Time for a ponder?

Had a couple of run ins with motorists lately.

Specifically this morning in the petrol station on the way to work a
lorry driver type chappy (little fat, shaven head sort of lorry driver
- not your average king of the road sort of fellow) came over tand
tried to bellow at me as I was filling the Pan. Apparently he was
upset that I'd overtaken him on the inside just before the garage.

Saying unto him '**** off and bore someone else you little tosser' did
little to lighten his already far from sunny demeanour it is fair to
say. Still, after a couple more '**** off I'm not interested in you or
anything you have to say' type sentences he did indeed **** off.

I toodled into pay for my petrol and as I left I saw him in the queue
with his butty under one arm and his copy of The Sun in the other I
wished him well and hoped that he would enjoy his little masturbate to
page three when he got back to his lorry. He seemed to enjoy the joke
and I left him doing a mery little dance of rage in the garage, waving
his fists in a jocular manner.

A few miles further on my way to work I was toodling at a steady 120
when another Mr Pillock (in a small rusting hatchback) gave one flash
of his indicator and pulled out in front of me at a steady 60mph. He
seemed surprised to hear my hooter toodling merrily as I stood on
everything and shuddered down to 60 an inch from the oxidised remains
of his rear bumper.

When he pulled back over, I started to stoke the boilers again and
pottled past him on my way back to 120 and was surprised to see him
waving and yelling obcenities out of his window... I ignored this apart
from the obligatory 'wanker' sign and continued unperturbed.

Now on the way home I come down a section of motorway and as I prepared
to peel off down the slip road a chappy in a knackered escort type van
was also sliproading at the same time. Fine by me, I don't own the
sliproad and perhaps he has business in this direction I thought to
myself.

He was a signalling left but decided (while still signalling left) that
it would be nicer for him to slide across into the right hand lane on
this two lane slip road. As I was almost alongside him, and doing at
least twice his speed I continued and slipped past him before he'd
pulled all the way out. No problem and I'd more or less dismissed it
from my mind when I pulled up at the lights at the top of the slip road.

However, it appeared to be weighing on the mind of my new van driving
chum. He pulled up next to me and appeared to be trying to
communticate with me. He started by clenching his fists and waving
them in my direction. I played it cool and blew him a big kiss.
Unexpectedly this didn't make him break into a big smile. Instead he
leapt out of his van and started running around the front of the van.
He came across and started raining blows on my arms. I'd already put
the bike on the side stand as he got out of his van.

As those that know me will attest, I'm not a fighter. Quite the
opposite. However this chap raised my ire and I did punch him. Sadly
it appears that my summer gloves with armour are rather good and he
went for a little stagger round and I fecked off.

But it's made me thik a bit. Has my riding got more aggressive lately?
I commute the same run every day (dual carriageway and Motorway) 50
miles and always do it in 30 to 35 mins... Perhaps I need to slow down
and relax a bit?

 

I'd be tempted to find out exactly why they were so upset. The only thing I
can imagine is if you'd caused the first guy to slam on the brakes or take
evasive action as he had intended to pull off as well. But the other two
don't seem to have a leg to stand on . It seems quite common for drivers to
get upset when they almost run bikes off the road. It's quite, quite
bizarre.

I remember a funny altercation between two guys in cars at lights outside
Richmond. One was supremley pissed off at the other who was shrinking into
his seat. The aggressor couldn't seem to make up his mind how he wanted to
frighten the timid guy and, as I pulled between them (as is my god given
right) he was screaming " YOU FUCKING ****! GET OUT OF THE CAR NOW YOU ****!
I'M A POLICEMAN AND I'M GOING TO...****!...I'M GOING TO KICK YOUR TEETH DOWN
YOUR THROAT YOU ****! I'M A POLICEMAN AND I'LL ARREST YOU YOU FUCKING
FUCKING ****!"

 

Well I think the reactions are down to the drivers realsiing their
error, the potential for an accident and then getting cross at you as
they think you endangered them. The other aspect is that in a couple of
your examples you entered "their space" and people get very agitated /
territorial if that happens. None of this is remotely rational but who
said driving on the road was a rational activity?

While I'm sure you are perfectly happy with Panning along at 120mph in
perfect safety it seems that not everyone else is. As you are a skilled
and experienced rider it's for you to do what you like but I guess I
would take it just a bit slower and try to avoid the need to be
disparaging to people in petrol stations or else punch them on the
hooter.

You could have just bought the Paramedic Pan from ebay and given them
all the willies on a daily basis ;-)

 

I think you're misinterpreting this. People will form their opinions from
personal experience, ahead of what they read in the papers or hear in the
pub. These people you've encountered today will form their opinions of
motorcyclists from their experience of you. You have, in effect,
represented all motorcyclists, as far as they're concerned. They now think
of motorcyclists as rude, aggressive and likely to thump them.

Life is full of chances, opportunities, pivotal moments. A man comes to a
crossroads, and his decisions then inform everything he is and does
thereafter, however slightly. By your actions, you have irrevocably changed
the way motorcyclists are regarded.

You have accepted the challenge, you have picked up the gauntlet, and you
have responded magnificently. You have, this day, taken your place among
the immortals.

Sir, I salute you.

 

You old tart.

 

So you have, and most amusing they were too. You brute.

Take the Land Rover instead of the Pan. That addresses all your
issues in one, but may mean that you have to leave for work a little
earlier - like just before you get home ...

 

platypus says...

"For those about to die"

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, Vlad the Inhaler.

It would seem that a certain well-known parcel deliverer is aiming for a
pre-emptive strike.
--
Nigel - Manufacturer of the "Champion-105" range of rearsets

WS* GHPOTHUF#24 APOSTLE#14 DLC#1 COFF#20 BOTAFOT#150 HYPO#0(KoTL) IbW#41
ZZR1100, Enfield 500 Curry House Racer "The Basmati Rice Burner",
Honda GL1000K2 Kawasaki ZN1300 Voyager "Oh, Oh, It's so big"

 

Vlad the Inhaler. wrote

Nah. Sounds to me like you are making the right sort of progress.

 

It was somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember "Vlad the Inhaler."

Quite so. Good work in defending what you believe in. What that actually
is, I haven't quite worked out yet, but great stuff, nonetheless.

--

Dave

GS 850 x2 / SE 6a
SbS#6 DIAABTCOD#16 APOSTLE#6 FUB#3
FUB KotL OSOS#12? UKRMMA#19 COSOC#10

 

Me too. I reckon it's the time of year. You know, winter coming,
northern hemisphere cooling down, days getting shorter and all that...

<snip good stuff about fat people and tossers in vans and rusty heaps
etc>

Nah, you've just been lucky and they've all come to say hello in quick
succession.

Take a week off and feel the peace. They'll still behave like twats but
you'll be less inclined to remove parts of their anatomy/bodywork.

It won't stop short, fat and bald lorry drivers trying it though. Was he
actually a lorry driver or was it some pikey scaffold flat-bed or
something? Anyway, WGAF, you did the right thing in telling the little
twat to **** off. I think it's what any right thinking person would've
done.

 

See post in "Oop North" about nearly meeting a vectra head on. On the
trip to work in the morning I nipped up the inside of a land rover who
then flashed his lights at me to register his displeasure with said
manouvre. As I'd seen him not pull into lane 1 (of 2) when he should
or could do on 2 other occasions I went for it. After we'd passed
traffic he still didn't move in. I signalled to him that I thought he
should be in the other lane, but didn't stay for a discussion.

If people are going in roughly the same direction as you and they're
doing their fastest comfortable speed then if they see you bearing down
at eek mph it'll upset them. They feel frightened and panicky as they
don't know what's going to happen and don't have enough time to work it
out. Similar if you do a manouvre that they're not comfortable about
doing. There's a bend on the MIRTTH run that does a good 180 degrees,
if not more. However, there's a good 1/4 mile visibility around the
bend so it's more than safe to overtake on a left hand bend in this
instance. Try to tell some people about it and they can't grasp it at
all.

If you want them to be calm, slow down near other folk. If you don't
care then carry on or go faster. However, the more they're upset the
more likely they are to be odd, take it on themselves to educate you
about speed, etc. I don't think it's a case of caring about their
precious little worlds, but about how you can encounter them with least
fallout. Just MHO.

 

Richmond, isn't that part of the Met Police area? I only ask because
this incident may have beeen part of one of those new initiatives the
Met keep coming out with... you know, the human face of policing...
--
O
1 Black, shortly to undergo extensive surgery.
1 Red, undergoing lightweight surgery. -----
1 Blue, for Power-Ranger baiting. | o |
Numbers ... | o |
Stuff ... | ooo |
Life ... -----

 

Don't know. But that's quite amusing.

 

snip

Conversely, if you want to emphasise the valid points
'Lookwhereyouarefkingwellgoing' and 'If its on two wheels and is competently
handled don't **** with it' just rip their mirror off as you go past : )


Incidentally, If you *must* engage in rowdyism and rude fracas at least try
and remember even with gloves you can hurt your delicate paw hitting people.
But you have big boots on.

--
Nidge
ZX6R J2 Stunning in zit yellow. KX 125 MX 'I'm snot green -fly ME'. A few
bits of CB500S in Norwegian Parrot blue. BOTAFOT#63 BOMB#5

'Just because I don't care doesn't mean I don't understand'.
Homer (Simpson).

 

Heel of your palm can be much more effective.

Also, they never expect a *slap*..

You also have a helmet - nut em!
--

Cheers!
Fr Jack
96 Tiger.
FRJACK AT GMAIL DOT COM

 

Oi! Leave me out of this.