I should probably stop yelling at errant motorists
 

I think of myself as a generally easygoing person, though this claim is undermined by my habit of yelling at motorists behaving badly. For example, last weekend I took my scout troop on the providence rail trail, and i could not believe the number of motorists who simply Would Not Stop at crosswalks to let them pass. So i started yelling at them to stop, loudly enough so they could hear me over their cell phones. But the kids thought I was yelling at them.

Then today, I dismounted to cross a street. The car to my left politely stopped and so i proceeded. From the other direction came some guy at high speed and clearly not looking. I stopped so he could zoom through, but i could not help but yell "stop next time!" so this guy slams on his brakes, puts his car into reverse, and proceeds to yell back about various physical characteristics of mine until the motorists trapped behind him start honking. (I'll admit I enjoyed that part...the honking)

If i had had m y airzound i would have used that I suppose. I should probably live and let live, but these morons who display shameless disregard for others really drive me nuts. Collecting license plate numbers isn't going to do anything, so i yell at them. I would appreciate alternative suggestions (not including an airzound, which i have but not one for each bike...)

I don't yell, the motorists that I encounter generally have their windows rolled up, and hand signals seem to work the best for me judging by reaction I get from many motorists.

Be aware of them enough to keep yourself safe. Beyond that, ignore them and continue to enjoy your ride.

+1. Cars will try to hit you. Pedestrians will try to hit you. Other bikers will try to hit you. It doesn't matter.

Say you lived on a farm and you had to cross in front of some sheep, and the sheep kept running across; would there be any point in yelling?

I came to the realization after years on this planet, that not everyone has the same social development. Some of us are still barely above bird-brain level.

I feel ya, bud.

Monday morning a SUV cut me off to make a left turn. I yelled out what I was thinking. Not a good idea. Especially at 4am in a bad area.

We just have to work on keeping our mouths shut, letting the little things roll off our backs and enjoying the ride.

Far be it from me to endorse yelling or blasting your Airzound at drivers (IME it only serves to escalate matters), but extra mounting clamps can be found from the manufacturer's website: http://www.deltacycle.com/Airzound-Bike-Horn.

That way you can easily mount your Airzound on any of your bikes and blast away to your heart's content. ;)

Now that's funny! :roflmao:

But shouting is fun and makes you feel better!

I shouted at two idiots today, but only one heard it and he got the message to stop blocking the road! I resisted the urge to slap the side of the other clown - he had no idea I was even there after he pulled out in front of me in that roundabout.

I modded my AirZound, it takes 90psi now and last 3x times as long. It works like a charm on cars trying to cut me off, zombies, etc.

I am simply not going to take being mistreated without at least a yell. Of course that could backfire on me eventually but it has worked for the last 5 years or so.

"When Airzound speak, everyone listen". :)

Save your breathe for the hill climb, with all due respect, just blast them with an Airzound. Honestly, when I use the Airzound, I get less argument with them. Probably something to do with the surprise they get when they realise you have a louder horn compare to the horn in their car.

I'm ordering one - Ottawa drivers are some of the worst in the world.

I would advise against yelling. Someone doing something stupid in a car may do something else stupid when you yell. The moral high road is better in the long run. If you go out expecting everyone to get our of your way, or even give you your rightful way, you are pretty naive. Just rejoice when you have a day that goes your way. Live to ride tomorrow.

I yell. Not all the time, but esp. if I see an open window. I also ride in an urban-ish setting, so there isn't much chance they'll do anything really stupid, or that it won't be observed by lots of people. I also carry lots of life insurance. :-/

I had some guy fly through making a right on red and nearly hit me so I yelled, he slams on the bakes and gets out and I stated laughing. "Seriously, you don't have time to exercise due care when turning but you have time for a fist fight?"

(And yes I was in the middle of the lane.)

Plenty nutters carry knives and guns these days. Anyone who is nutty enough to cut you up, may be daft enough to cut you. Best to just let it ride and RIDE.

Road rage is spreading to bikers. Those incidents have been with you for days. Was all that worth it?

I finally caved and bought an airzound, and mounted it up and rode with it the first time today. I so far have only set it off once, in my driveway to test it.

My review: "Ow. hurts. JFC is that loud. That's louder than car horns, significantly. Oh, and OW again." I'm glad I bought it and I haven't even really used it yet.

BTW the reason I bought it is that there seems to be some crazy in the air these days. I don't know why. I've been riding for 5 years without significant incident, but 2 weeks ago I got nearly right hooked 3 times in 5 days.

Many people are morons anymore. I think the OP should have stood in front of the guys car or played Frogger for at least a minute to really make him tardy.

you guys with airzounds - how often do you let rip... on average? :D

My girlfriend saw me yelling at a pizza delivery guy yesterday and wondered why I was doing that. We were meeting at a pizza place for lunch as the driver was leaving, and the driver was headed straight towards me while reading something. He stopped and looked puzzled when I thanked him for not running me over - I guess all my practice paid off.

this is why I almost never flip people off anymore. I've found that waving at them makes me feel better and I can forget the incident. I suppose it's passive aggressive, but it often has amusing side effects. I've never bothered to yell at anyone unless it's to try to keep them from hurting me, yelling doesn't really convey any information anyway.

There's something about a motorized glass-and-steel cage around someone that turns otherwise intelligent people into belligerent sheep.

it's a natural reaction when surprised to yell but it doesn't really do much. I got yelled at by a dad with his kids when I went through the crosswalk, no one was in it but he was surprised when he went to get his kids hands and just as he looked up from the sidewalk I shot by. I guess he didn't hear me like he heard the cars and the next thing I heard was "thanks for breaking the law!". Which really surprised me as there was a car 30' ahead of me going 20mph through the cross walk and the dad wasn't about to cross. I couldn't have stopped in time anyway.

Another time on a 30mph four lane road a car in the other lane turned left right in front of me into a parking as I"m going 20mph right towards his passenger side door. I'm guessing she was timing her turn between gaps in the cars and I just didn't fit into the computation. It was daylight and I had a bright 1watt strobe on my helmet. I managed to swerve off their right rear bumper but the look of the right side passenger as he covered his face was worth it to me. I prefer magnanimous gestures if balance and situation allows. A graceful extension of ones hand starting low palm up then extending forward indicating "but of course, right this way.

Yelling brings everyone who hasn't witnessed the altercation to a negative impression of you but for those watching the train wreck I feel it lends an impression of grace under pressure.