The rage was wearing off though and while I no longer wanted to smash his head against the gutter was was still pretty keen on trying to talk to sense into 4WD guy. I came out on the beach road just as he rounded the bend. I whistled and called out and miraculously the truck pulled over, not because he’d heard me but because this was where he lived!<\/p>\n
I bailed the guy up and asked him if he was the guy who tried to kill me a few minutes back and he went on a foaming at the mouth rampage, calling me a “f–cking c–t” and screaming that I had no right to be on the crossing and I should have been “on the road where I belonged”. I’ve tried riding on the road, and I still often do it, and strangely enough I get the opposite response there, people telling I should get off the f-ing road and back on the footpath where I belonged. It’d be enough to make my head spin…if I actually cared for or listened to their opinion.<\/p>\n
We did a fair bit of yelling at each other and I gathered from this that the gist of his argument was that needed to run me over because I was mistaken about my rights to use the crossing. I politely (yeah right!) pointed out that his vehicle weighed in at well over 1,000kgs and I weighed in at well under 100kgs, and it was just this kind of imbalance that caused the kind of road trauma that lead to lengthy hospital stays and perhaps death for the lesser of the two vehicle operators. My argument wasn’t about the finer points of law so much as it was about physics, the frailty of the human body when compared to a truck and how you would HAVE TO BE STARK RAVING MAD TO EVEN CONSIDER FOR THE MEREST MOMENT THAT YOU NEEDED TO RUN SOMEONE DOWN WITH A TRUCK FOR USING OR MIS-USING A CROSSING!<\/p>\n
Okay, it was about that point I was starting to properly lose my cool. I was faced with an angry irrational moron with the selfish and self-righteous reasoning of a 5 year old throwing a tantrum (even though clearly on the wrong side of 60) and his finger pointing was getting dangerously close to my face, at which point I knew it would be on for young and old…so I offered up a few last pieces of sound advise (some of which aren’t physically possible) and made my departure.<\/p>\n
The rest of the journey was uneventful but not without the usual perils; two cars parked on yellow lines forcing me into traffic on busy roads, one car parked in the bike lane of Hedges forcing me into oncoming traffic…the usual things. A woman with a pram pushed it into my path metres down from traffic lights in Broadbeach. My reaction was to accommodate her by slowing down and riding round her but I couldn’t help but wonder if a more appropriate response wouldn’t be to speed up and run her down…she was in my way, she was in the wrong, I was well in my right to try and kill her surely?<\/p>\n
This one had me wondering how 4WD Moron responded to the small daily annoyances such as my people parked on yellow lines. Not only did 4WD Moron react disproportionate but when I suggested I call the police he was so sure of his self-righteous fury he was not just willing but keen to get them involved. (I thought about it but I couldn’t image sharing tea and biscuits for two hours with this guy while we waited for police to attend. I’m kicking myself for not taking my camera or right now I’d have photos of him and his number plate and time to pursue this properly.)<\/p>\n
Here are some scenarios I considered:<\/p>\n
4WD Moron<\/b>: Yes, officer, I did kill them in cold blood but after all they were parked opposite a solid white line.Police<\/b>: Fair enough. Parking opposite a solid white line isn’t actually illegal but I can see you meant well and anyway the response was appropriate given the crime, or what might easily be mistaken for a crime anyway<\/p>\n
4WD Moron: <\/b>When they stepped in front of me at the cashier, that’s when I pulled out the shotgun…Police: <\/b>Good thing too. Should be more people like you in the world.<\/p>\n
4WD Moron<\/b>: This guy bumped into me at the bar, spilling my drink down the front of my shirt. That’s when I set fire to the hotel and burned everyone inside it to a crisp.Police<\/b>: Yeah well, that’s probably going a bit far isn’t it…but I’m letting you off with a reprimand this time.<\/p>\n
You get the idea. My question is, what world does this guy live in?<\/p>\n
If only he was one lone mad moron with stunted mental faculties…but I’ve had other people do the same. Years ago in Melbourne I was nearly driven off the road by two guys in a car, so I flipped them the bird and yelled some abuse. They responded by really and truly trying to run me down. Just missed really. I caught up to them in traffic and gave them an earful further down the road. They were trapped in traffic and with only the locked doors of their car to protect them they could only offer their excuses. Apparently, they were completely justified in trying to kill me by the fact I’d flipped them the bird. I wasn’t aware that kind of harmless digital abuse warranted a death sentence but they were adamant. I was lost for words, “You tried to kill me…because…I gave you the finger?” Yep. That was about it. And these are just the people I’ve managed to catch up with. Many many more besides have seen fit to have a red hot go at running me down with their car because I was in some way in their way and death was therefore, if anything, too good for me.<\/p>\n
While riding home a car pulled up beside me and the passenger said, “Oi!”<\/p>\n
I thought, “Here we go again.”<\/p>\n
“You doing 40. How fast can you go?”<\/p>\n
“I’m doing 40?” Sounded flattering but I reckon I was in the 25-30km\/hr range.<\/p>\n
“How fast can you go? Give it a go. See how fast.”<\/p>\n
I declined to throw in a sprint for their benefit but it was nice to have a reminder that not everyone in a car is out to kill me.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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I have never done anything that incites as much anger and hatred as riding a bike. I incite spitting eye-popping invective, hurled abuse, random attacks of violence and on a couple of occasions now a serious attempt to deliberately run me over. Direct attacks on my life and limb. The last time this happened was yesterday. I’d barely ridden […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"single.php","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Is it worth dying for? - SSGC<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n