"I'll cut off your middle finger" she said

[tourunigo]

:stick .... ok, I admit it. I feel compelled, under certain vehicular situations, to express, through street signing, my displeasure. On the eve of our pending six week journey, Mary wanted to be sure that I clearly understood one of her major 'rules of the road': do not flip (and variations of that theme) your displeasure to others using the same road you are on. Flipping, head shaking and a circular finger motion at the helmet are actions for which I am periodically guilty. Getting better at not doing this but, like that Alan Jackson song says "I'm a work in progress". I listened as she outlined, with increasing emphasis, the range of weaponry which could be thrust upon us because of my moron attitude. Rising to my own defense, I did what was most appropriate....:bow

She's right. I can't be the only one to have this sort of response style/attitude. What do you do? Did you ever wish that you kept that flip to yourself? -Bob

[Belquar]

I have a short hit on the horn once to a vehicle that ran a stopsign and nearly hit me. Dude slams on the brakes and melts down right in front of me. Starts flipping out in the cab of his truck. Started elbowing the back glass. Broke that and then got out of his truck and approached my vehicle. We just sat there looking on in disbelief at the guy. He obviously had some issues. After some freaking out in the road and waving his arms in the air he jumped back in his truck and sped away.

Sometimes it just ain't worth it. I contemplated getting out of my vehicle, but confrontation would have only led to injury on one or both parts and probably jail for one or both. Just not worth it.

His temper will already cost him money for replacing that window he broke on his truck.

In life it is almost always better to take the high road.

[Rapid_Roy]

I don't, but I knew that, oddly enough. Go figure.:scratch

[jdmetzger]

About a year or two ago I posted on here about an incident I had. I was riding on the highway and some moron in a Dodge Ram, weaving through traffic, on a cell phone, in light rain changed lanes into me. I got out of the way, but honked and flipped him off. Further down the road I passed him and shook my head. That was all - no sharp lane change in front of him or anything. Moron boy ended up following me off the highway and onto a residential street (not mine - I saw him). I went down, turned onto a more major street, and then turned into another neighborhood across from mine (I was within a minute of my house). He gave up. There are some crazies out there, and it's probably not worth it, but VERY, VERY hard to hold back, sometimes.

It seems some people have a big problem with people letting them know they have made a mistake. An "I'm sorry" wave would have gone a long way. I guess everyone is infallible and it was my fault for being in the lane he wanted to be in.

Coming back from the RA rally last year, I had a woman change lanes into me on the highway. It was close, but not SUPER close. I got out of the way, honked, and let her know she was number one. A short distance down the road I passed her and gave her "the look". My two friends behind me on their bikes did the same; one giving her the "shame" finger wag, as well. I was told she didn't look pleased. In that case, she was outnumbered and didn't want anything to do with us, though. :)

[Mongo]

I have my moments

I'm trying to not be as confrontational these days but dang sometimes it's so hard.

[Rapid_Roy]

I was coming home from Martial Arts class, and it was snowing bad. The roads were covered, and somebody was riding down the middle of both lanes of a four lane road. It widened by the bridge over the river, so I passed the person, who was also going very slow. They started beeping and flashing lights, I think they were unhappy with me for passing them. I did not cut them off, it appeared they were trying to keep everybody behind them.
I pulled in the driveway, hit the garage door opener, and pulled right in the garage.
I saw a car pull in the end of the driveway. I got out of the car in my Shaolin outfit, carrying my staff, and stood at the end of our van smiling at the car, in the glare of their headlights. I am 6'2", so the top of the garage door was near my head. The car sat there a minute, and then they backed out and drove away. I wonder what they wanted.:laugh Lucky, I haven't worked up to broad sword or Guando. Those are really intimidating to see. Ideally, I do not confront people, but I have flipped some off over the years.

[BeemerMike]

When I am riding a motorcyle on the street, I follow two rules to direct my conduct and riding style:

1. I am invisible and none of the other drivers and riders out there can see me.

2. The other drivers who can see me are trying to hit me.

"Road gestures" would likely just increase #2, so no road gestures. Maybe a short horn blast or headlight flash to make sure they see me . . . but no road gestures. :hide

[hlothery]

I was coming home from Martial Arts class, and it was snowing bad. The roads were covered, and somebody was riding down the middle of both lanes of a four lane road. It widened by the bridge over the river, so I passed the person, who was also going very slow. They started beeping and flashing lights, I think they were unhappy with me for passing them. I did not cut them off, it appeared they were trying to keep everybody behind them.
I pulled in the driveway, hit the garage door opener, and pulled right in the garage.
I saw a car pull in the end of the driveway. I got out of the car in my Shaolin outfit, carrying my staff, and stood at the end of our van smiling at the car, in the glare of their headlights. I am 6'2", so the top of the garage door was near my head. The car sat there a minute, and then they backed out and drove away. I wonder what they wanted.:laugh Lucky, I haven't worked up to broad sword or Guando. Those are really intimidating to see. Ideally, I do not confront people, but I have flipped some off over the years.

That's a great story.:clap :clap :clap My only wish is that I had been a fly in his car to see the expression on his face. :bolt

[glurkus]

They started beeping and flashing lights, I think they were unhappy with me for passing them. I did not cut them off, it appeared they were trying to keep everybody behind them.


I have encountered many drivers like this during my 35,000 miles a year I travel commuting to work. I think that they think they are world's safest drivers, and they are saving the world from being bad drivers.
I have dozens of stories of road rage that I could share. Most of it is caused by someone cruising the left lane blocking traffic and refusing to move over, similar to Rapid Roy's encounter.
I had one incident in Wyoming a few summers back. I had a guy tailgating me for miles on a two lane highway west of Sheridan heading for Cody. I was going 75 in a posted 70 zone. The guy finally decides to pass me and slows down to 70. I'm like WTF, and go to pass him. He speeds up to to over 90 to keep me from passing and slows back down below 70 in the no passing zones. We come to a flag man in a construction zone and our lane has to stop. I get out to confront this guy on why he is playing games with me. He would not look me in the eye an mumbled something about the speed limit is 70. I asked him if he was a cop. He didn't answer. I said that I'm sorry you're offended that I was traveling 5 miles an hour over the limit, but your speeding up to keep me from passing is dangerous and stupid. Are you drunk, stoned or just stupid?
I got back in the car and the first opportunity I passed him and he stayed way behind me after that.

[BubbaZanetti]

when i'm in the car, i tend to point and laugh at people, this doesn't work so well on the motorcycle. it amazes me at how pissed off people get at events that are non accidents. i just can't understand why people get so upset by something that 1. doesn't cause damage and 2. doesn't, in anyway, delay or inconvenience them. like getting cut off, right?? i've been cut off and i've cut people off. if i'm at fault i usually try to indicate a "sorry" of some sort, but usually the people just get so pissed off, i point and smile. when i get cut off, usually the person who cut me off is FOR SOME REASON mad at me??? go figure, these people definitely get the point and laugh. life is too short to get all bent out of shape over near misses.

[jeremell]

http://www.snopes.com/language/apocryph/pluckyew.asp

I've got no particular love for the French, but we should be accurate about things.

[tourunigo]

Before the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, the French, anticipating victory over the English, proposed to cut off the middle finger of all captured English soldiers. Without the middle finger it would be impossible to draw the renowned English longbow and therefore be incapable of fighting in the future. This famous weapon was made of the native English Yew tree, and the act of drawing the longbow was known as "plucking the yew" (or "pluck yew").


That's quite apropos because my wife is Acadian French and, as experience has taught me, not reluctant to carry out her promise regarding the digits. :eek .... I like what Bob Meade wrote (on the Permanant Rally Location thread) : "they are just letting you perfect your defensive driving techniques" Maybe I'll use that as my Travel Mantra. -Bob

[Rapid_Roy]

Careful grasshopper. He who learns but does not think, is lost. He who thinks but does not learn is in great danger. :laugh :laugh
As I was standing there, in the glare of the headlights, my first thought was "How in the hell could I stop a bullet with this?" :laugh

[Mongo]

I'm sure you could do it, I saw it in a movie once. :laugh

[2beers]

Its amazing. Your sitting at a stop light waiting for it to turn green and the Millisecond it does the guy behind you is on the horn. John Force or Gary Scelzi doesn't have that kind of reaction time.

Or the guy in his 4X4 passes you doing 80+ in a blizzard and then expects you to stop and help when he is upside down and on fire in a ditch about two miles up the road. Do people pass me just because they want to be in front of everyone? It is not uncommon to do 10+ over the limit and get passed.

Hey Roy,

When will the snow turn to nothing? OOPPPs, Wrong thread.

:p

[RJM2096]

Idiot is my favorite word for drivers doing stupid stuff (which is sometimes me).

I avoid trying to escalate the confrontation. This is how people get attacked, run over, or shot.

I figure if I have never cut off someone else, turned without signaling, or followed too close then I can express my distaste for their idiocy, but WONT.

Why win a battle and loose the war. Your wife is very wise. :blush

[tommcgee]

She's right. I can't be the only one to have this sort of response style/attitude. What do you do? Did you ever wish that you kept that flip to yourself? -Bob

I gave up the salute the second time someone pulled a gun on me in a week. That was a good 35 years ago. I still holler at them though...

[Rapid_Roy]

I'm sure you could do it, I saw it in a movie once. :laugh
:laugh
Make no mistake, I was ready to leap behind the concrete part of the garage if/when the door had opened.

However, I am a man, I can do anything.
Let me ask my wife first.:laugh

[gened12]

The way I see it is that there seems to be much more aggressive drivers on the road today than 15 years ago. Movies promote insane driving etc etc. The way I see it when I ride my RT is that cars and trucks can EASILY knock me off and kill me. S o I will never go out of my way to provoke *******s on the road. However I have used my beefed up horn many times to wake up cell phone cagers when they try to cut me off.:p

[flash412]

A pal of mine had to stop short because some asshat ran a red light in front of him. He flipped the guy off. A policeman almost ticketed my pal for "road rage." My pal was calm. He stated to the ossifer that his was expressing his constitutional right to state an opinion, specifically to express his displeasure in the briefest possible time to the person running the red light.

I suspect that pretty soon in the USA, flipping folks off will be a terrorist act, enabling authorities to jail you forever without so much as a phone call.

You're probably better off just mumbling maldictions and imprecations into the chin bar of your full face helmet.

[From MARS]

I have taken to thanking people who have shown me the courtesy of respecting my rights as a motorist. When someone is waiting to turn left or enter the roadway in front of me (but wait for my passing to do so), I wave and nod my head, in thanks, to them. My hope is they will remember the "nice motorcyclist" and pass it on.

If we reap what we sow, then I don't want to be planting aggressive thoughts in persons who are in a position to inflict harm upon me or my bike. I want them to *know* that I noticed their action and appreciated it.

Tom

[ghostridery2k]

few years a go i got run of the road by cargo van where driver was to busy on the phone to pay attention on the road.i did not crash but i honk my horn and to my disbelive hi just flip me.thats did it,i speed up to side of the van and smash his mirror(hi did not need it anyway) cutting my hand on the glass.i pay my price for this stunt,im more carefull now.funny thing was few days later at work my boss hand me the box and said "can you throw this mirror on van outside?",i look thru the window and said "sorry boss, not this one".latrer that day i explain to him why,its bin a joke evrytime we replace broken mirror.

[tourunigo]

I gave up the salute the second time someone pulled a gun on me in a week. That was a good 35 years ago. I still holler at them though...

... tried the 'holler' also...... but forgot to mute the communicator. That didn't win me any points either :laugh -Bob

[erickson9502]

Its amazing. Your sitting at a stop light waiting for it to turn green and the Millisecond it does the guy behind you is on the horn. John Force or Gary Scelzi doesn't have that kind of reaction time.

Or the guy in his 4X4 passes you doing 80+ in a blizzard and then expects you to stop and help when he is upside down and on fire in a ditch about two miles up the road. Do people pass me just because they want to be in front of everyone? It is not uncommon to do 10+ over the limit and get passed.

Hey Roy,

When will the snow turn to nothing? OOPPPs, Wrong thread.

:p

I had this happen to me just a couple of days ago. He wasn’t upside down but definitely stuck. I slowed down beeped and waved. This guy was incredibly stupid he must not have learned a thing about 30 miles down the road I got passed by the same guy. Some people just are morons. You have to live with them.

[rinty]

I quit reacting to nutball drivers / riders years ago, and feel much better, as I am saving energy.

Now we're trying to teach our teen ager the technique, but she's not buying into it.

There are a couple of killings every year around here from road rage.

Rinty

[SIBUD]

That's quite apropos because my wife is Acadian French and, as experience has taught me, not reluctant to carry out her promise regarding the digits. :eek .... I like what Bob Meade wrote (on the Permanant Rally Location thread) : "they are just letting you perfect your defensive driving techniques" Maybe I'll use that as my Travel Mantra. -Bob

Wow, now I'm being quoted!

But even though Bob is a great name, as you know since you use it proudly, my first choice of names is "Bud". :laugh To make it up to me, you might buy me a brew if I make it to Salty Fog. :drink

[tourunigo]

Wow, now I'm being quoted!

But even though Bob is a great name, as you know since you use it proudly, my first choice of names is "Bud". :laugh To make it up to me, you might buy me a brew if I make it to Salty Fog. :drink

done deal.... but be warned: it will be stronger than a Bud:drink :ca

[Ridesalot]

People are STUPID and many drive that way

There is no cure for STUPID !!!

If i were to pull this Einstein reject out of his cage and beat him within an inch
of his life and then put him back in his cage. He would cut someone else off / tailgate / ( insert ur pet peeve here ) within the next mile............

So i don't bother to flip,or honk, or flash ............. People are STUPID ...

There i feel better now....

Rant off have a nice day !

Ridesalot