Cager attack?

[xj750_Pete]

I have been riding for almost 3 years and I never have had any trouble with car drivers. Sometimes when I am lane splitting in bad traffic some cars are nice enough to even scoot aside to give me room. Two days ago I was on my way to work riding on the streets and this car in front of me was driving kinda weird. He was swerving around, faking right turns, driving slow then fast and was stopping way too early at red lights. I was hesistant to past this guy because he was either drunk or being really stupid. So anyways, we come at this light before the onramp to the freeway. The light turns green and he just sits there. I look in his review mirror and I can see him laughing with his buddies in his car. So I start to move around him and he starts moving. BUT then he stops again. I got so pissed I gunned it and tried to pass him on the right, but as I did this he tries to swerve into me. I was able to avoid him, but right before I passed him I curled my left hand into a fist and hit his right mirror. I don't know if I shattered anything, but I heard a loud crack as I passed. I'm not sure what this driver's intention was, but I am nervous as hell around car drivers now. Becareful out there people.

 

[lonesoldier84]

im stopped in front of a movie theatre OBVIOUSLY stopped with my feet on the ground and so close to the curb my foot is on the left curb. i am looking up at the movie listings for new movies. there are other cars stopped on the right side of the road. this is a little mini traffic circle in front of the doors of the theatre where people are constantly stopping and such.

this guy behind me starts honking. i wave him past. he keeps honking as he is rolling up now, i give him the finger and tell him to pass again. he passes swearing out the window. i put bike in gear pull up next to him asking him if he thinks he's a tough guy etc etc. he starts spewing back repeatedly "ur just mad cuz ur wrong ur just mad cuz ur wrong" over and over again. im like whatever u had miles of real estate to pass me in you could drive a semi truck thru that comfortably. so i pull behind him and we are on our way to the main road. there is an SUV behind me as well. guy in front now starts slamming his brakes and accelerating then braking hard again to piss me off. well the SUV behind me almost runs over me as he doesnt know whats going on. i get CHOKED. i stick my right foot out, drop the clutch in first gear from standing start, ram his driver side mirror and keep going. it is dangling by some wires and im gone. didnt have a chance to get my plate as i whip in and out of immobile cars and turn off on another road. haha. was soooooo satisfying. guy was such a knob. i was just irritated and not being overly mad or out of control even verbally until he started brake-checking me

 

[HavBlue]

I have been riding for almost 3 years and I never have had any trouble with car drivers.

Try this, I was heading into Nashville Tennessee on a multi-lane roadway and passed a lady in a bronze colored Ford Focus. She was going maybe 60 in a 55mph zone and I passed her on the left doing maybe 65mph. Right when I passed her she moved behind me to the point I could read Ford in the grill out the mirrors. I sped up a bit and she came right back so I waved her off but nothing came of it. I went even faster and she came right back. we got to some slower traffic and other cars were merging in so she blew around me and dang near rear ended a pick-up truck. Having seen this I said, "I'm outta here" and blew between about 10 cars to say good bye; lane splitting is illegal here but I'm from California and don't give a chit. Ya just never know with cagers and I don't trust any of them, period!!! They're all out to kill us....

 

[aussiejules]

We hear so much or at least use to about road rage over there, im soo glad i havent had so bad reactions, ive had a bad one with my girlfriend on the back, with someone i was going around deciding he didnt want me to, i wasn't ready for trouble so when this guy took me to 100km/h in a 80 which suddenly turned into a 60 blind right i was really agro. If i had a inkling this would happen 2 gears down and leave for dead, but with a pinion wasnt racing.

 

[fast blue one]

I sympathise with the sentiments but to pull that trick with the mirrors in the UK is a quick route to court with 10 gazillion cameras worth of evidence against you. Provocation wouldn't count as the establishment in UK are so anti bike. Rant over.

 

[CanadianFZ6]

This is why I would not touch another vehicle... road rage from them.... You may feel great for getting revenge, but see below and let me know if you would still knock someones mirror off..

This was just posted in another thread...

911 tape reveals woman who shot motorcyclist also pulled gun on a driver in March | JUST POSTED | WHAS11.com | News for Louisville, Kentucky

 

[Se7enLC]

Try this, I was heading into Nashville Tennessee on a multi-lane roadway and passed a lady in a bronze colored Ford Focus. She was going maybe 60 in a 55mph zone and I passed her on the left doing maybe 65mph. Right when I passed her she moved behind me to the point I could read Ford in the grill out the mirrors. I sped up a bit and she came right back so I waved her off but nothing came of it. I went even faster and she came right back. we got to some slower traffic and other cars were merging in so she blew around me and dang near rear ended a pick-up truck. Having seen this I said, "I'm outta here" and blew between about 10 cars to say good bye; lane splitting is illegal here but I'm from California and don't give a chit. Ya just never know with cagers and I don't trust any of them, period!!! They're all out to kill us....

Sounds like she was stuck in the second-to-left lane behind "slow" traffic and was itching to go faster. The spot behind you was probably the first open spot she could pull into (and lets be fair, if you're going to dart into an open spot, it's best to be closer to the vehicle in front of you rather than the one you're jumping out in front of). Sure tailgating is dangerous and rude, but she was in the leftmost lane, and you weren't going as fast as she wanted to. That should have been a fairly clear indicator that you needed to go faster or change lanes. It is frustrating when somebody does that to you when there's also a car in front of you, though.

My personal view of multi-lane highways is:
1). If there's a car right on your tail or coming up on you faster than you are driving, move to the right one lane.
2). If a car passes you on the right, you are going too slow. Speed up or move to the right one lane.

"too fast" and "too slow" are very subjective terms, and they can change a lot depending on the cars around you. It's also a little hard to judge "this person wants to go faster than me" vs "I like the speed you're going so I'm going to follow you" when you see a vehicle in the rearview. I've had people pull a lane to the right to "let me by" before when I was just trying to cruise at the same speed as them.

The way I personally deal with tailgaters is to make sure I'm not in the left lane, and slow down. Not drastically or dangerously, just enough so that they don't want to be behind me anymore. They will quickly get irritated, change lanes, and pass me. Problem solved, safely. Letting the car behind you make you drive faster than you intended to is not a good idea in general.

 

[keira]

One time, Rob and I were just leaving home to meet up with some people for a ride. it was something like 7AM and we hadn't even left our driveway yet. We are sitting there chatting, waiting for a break in traffic, and all of a sudden an 18-wheeler comes up, slows down and starts yelling out his window at us, calling us all sorts of not pretty names. We laughed, but what if he had been merging onto the highway next to us or something? We hadn't even gotten out of first gear yet, hadn't been on a public roadway yet and this guy was already thinking we were jerks just for having 16 less wheels than him.

Another incident, when I first started riding, an old lady tried merging into my lane while I was still in it, in bumper-to bumper traffic. No breakdown lane, so I pulled next to the curb, and as she got closer and closer, I tapped her passenger window (not to damage, but to make her aware that I am a human being) with my carbon-fiber knuckles. She was just an idiot and hadn't bothered looking, though, no actual harm intended. I could tell by the shocked look on her face and the "I'm so sorry!!!!" she kept shouting out the window when she moved back to her lane and rolled it down.