Do you have hissy fits on the road?
 

At one time, I used to blow up at every close call, yell at drivers, give the finger salute... it seemed like everyone was pushing me off the road.

I just realized lately that I haven't exploded in a while. Maybe even years. I probably have the same risk and exposures, but I just don't....

Have I made peace with my lot? Or are cars more aware? Or is it safer nowadays?

What gives?

Maybe you are just getting OLD :50:

I suppose I used to worry about other people's driving. Now I just worry about my own driving/riding.

I'm a total silent road rager, I'll admit it. When my wife is in the car with me she always tells me I need to take my Lexapro :twitchy: I'm trying to get better about it, but it's not easy.

I rarely explode at drivers ... I just never have. Smile and wave. :)



And as for more aware or safer ... I wouldn't say that, but it depends on the area.

I don't know about gerv, but I think that's it for me. Nowadays, I'm always telling my son to "let it go". We both used to to have pretty hot tempers and we would be in there together during a road incident. I remember literally punching a motorist (in self-defense) who first almost ran us over, then came at us with raised fists when we called him a couple choice names. Nowadays, that stuff doesn't usually bother me, but it still gets to my son. I'm 60 and he's 40, which I think is the explanation.

Years ago, while riding, I was making a legal left turn in front of a driver, who began honking his horn and flashing his lights. Well, I flashed him the finger and yelled a few choic words at him, and continued my ride. The next day, a co-worker started laughing when he saw me. I asked him what was so funny and he said, "You didn't know it was me, but yesterday you were riding your bike, waving your finger around, and cussing like a drunken sailor. And I had my wife and my little son in the car with me." He was the driver of the car, and was honking and flashing his lights just to say hello! :o

I felt so humiliated by my bad behavior. This was really one of the turning points that made me try to be less angry and reactive, both in traffic and in life in general. That is, I try hard, I don't always succeed, but at least I'm a lot better about apologizing when I do slip up.

Well, I take exception to the term "hissy fit," :lol: but I guess I'm not as innocent of that kind of behavior as if like to be.

That said, it is very rare that any driver does anything to really annoy me, but when they do (twice in the last few years) I still feel compelled to let them know.

I can actually only think of two occasions where I kind of lost it toward a driver:

1) I was standing at a red light with my bicycle. I had leaned down to adjust something and when I stood up again, the light was green so I started across. Just then a car roared over the top of the incline (the intersection was at the bottom of a dip in the road), right through the red light. I had seconds to turn my bicycle and avoid being run over. He saw me at the last second, slammed on the brakes, and ended up on the meridian in the middle of the road. I marched over and let him know what I thought of the whole situation. His response ... he was late. The worst part ... he had a small child in the passenger seat.

2) My father and I were cycling along on a reasonably wide, absolutely empty country road with good sight lines. We had been riding side by side, but when we heard a car coming, my father was in the process of moving behind me. The driver decided to take it upon himself to teach us ... but me in particular ... a lesson about riding on the road ..... and deliberately attempted to run me off the road, slowly but surely. He got along side me, and just kept moving over and moving over and moving over until I was in danger of falling into the ditch. Of course my father saw what was going on, rode up to the guy's window and started screaming at him. At the same time I gave the car a good kick which startled the driver. We both rode up in front of the car to stop it, and then let him know what we thought of the situation. He told us he saw us riding side by side, and just wanted to teach us a lesson to respect the cars and leave them lots of room ... by making me fall in the ditch. He was an older guy, so my father laid the ... "how would you feel if some idiot tried to hurt your daughter" ... on him, and he almost broke down in tears and was so apologetic.

For the funeral? (Him and his passenger?) Worst bit is it could've easily been yours too. Thankfully it wasn't.

I've had my run ins, but so far I've just let it go. They're rare and minor so far. About the only time was when a council tried to take me out: I complained to the council about that one.

I think things have changed for the better. It's not the 90s any more, when people would deliberately drive at me and the police would do nothing about it.

I ride to relax, not blow up at ignorant people. The only time I'll get in someone's face is if I feel like my life is in danger or they've attempted to hurt me or anyone I'm with. It was hard when I was younger because I'm capable of bringing most people to the ground, but as I've aged I've learned that having great power requires greater control. Life is too short to get angry at the small stuff. My car broke down in rush hour traffic, in the center lane, of course. I laughed. DOT truck stopped and pushed me to the curb - he waited until the police arrived, the cop waited until the tow truck arrived. Turns out the tow driver's grandfather owned a place my dad used to eat at in college. He also worked on my buds Jeep (my bud Johnny is a drummer in a dead head band here) , he was happy to meet someone with similar music interests. I could've cursed and yelled all day. It was quite a nice day, I met some very good people who helped me out. Throwing a fit wouldn't have fixed my car.

Nowadays they are just distracted by their phones. But yes... mostly things are better. I think most would agree.

Blew up at another cyclist today for buzzing my dog while passing between us, walking, and another cyclist who was parallel. Too many people using bikes not to use rules of the road on the multi use paths. Why folks need to have death before altering behaviors is the issue.

When I was younger, I might have done just what you did. Okay, I did give a few one finger waves, but not very often. I'm more inclined to simply call poor motorists morons (often just under my breath) and move on.

However, one fine day I was riding on a street with a door-zone bike lane. Naturally, I was riding in the middle of the travel lane to stay out of the door zone. A pick-up came up behind me and honked its horn. While I was tempted to respond negatively, but I just pointed at the parked cars and rode on in the lane until there were no more parked cars, at which point I moved into the bike lane. The driver pulled up alongside me, matched speed and rolled down the passenger window to chat. At that point I noticed his young child and was thankful that I hadn't made any obscene gestures or yelled anything. I explained the risk of the door zone and he thanked me for the information and drove off. It was a pleasantly civil encounter, even if it did start with a honking horn.

And the driver might have honked his horn because he thought you were unaware of being in the traffic lane, and he sincerely wanted to warn you. The important thing is, you both handled it well and he even learned a little about bicycling in the process. :)

I'm sure your own behavior was faultless, but many pedestrians also exhibit rude and dangerous behavior on the MUPs. I blame a serious design flaw. Pedstrians and bicyclists should not be expected to share the same 5 foot strip of path in crowded areas. Nowadays, the best design standards call for separate paths for bikes and walkers. This makes a lot of sense to me, especially in crowded areas like city centers and recreation areas.

I only get irritable or impatient on the road when I'd driving a car.

Never. I just keep my head down and follow the road, I couldn't care less what drivers do/say around me so long as they share the road like they're supposed to.