Well, this evening I learnt the hard way that if a driver nearly knocks you over because they aren't looking you should just suck it up like a good 2nd-class road user!
Driver pulls out on me, almost taking me out so in a moment of anger I kick his car to show my disgust. He stops and I end up next to his window which he winds down and we start the verbal battle. I'm trying to explain he pulled out on me without looking but he's angry I kicked his car. He looks like he's going to open the door into me so I lean into the door to block it and instead he grabs my cycling glasses (scratching my face and drawing blood in the process) and throws them into the road where a red bus crushes them.
I retaliated by elbowing his wing mirror as hard as I could but instead of coming off it just went backwards on its hinge (perhaps a good thing in the long run). Then a passing policeman intervened!
He takes us to one side and we try to talk it out. The driver is so angry that I "damaged" his car he doesn't give a **** that he almost ran me over or that he physically assaulted me. In fact, he admits he didn't see me and I make the point that I have a bright flashing front light so he clearly didn't look. I felt the cop was siding with the driver and was basically saying I needed to pay for the damage, which was barely a scuff that you could easily polish out. I then said he smashed my glasses that are worth over £100 and he was like oh okay, it's tit for tat, shake hands and agree to disagree. I didn't realise at this point the driver had actually made me bleed or I would have mentioned it. Tis but a scratch but the fact remains he physically attacked me because I kicked his car.
I'm sure people may say I provoked the driver into clawing at my face and smashing my glasses so I deserve it but it's just amazing how both the driver and policeman glossed over the terrible driving that triggered the chain of events. I also felt the policeman was biased towards the driver and no matter how sound your reasoning, a policeman is the LAW and never wrong so it's futile to even try and talk it out with them.
Maybe it's time to invest in a helmet cam?