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Flipping the Bird

Wow. My first ever "pull over" today from a woman who was delayed possibly by 30 seconds - and that's in quite a lot of cycling. Country road rage.

While I will pull over if there's a build-up of traffic and no way for them to overtake without me doing so, I was a little p*ssed-off and considered a gesture in kind. I'm tempted to just ignore them though the automatic response to give them the finger has to be kept under control.

Any thought:

* Ignore
* Flip 'em a finger
* shout back (too late by the time they've been heard)
* or ????

If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.

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12 comments

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veseunr | 10 years ago
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Pull your phone/camera from your back pocket and take a photo of them and their number plate.

Some really take objection to that .... hard evidence  3

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Cycle_Jim | 10 years ago
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also creepy wide smiles

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Cycle_Jim | 10 years ago
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When I can get up to them at lights its a throw down between sitting infront of the car and a track stare till lights change. Or my personal fav - ride alongside, motion to wind the window down and ask them about there day, it creeps people right out of there skin, ask them were there going, what they've been up to, when they are about to leave just a cheeky 'safe journey' or a casual wink! People don't know how to respond, they expect to get told off and are prep'ed up for an arguement and are met with sickeningly friendliness! Did it to some huge body builder chav kid the other week, his mates were in the car and he was showing of, showed him right up by doing that. Maybe even a bit of flirting! We used to creep other teams out on the rugby pitch by blowing kisses at them, they wouldn't wanna get close to you...hehee

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JohnnyRemo | 10 years ago
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Give a cheery wave and big smile back - pees them off even more and sometimes they think "do I know him/her?"

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arfa | 10 years ago
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To be fair, if I have a day on my commute when I don't encounter uncallef for abuse/random acts of endangering/contempt from vehicles it is a rare day

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SideBurn | 10 years ago
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And now there are 3... that is recent threads written by cyclists who have been abused for no reason, other than getting into some idiots way (see my thread W***ers 'r' us).

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Jaltham | 10 years ago
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Ignore, and think to yourself, that person is sat there getting fat whilst I'm out here, enjoying myself and getting fitter whilst they waste their lives.

Or something to that extent!

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arfa | 10 years ago
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A cold silent look tends to get the message through

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John_the_Monkey | 10 years ago
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Mind you, pulling alongside 'em at the lights they failed to anticipate can be deliciously awkward. They don't like that at all.

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John_the_Monkey | 10 years ago
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Depends what you're after.

If it's a recognition that they were in the wrong, and a fulsome apology, you're going to be disappointed 99.99% of the time.

If it's a fatuous argument backed up by half remembered bits of Highway Code and spurious, meretricious nonsense, have at it - this sort of driver tends have that down really well.

These days, I yell only if the manouever they pulled off was breathtakingly stupid and dangerous enough to startle me into an exclamation. Occasionally I motion that they might consider giving more room. (Hand out, palm perpendicular to the horizontal, motioning away from the kerb). Sometimes, they'll make an obscene gesture in return.

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The Rumpo Kid | 10 years ago
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Sometimes discretion is the better part of valour. Remember what happened to Dennis Hopper?

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700c | 10 years ago
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I would just ignore.

Only respond if you feel they've done something dangerous our have been abusive in the first case.

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