Originally Posted by antonius
Then (as I had posted in a separate thread) I had a vehicle run into me in a designated cycle lane and push me into the ditch. That's when I lost it. I was so disgusted that I let this driver have it. I even kicked his van. He had stopped and rolled down his window but didn't offer any assistance and then drove off. Stupid idiot. And then I didn't note his license plate. My glasses were too fogged up. I really felt lousy after that, wishing that I had handled it better. But I was so pissed about being run into within a designated cycling lane. Chris L. - how do you deal with this?
Fortunately there aren't too many designated cycle lanes on my current commute. I have no issue riding outside of the cycle lanes that do exist on my commute if I feel the need to give myself some space (which is what it's all about on the road). I believe giving myself that space allowed me to avoid a collision with that dropkick in Surfers last week. Just a question, how wide exactly was that cycle lane?
Unfortunately, kicking his van probably didn't help much, even if it was a perfectly natural reaction under the circumstances. He probably now thinks he got away with it so he can do it again. It's hard to stay calm the whole time, but that really is the only way to deal with it. Write down their number and pay a friendly visit to your local police officer. It helps if you ride a few km to calm down before you get there. The cops could probably inflict more damage than a kick to the van ever could.