OK guys, let's be honest - kicking a car because it is encroaching into your space is not self-defense, nor self-preservation. It actually makes your situation more dangerous! First, taking your boot off the peg and kicking it against something will *not *make your bike more stable, and won't make it more able to perform a quick manuver to avoid a collision. It will likely probably make your bike a bit less stable and therefore less (safely) manuverable. Any contact between vehicles raises the risk. Second, if the cager is unaware that you are there *and *you are close enough to apply your boot, the last thing you want to do is startle him/her. An oblivious driver startled by a sudden loud noise is as apt to swerve into you as away from you. Third, if you are counting on the reflexes of an oblivious (and recently shocked) driver to avoid colliding with you, you're crazy. Fourth, the amount of time it takes for you to take your foot off the peg, kick the car, wake up the cager, have the cager's (puny) mind process this and pull back into his/her own lane is much more than for you to (1) brake, (2) accelerate or (3) change lanes. So, I suspect this line of argument is just trying to justify the biker's reaction to fear: Many people react to fear with agression, even if it makes the situation worse (because if the other side has the same psychology we get a war).
