Last night "road rage" incident...

[klingelton]

Good morning all,

I'm calling this road rage for lack of a better word. more likely road ignorance or road discourtesy!

I was driving up a road near my house to go pick up the little one from nursery (so in the cage). i was travelling up hill around an almost blind corner. it's blind in that if you travel the stated speed of the road, you're not given enough time to react to traffic coming up the road from the other direction. the best course of action there is to slow right down and have a good look before proceeding. People rarely do! the road is a street over from my house and I travel it every day and have issues with oncoming traffic regularly. What most people do is put their car into reverse to allow me through (given I'm travelling up hill and am already heavily committed!) This woman yesterday thought differently. she squeezed her car over and beconned me through. I have an octavia estate, so it's not the most narrow of vehicles and i wasn't going to squeeze through. The only way i could get through would be to bump up onto the curb. The curb on this road is quite high, by estimation, it's high enough to curb my alloys and probably pinch the side wall if i was to get it a bit wrong or unless i do some crazy manoeuvre to get up onto the curb. I shook my head and gesticulated for her to move back.

She slung her head back in fits of laughter, pulled on her hand brake and defiantly crossed her arms as if to say "I'm not moving from here!". I shrugged and climbed out the car. I approached her window and made the "can you wind your window down a little so we can chat". she turned her head. I'm not surprised by this reaction. She didn't know who i was and didn't know if I was a big angry bloke or a soft kitten (the latter). I couldn't be angry by this! She started to talk and i couldn't hear. i asked her to speak louder or wind her window down. she did neither. I could make out the words "drive on the pavement". my response to this was something along the lines of the pavement being for pedestrians, not for big cars! I then explained about my low profile tyres and the damage the high curb might cause to my alloys and the damage my alloys might cause to the curb! the retorted at one point and tried to talk over me. I said to her that i was kind enough to listen to her argument and she should do me the courtesy of listening to mine. She spat defiantly and turned her head.

I'm not sure at this moment whether it was the third car that approached me from the rear, or the fact that I was indeed a larger degree of correct, but she put her car in reverse gear and moved her car back the 3 feet required to give myself and the fella behind the sufficient passing room to go through safely without damaging public property and my alloys. As i passed, i waved a hand of thanks. I received the single finger salute as a response.

I left the situation thinking she can look back on this meeting and she can only be disappointed with her behaviour. I tried to conduct myself as calmly as i possibly could have done and explain the situation we were in and what the correct course was to abate it. Eventually that's how things went. I'm sure she's currently on the shitty vauxhall astra owners club forum right now venting her spleen about a 6' overweight bloke with a shaved head bullied her into reversing her car 3' so he could speed past - but I'd like to think she takes something more positive from the encounter.

[Glorian]

Kind of reminds me of this

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3246424/Outrageous-video-shows-road-shut-FORTY-MINUTES-two-Mercedes-drivers-stand-single-lane-railway-bridge-refuse-budge.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

"I won't be doing anything that could resolve this in 20 seconds because i must be right for my day to proceed."

[klingelton]

I'd have needed to reverse about 100 yards down the road, versus her 3 feet!

[Six30]

Reversing 3 feet if your a woman i would imagine is a very frightening prospect....

[Mawsley]

Kind of reminds me of this

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3246424/Outrageous-video-shows-road-shut-FORTY-MINUTES-two-Mercedes-drivers-stand-single-lane-railway-bridge-refuse-budge.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

"I won't be doing anything that could resolve this in 20 seconds because i must be right for my day to proceed."

 

Ha! Merc drivers. Brilliant.

[Hoggs]

Reversing 3 feet if your a woman i would imagine is a very frightening prospect....

 

How do you not get slapped more?

[Grumpy Old Git]

A few years ago (when I owned a caravan), we were looking for a site in deepest Devon are were on a single track road (with passing places) when we came head to head with a BMW. The driver (male) made various gestures for me to back up so. Handbrake on, engine off, out and opened up the van. Wife (bless her) walks over to the car and advises that we are going to make a pot of tea and would he like one?

This had the desired result (after a few curses about 'bl@@dy tourists') and he reversed approximately 100 yds to a 'passing place' and let us through.

Not quite the same situation but, does not the Highway Code advise that you should give precedence to vehicles coming up a hill?

[JRH]

A few years ago (when I owned a caravan), we were looking for a site in deepest Devon are were on a single track road (with passing places) when we came head to head with a BMW. The driver (male) made various gestures for me to back up so. Handbrake on, engine off, out and opened up the van. Wife (bless her) walks over to the car and advises that we are going to make a pot of tea and would he like one?

This had the desired result (after a few curses about 'bl@@dy tourists') and he reversed approximately 100 yds to a 'passing place' and let us through.

Not quite the same situation but, does not the Highway Code advise that you should give precedence to vehicles coming up a hill?

 

Yes it does

Rule 155no annotations

Single-track roads. These are only wide enough for one vehicle. They may have special passing places. If you see a vehicle coming towards you, or the driver behind wants to overtake, pull into a passing place on your left, or wait opposite a passing place on your right. Give way to vehicles coming uphill whenever you can. If necessary, reverse until you reach a passing place to let the other vehicle pass. Slow down when passing pedestrians, cyclists and horse riders.

[Six30]

Reversing 3 feet if your a woman i would imagine is a very frightening prospect....

 

How do you not get slapped more?

 

please bring back the like button.

[MarkW]

Kind of reminds me of this

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3246424/Outrageous-video-shows-road-shut-FORTY-MINUTES-two-Mercedes-drivers-stand-single-lane-railway-bridge-refuse-budge.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

"I won't be doing anything that could resolve this in 20 seconds because i must be right for my day to proceed."

And not one of those blokes had the gumption to unzip his trousers and threaten to urinate in her convertible if she didn't move. I don't know...

[clewb]

I don't understand why one of them didn't just reverse the man's car for him. With coming from a tourist town I can kind of see where the woman driver was coming from but took it a bit far. Did they ever find out what the mystery cause of his inability to reverse was?

[Guest]

People's reactions are slow and a bit cryptic (and this story is beyond understanding anyway) but at the same time I really admire their self control. In France (and probably in other places too but I speak about what I know), both cars would probably have been smashed in no time and the woman probably hit in the face by someone (not the man cos he had his window closed).

[Grumpy Old Git]

I don't understand why one of them didn't just reverse the man's car for him. With coming from a tourist town I can kind of see where the woman driver was coming from but took it a bit far. Did they ever find out what the mystery cause of his inability to reverse was?

 

The old guy was 'terrified' and, in that state, would he let a stranger get into his car to drive it? I think not!

If the woman had walked over to the guy and spoke to him quietly and understandingly, the situation may never have escalated that far - It matters not who was right or wrong, a little understanding of the other persons point of view and state of mind always helps.

[Six30]

The woman was wrong , old boy was much further in to the tunnel than the stupid Bint, niether of them should be on the road , her cause she's a c*^~t and him cause he can't reverse

[onesea]

I live in one of 2 merged "towns" one is famous for being up itself the other is the "poor" part. Its funny here in the poor part there is 95% of the time a brilliant gentlemen system. Stopping flashing cars to pass etc in the other half of town its real cut throat and you NEVER indicate or its a sign of weakness..

We have a bend similar to that you describe with cars parked randomly round it it can be bugger and its the 1 place the gentlemen system brakes down. If I have time really enjoy it when I have to reverse the 100m round the bend to save some one reversing 10m against there right of way.

Do you know how hard you can make it look to reverse a Landrover? You cannot see behind you you have to open the door to have a look. You can really make it look so very difficult. It can take considerable amount of time, especially if a car comes up behind you.

There is one particular mercedes I made a real hash of it for... I met them a week or so later going the other way they did not look happy, I only had to go back the 15m round a park car strangely I could suddenly reverse that in seconds.

One car even decided I would have to reverse the bike, I popped side stand down and prepared to dismount. They very quickly changed there mind, I don't know what they where thinking I was going to do.... A shame I needed to practice my manual handling and it was going to be a good 50m back to first passing place