Thread: Unacceptable behaviour

Originally Posted by V8Ian

Yep, had it happen to me.... the driver had red and blue lights and was a bit cross.

Yeah. Those people in those cars are always angry.
They're angry when you don't stop.
They're angry when you do.
They're just angry.

Originally Posted by cuppabillytea

Thanks for the gentle Chastisement.
Cheers, Billy.

No chatisement - I would have thought the same as you. However, on another forum I frequent there is a fair bit of discussion over concealed carry of weapons (CCW). The Canadians and Aussies on the forum get the Americans really fired up about their guns by poking fun at them needing a handgun. A lot of the Yanks on the forum won't leave home without their handgun (there is even a thread asking what gun they take with them when camping as most won't go without a gun of some sort).

Many won't buy from places that have a no handgun in store policy.

Their view is an armed society is a polite society.

I'm sure it came up that NYC has CCW restrictions.

When I was in Seattle and LA, I saw a lot of drivers give others the finger. I said to the American with whom I was travelling that doing that in Oz would cause a road rage incident.

Originally Posted by Mick_Marsh

Yeah. Those people in those cars are always angry.
They're angry when you don't stop.
They're angry when you do.
They're just angry.

Bloody digger!

Originally Posted by cuppabillytea

But were you warning of a sting happening back up the road?

'Twas a dark night, open road and their lights were blinding. When I lit them up all I could see were reflective blue and white checks. She accused me of being aggressive, an assertion I denied. Aggression is turnin high beam ON, not flicking them. I pointed out to her that if you load a Commodore boot with half a ton of police paraphernalia the headlights need to be adjusted. Her excuse was that they are not adjustable.
We parted on reasonable terms, my pocket undamaged.

Originally Posted by Mick_Marsh

Yeah. Those people in those cars are always angry.
They're angry when you don't stop.
They're angry when you do.
They're just angry.

and iv'e found offering them money doesn't cheer them up.
quite the opposite actually.

A few years ago I pulled out to overtake a tanker on a dual carriage way going up a hill on a curve. I looked before pulling out, but failed to see a car in my blind spot. The other driver had to slow down to avoid hitting me. It was my mistake and completely my fault.

The other driver was enraged and held the horn in for an extended period. As soon as I pulled back into the left lane he overtook me yelling obscenities at me through his window and then cut infront of me with an inch to spare and slammed on his brakes. Due to what had happened, I was already on alert and started braking as he was overtaking me. This prevented an accident. I've since augmented my rear vision mirrors with some small convex mirrors to assist with the blind spot.

There is no forgiveness for mistakes - the other driver appeared to incorrectly interpret my mistake as a deliberate insult or encroachment on his rights.

The level of aggression displayed by the other driver and his apparent willingness to sacrifice his vehicle in an act of revenge for my mistake was astonishing. As someone once said to me, you never know what is going on in the other person's life or what mental health issues they may have, so it is always better to let go of these things and not do anything to further inflame the situation.

Or it could just be that he was a ratbag, coming up on you at a rate of knots. You wouldn't have had a chance to see him.
I did something like that once. I came up behind a string of cars on my Moto Guzzi doing 170 klicks. When I was 10 meters from them the last car pulled out to overtake. I went off into the gravel on tho other side. I had no option then but to keep the power on and pray for a spot to get back on the black. By the time I did they were all specks in my mirrors. I was furious but I kept going. After all wasn't I the silly bugger?

Originally Posted by Mick_Marsh

Yeah. Those people in those cars are always angry.
They're angry when you don't stop.
They're angry when you do.
They're just angry.

And that's why they have "angry lights" to match