Yes, not a rational response.

However, an understandable response.

I commend and thank Treespeed for sharing this experience, owning it, and exposing himself to criticism.
I have learned much from this whole discussion.

The typical American automobile and driver, taken together, strike me as "irrational."

1.2 Million people a year die in automobile accidents; mostly because of arrogance, convenience, laziness, ignorance, selfishness, inconsideration, egoism, and compensation for personal insecurity.

I think we perfectly imperfect bicyclists represent the standard of mental health, and not automobile drivers, even if we bicyclists do at times behave "irrationally."

It would surprise me if, given a few minutes and the intent, I couldn't get even someone as rational as BikinginSeattle to behave "irrationally" in the face of my self-important rudeness.

Yes, we all feel very rational and composed when seated at our computers, imagining someone else's situation and how we, with the luxury of hindsight-imagination, would have behaved so much better and more wisely.

Every time I ride my bike I do something "irrational," and from which I learn and grow as a person.

Personally, I find female relational aggressors (also known as bullies), who bank on my good behavior to protect them from the consequences of their own bad behavior, particularly enfuriating.

Many years ago, a friend got off a plane in a West Coast American city, having just returned from Vietnam.
As he left the debarkation area, a young woman spit on him and called him "baby killer."
To which he responded, "I don't know about any babies, Ma'am, but yesterday afternoon I killed a woman about your age."