Petulant cyclist smacked my wing mirror

SpeedFreak

SpeedFreak

SpeedFreak

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So today a cyclist decided that it was acceptable to slap my wing mirror. Before I go any further let me add the following:

I have cycled this road myself for years so can appreciate cyclist frustration.

The situation that arose was partly my own fault.


For those of who know the Gloucester Road in Bristol, I was heading north out of the city centre and was at the traffic lights by the Banksy picture of the bear with a petrol bomb. Link below:

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=CHELTENHAM+ROAD+BRISTOL&ll=51.462808,-2.589926&spn=0.001828,0.005284&hnear=Cheltenham+Rd,+Bristol,+United+Kingdom&gl=uk&t=m&z=18&layer=c&cbll=51.462808,-2.589926&panoid=2gna1nNi4AMVuXpqX5LhLQ&cbp=12,305.13,,0,11.15

As the traffic was slow moving the lights changed while I had passed them but was still in the yellow box. I know this was completely my fault. I temporarily partly blocked access to Jamaica Street and a southbound cyclist then began to turn from rest onto Jamaica street. Due to my still crawling car he had to go past my driver side and around the back to gain access to the road. On his way he decided he'd let me know I was in the wrong by smacking my wing mirror shut with his hand. :(

The speeds involved in this situation were walking pace and the cyclist could see my car in the road before he even started to move. What possesses somebody to feel it is remotely acceptable to strike another person's property? The cyclist was at no stage at risk of anything other than minor inconvenience. It was surprising how much it annoyed me at the time as I am usually a calm person when I drive.

So has anybody else had run ins with crazed cyclists? (I'm not saying they are all like this by the way)
 
Cycling puts you in all sorts of annoying and dangerous situations at the hands of motorists and it's really easy to find yourself getting really indignant and self-righteous over it.

I think a lot of cyclists eventually find they don't have the strength of will to resist becoming arrogant, obnoxious bad cyclists, then shortly after that turning into a parody of themselves and actively looking for things to take offence at so they can rush home through a load of red lights to edit the helmet cam footage for YouTube.
 
Remeber what he was wearing ? next time open the door just before he gets to it and see what he thinks to that.







Seriously, though, there is no need, but some people just cant help venting their frustration.
 
insane200 said:
Remeber what he was wearing ? next time open the door just before he gets to it and see what he thinks to that.
Click to expand...

He'll think about calling the police, unless you can think of a pretty good excuse for opening your car door into an oncoming cyclist while moving through a junction.

:rolleyes:
 
Disco Boy said:
Regardless of what the cyclist did, you need not to block yellow boxes.
Click to expand...

Regardless of what you think about blocking yellow boxes, this thread is about cyclists knocking wing mirrors.

In case you didn't know, when someone makes a minor mistake like that, holds their hands up and says "my bad", critising them is officially a dick move.
 
I'll never forget the time I saw a cyclist that was too impatient to wait for a set of traffic lights so he decided to bunny-hop up onto the pavement to go through them, it looked very painful when his feet slipped off the pedals and he landed on the crossbar.
 
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