I wonder wtf the guy was thinking, I mean, if he had actually managed to crush you with his car, the scratches on his car would have been Much worse than the keying you gave him.

Crazy road rage... guy's clearly mentally unstable.

On the plus side, his anger issues made him run into a stopped car, which while unfortumate for the other guy, Will go on record against him and may help with getting him off the road (if he has other rage induced accidents). I doubt the same would have happened if all he had hit was you on your bicycle then run off...

I've confronted a motorist when extremely angry before, and that was unproductive and dangerous.

I've confronted another when the situation was clearly in my favor when I was calm, and that went really well (the car ended up stuck at a light, the driver and his girlfriend were too sheepish and embarrassed to look me in the eye) but that was a rarity.

I generally don't confront. Too many ways to go seriously wrong. Too few that end up productive.

I don't usually confront motorists but I have been confronted by them a few times. Once a truck driver told me he knew where it was "safest" for me to ride, (out of his way, lol) because he was "a professional". Another guy told me he knew the laws regarding cyclists better than me because he was "a lawyer". No minds were changed in either confrontation, but both were quite civil, with no yelling or cursing.

The few times that I did want to yell and curse at a motorist I wasn't able to catch up.

Hmm if I lived in LA I'd probably recommend against confronting motorists, an acquaintance told me he did and the driver pulls a gun out of the glove box (of course he ran away quickly at this point!)

In Toronto where I don't fear getting shot at for confronting a motorist, I still don't feel any good can come of it. Usually if they are a prick enough to try to run you off the road, then they are going to be even more of a prick when confronted. The exception where it might be useful is for someone who was unaware of you rather than actively aggressively towards you. But still human nature being what it is nobody likes to be confronted Once, and only once, a driver rolled down their window (without me confronting them first) and said sorry...

So I usually just stick with funny faces, or knocking on the car if it passing me close enough for me to do that. I also just like catching up with them because they usually know what they've done and if the light is red they usually fear retribution. They seem in an awful hurry not to have to wait beside you.

Not wise , many of them are armed and mentally challenged.... Besides, when not in traffic they can out run you. Still, when i've taken more from them that I can handle; I have snapped.

It seems this year any time the weather changes someone tries to use me for target practice. Guy in a pickup with a snow plow last week, punk in a SUV later that day. Woman in a little something this morning.

It's usually on this 35mph road where they usually do 45-50, so I rarely catch up to them. If I do I pull along side, point my helmet light in their face and just give them the stare...No sense talking to them as they have already proved their ignorance.

Wow! Lucky they had second thoughts. Your right about watching the numbers. 3v1 is not a good situation. Especially carrying so much weight, you prolly only had about 15 seconds of fight in you. Be carfull out there. There are some nasty people always looking for a go at someone.

Have gone through phases of riding 'angry' and 'reisgned'. Have done my share of 'confronting', 'letting it go', and 'reasoned discussion at the next traffic light'. Have come to the conclusion after over 20 years of cycle-commuting that it's not worth it. My commute is rural and I ride strapped, but it seems that after SO many 'catcalls', 'wolf-whistles', 'get off the roads', 'nice clothes, p***y', etc., etc., etc., it all has turned into 'white noise' and I just, sort of cruise though it on a separate plain of existance. Not trying to wax esoteric or zen-like, but I feel like I'm 'detached' in some way. Unless someone, literally gets out of their vehicle and advances towards me aggressively(in which case they're in for a small, but HUGE surprise), nothing seems to bother me anymore. And this has been a recent development...maybe over the last few months. Don't remember the exact date, but suddenly the yells and whistles don't 'penetrate' like before.

Not since I had my doc increase my Paxil dosage.

I don't. It's better for my sanity if I just let things go.

as a side note, I live in L.A. like the O.P. (unless he means Louisiana) and hardly ever get yelled at.. I don't think I ever have actually. I've had about 4 honks in about a 9 month span, but that's about it. But then L.A.'s a big town, I suppose it depends on what part of it you're riding in.

Back when I was young and stupider, i was almost run off the road, I managed to find the car shortly thereafeter at a beach parking lot. the driver had left the keys in the car, so I took them!, then had second thoughts. It turns out there were several guys who were by then on their way back to the car. I had been planning to throw the keys into the sand at the beach, instead, I waited for them to get back to the car, of course they were like WTF! I told them they almost nailed me, they claimed not to have seen me. I gave the keys back. I wonder if they felt lucky to get their keys back?
Its a common response when I have confronted motorists, they say they didn't see me. At 6"5' Im hard to miss, so either they are lying or oblivious drivers.

So to respond to the original question, very rarely do I ever get a chance to confront a motorist, usually I cannot catch them, there are not enough stop signs or lights around here, (but that's OK!) I hardley ever get any hostility, just scary close calls, like passing 1 foot from me at a 25 mph speed difference. When I have had the opportunity to confront them, I just ask if they saw me and that I need more space than 1 foot between them and me.

One woman who nearly took me out drove into a parking lot, parked and continued a conversation on her cell. I rode up to her, she looked at me blankly and continued to talk. I squirted the window with water from my bottle, she continued to talk. Finally she rolled down the window and told me that her uncle just died. I just told her I was sorry but she should shut up and drive or she might kill someone.

"I didn't see you" isn't an excuse. It's an admission that the driver is not actually qualified to operate a motor vehicle on public roads. If either their eyesight or their concentration isn't sufficient to navigate the roads without being a mortal danger to other legitimate road users, they shoudn't be on the road.

i lived in texass long ago and found the cowboys to be very bike-hostile.

Could not agree more. There really has to be some better public accountability when it comes to aggressive/reckless/blind driving. If drivers were appropriately punished for actions that kill or injure people or have the potential to do so, I know it would take a lot of the anger out of me. Part of what gets me so roweled up sometimes is watching person after person operate what are essentially deadly weapons in a careless manner with NO consequence. I recently had a conversation about this with a police officer. He told me that there are so many people who get into accidents, kill people with their cars, and do a myriad of other stupid things behind the wheel and DON'T lose their licenses. WTF?!?! If licenses were revoked more quickly and not passed out like candy, something tells me people would CALM down.

Someone in another thread said they only hear "LEROY JENKINS" when people yell. I have tried to follow suit. Anyway, it annoys them much more if you laugh at them than if you fight back.

Most of the problems I have with drivers (in a car or on a bike) are juveniles of all ages who are trying to intimidate me to look cool or stroke their egos. They don't look as cool or feel as tough if they're intimidating a woman or kid. Just funny looking men on bikes.

I agree with this. There are two kinds of drivers who endanger me. You can talk to the reckless ones but you can't talk to the angry ones. Actually I don't think anything will get through to the angry ones. Even if you find some way to hurt them(keying their car) or to apply leverage (finding out where they live) it will just make them more angry. Then they will beat their kids or something. Psychotic people are psychotic.

For many of the reasons mentioned above, I think that it is a very bad idea to get into it with a motorist. Not only is it dangerous because you don't know what they will do (do they have a weapon, and are having a bad day?), but it also sets them up to be extra nasty to cyclists in the future.

I feel like I'm an ambassador for all cyclists in the area. If possible, I want them to think twice about what they are doing the next time that they get into a similar situation. I've found that being civilized counts for a lot in this situation. Usually I just wave and make non-threatening eye contact. That is usually enough to calm them down.

If they insist on getting into it verbally with me (it has happened), I respectfully disagree with them about the law/safety issue at hand, let them know that I think that people (me, them, everybody) are a lot more important than getting somewhere in a big damn hurry. I'm not in it to win an argument. I'm in it to not get me or someone else hit by this bozo the next time that he is having a bad day behind the wheel. Later that night, when they re-play the situation in their head, I think that most people will recognize what I DID NOT do, that could have made the situation worse. Being nice but firm never hurts. Never.

I do worry about those situations where the other guy is going to get physical no matter what. It has only happened to me once (about 20 years ago), but I hear about it happening every now and then. If they are willing to get physical, you don't know what they are going to do next. When it gets physical, usually one or both guys end up visiting the hospital AND the local jail.

Being hurt or in jail sounds like no fun at all to me. No fun at all.

I just wanted to add something to this thread that I forgot to earlier. After all the road rage incidents that I'd been involved in, the thought occured to me that the only common element in all these events was me. That I was also the only element that I could control.

Someone earlier mentioned about being Zen whilst on the bike. I find I get into that headspace way more on the bike than I used to. Also, these sorts of thing don't only happen on bikes. These kinda things also happen when I'm out on my motorcycle as well.

People aren't thinking about thoses of us out on two wheels because most of them haven't tried riding a bike in traffic or haven't been on a bike in so long that we just don't register. Personally, I think it would be great if there was some kind of graduated licensing wherein people had to ride bicycles on the road first and then after a set period of time, they could move up to cars. I know it would never happen, but it's a nice thought.

Hmm. That's an excellent way to think of it. Control what's yours to control.

I do have to add, however...

..."Zen" is the name of a set of esoteric practices related to a belief system. Simply being contemplative, thoughtful, at peace or focused is not "being Zen". Sorry, pet peeve of mine.

Like it or not, usage dictates meaning. "Zen" now also means contemplative, thoughtful, at peace, focused to the many millions of people who use it that way and are easily understood by everybody else.

I actually believe you do have the right to your own facts, but since you disagree, you've overruled yourself on this one.

Yeah, I sounded all mature and "Zen" in my previous post, but I ride a lot like I'm on the edge of road rage all the time. I get impatient with people that don't go at stop signs after 2-3 seconds of sitting there and staring at me when they have the right-of-way, stop behind people and tap my handlebars when they pull just past me at an intersection and then decide they will wait to let me go first before they turn right (once a car passes me it STAYS in front of me, PERIOD), and I can also be kind of rude when I'm passing college students on cruiser bikes if they are talking on their cell phones and weaving all over the bike lane at under 10 mph.

I learned how to drive on the east coast, and that "get the hell out of the way, or get run over" mentality never really went all the way away. I'm good with the verbal confrontation stuff, but I kind of drive my bicycle like a jerk sometimes.

I was getting yelled at in Santa Fe.

Rarely anyone yells at me in Albuquerque.

But this is an open carry state ... so I take advantage of the laws here.

I have had a Dump truck drive ride my rear tire for about 500m to the red light. He was on the horn the entire way, it's a 4 lane road (2 each way), plenty of room for him to go around. At the light, he was half-way out of the cab when I offered him the stare. It worked! I'm 5'8" and 160 lbs, not scary at all.

I have also had a lady tell me to get off the road since I was not a car! I told her that the Ontario Highway Traffic Act says I have to be here, and told her she needs to read it.

For a smaller city the others, Hamilton sure has some angry, cycling-unfriendly drivers!

not motorists but dog walkers who don't pick up their mutt's mess, i once got so angry at one surly dog walker who rudely refused to pick it up i grappled him down and rubbed his face in it!

quote john sparrow; "that indefatigable and unsavoury engine of pollution, the dog!"