Did I do a bad thing? (long)

I've seen and heard of far worse, but I thought I'd share a little experience I had on the way to work this morning.

Filtering through stationary traffic near Trafalgar Square and the gap between the lanes is effectively blocked by a Renault Clio who's 'sticking out' a little too far to get past. So I crawl alongside his car, exhaust pipe burbling gently to announce my presence, and notice him glance briefly to his right - so he knows I'm there. I look across to see if I can catch his eye - there's about 4ft of empty road in front of him and I'm hoping he'll do the nice thing and pull forward slightly to allow me to proceed.

Looking down, I see he's texting someone on his mobile and (in my view) deliberately ignoring me. Now, seeing as he's using a mobile phone illegally and taking his total lack of any concern for my predicament as an act of provocation, I decide to fold back his wing mirror so I can get past.

This is the first (and last, I hope) time I have ever done this.

The second I moved his mirror he became quite agitated. I slowly moved my bike past his mirror and carefully returned it to it's usual position - no harm done. By this time he's trying to get out of the car - but guess what? - my bike's still next to his car. So his door hits the side of my bike and I yell "Oy!" as my bike gently knocks against the taxi on my right. Figuring that I had not hit the taxi hard enough to cause any damage to either my bike or him I decide to just pootle on through the traffic.

Looking in my mirror as I go, I see him out of his car, either deciding to try and chase after me or getting my number. I sat patiently at the traffic lights to see if anything was going to happen, but it seems he just got back in his car.

Problem is, I'm now beating myself up over this. I'm very-much a "do as you would be done by" kinda person and, I admit, I wouldn't want anyone moving the mirrors on my bike (or car for that matter) BUT I also wouldn't deliberately ignore someone trying to get through the traffic whilst texting someone on a mobile phone. I'm afraid it was just one of 'those moments'.

Did I do wrong? Should I have been more patient? Will an ASBO land on my doormat in a couple of days?

Help me out here ...

It's hardly crime of the century but I doubt I would have done it as there are some right nutters on the road and there are some that would have slammed the door into you to try and knock you off.

A bloke followed us (the misses and I in the car) just because she beeped him when he cut her up, he was going left out of the car park we were in and we were going right but then cut up two other people so he could turn around and drove on our bumper flashing his lights!

There comes a time in everyones life when they have to learn to say '**** it ' IMHO this is such a time Bollox to him

hmmm...i did almost exactly the same thing at the junction of admiralty arch and trafalgar square.

i decided to report it to the police station. the reason - if there is damage to the other vehicle, no matter how slight, you could be arrested and charged with all sorts of misdemeanours.

my theory was if i reported it first, it gave me the moral high ground, and hopefully the rozzers would call me as opposed turning up in a panda car at my home address.

in the end i heard nothing, but the helpful copper i spoke to confirmed that this was the right thing to do.

in my case, i am afraid i lost it, and inexplicably the cars wing mirror came off so iwas bricking it big time. nothing came of it.

hth

Well look at it like this:

Was anyone hurt? No.
Was there any form of accident? No.
Was anyone compromised in terms of road safety? No.

Did someone use a mobile phone illegally? Yes.
Did someone act selfishly with no concern for others? Yes.
Did someone act in such a way that your bike could have been damaged? Yes.

So er what's the problem? I mean you even folded the freakin' mirror back FFS!


.

I agree with will. Report it and you are at least covered if anything comes of it.

I ran someone over a few years back when they were trying to punch me over the top of the windscreen in my Pug 205 Cab. (I'd beeped him for cutting me up). Went straight to the police station only to be told if I'd got his number plate I could have had him prosecuted for criminal damage...

About 6 weeks later I got a letter through the post saying as they couln't trace the other driver it was being dropped.

Forget about it.

However, I wouldn't do it. You never know what nutters are out there.

Originally Posted by will

hmmm...i did almost exactly the same thing at the junction of admiralty arch and trafalgar square.

EXACTLY where this happened!

Thanks for the supportive comments people. It has helped enormously. I don't know whether or not I'll report it. I didn't get his number, so I don't know how much use it would be. Alternatively he may decide to make something up and report me for scratching his car or something - as I crawled past him I did notice he had a scratch along the top of his offside front wing - he may be looking for a scapegoat to get it fixed.

Still probably best to do the 'proper' thing and report it ...

Originally Posted by howardr

EXACTLY where this happened!

...

an annoying junction - i bet you are talking about the bit where it narrows to go thru the arch? cars really seem to resent letting the bikes through there. i now avoid that bit.

good luck with whatver you decide to do

In fairness i would have probably got adgitated (sp) if sum one had bent my mirror bike...although the only thing i might have done was knock on his window and ask if he wouldnt mind moving outa that way for a sec (if this was possible)

other than that, bugger him... and dont worry about it.....at the end of the day unless u damaged it i seriously doubt anything would happen...

Chill