In most of my altercations with drivers I most often look back and think I could have handled it better. I rode for a couple years in a very bicycle-hostile city, my goal of every day was to NOT get honked at on my commute. I guess I'm spoiled now because if I get honked at now, it's only because I may have cut off a car, Anyway one time I was honked at; I rode up to the truck on the passenger side and explained to them I am a legally allowed to ride in the streets as a vehicle. They yelled at me, as was usual, so at the next red light I rode to the driver side. The man was about to yell at me when I gather up a huge loogie and spit bullseye in his face on the arch of his nose. As I was riding off I cut him off and he started revving his engine. When he got the green light, he caught up with me and tried running me over. I ducked out onto the sidewalk, and they caught up with me on the road twice after, each time trying to run me over. I had to duck out in a residential street because at this point they were chasing me. It felt GREAT to spit on his face and see him in full surprise! I know member son this board will say that cyclists shouldn't add to the Driver Vs. Cyclist mentality but when you are hassled and yelled at every single day for months straight, you really begin to profile every driver as an *******.
I still see this every day, I still do think that driving is unhealthy and promotes stress and causes neighbors to hate each other when I see drivers yelling at other drivers. the car is just an unhealthy machine, physically and mentally.
Oh and once I got on this guy's ass because he pulled up too far in an intersection when I was on a crosswalk. I have to say I wasn't very civil. the confrontation ended when a 300lb man got out of the car and was ready to throw down. But man drivers in this city ****ing sucked. I got ran over on an average of once every two months as a pedestrain, on foot, crossing legally.
whew, I feel good talking about it. But I can say that ever since I moved to Austin, I haven't had any negative incidents with drivers because they respect my right to the road. So I respect them.