Originally Posted by
jefmcg
So I tell him "Stop". Actually, being a little excited at this point, I say "Stop. Jesus!" as in "WTF are you doing". He stops, I move past him, back into my lane and he passes me a few seconds later. And loudly gives me two honks of his horn.
Yelling at motorists is an important tactic to have in your bag of tricks. It seems like I go through periods where I have to do it a lot, and periods where I almost never have to. Sometimes it's in situations you describe where I've made eye contact, and that seems to almost always come down to the driver thinking all bikes are limited to about 3 mph, but usually it's when a driver acts like they haven't seen you, and is about to do something illegal and dangerous. ( For example, some guy tried to merge into my place in my lane while I was commuting home, and stopped for a moment when he heard a booming "HEY!" )
Also, it's not unusual for drivers to use their horn in pretty much the same way a gorilla uses his fists against his chest.