i have doubted that shouting back at them is going to lessen it either. i don't confront - confronting i see as pounding on their window - which i've seen. there are crazy people on the roads (both cyclists and motorists), but mostly there are people just transiting. and when i do yell back it's to wake people up from behind that windshield view that we are people. several of these people driving think it's perfectly reasonable to speed and think they own the road and cyclists do not belong among other things - just, no. what you do on the road has an impact on people.

yes people in cars who honk do not hear their own honking and quite possibly do not know how bad it is - but does that excuse them from it? no. absolutely no.

so my choices are shouting back vs. let myself and my child be honked at? we're already vulnerable. so far the responses i've seen are shame on the part of the driver, and shirking back and letting me transit. so i'm going to continue this experiment and see how it pans out.