Contrarian rebelliousness, the birthright of cyclists
#1
Slowfoot
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Contrarian rebelliousness, the birthright of cyclists
Driving home tonight around 11p. A main road, two lanes each way, a bit of traffic. About 30 mph. Very dark, not many street lights:
What is that? ... Holy cow a bike! I hit the brakes. No reflector. No tail light. The man is in the middle of the freaking lane - Invisible blackness.
I change lanes and pass. At the next intersection there's a street light so I pull over. The man on the bike passes and I shout to him: "Get a tail light!" No high beams, no menacing, no expletives.
Of course I get the finger. I don't use that gesture. But if I did I probably would have done the same thing.
What is that? ... Holy cow a bike! I hit the brakes. No reflector. No tail light. The man is in the middle of the freaking lane - Invisible blackness.
I change lanes and pass. At the next intersection there's a street light so I pull over. The man on the bike passes and I shout to him: "Get a tail light!" No high beams, no menacing, no expletives.
Of course I get the finger. I don't use that gesture. But if I did I probably would have done the same thing.
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Interesting... Isn't there a study which proves that cyclists are better people than drivers ?...
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cyclists and vehicle drivers are people and many people are just plain a ss..les...don't worry someone will get him sooner or later, just be glad it wasn't you.
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Driving home tonight around 11p. A main road, two lanes each way, a bit of traffic. About 30 mph. Very dark, not many street lights:
What is that? ... Holy cow a bike! I hit the brakes. No reflector. No tail light. The man is in the middle of the freaking lane - Invisible blackness.
I change lanes and pass. At the next intersection there's a street light so I pull over. The man on the bike passes and I shout to him: "Get a tail light!" No high beams, no menacing, no expletives.
Of course I get the finger. I don't use that gesture. But if I did I probably would have done the same thing.
What is that? ... Holy cow a bike! I hit the brakes. No reflector. No tail light. The man is in the middle of the freaking lane - Invisible blackness.
I change lanes and pass. At the next intersection there's a street light so I pull over. The man on the bike passes and I shout to him: "Get a tail light!" No high beams, no menacing, no expletives.
Of course I get the finger. I don't use that gesture. But if I did I probably would have done the same thing.
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I believe studies have shown sudden flip of the finger in an angry gesture releases endorphins that make you feel better...well maybe not real scientific studies but I always feel better followed by a loud ATHOL for some reason in my neck of the woods ATHOL gets better results....
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Luckily I do not encounter offenders very often, even though I ride daily around town. On those rare occasions when I am offended by another user of the road I have found that no verbal response or physical gesture from me produces the desired result of soonest returning me to the right frame of mind to continue enjoying the ride.
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Luckily I do not encounter offenders very often, even though I ride daily around town. On those rare occasions when I am offended by another user of the road I have found that no verbal response or physical gesture from me produces the desired result of soonest returning me to the right frame of mind to continue enjoying the ride.
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Seems that you saw the person in time to avoid them. Isn't that good enough? Or do we need to force everyone to do exactly as we all expect they should behave?
Though I wouldn't be riding at night without a tail light and head light as well as reflectors and other stuff, I don't know that I should get enraged over someone that chooses not to and gets away with it.
Though I wouldn't be riding at night without a tail light and head light as well as reflectors and other stuff, I don't know that I should get enraged over someone that chooses not to and gets away with it.
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I take it he had a helmet because the absense of one was not mentioned.
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lots of ppl have written "if they can't see me, they can't hit me" there's no helping some ppl
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I believe studies have shown sudden flip of the finger in an angry gesture releases endorphins that make you feel better...well maybe not real scientific studies but I always feel better followed by a loud ATHOL for some reason in my neck of the woods ATHOL gets better results....
I economize on my blue streaks by saying just the first letter of every word: hence, "GDSMFKADFB!" Ma
kes you sound insane but less offensive.
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Yes, the same studies show that swearing, especially prolonged blue streaks, releases chemicals which relax the part of the brain. You will notice that most swear words contain a lot of "explosive consonants" like K, F, G and B.
I economize on my blue streaks by saying just the first letter of every word: hence, "GDSMFKADFB!" Ma
kes you sound insane but less offensive.
I economize on my blue streaks by saying just the first letter of every word: hence, "GDSMFKADFB!" Ma
kes you sound insane but less offensive.
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Driving home tonight around 11p. A main road, two lanes each way, a bit of traffic. About 30 mph. Very dark, not many street lights:
What is that? ... Holy cow a bike! I hit the brakes. No reflector. No tail light. The man is in the middle of the freaking lane - Invisible blackness.
I change lanes and pass. At the next intersection there's a street light so I pull over. The man on the bike passes and I shout to him: "Get a tail light!" No high beams, no menacing, no expletives.
Of course I get the finger. I don't use that gesture. But if I did I probably would have done the same thing.
What is that? ... Holy cow a bike! I hit the brakes. No reflector. No tail light. The man is in the middle of the freaking lane - Invisible blackness.
I change lanes and pass. At the next intersection there's a street light so I pull over. The man on the bike passes and I shout to him: "Get a tail light!" No high beams, no menacing, no expletives.
Of course I get the finger. I don't use that gesture. But if I did I probably would have done the same thing.
Two truisms identified in your comments. Motorists for some reason or another feel like it's okay to shout at cyclists. Motorists think cyclists are more contrarian than other motorists.
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As long as I didn't hit him or cause myself damage avoiding him, I could care less. I feel for the poor soul that hits him eventually, and one will, and they will feel bad and possibly responsible for some idiots poor judgement, or not.
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Yes, the same studies show that swearing, especially prolonged blue streaks, releases chemicals which relax the part of the brain. You will notice that most swear words contain a lot of "explosive consonants" like K, F, G and B.
I economize on my blue streaks by saying just the first letter of every word: hence, "GDSMFKADFB!" Makes you sound insane but less offensive.
I economize on my blue streaks by saying just the first letter of every word: hence, "GDSMFKADFB!" Makes you sound insane but less offensive.
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Do you make a practice of verbally engaging other road users who violate the law? I think you'd find that they'd often reply with a one finger salute. You'll often get that when you use the horn too.
Two truisms identified in your comments. Motorists for some reason or another feel like it's okay to shout at cyclists. Motorists think cyclists are more contrarian than other motorists.
Two truisms identified in your comments. Motorists for some reason or another feel like it's okay to shout at cyclists. Motorists think cyclists are more contrarian than other motorists.
trivia, that line was ad-libbed by Dustin Hoffman
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Anyone who took a look at the cited study abstract and its dependence on the definition of better people as measured by their "orientation towards the (alleged) common good" does know about the validity of its conclusions.
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Very occasionally, flipping off the offender has unforeseen results ...
Last edited by Leisesturm; 12-01-23 at 11:44 PM.