Is it time to start calling out bad cyclists?

See you at the weekend? I'll bring some rum.

I don't know. Is it time to start calling out bad polo players?
I don't drink rum. It's inexplicable that anyone would drink rum. I'd rather be stuck in a lift with Edward Zzzzzzzzzzz than drink rum.
But, yes, see you at the weekend.

Then again, just to play devil's advocate, marmot did make it pretty clear in his post that he was calling himself out for being a twat. In circumstances where someone's said (to all intents and purposes) 'my bad, I acted like a twat', saying 'you're a twat' is probably redundant. And I believe there is an old saying about greenhouses and stones, and the projectile use thereof.

Agreed, digging on someone that already done it to themselves isn't necessarily helpful but behaving like that is likely far worse for all of us. I've asked this before:

Have you ever wondered why some people (drivers/peds/cyclists) seem to absolutely blow up for seemingly nothing?* I had that fat racist Millwall thug aim punches at my head simply for being in front of him. I had that scandinavian fella fight me with a metal bar despite him almost taking me out. Whose to say these guys weren't harbouring residual anger from shit-house behaviour like kicking their vehicles before getting off? Who is to say that a Law Lord with the power to make positive change hasn't had knobler behaviour like that mentioned that has colored his/her view? I've had a driver take me out yet no neutrals wanted to step forward to be witnesses. Why?

*nojihadist

I'm not proud of occasions when I've lost it and have called myself out but at least there's been a massive provocation or a build up.

That girl that accidentally smashed the driver's door against the driver a few months back but kept riding despite me suggesting that she had a responsibility to stop and make sure the driver was ok; who could blame that driver now facing a repair bill/insurance claim for the damaged caused, for maybe not giving way for the next cyclist at that pinch point due to road works (ask Corny)? If any of you face such aggression, maybe question where it comes from.

This is not an apologist post for idiots behind the wheel but like it or not we are vulnerable and I'd rather not have some else bear the indirect brunt of my actions. Yes, there are an infinite number of reasons that could lead to a terrible reaction that have zero to do with cyclists but the words I hear flowing from mouths (in person and on social media) make me think some of these encounters must have some connection to bikes.

riding home yesterday i had a car driven at me from the opposite side of the road by a woman trying to nab a parking space. I had to take evasive action to avoid going over her bonnet. When i got it together to move off again she rolled her window down and called me a 'white cunt', in front of her teenage daughter no less, for no other reason other than the fact that i dared to be in her line of sight while she performed a dangerous manoeuvre in her car. I fucking lost it. Eventually a pair of arseholes from the shitty bakery in herne hill weighed in and threatened to kick my teeth in if i didn't apologise to the woman. I didn't and rode off.

Am i to presume that her shitty, abusive attitude is informed by the fact that i am on a bike or that i am white? And does it even fucking matter? We stand up to racists without thinking twice about it because hey, racists are cunts and fuck them. We don't think 'hmmm, maybe i should be nice to this person who's just hurled abuse at me because they might racially abuse someone else if i'm not'. No, we stand up to them, like we stand up to any sort of pea-brained bully.

The same goes for people on bikes. Or gay people. Or black people. Or any other minority.

so i think we're all agreed that kicking out at vehicles is the behaviour of a twat. i'll try not to do it again. not that it makes much difference but the guy didn't merely toot at me, there were several long blasts of his horn which appeared to me that he was trying to tell me to get the fuck out of his way. i did start off trying to be reasonabe with him but his unwillingness to listen to my point about why i was in the middle of the road was what made me angry and i kicked the car more in frustration with the ignorant cock than any real feeling of violence. but anyway - i'm a twat.

What did you expect? A hug and a handjob?

sounds good

@greenhell
You can't be racist against white folk, fact.

what's ironic is i am, actually, a MASSIVE ruddy racialist!

You discriminate against gingers? They are about the last group we are still allowed to mock.

who could blame that driver now facing a repair bill/insurance claim for the damaged caused, for maybe not giving way for the next cyclist at that pinch point due to road works

I could. Just because one person on a bike has fucked you off doesn't mean that all people on bikes are cunts. And if someone is too dim to take that into account whilst driving their car then they shouldn't be fucking driving a car.

^ pretty much that.

Them and people called 'darren'.

cunts, the lot of 'em.

Rincewind had always been happy to think of himself as a racist. The One Hundred Meters, the Mile, the Marathon -- he'd run them all.

#rep

It's funny because Rincewind "on here" is a real life, actual racist.

No - he kicked a car.

A 1.5 tonnes of fast moving iron, plastic and glass car.

A 1.5 tonnes of fast moving iron, plastic and glass car, that was being used to intimidate.

Your "mere toot" can be the apprehension of violence and constitute an assault.

Best not judge everyone by our own perception.

Enter your text here...

Sounds like you're suggesting that all cyclists have a collective responsibility, and it absolutely is an apologist post for idiots behind the wheel.

And to tie those nicely together:

I'm behind two guys on bikes, riding two abreast.

Bloke in Lexus takes umbrage that they are holding him up (in slow moving, heavy traffic) and revs / beeps / shouts.

He gets an arm waving and a piss off in response.

Up the road, he decides that I shouldn't be I primary, and gives me a punishment pass.

I slap his car, to let him know that I'm there.

Cue braking, leaping out the car, posturing, threats, chest bumping etc...

Obviously, it was the fault of the two guys riding two abreast...

I could. Just because one person on a bike has fucked you off doesn't mean that all people on bikes are cunts. And if someone is too dim to take that into account whilst driving their car then they shouldn't be fucking driving a car.

In an ideal world, yes. But the reality of it is as Multigrooves describes.

wimmin: stop being uppity, you're liable to catch a slap.

etc.

But it's misplaced responsibility. If that person is a dim-witted asshole then that is their problem and why does anyone else have to try and make amends for that?

It's like if someone you knew got mugged by an some Asian kid and then decided that they hated all Asian kids. You wouldn't think that was ok. Not in this world, let alone an ideal one.

And the answer to that not being ok is for that imaginary person you knew to stop being a racist asshole. Not to go around telling Asian kids that they need to straighten out their act because there's people out there who will judge them as a group rather than on an individual-by-individual basis.

And yes, the imaginary Asian kid did a bad thing and shouldn't have mugged the imaginary person you knew. But not because it would make other imaginary Asian kids look bad and "dear god think of the responsibility you have towards your people", but because mugging people is wrong*.

Similarly, yeah, you shouldn't ride like a dick. But only because riding like a dick is in itself dickish. That's the end of the story. Dick moves are dick moves. This collective responsibility nonsense is exactly that.

*except for grannies obvs. Mugging grannies = lulz.

If any of you face such aggression, maybe question where it comes from.
This is not an apologist post for idiots behind the wheel but like it or not we are vulnerable and I'd rather not have some else bear the indirect brunt of my actions.

Well said Multi grooves. wouldhaverepped

If I'm in a group ride, and some twat at the front starts jumping the lights and pissing off drivers, the rest of us are affected. The same applies in a broader sense.

Not to go around telling Asian kids that they need to straighten out their act because there's people out there who will judge them as a group rather than on an individual-by-individual basis.

Good Asian kids need to tell bad Asian kids to stop giving them a bad reputation.

The reality is that how the juddering fuck are you, on a bike, going to know what is going to upset the cunt in the van today?

The slap on his bonnet?

His eggs being cold this morning?

His best mate having a bigger winky?

Correlation versus causation, folks...

All I'm saying is, if someone is agitated, they are agitated. It's human nature, you can't just switch that off.

I got knocked off whilst stationary in traffic by a taxi last week. This left me agitated. About 5 minutes later I saw a different taxi driver chatting on the phone whilst driving. I blew a gasket and had a full on shout at him and called him all sorts of names. Why? Because of an earlier unrelated event.

Am I proud? No, I wish I hadn't and treated it for the separate event that it was, but I didn't, and neither will a large portion of others out there on the road.