Moron Motorists #3

[warthog1]

The sense of self entitlement that is evident in that photo is pretty irritating

I reckon she's got more chance of getting her car damaged by parking like that just because she is going to annoy most people who see it. Law of averages.

[il padrone]

A fool came up behind me on a country road today. No traffic about, blasted his horn aggressively just behind me, then overtook. Of course he was across the double-lines, but must-overtake-cyclist.

I must surely have been in the wrong, riding a loaded touring bike ~0.5M from the white edge line. Yes, I should really respect the legal opinions of an SUV driver towing a jet-ski

[Xplora]

A fool came up behind me on a country road today. No traffic about, blasted his horn aggressively just behind me, then overtook. Of course he was across the double-lines, but must-overtake-cyclist.

I must surely have been in the wrong, riding a loaded touring bike ~0.5M from the white edge line. Yes, I should really respect the legal opinions of an SUV driver towing a jet-ski

Take Video and involve the cops. I'm pretty sure you can't use your horn without cause. Suggest the MP might dislike being involved if the cops won't come to the party.

[uncle arthur]

@blkmcs: Sure they had a good reason. It was "F#@k everyone else, I'm more important". Notice the type of car?

Dent.

This. No other reason than to avoid carpark knocks.

I will admit that thoughts of vigilante action did enter my head, fortunately for her I wasn't equipped with eggs, nails, a permanent marker or brake fluid.

If you really want to teach this sort of person a lesson, there's absolutely NO REASON to damage the car at all.

Let him/her keep their approach to parking in two bays - by finding 6-7 of your good, strong mates, to help you lift and turn that car a simple 90 degrees, so it is now ACROSS the two bays.....

Then sit back and wait for their return, and watch the hilarity begin as they try and get their car out of the spot, especially if there are vehicles parked in the adjacent bays.....

[chuckchunder]

I gave the toolette in question the WTH look and a not so sotto voce "Yergoddabejokin'!" as I walked past and was treated with total ignore.
Was kinda hoping the local Plod would cruise by...

My cousins from Singapore were visiting a couple of years ago. These people adopted a two year old child with a serious disablilty, as he grew he had a fine brain and studied hard, but his body did not function so well. Amongst other things he could not walk and travelled around in a wheelchair. To enter a vehicle he had to be carried, no other way. When they visited their son was about 14 and not a light load.

The authorities would not issue them a permit for parking in marked disabled bays.

Trying their hardest not to inconvenience others, initially they parked at the front of the shops, or adjacent to an empty bay nearby, and unloaded boy and chair, then parked. They stopped doing this after several incidents of verbal abuse and one gentleman who decided to thump the car with his fist.

So then they parked as you see in the photo. On the occasions I was with them I experienced the verbal abuse of them by people who thought them inconsiderate for taking up two parking bays. I dropped them at the movies and then picked them up on one occasion. This meant parking the car as you see that one parked, and leaving it to find them and bring them back to it. I copped a similar comment to yours from a girl who parked nearby.

I had seen enough of others abuse to simply not bother replying to her.

Sad that we (me included) seem so quick to assume the worst in people until we experience something to make us think otherwise.

[Boognoss]

I gave the toolette in question the WTH look and a not so sotto voce "Yergoddabejokin'!" as I walked past and was treated with total ignore.
Was kinda hoping the local Plod would cruise by...

My cousins from Singapore were visiting a couple of years ago. These people adopted a two year old child with a serious disablilty, as he grew he had a fine brain and studied hard, but his body did not function so well. Amongst other things he could not walk and travelled around in a wheelchair. To enter a vehicle he had to be carried, no other way. When they visited their son was about 14 and not a light load.

The authorities would not issue them a permit for parking in marked disabled bays.

Trying their hardest not to inconvenience others, initially they parked at the front of the shops, or adjacent to an empty bay nearby, and unloaded boy and chair, then parked. They stopped doing this after several incidents of verbal abuse and one gentleman who decided to thump the car with his fist.

So then they parked as you see in the photo. On the occasions I was with them I experienced the verbal abuse of them by people who thought them inconsiderate for taking up two parking bays. I dropped them at the movies and then picked them up on one occasion. This meant parking the car as you see that one parked, and leaving it to find them and bring them back to it. I copped a similar comment to yours from a girl who parked nearby.

I had seen enough of others abuse to simply not bother replying to her.

Sad that we (me included) seem so quick to assume the worst in people until we experience something to make us think otherwise.

A couple of points you raise in this post ring very true personally.

Opinion changed (and at least try to in future).....

[DentedHead]

Sad that we (me included) seem so quick to assume the worst in people until we experience something to make us think otherwise.

Truthfully, I generally think the best of people until proven otherwise, but so many incidents of the kind pictured from SUV drivers, that THAT particular sub-group of drivers have me naturally assuming the worst now. If it'd been a sedan or hatch parked like that, I'd likely have made a different assumption.

The authorities would not issue them a permit for parking in marked disabled bays.

Really? I have a disability mild enough that most people couldn't tell (since I've been cycling anyway), and am eligible for a disabled permit. I chose not to get one for personal reasons, but I'm surprised that anyone caring for someone in a wheelchair can't get one. Sounds like lazy council BS to me.

Dent.

[chuckchunder]

The authorities would not issue them a permit for parking in marked disabled bays.

Really? ........... but I'm surprised that anyone caring for someone in a wheelchair can't get one. Sounds like lazy council BS to me.

Dent.

Something to do with not being residents (ie on visitor visas) apparently.

[il padrone]

A fool came up behind me on a country road today. No traffic about, blasted his horn aggressively just behind me, then overtook. Of course he was across the double-lines, but must-overtake-cyclist.

I must surely have been in the wrong, riding a loaded touring bike ~0.5M from the white edge line. Yes, I should really respect the legal opinions of an SUV driver towing a jet-ski

Take Video and involve the cops.

All well and good in hind-sight, but I do not plan to video every minute of every 4-6 hr ride I do. Not enough card space available, and all for what? When the local plod plays footy with the drelbs and refuses to take action (been here before).

Simple fact is, it's an awful lot of messing about to do for limited affect. I'm more concerned by the generally moronic attitudes involved which seem to be all too often congratulated by our hopeless media and some public figures.

[Postieboy]

I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time for this moron.

He obviously hates cyclists

http://youtu.be/sptUzj9Idl4

[notmyrealname]

first road bike ride last week mostly on shared path ways and back streets, come out onto a main road (60km limit) for about 1km and it had drains so was riding just outside those, maybe 2 foot from the curb.

I'm all of 500m on this road and a car comes really close and passenger tries to throw some liquid at me. They missed and said "sorry" while laughing and speeding off.

[jules21]

I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time for this moron.

He obviously hates cyclists

http://youtu.be/sptUzj9Idl4

why the face? report that one!

[g-boaf]

I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time for this moron.

He obviously hates cyclists

http://youtu.be/sptUzj9Idl4

Send it to the Police. P plate driver too - and pretty deliberate as well by the looks of it unless there are some other circumstances we don't know about.

[jasonc]

I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time for this moron.

He obviously hates cyclists

http://youtu.be/sptUzj9Idl4

Send it to the Police. P plate driver too - and pretty deliberate as well by the looks of it unless there are some other circumstances we don't know about.

maybe the driver was on the phone and just heard some interesting news

[bychosis]

Wish I'd had a camera this morning.

Down a dual lane section toward a roundabout. Servo at the end of the section cars regularly exit the servo and cross to the right lane to use the roundabout, blocking the oncoming traffic. This morning mr tradie ute had to use the roundabout so pulled out in front of another ute in the left lane and me in the right causing both of us to brake significantly from approx 40km/h while mr tradie waited to move on. My back wheel went sideways after it locked and the ABS hands kicked in for the front. I ended up in an almost track stand up against the median and beside the tradie who was at 45degrees across the lanes. There were no cars behind either.

[Ross]

@Ross: You've obviously never tried to find a car park here in Ballarat.

As I said, my preferred responses would avoid permanently damage the car, but I would give the driver a serving, or write a message on the windscreen. Neither approach would damage the car (permanent marker is easy to remove from glass). This type of parking is indicative of pure, selfish, self-minded arrogance, which is encouraged when it is free of consequence. It's not a matter of jealousy. All I saw was an SUV parked like it's owner was the only driver in the world. I can't generally tell a ford from a hyundai, and didn't realize it was an expensive one. I don't care if people drive expensive cars, I just want them to realize others use the roads/car parks too. This twat didn't. It's the blatant display of a "F@_k you Jack, I'm more important" attitude that gets my back up.

Oddly, I see this type of behaviour more often when I'm driving than when riding. Maybe drivers instinctively moderate their driving when near the "weirdo on the recumbent trike".

And, no, I wouldn't "trash" someones ride simply because it was more expensive than mine. Given I ride home-built trikes and drive a 3rd hand daewoo wagon, I'd have to trash damn near everyone's ride were that the case. I do try to ensure that this kind of douche-baggery has some consequence, even if only minor.

Incidentally, I'd call out a cyclist behaving like an entitled douche-bag too. I just haven't actually seen one yet.

Dent.

I'm sure parking in Ballarat is no different to most other cities in Australia. Peope come and go from carparks every minute of the day, just drive around until someone leaves or park elsewhere - maybe a bit further away and get some more exercise by walking an extra couple of hundred metres.

There is NO excuse ANYTIME for vigilante justice. At best you are dragging yourself down to the level of the alleged offender, at worst you are being a criminal by vandalising someone's property (still vandalism, even if it is with non-permanent thickshakes or marking pens). I'd like to see how you would react if someone tipped thickshake over your bike or drew on it with a marker pen because they had the idea that your bike was parked in an inconvenient place.

Also you are generalising about a certain demographic of person. Though you may of had prior bad experiences with SUVs drivers it doesn't mean they are all bad/inconsiderate drivers (no, I don't own one). There are plenty of bad/inconsiderate drivers that drive 4 cyl Mazdas and 6 cyl Mercedes' and V8 Toyotas.

Plenty of motorists 'generalise' about cyclists and their (bad) behaviour on the road but not all cyclists are badly behaved on the road. Some are but not all of them. I see quite a few actually but I wouldn't say it is the majority.

[il padrone]

I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time for this moron.

He obviously hates cyclists

http://youtu.be/sptUzj9Idl4

Send it to the Police. P plate driver too - and pretty deliberate as well by the looks of it unless there are some other circumstances we don't know about.

Are you talking about the slack right hand entry, or the swerve to the left later on?

I really don't see a great deal to stress about or report to police. Their entry from the right was just slack... a SMIDSY, but no doubt a worry. A one-off mistake. The swerve later was fairly well clear of you (it seemed) and was not an act of aggression but a swerve to avoid the oncoming vehicle, as the driver had been well to the right to avoid you.

[KonaCommuter]

I really don't see a great deal to stress about or report to police. Their entry from the right was just slack... a SMIDSY, but no doubt a worry. A one-off mistake. The swerve later was fairly well clear of you (it seemed) and was not an act of aggression but a swerve to avoid the oncoming vehicle, as the driver had been well to the right to avoid you.

This is how I saw it as well.

[Postieboy]

I really don't see a great deal to stress about or report to police. Their entry from the right was just slack... a SMIDSY, but no doubt a worry. A one-off mistake. The swerve later was fairly well clear of you (it seemed) and was not an act of aggression but a swerve to avoid the oncoming vehicle, as the driver had been well to the right to avoid you.

This is how I saw it as well.

Well you guys can make up your own minds - this guy was yelling abuse and gesturing at me while passing - then has a big old swerve to prove his point. Here are the GPS co-ords for where he swerved, as you can see the lane is very wide here and I have no doubt in my mind it was deliberate.

384737.87 m E 6354540.47 m S

[KonaCommuter]

I really don't see a great deal to stress about or report to police. Their entry from the right was just slack... a SMIDSY, but no doubt a worry. A one-off mistake. The swerve later was fairly well clear of you (it seemed) and was not an act of aggression but a swerve to avoid the oncoming vehicle, as the driver had been well to the right to avoid you.

This is how I saw it as well.

Well you guys can make up your own minds - this guy was yelling abuse and gesturing at me while passing - then has a big old swerve to prove his point. Here are the GPS co-ords for where he swerved, as you can see the lane is very wide here and I have no doubt in my mind it was deliberate.

384737.87 m E 6354540.47 m S

At the end of the day neither il padrone nor myself were there and your experience certainly carries more weight than my opinion of what I saw on the video

[Ozkaban]

Here's one from this afternoon.

I was riding north on Church St Parramatta doing about 35kmh claiming the bus lane and a HillsBus (completely covered with a Blackberry add) came right up behind me, blasted the horn to startle me (it worked ) and then proceeds to cut across in front of me, forcing me nearly into the gutter.

He stopped at a set of lights a few hundred metres up the road and on seeing me change lanes to come up beside him to ask what he thought he was at, he moved right partially into the next lane to block me. I waved at him and pointed to the camera and shook my head (I didn't say a word) and he put his hand out the window and gave me a thumbs down showing how little he cared for trying to run me off the road. Near the end of the video the front of the bus comes into view again ans you can see the HillsBus license number, etc.

Bear in mind the fisheye lens on the gopro makes distances look larger. I could have easily touched the bus as it came past me.



I feel I should report him but am not sure whether to bother going to hillsbus, the police or whatever. Really shaken up over this one.

[KonaCommuter]

I feel I should report him but am not sure whether to bother going to hillsbus, the police or whatever. Really shaken up over this one.

The Police IMHO

[jules21]

all of the above. that's shocking driving

[Mulger bill]

Local OH&S authority too, that bus is a workplace.

[ldrcycles]

The police AND the bus company IMO.