The same could be said for anyone, whether you're on the road as a driver, motorcyclist, cyclist, pedestrian. If a pedestrian got hit by an inattentive driver would you say "you knew the risks when you walked out the front door"? Are all road users dumbasses for going on the road and not expecting to get smacked/injured/killed by drivers who fail to perform basic visual checks?
I understand accidents happen, often, but accidents due to negligence are preventable and inexcusable. While you're totally fine laughing it off and moving on with your day, there's nothing wrong with saying "Hey, look where you're going, you could have seriously hurt me!". If drivers think that near misses with vulnerable road users is okay, they won't learn to pay more attention until they actually do kill someone, at which point it's too late. Your incident was at a low speed 3-way stop sign, so your "meh" attitude may be fitting (since you were likely in little to no danger). However, I'd be curious to see what your feeling would be after a more dangerous encounter, after you realize you could have easily lost life or limb, and the driver gives you a "friendly wave and nervous smile SOORRRRY".
If all cyclists were as laissez-faire about this issue, and noone played the "what if game", there would be no attempts at raising awareness with drivers to pay more attention on the road, and the roads would be even more dangerous. Especially for those who are more vulnerable and who have an equal right/equal expectation of being alive and well from point A to point B. Luckily for everyone, there are people worried about the "wrong stuff".
I can't comment whether we, as a whole (society? the world?), are too accepting of distracted driving. The enacting of more "distracted driving"-style laws would seem to indicate we (at least in some areas) are becoming less tolerant of distracted driving.
What I am saying is you can't blame a cyclist for being angry that they were almost smeared across the pavement because a driver was texting or just plain being stupid. I would say that the OP is too accepting of distracted/inattentive driving, not because he let the driver go without getting angry, but because getting angry at an inattentive driver is apparently akin to a cowboy getting angry with the bull that bucked him off. If everyone had that attitude (specifically drivers) the roads would be far more dangerous than they are now.
You make a lot of good points.
My bull rider analogy was a bad one.
Road users are dumbasses if they don't understand that there is a chance, although slight, that they will be run over/smacked/hit or whatever you call it. Acting as if you will never have an accident is naive.
Accepting that you will have an accident is what I'm getting at. Being glad that nothing happened when it could have. That was the point I was trying to make.
I've been hit by a car. I was 6 and it screwed me up pretty bad. Not that it has a place in this discussion since I was on foot, but I know what its like to be hit by a Buick going 40. It sucks.
Trust me, I've gotten mad at a lot of people while commuting. I've done things I won't admit to online to drivers who have done stupid things that could have gotten me hurt. Most of them were intentional. I don't forgive intentional acts. Ask the guy on the Harley what happens when you buzz me. Ask the trucker who threatened to run me over at the red light because I was in his way.
I don't like getting mad at mistakes because I've made plenty myself. Even if I do get mad, I try to cool off and forgive as quickly as possible. What this guy did, or didn't do
, was a simple mistake and nothing more. We've all made similar mistakes in our lives, whether driving, or cycling, or walking, or whatever. This guy caught his mistake and took corrective actions before an incident even occurred. That's why I was so non-chalant about it. Nothing happened.
I don't like discussing what could have happened because IT DIDN'T HAPPEN. Yes I would have reacted differently had it been more serious and the occasion called for it. BUT THIS INCIDENT DIDN'T CALL FOR IT.
That was another point I was trying to make. I'm talking about what did happen and you are talking about what could have happened, or what happened at another time or place. Its hard to discuss things when both people are talking about different incidents. No two encounters are the same, and we as humans will all react differently in these different situations.
If you chose to get mad, then go for it, but don't go around telling others they should get mad also.
One last thing, If I made it sound like I was "blame(ing) a cyclist for being angry that they were almost smeared across the pavement because a driver was texting or just plain being stupid," then I apologize. I didn't mean to come across like that. The cowboy analogy was supposed to be about knowing the dangers. It wasn't supposed to shame someone for being angry after an accident.