Moron Motorists #3

[outnabike]

Today's moron was a drummer. Yes, it was queued traffic moving slowly but old mate was furiously drumming away on the steering wheel with 2 drumsticks in hand. Not normally a problem i gues and just weird, but this guy was aggressively acceleration and braking to stay far too close to the car in front. I didn't see what happened when he got to the roundabout ahead so don't know whether the sticks got put away or he somehow tried to steer while holding the sticks.

We need unmarked Police on motorbikes. Unfortunately OH&S renders that implausible given the std of our driving.

He he ...I was once beside a hothead in a done up Holden in heavy traffic. He was right behind a truck ...foot on the brake and revving the be Jesus out of the rear tyres making lots of smoke. I was in the passenger side looking down on him and smiled, to sooth him over the edge of insanity... He had an answer back with even more pedal. Not to many options with folks like that.

[g-boaf]

Today's moron was a drummer. Yes, it was queued traffic moving slowly but old mate was furiously drumming away on the steering wheel with 2 drumsticks in hand. Not normally a problem i gues and just weird, but this guy was aggressively acceleration and braking to stay far too close to the car in front. I didn't see what happened when he got to the roundabout ahead so don't know whether the sticks got put away or he somehow tried to steer while holding the sticks.

We need unmarked Police on motorbikes. Unfortunately OH&S renders that implausible given the std of our driving.

He he ...I was once beside a hothead in a done up Holden in heavy traffic. He was right behind a truck ...foot on the brake and revving the be Jesus out of the rear tyres making lots of smoke. I was in the passenger side looking down on him and smiled, to sooth him over the edge of insanity... He had an answer back with even more pedal. Not to many options with folks like that.

I'm sure Police can sort out folks like that quite easily. Notice how everyone behaves themselves when they see a BMW 530d sedan or a VW Passat sedan nowadays.

[uart]

I'll nominate this guy : https://www.9news.com.au/national/car-c ... 72a95877e9

If he can't see a dead end / cliff right in front of him, then what chance would a cyclist have?

Street view of the dead end / cliff he drove over. : https://shorturl.at/cqrT6

[elantra]

He he ...I was once beside a hothead in a done up Holden in heavy traffic. He was right behind a truck ...foot on the brake and revving the be Jesus out of the rear tyres making lots of smoke. I was in the passenger side looking down on him and smiled, to sooth him over the edge of insanity... He had an answer back with even more pedal. Not to many options with folks like that.

Tailgating is one of the most commonplace types of motorist idiocy.

The one that sticks in my mind was a few years ago (just before COVID) on the infamous Gold Coast M1 Motorway.

Every morning countless vehicles zoom towards the Qld border, passing through a tunnel under the main Runway of the Gold Coast Airport.

It’s not a smart idea to go racy racy along here because there is a small hill that marks your entry into Qld.
On the south side of the little hill the Qld Gov often have a speed camera vehicle “Welcome to Qld” and on the north side of the little hill is usually a solid wall of grinding congestion caused by the merging of traffic from Tugun and Coolangatta

On this day the left lane was only slightly underspeed at 85.9 km/hr (approximately) and the right lane was travelling a little bit faster.
In the right lane was slightly battered old Inter ACCO 6x4 tipper truck going flat out full gas at (approximately) 95.9 km/hr - with a dirty big excavator on the back.
Frantic to get past it, a lowered commodore ute.

A “gap” opened up in the left lane and the ute did swift swing to the left and then a cut back in front of the truck - just in time to be confronted with with 2 lanes of stationary traffic. !!!
The driver had to wash off a lot of speed and could then enjoy being one vehicle further up the queue of stationary traffic.
Thankfully the brakes of the truck were up to the challenge.

I would hope that the ute driver learnt something about manners and the futility of being a dick

[nezumi]

Had plenty of idiots today, especially blocking the St Georges Rd bike path on the ride home at each crossing (despite the presence of a stop sign at each crossing and room for only one vehicle on the other side), but the one who took the cake was at the start of the ride. I came off a bike path via a signaled crossing (which, yes, I waited for the green bike before proceeding) and rolled to the front of the queue of cars at the lights. Normally this intersection gets stacked with cars coming off the Melbourne Ring Rd, but even so I usually hold 40 km/h pretty quickly and often end up moving into the middle lane to pass left turning traffic at a roundabout just ahead.

Today the old boy in the ute that was first in the line of cars decided he didn't want to be patient (or obey the road rules) and passed me in the same lane with less than 30 cm spare - I was able to easily reach out and hit the side of his cab. He still kept going past, and unsurprisingly got held up in the queue at the aforementioned roundabout, where I went past him in the middle lane, stopped in front of him and communicated through gesture and interpretive dance the level of his driving.

[mikesbytes]

This collision happened in front of me tonight

[Mr Purple]

Filmed a local loop for Fulgaz today with their GoPro 11.

No issues until a few kilometres from home when a truck from one of our business competitors decided to turn right across me without giving way. I was doing 40km/hr+ downhill in broad daylight at the time.

Now I have the ethical conniption of having glorious high definition footage, and whether to submit it to the police or not. Unfortunately (fortunately) I'm not one of those idiots who tries to make a drama out of a near miss, and slowed down well in advance and gave him a wide berth so it doesn't look as bad as it perhaps should have.

[redsonic]

You haven't been watching enough Dashcam Owner's footage. Don't you know you are supposed to lean on the horn (bell?) and make absolutely no effort to brake or drive/ride defensively?

[warthog1]

Had plenty of idiots today, especially blocking the St Georges Rd bike path on the ride home at each crossing (despite the presence of a stop sign at each crossing and room for only one vehicle on the other side), but the one who took the cake was at the start of the ride. I came off a bike path via a signaled crossing (which, yes, I waited for the green bike before proceeding) and rolled to the front of the queue of cars at the lights. Normally this intersection gets stacked with cars coming off the Melbourne Ring Rd, but even so I usually hold 40 km/h pretty quickly and often end up moving into the middle lane to pass left turning traffic at a roundabout just ahead.

Today the old boy in the ute that was first in the line of cars decided he didn't want to be patient (or obey the road rules) and passed me in the same lane with less than 30 cm spare - I was able to easily reach out and hit the side of his cab. He still kept going past, and unsurprisingly got held up in the queue at the aforementioned roundabout, where I went past him in the middle lane, stopped in front of him and communicated through gesture and interpretive dance the level of his driving.

[CmdrBiggles]

Today the old boy in the ute that was first in the line of cars decided he didn't want to be patient (or obey the road rules) and passed me in the same lane with less than 30 cm spare - I was able to easily reach out and hit the side of his cab. He still kept going past, and unsurprisingly got held up in the queue at the aforementioned roundabout, where I went past him in the middle lane, stopped in front of him and communicated through gesture and interpretive dance the level of his driving.

I am more inclined to view the underscored behaviour as provocative, and potentially aggravating to the driver. Decades of cycling experience have informed me that if you are wronged by a 1.5t behemoth of glass and metal, it is not your/our place as minority road users, to provoke and inflame over a minor transgression; what if he got out and took you on, right there, right then in the middle of the road, as has often happened when cyclists have reacted unfavourably, taking on the wrong person and the wrong time?

Cool it, let it pass and move on.

[jasonc]

Cool it, let it pass and move on.

I do my best to do that, but sometimes, after a few incidents in a short period of time, the top comes off

my solution to mitigate that - run cameras. report the morons

[Mr Purple]

Speaking of which.



This will probably be on a Fulgaz ride provided they're happy with the quality. So ridden by thousands of cyclists worldwide. Good work matey!

[mikesbytes]

Today the old boy in the ute that was first in the line of cars decided he didn't want to be patient (or obey the road rules) and passed me in the same lane with less than 30 cm spare - I was able to easily reach out and hit the side of his cab. He still kept going past, and unsurprisingly got held up in the queue at the aforementioned roundabout, where I went past him in the middle lane, stopped in front of him and communicated through gesture and interpretive dance the level of his driving.

I am more inclined to view the underscored behaviour as provocative, and potentially aggravating to the driver. Decades of cycling experience have informed me that if you are wronged by a 1.5t behemoth of glass and metal, it is not your/our place as minority road users, to provoke and inflame over a minor transgression; what if he got out and took you on, right there, right then in the middle of the road, as has often happened when cyclists have reacted unfavourably, taking on the wrong person and the wrong time?

Cool it, let it pass and move on.

While agreeing with you, sometimes its difficult to restrain one self. While it is rare for me not to restrain myself I recall an incident about 10 years ago where I discovered that the taxi driver didn't speak the saxon language as there was no response. Have to say that taxi drivers have lifted their game since then and I don't recall them being any worse than any other category of road user.

[Cyclophiliac]

It's very, very difficult to restrain yourself from reacting when a motorist deliberately puts you as a cyclist in danger, simply because they don't care about the consequences.

[warthog1]

Today the old boy in the ute that was first in the line of cars decided he didn't want to be patient (or obey the road rules) and passed me in the same lane with less than 30 cm spare - I was able to easily reach out and hit the side of his cab. He still kept going past, and unsurprisingly got held up in the queue at the aforementioned roundabout, where I went past him in the middle lane, stopped in front of him and communicated through gesture and interpretive dance the level of his driving.

I am more inclined to view the underscored behaviour as provocative, and potentially aggravating to the driver. Decades of cycling experience have informed me that if you are wronged by a 1.5t behemoth of glass and metal, it is not your/our place as minority road users, to provoke and inflame over a minor transgression; what if he got out and took you on, right there, right then in the middle of the road, as has often happened when cyclists have reacted unfavourably, taking on the wrong person and the wrong time?

Cool it, let it pass and move on.

Yes, as I get older and less inclined to physical confrontation, I am tending toward that.
I have slapped a car previously too however. If he pulled over I was very, very angry. He may have seen that so slowed but reassessed his choice.
Yes he could have been a big meat axe though.
The point is the car was not damaged but my life was definitely placed in danger. Which is the lesser of two evils? After a night shift it can be very hard to just turn the other cheek.

[CmdrBiggles]

I am more inclined to view the underscored behaviour as provocative, and potentially aggravating to the driver. Decades of cycling experience have informed me that if you are wronged by a 1.5t behemoth of glass and metal, it is not your/our place as minority road users, to provoke and inflame over a minor transgression; what if he got out and took you on, right there, right then in the middle of the road, as has often happened when cyclists have reacted unfavourably, taking on the wrong person and the wrong time?

Cool it, let it pass and move on.

Yes, as I get older and less inclined to physical confrontation, I am tending toward that.
I have slapped a car previously too however. If he pulled over I was very, very angry. He may have seen that so slowed but reassessed his choice.
Yes he could have been a big meat axe though.
The point is the car was not damaged but my life was definitely placed in danger. Which is the lesser of two evils? After a night shift it can be very hard to just turn the other cheek.

I'm small, slightly built and slender for my age (which means I can ride faster than you, LOL!!); these bald, tattooed, pierced and beefy blokes (and the women are not far behind...) in bewt utes (RAMs, Raptors, GWMs, HiLuxs etc.) are 3-4 times bigger. I wouldn't go as far as given them a sly glance, much less 'the bird' that I see other cyclists mete out. Being of Irish/Welsh stock, I can be a firebrand in the right circumstances, but on the road up against a very real, crushing adversary, I'm over with it a few seconds after whatever it was I was supposed to react to...

[Anrai]

I wouldn't go as far as given them a sly glance, much less 'the bird' that I see other cyclists mete out.

In my experience the kind of people likely to cause incidents do also tend to react with immediate hostility when confronted, especially when their destination is the bottleshop.

[Mr Purple]

I always figure if someone does something stupid on the roads, then that stupidity is only the most recent thing in a long line of stupidity, and their next response will likely also be something stupid.

I won't ever criticise anyone responding to someone endangering their life though. As a little guy I'll be responding more with the 'sending the footage to the police' response from here.

I tell you what though, filming a relatively short 26km ride around work yesterday certainly brought home how many drivers are prepared to pass close or otherwise drive carelessly around a cyclist. It's actually pretty alarming to watch the footage - plenty of cars randomly wandering in and out of the marked bike lane and varying speed erratically.

[CmdrBiggles]

I wouldn't go as far as given them a sly glance, much less 'the bird' that I see other cyclists mete out.

In my experience the kind of people likely to cause incidents do also tend to react with immediate hostility when confronted, especially when their destination is the bottleshop.

[warthog1]

My opinion based on cycling where I live is that minimum passing distance legistaion has generally helped. Less close passes.
However my opinion of our driving in general is that it is heading south.
Device distraction is very widespread and increasing. People driving 1.5 tonnes of fast moving metal without even looking outside of the vehicle at times. What could go wrong?
It needs to be treated the same as driving whilst intoxicated given the danger it poses.
There must be a mandatory licence suspension when caught, to underline how dangerous it is and put some limit on the prevalence of this behaviour.

[CmdrBiggles]

Device distraction is very widespread and increasing. People driving 1.5 tonnes of fast moving metal without even looking outside of the vehicle at times. What could go wrong?

I hear you!!

[find_bruce]

Today the old boy in the ute that was first in the line of cars decided he didn't want to be patient (or obey the road rules) and passed me in the same lane with less than 30 cm spare - I was able to easily reach out and hit the side of his cab. He still kept going past, and unsurprisingly got held up in the queue at the aforementioned roundabout, where I went past him in the middle lane, stopped in front of him and communicated through gesture and interpretive dance the level of his driving.

Most cars make great boom boxes - a slap on the window will warn a driver of your presence far more easily than a bell.

I had a moron try reporting me to police because I slapped her passenger side car window as she deliberately close shaved me. The police response? "Why were you so close to a cyclist that they could do that?" She had no answer & no I was not charged with any offence.

[find_bruce]

I live on the edge of a school zone. Yes the worst offenders are parents. While council rangers occasionally dole out parking tickets, it is rare to see police out & about.

Must have been a change recently as twice in the last 3 days I have heard the unmistakable chirp of sirens pulling over yet another moron.

[CmdrBiggles]

Today the old boy in the ute that was first in the line of cars decided he didn't want to be patient (or obey the road rules) and passed me in the same lane with less than 30 cm spare - I was able to easily reach out and hit the side of his cab. He still kept going past, and unsurprisingly got held up in the queue at the aforementioned roundabout, where I went past him in the middle lane, stopped in front of him and communicated through gesture and interpretive dance the level of his driving.

Most cars make great boom boxes - a slap on the window will warn a driver of your presence far more easily than a bell.

I had a moron try reporting me to police because I slapped her passenger side car window as she deliberately close shaved me. The police response? "Why were you so close to a cyclist that they could do that?" She had no answer & no I was not charged with any offence.

She. Well. Consider though if the driver was a beefed-up tradie (and let's face, it, they are not as scant as they were 30 years ago!) with all the pressures of one job tumbling upon another, kids to drop off and pick up, dog to vet, etc. Potentially, he'd see the slap or a bang on the window as the signal for 'game on', up and out he gets and you no doubt would come off second best, and it take some explaining to do why you chose to provoke the driver the way you did. Just saying that provoking somebody by touching their car — essentially an extension of their self and emotional connection, can illicit an unfavourable response — a response you may not have reckoned for...

[find_bruce]

I have a very different experience to you obviously - people who are all very tough behind the wheel wilt when they get out.

Perhaps it helps that I used to play front row in rugby & have an attitude to match. In my experience the genuine tough guys don't feel the need go around picking fights