When I first began riding as a year-round commuter I still had a bit of an anger management problem. This would typically result in a sprint after the offending vehicle, which would generally put me in a more precarious position than the motorist had in the first place. I've knocked a few side views off with my u-lock, threatened a few folks with the same, yelled, screamed, cursed, raised the ol' middle finger and even threw my then damaged bicycle at a car. Eventually, I began working as a courier, something I did only for a short while, though long enough to learn that my angry reactions were going to get me killed, beat up or otherwise hurt or at the very least turn me into a stressed out mess -to say nothing of my position as an on-the-spot representative of cyclists on the road. Since then I've tried all manner reactions from none at all right up to riding to the driver's side door of the offending vehicle, should it come to a stop light, and calmly explaining to the mortorist why I'm riding where and how I'm riding and why they were in fact the one in the wrong. Some of the latter situations actually worked out in the positive, with the driver having been previously unaware of cyclists' rights and having driven away actually thanking me. Still, only a mere 9 years away from drawing my u-lock in a frenzy, and also having long since relocated to a city where approaching the driver's side door is an invitation for trouble, I find the best course of action is to focus on riding safely, act as though no is paying attention to me, and to keep my mouth shut and my fingers curled safely around my handlebars. There will always be those unique situations where you might need to call on your best judgement as to whether you should pedal for saftey or safely give someone a piece of your mind but I find those are much fewer and further between than I once belived.
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i'd rather be biking.