any idea who it was?
Suppose that this room is a lift. The support breaks and down we go with ever-increasing velocity.
Let us pass the time by performing physical experiments...
--- Arthur Eddington (creator of the Eddington Number).
nez
Posts: 2080
Joined: 19 Jun 2008, 12:11am

Re: Muppet Driver

Post by nez »

Yes think you're right. Something about smidsy really works. A bit like snafu. Usually they are to be discouraged... Doesn't someone on here have the byline 'a shortcut has to be quicker otherwise it's just 'the way''.
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