Originally Posted by JeffS
Riding home yesterday, some punk teenager decides to yell out the window at me, then immediately get stopped at a light. I had a few words for him on the way by. When he comes back past the second time he yells something about "get on the sidewalk". Now it gets odd.
He makes a right turn, then a u-turn to prepare to make a right turn back onto the original road, the way we were heading (maybe to make a 3rd pass at me). I didn't give it a whole lot of thought, but it struck me as odd, and pissed me off so I immediately stopped, got on the sidewalk and started walking my bike back in their direction. They quickly did another u-turn and drove away.
I guess I've never understood the mentality that would run their mouth, then piss their pants when confronted, but that seems to be the general rule around here.
I'm in the process of thinking through responses to this sort of confrontation. For many years I was belligerent, and that approach seemed to work ok, as I'm still alive at 55. Lately my main concern has been to educate the educable drivers. So I've been ignoring the drivers who merely honk their horns. I haven't had a "get on the sidewalk" driver in quite some time, but I've been working on a response which puts forth in a grandfatherly manner that:
1) The law is with me regarding my right to the road
2) The driver really needs to learn how to pass properly
3) Relax, chill out, there's really little need to get frustrated by real or perceived obstructions in the road.
Larry