@ the idiot who knocked my mirror off

[bud500]

Have to agree with Cocky here.
If the rider was a car, the other driver would not get as close for fear of damaging his car. Now that it is a bike, suddenly the risk is less and it is fine to get up close or against the rider....I don't think so.

But it is each rider's own call. Same as the the call on speed between lanes or using the SL...

Awareness efforts on lane splitting are few and far between, but shit if you are on the highway often then you would see enough bikes to remind you.

I must admit I used to commute by car a lot on the N1 and even with bikes front of mind, the speed some of these okes ride makes it inevitable that you will miss him at some point...

[hedleyj]

Riding Bikes is dangerous we know that and accept it, perhaps thats the adrenalin that keeps us going, from day to day.

There are in reality so very few inherently, genuinely, demonstrative agressive people in the world (relatively speaking) that I am always amazed at how this type of behaviour is so prevalent on our South African roads.

Everyone seems to operate their mode of transport with an extreme level of impunity for all others, resulting in a consumate high density conglomeration of plain idiots on our roads, whether in Cages or on Bikes.

No matter what anyone else does to you, you have NO right to exercise bush law tactics.  I agree our judicial system is no way to get any form of speedy resolve, however neither is getting dead.  There are good reasons why bushlaw is not allowed to be pracitced, that is to reduce the opportunity for one person to be victim, prosecutor, Judge and executioner. Especially when the other party feels he should be doing the same thing in reverse.

I was in Japan recently, never heard a hooter, never saw any aggresive driving, all traffic signals were obeyed. Same thing in Protugal and Spain last year.

Guys as a biker I appeal to you all dont continue to escalate this kind of wing mirror destroying behaviour, you are endangering all our lives.

Violence begets violence, and the human being has the awesome ability to choose to differentiate or not, and when it is in anger the NOT is prevalent.

Your big cahoonas might cost me or someone elses life in future as that cager sees one bike as all bikes



think about it

[bud500]

Or next time that guy thinks twice and saves you from a crash....

[Eisbein]

Or next time that guy thinks twice and saves you from a crash....

Yeah I'm putting my money on him being more aggressive towards bikers instead.


Only thing that 99 % of 'victims of vandalism' will take away from a mirror breaking is to hate bikers more.


 

[bud500]

Or next time that guy thinks twice and saves you from a crash....

Yeah I'm putting my money on him being more aggressive towards bikers.

 

You might be that way inclined, he might not... Who knows...

[g1_]

You might be that way inclined, he might not... Who knows...

In the original circumstances he was prepared to but your life in danger in order to make a point. To me that indicates that his personality is to use intimidation in order to make his point. If you come back with intimidation then his ego is now involved and he has an even bigger point to make.

The kind of personality that would back off from intimidation would probably not use intimidation in the first place.

[katana]

You know what he rides and where he commutes.  Wait, follow and get his plate.  Go to the cops.  There is NOTHING you can achieve by 'catching' him.  The courts will here both sides.

[Sylvester]

Until you get run up against a concrete barrier on the M1 in JHB by a guy in a pinstripe suit and a expensive German car, just because you lane splitting, trust me 1st time you accept and turn the other cheek, 5th time in a day you teach them a lesson.
Sorry but there are too many motorists that just do it out of spite and malice, not because they "did not see you". It is not a fairy tale on the free ways, it's a game of dodgems.

I think each one will have their own perception of the highway traffic... depending on their riding style.  I commute the N1 (Centurion - Jhb) and I never got 5 times a day somebody that purposefully wants to run me up against a concrete barrier.  If this was the case, I would never even think about commuting with the bike.  What I do get is people doing stupid things like texting, changing lanes without indicators etc. and people who think they own the road and would not allow space for bikes to lanesplit.  In every one of these situations I had the choice to either react aggressive or calm down and with a little patience circumvent the situation.  Taking the "calm down" route is not easy (for me) but is something I decided I will have to do to keep alive on the highways.  I will rather "loose" the argument and live another day than teaching other people lessons at my own detriment.

There is a good quote that says:  "Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself"

[plaky]

I have read this whole thread and commute every day no matter the Cape Weather on the N1 from Jip De Jager to Woodstock. I can tell you all many stories as you have all heard before and I have in the past been tempted to react in manner which would entail kicking the car door or taking a mirror off. My issue is that bikers need not be branded as rof and onbeskof as many people label us. Many a time people are texting and wonder over their lanes almost into you so that you hoot and then give you the middle finger, when they are clearly wrong. Another reason I have not acted to date is that they can take a photo of your number plate and report the incident and then you are big shit, from them being a twatwaffle to you now being charged with hit and run! Not sure if anyone has been caught doing this and what the outcome was but with my luck they will pitch up on a Friday afternoon just before 5pm and arrest me and I would then sit in chookie for the whole weekend, not to mention I would have to pay for a new mirror, it is just not worth it.  To be honest it does sometimes get to me and I want to lash out but so far I have been good and managed to hold my temper. One biker on the road is one less car in the traffic and that is the message I would like people to understand!

[Garfield]

Los die mense se spieels uit!

Two wrongs... En so aan...

[Fran]

Verlede Saterdag in Centution in John Voster het ek gesien hoe n dude op n geel superbike met n MACKS baaidjie n ou oom eers probeer afdruk van die pad af,....
toe sy vinger in die oom se gesig rondswaai terwyl hy langs hom ry en....
laastens sy spieel probeer afruk.... gelukkig kon hy dit nie regkry nie......
Hy jaag toe met n moerse spoed verder...

Wonder maar net....Weet nie wat die oom gedoen het nie.....Voel nie reg nie

[ktmmer]

Verlede Saterdag in Centution in John Voster het ek gesien hoe n dude op n geel superbike met n MACKS baaidjie n ou oom eers probeer afdruk van die pad af,....
toe sy vinger in die oom se gesig rondswaai terwyl hy langs hom ry en....
laastens sy spieel probeer afruk.... gelukkig kon hy dit nie regkry nie......
Hy jaag toe met n moerse spoed verder...

Wonder maar net....Weet nie wat die oom gedoen het nie.....Voel nie reg nie

As jy mooi gekyk het sou jy gesien het die "oom" was Derek Watts   

[Howie-WP]

Los die mense se spieels uit!

Two wrongs... En so aan...

This! Simple..... you get idiot car drivers and idiot bikers, idiot people in general. No excuse to be damaging someone else's property.

Also agree with hedleyj, we in SA are way to aggressive and non law abiding on the road (in general) compared to when I was overseas. The same can be said for the reasoning of riding a bike without plates....

[cono]

It was not me.  
i tend to find that many 'hooligans" on the road are those without number plates.
Our roads are not there to show off with fast take off's, wheelies, etc.
I am a firm believer of raod / ride safety and legal riding.  

We need to stop the unroadworthy riders, with no number plates, as these are the groups who believe they are above the law.

As a riding community, we must stand together 'legally" for our own protection. We know "cage drivers".
If we cannot prove our intergrity as road users, we all lose out.
It takes one rider, such as mentioned in this report, to destroy all the good done by all as a collective.
And can you believe it, most of us here are riders and want to stuff up the twerp, who smashed the mirror. Shows, we have unity in togetherness, but we must now take on a issue and collectively strive to make a change.

  "I, Cono, pledge to be a safe and legal rider, to protect both my fellow riders and those of the less fortunate stuck inside cars & taxis"  

[SeanH]

I do approximately 6,000km's per mont in my car for work. My car is branded all over with our motorcycle related products, I've been riding bikes for around 40 odd years, so more odd than others and I get "DIK DE FOKKEN MOERIN" at how a lot of bike commuters really throw our name away on the roads. Not all bikers do it, but a significunt amount of them ride like complete c...s (see intentional spelling mistake). There is safe lane splitting that anoys no one and then there is the typ of lane splitting, tailgating, weaving between traffic that gets you rammed up against a barrier 5 times per day. I was a bike courier for a year while I was deciding what to do with my life in the earlier 90's, spent 8 hours a day lane splitting in JHB & PTA traffic without incident, the day I decided to ride like a cock I ended up in hospital for 2 months ...... my fault for lane splitting at 180kmh in a 60 zone during rush hour traffic dicing someone. I've also been innvolved in the bike club scene as a member and later as the Prez, been in the industry for 20 some years, I eat, sleep, work, live bikes everyday ......... NO FIRKIN REASON TO BE A BOX & BREAK MIRRORS OFF & MAKE FELLOW BIKERS A TARGET!!!!!!!!!456!!!!!!

[jangys]

Lane Splitting is a PRIVILEGE and not a RIGHT..!!

If I am in the cage I always try to make space for bikes coming through, but also had an oke on the odd occasion showing me the finger and also trying to break my mirror off when I changed lanes. My indicator was on to change lanes long before the biker became visible in the mirror, which was a tell tale sign that he was obviously lane splitting too fast, after I changed lanes the biker proceeded to ride next to my driver window telling me my fortune, then proceeded to flip the bird, after not receiving any attention from me, he tried knocking off my mirror, luckily he did not succeed.

Further down the road, the biker was standing next to the road with a puncture, yellow lane.

I proceeded to stop and handed him my puncture repair kit which I carry in the vehicle. He did not know how to use it, so naturally I showed him how it works by fixing his rear tyre or the ZX10. I used two bombs to inflate it so he could continue.

While all this was happening, he proceeded to tell me how an arsehole in a bakkie that looks exactly the same as mine tried to ram him off the road by changing lanes right in front of him without even indicating.

I kept quiet and my cool. After the job was done and the guy was shaking my hand, I told him that it was me who's mirror he tried to break off and that I indicated long before he came visible in my mirror and blindspot and proceeded to change lanes from right to left.

He was speechless....

I told him that I am also a biker and will never change lanes before making 100% sure that there is no bikes coming through or in my blind spot.

Today, we are good mates and ride together often, he also learnt a lesson that day, his riding style changed dramatically as well as his attitude..

[Tintin]

I'm glad most okes on here feel the same way I do. On my daily commutes I hardly ever have issues and when I do, just wait for the gap and get away. No need to break mirrors. Most cagers actually go out of their way to let me past, but it's pricks like the mirror smashing brigade that will change that for the rest of us.

So I want to know who this a-hole is so that cops can arrest him. They want him, all I have to do is tell them who he is.

[DIRT SKUNK]

If you knock a mirror of by accident the appologise!  stop and appologise don't ride off ?
it's actuall hit and run?? I believe you have a right to be cross
well that my view? for what it's worth
I don't lane split as I treat all driver as idiots, you don't know what they are going to do next? sorry but that's the only way to stay alive on a bike these day. I don't intend being the meat in a two car sandwich
DS

[2StrokeDan]

Or next time that guy thinks twice and saves you from a crash....

Yeah I'm putting my money on him being more aggressive towards bikers instead.


Only thing that 99 % of 'victims of vandalism' will take away from a mirror breaking is to hate bikers more.


 

But the biker will also have 7 years' bad luck.

[spoedvark]

Breathe deep! You will soon pass the cager who is irritating you or irritated by you being able to lane split and then when you pass him just shake you head and say to yourself! What a lekker day to be riding and not stuck in a cage like those around you! Nothing irritates more than someone passing and shaking their head at you!!M

Safe travels/commutes guys! Wish I could do the daily commute but 2 kids to get to school ..... Maybe I should invest in a side car???