aka Tom Reingold
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: New York, NY, and High Falls, NY, USA
Posts: 40,506
Bikes: 1962 Rudge Sports, 1971 Raleigh Super Course, 1971 Raleigh Pro Track, 1974 Raleigh International, 1975 Viscount Fixie, 1982 McLean, 1996 Lemond (Ti), 2002 Burley Zydeco tandem
Mentioned: 511 Post(s)
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Quoted: 7351 Post(s)
Yes, I do sometimes. I've learned that people don't like to be told they've done something wrong. So to convey my point, I try to remove anger from my voice. I phrase my criticism as a request. For example, I might say, "Could you please wait behind me before making your turn rather than cutting me off?" It's only possible to do this kind of thing when we are both stopped, so if the driver is moving, I don't bother trying.
Then again, I did yell at a taxi driver recently, because the problem was urgent. He was passing me closely and getting closer. He was right beside me with his window open, so I yelled, "Not so close, please, not so close!" and he did veer away. Again, this was phrased as a request.