cycle tramp wrote: ↑28 Jan 2024, 8:24am
It's not you, its them....
My partner had this happen a last week, whilst she was on a roundabout - whilst she was driving. She described the driver as an older gentleman who then became angry that she didn't stop for him, forcing gentleman to brake and stop... denying him entry to the same road space that she was about to occupy...
... a few weeks back I did a spell on the councils phones dealing with those people who had got car parking tickets and tickets driving in the bus lanes...
...not wishing to be too rude, there is a percentage of road users who are either (a) willfully ignorant of the highway code and/or (b) believe that many of the highway laws do not apply to them.... and this is across the whole sector of society including one vicar, who during the course of the half hour call, decided that he wasn't going to make an appeal against his fine but stated that he would get the press involved and go to court to fight it....before angerly slamming the phone down on me...
..should anyone else should seek to challenge these road users assumptions, or point out that they may be in the wrong either, either completely fails to register or must be furiously dismissed using threats to mask their poor understanding, by such people.
In such circumstances the best you can do is congratulate yourself that you've spotted them, acted in a way to prevent yourself from becoming involved in their petty dramas and keep an eye out for the next one...
Great post. I come across such people all the time in life, not only on the roads.....but mostly. I'm sure most people aren't like this but the few who are tend to stick in our minds more.
Another incident that occurred to me yesterday, which I do have on video, was of a young girl (toddler age) intentionally standing just in the road, in the gutter, calling to her Mum to boast she was in the road. I don't blame the child one bit by the way, she looked to have mental health problems and didn't know any better. It's a narrow stretch by a park entrance, which in itself in an accident waiting to happen. I had already slowed down due to lots of people coming in and out of the park, but when I saw the child I went even slower. I saw her Parents approaching her from behind and they didn't call her back, then as they got to the girl, the Mother also stepped into the road and grabbed the girl's hand. I'm certain they were just about to cross, but I was going past exactly at that moment so I called out to warn them.
I would post the video but looking back at it, you cannot clearly tell that they were actually going to walk in front of me. It's possible the Mother was about to look before crossing, but as she was already in the road and her momentum didn't seem to stop, I'm pretty sure she planned to keep on going without looking.
The mentality of some people is so far beyond my understanding, especially when it involves children.