People honking at me triggers my RAGE
#126
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If you honk to alert the cyclist of your presence then realize that in spite of your intention, your honk will probably not be heard that way. Use the horn for emergencies. A lot of us have been victimized by drivers who honk and then quickly pass too close. The meaning of the honk was "watch out for me and shame on you if you don't allow me room". If you think your honks vs theirs are quickly distinguished by the cyclist you're WRONG.
#127
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I had a log truck honk, maybe 1/4 mile behind me. Just a light tap on the horn. Plenty of time for me to turn around and see what was coming down the road... and make sure I was safely as far over on the shoulder as I could go.
Sorry, I'm not one to insist on riding down the middle of the lane when 50 tons of steel and trees are coming up behind me.
Sorry, I'm not one to insist on riding down the middle of the lane when 50 tons of steel and trees are coming up behind me.
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For the pro-honkers...maybe it's time you landlubbers adopt a standard! Of course, in any setting where there is more than a car or two, think of the cacophony!
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Way back in driver's ed they showed us a video intended for delivery drivers - I don't know why. It featured the drivers giving a friendly toot-toot in almost every situation. As I recall it cracked us the hell up.
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Genesis 49:16-17
Genesis 49:16-17
#132
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#133
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Honking etiquette is really good here in Japan. I have only heard a long loud honk a few times in 7 years. Most times people will give a short toot to wake drivers up or let the other driver aware of their presence.
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+1. I leave the house at 5 am and get to work around 6 am. I leave work around 3:30 pm. I asked to have my work hours adjusted because of the increased traffic volumes after 4 pm and the present management complied.
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Time of day definitely makes a difference. I leave home at 6AM, the latest. Traffic is very sparse, especially on the secondary roads that I take. I haven't heard any kind of honking in weeks.
Leaving work at 3:30 and using the same route, there is at least 2x or 3x more traffic, but still no honking. My feeling is that if you look like you know what you're doing motorists tend to trust that this is the right thing to be doing if you're on a bike. I mean, would you honk at a pedestrian crossing at a green light? At a motorist who actually stops at a stop sign instead of rolling through?
Leaving work at 3:30 and using the same route, there is at least 2x or 3x more traffic, but still no honking. My feeling is that if you look like you know what you're doing motorists tend to trust that this is the right thing to be doing if you're on a bike. I mean, would you honk at a pedestrian crossing at a green light? At a motorist who actually stops at a stop sign instead of rolling through?
#136
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Time of day definitely makes a difference. I leave home at 6AM, the latest. Traffic is very sparse, especially on the secondary roads that I take. I haven't heard any kind of honking in weeks.
Leaving work at 3:30 and using the same route, there is at least 2x or 3x more traffic, but still no honking. My feeling is that if you look like you know what you're doing motorists tend to trust that this is the right thing to be doing if you're on a bike. I mean, would you honk at a pedestrian crossing at a green light? At a motorist who actually stops at a stop sign instead of rolling through?
Leaving work at 3:30 and using the same route, there is at least 2x or 3x more traffic, but still no honking. My feeling is that if you look like you know what you're doing motorists tend to trust that this is the right thing to be doing if you're on a bike. I mean, would you honk at a pedestrian crossing at a green light? At a motorist who actually stops at a stop sign instead of rolling through?
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#138
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I'm a nice person but disrespecting me, or being plan ignorant takes me from cool and collected to raging mad man in a matter of miliseconds.. Literally almost been in a few fist fights during my travels.. Some probably would have been if I could have caught them..
Whats the best way to deal with this? I have zero tolerance for the imbeciles
Whats the best way to deal with this? I have zero tolerance for the imbeciles
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Wonder what ever happened to the OP here. Despite all his rage, is he still just a rat in a cage?
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I've got the same problem. I live in the South; people are armed here; I'm worried that some day, if I knock on somebody's window after they piss me off, I'll be rewarded with a shotgun blast to the face. So, I'm doing my best to chill out.
The big thing: work on lowering the stress levels in the rest of your life. Something is putting you on a hair trigger. Figure out what it is and modify it. Something not going right with your spouse/s.o.? Talk it out. Unhappy at work? Take some steps toward changing your job. None of this stuff is easy, but it might save your life.
Meanwhile, little strategies can help. I glued a pebble to my handlebars, which is supposed to be my reminder to chill out and let the bad vibes roll off. I think, by daily repetition, it's starting to work. And I'm seriously thinking about hanging an 11 x 16" portrait of Jeff Bridges as the Dude over the spot where I park my bike, just to give me some good vibes. Abide, my friend.
The big thing: work on lowering the stress levels in the rest of your life. Something is putting you on a hair trigger. Figure out what it is and modify it. Something not going right with your spouse/s.o.? Talk it out. Unhappy at work? Take some steps toward changing your job. None of this stuff is easy, but it might save your life.
Meanwhile, little strategies can help. I glued a pebble to my handlebars, which is supposed to be my reminder to chill out and let the bad vibes roll off. I think, by daily repetition, it's starting to work. And I'm seriously thinking about hanging an 11 x 16" portrait of Jeff Bridges as the Dude over the spot where I park my bike, just to give me some good vibes. Abide, my friend.
#141
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Genesis 49:16-17
Genesis 49:16-17
#142
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In the banned users thread, sometimes you see people ejected for "accumulated points," but there's nothing in the terms of use suggesting puns are against the rules.
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#143
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@brianinc-ville, how common is it for someone to shoot another on the road? It sure is an awful way to die, but perhaps fearing it is out of proportion to the risk?
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#144
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@brianinc-ville, how common is it for someone to shoot another on the road? It sure is an awful way to die, but perhaps fearing it is out of proportion to the risk?
#145
contiuniously variable
I take comfort in the knowledge that the other drivers think these people are idiots too.
- Andy
- Andy
#146
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@justadude, you have said more than once that you're leaving the discussion, and clearly you want to have the last word. The consensus here is that your ideas are not so great. You're free to disagree, but I think it would be valuable if you considered that we have ideas that could help improve your driving. Sometimes it's hard to consider that our own ideas are not the best, but it's useful. Every time I have a close call, I try to get over my reflex of believing "the other guy" was at fault. I ask myself if it was my fault, fully or partially, and even if it's not, I ask myself if there's a way to avoid what happened or at least mitigate some aspects of it. Maybe you're not as sensitive to honking sounds when you're on your bike, and that means you don't know how jarring it is to the rest of us. You don't really want to jar people's nerves, do you? And besides the fact that it's at least a little upsetting, as we've already said, it's not even necessary to honk when you're passing. So when you combine the facts that a car horn honking at a cyclist (1) is upsetting and (2) is unnecessary, that makes it a bad idea in general. Horn sounds enter a cyclist's ear much more strongly than a motorist's ear.
It almost always is, in some way. I don't mean you specifically, but any of us. I picked this post out because it seems to me to be the right answer to "having no patience with imbeciles."
Given the wrong circumstances we all act like "imbeciles" compared to someone, disturbing as that may be. And those who are frequently upset, or even constantly "shaking my head" at others, are often just missing something. Again, I don't mean OP but it's human nature. The more often we get upset or think that everyone else is acting stupidly, the more likely it is that we are overlooking something critical, or simply don't know as much as we think we do about it. So noglider's policy is a wise one: our very first reaction should be to objectively analyze the event, before making any judgement or any reaction.
#147
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Yup. Everyone is a jerk, sometimes. I am, sometimes, and so are you, sometimes (for all values of "I" and "you").
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Tom Reingold, tom@noglider.com
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“When man invented the bicycle he reached the peak of his attainments.” — Elizabeth West, US author
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#148
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Two surveys to note: 1) 2012 consumer report top driver gripes; 2) 2015 Expedia Road Rage report. Do a search on the word "bicycle". You'll find that amongst motorists they have a lot more to worry about than just bicycles.
#149
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If I hear a horn, I assume there is an impending problem. I then have to look around to see what I missed ... and if what I "missed" was a car I heard coming several seconds ago (as you do when you ride) then what happens is I am looking everywhere except back at the approaching car, trying to find the hazard of which he was warning me--and thus increasing risk for all parties.
Use your horn to warn of hazards, please. If your approaching me is not hazardous, please don't use your horn. It is like walking into a theater, seeing a friend, and shouting "Fire!!" Rarely brings good results.
As a cyclist, you know how easy it is to detect cars, and how unnecessary it is to be honked at just because a car is coming. Imagine if Everybody who passed a cyclist honked?
Anyway ... it seems to me that because you ride, you are making an extra effort to be cyclist-friendly, which I thoroughly applaud. Obviously, however, you are being misunderstood. Now that the misunderstanding has been cleared up, no more honking, right? Because the last thing you had ever wanted to do was make things harder on fellow cyclists--Just the opposite.
As for the OP---it has taken me a while, but now my immediate response to being shouted at by ignorant drivers is to smile and forget them.
Oh ,,, and thanks for the entertainment.
#150
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I think a "honk" and a "toot" (lol) are very different. A honk indicates a hazard. A toot is a heads-up.
That said, I think there's a lot of great suggestions in this thread! Travel at different times, find an alternative route with less traffic, take an anger management class. My father, recovering addict with loads of anger issues, always suggests reading The Angry Book. Its very cheap on Amazon. He had me read it years ago. I didn't even realize I had anger issues!
Though, I will say, the one thing that happens on my commute that drives me absolutely bonkers is morning joggers running in my bike lane. Pisses me off, and forces me to merge with traffic to avoid them. I got "bumped" a few weeks ago, when I merged, and a car pushed my bike tire since they didn't slow fast enough. All because a lady jogging with her baby in a giant stroller.
That said, I think there's a lot of great suggestions in this thread! Travel at different times, find an alternative route with less traffic, take an anger management class. My father, recovering addict with loads of anger issues, always suggests reading The Angry Book. Its very cheap on Amazon. He had me read it years ago. I didn't even realize I had anger issues!
Though, I will say, the one thing that happens on my commute that drives me absolutely bonkers is morning joggers running in my bike lane. Pisses me off, and forces me to merge with traffic to avoid them. I got "bumped" a few weeks ago, when I merged, and a car pushed my bike tire since they didn't slow fast enough. All because a lady jogging with her baby in a giant stroller.