Originally Posted by Sprocket Man (Post 9893701)

Be wary of signs of aggression, but don't engage. Don't yell, don't hit their car, don't stare them down, don't flip the bird. Don't smile and wave and don't say "Hi" (which is passive-aggressive and likely to make them even more upset).

You may not get that smug feeling of self-satisfaction by not doing these things, but it will help keep you safe.

If you lash out in any way to a motorist, you are not teaching them a lesson. Do you really think that you'll flip them the bird then all of a sudden, they'll say, "You know, I should really start looking out for cyclists more."? No, you're making them upset, and solidifying their "us against them" type of thinking.

If they get mad at you because you're the one at fault, give the driver a quick wave and say "sorry", then be on your way.

Sorry if I'm spoiling the fun, but I once yelled an obscenity to a driver who almost hit me (it was his fault) and he went absolutely ballistic. He even drove the wrong way down a one way street to try to catch me - smashing a few parked cars in the process. I have no doubt that he would have killed me if I had stopped or he had caught me.

Stay safe. You owe it to yourself and the people who care about you.

Originally Posted by jdon (Post 9903853)

I try not to say anything. I just pull out my cell and take their picture. That confuses them every time.

Originally Posted by substructure (Post 9907914)

It usually goes like this (now pay attention):

Cager slows to yell at me through the passenger window: "Hey, Bozo! Get off the road before you get run over" Gasses it and drowns out any retort I could have come up with. And by the time I think of anything he's long gone. So I wave. Which if I have my Lobster gloves on really looks odd and he thinks I'm a Trekkie.

Originally Posted by coasting (Post 9907712)

i haven't had a chance to use this yet but how about, "yeah? what are you going to do about it? run me over?"

Originally Posted by Sprocket Man (Post 9893701)

Be wary of signs of aggression, but don't engage. Don't yell, don't hit their car, don't stare them down, don't flip the bird. Don't smile and wave and don't say "Hi" (which is passive-aggressive and likely to make them even more upset).

You may not get that smug feeling of self-satisfaction by not doing these things, but it will help keep you safe.

If you lash out in any way to a motorist, you are not teaching them a lesson. Do you really think that you'll flip them the bird then all of a sudden, they'll say, "You know, I should really start looking out for cyclists more."? No, you're making them upset, and solidifying their "us against them" type of thinking.

If they get mad at you because you're the one at fault, give the driver a quick wave and say "sorry", then be on your way.

Sorry if I'm spoiling the fun, but I once yelled an obscenity to a driver who almost hit me (it was his fault) and he went absolutely ballistic. He even drove the wrong way down a one way street to try to catch me - smashing a few parked cars in the process. I have no doubt that he would have killed me if I had stopped or he had caught me.

Stay safe. You owe it to yourself and the people who care about you.

Originally Posted by siberian (Post 9896372)

There is one other comeback that I have used but not while riding. I was driving my car and was once cut off into the shoulder and nearly put into the wall by a driver on the highway who wouldn't let me merge in from an on ramp. He deliberately refused to speed up or slow down to allow me space to merge in either in front or behind him. As I was merging I tried to adjust my speed to get behind him. He looked right at me and deliberately slowed down to match my speed. So at first I thought he was letting me in front of him... so I sped up to merge in. He then sped up to stay right next to me. It was definitely a deliberate act on his part. Eventually I ran out of room and he literally jerked over slightly into the shoulder and tried to run me into a wall. There was no reason for this other than this guy didn't like my car or he just caught his wife blowing the mail man or something.

Now I am not the road rage type. That is a deadly proposition I don't want to get involved in. But I just couldn't let this one go. I had to do something. I decided to get revenge in an anonymous and non-confrontational sort of way. So I finally managed to catch up to him and took down his license plate. I then called a close friend of mine who was a cop and asked him to run his plates and give me his name and home address. Over the next couple weeks I started going to magazine racks and grabbing the subscription cards from god knows how many different magazines, ranging from Sports illustrated to Time to Better Homes and Gardens to some of the most vile and disgusting porn you could ever imagine. If there was a card inside, I grabbed it. If I had to guess, I'd say there were at least 30 or 40. I filled out the subscription cards with his name and address and checked the "Bill me later" box. Now if you've ever in your life had to endure the frustration of the epic and monumental task of trying to cancel a magazine subscription, you would understand the magnitude of what I must have put this ******* through. To put this in perspective let's just put it this way... If you've ever seen the Lord of the Rings you would remember what Froto Baggins went through on his journey to Mordor. Attempting to cancel a single magazine subscription makes that look like a walk in the park. Now imagine trying to cancel 30 or 40. This happened about ten years ago. I'll bet that d00sh-bag is still getting junk mail and telemarketing phone calls up the a$$ to this very day.

Now while I don't condone committing mail fraud my any means, I gotta say I never in my life felt as sassified with a comeback or vengeful act as I did when I pulled that one off. Would I ever do it again? Probably not.

Originally Posted by TRaffic Jammer (Post 9907776)

"GOOOOOOAAAAAAAAL!!!!!!! " as I cleave the drivers' side mirror off the Pontiac 6000, leaving it hanging by a servo wire. We'd diced in traffic for about 7-10 blocks and he'd had his tries to side me into the parked cars, to the point I rode through a parking spot, hopped the curb, sidewalked a wee bit then back to the road. He'd lost me in his mirrors, and I knew he was coming up on a red. So,... I lined him up and took the mirror off screaming the above like a World cup Soccer announcer. Hit the wrong way one way for 50 m to turn down an other street.... ah the good ol' days.