Driving up the A34 between Newbury and Oxford the other day, we were all in pretty slow traffic - 20mph and queueing.
I saw a young girl in a Mini being totally terrorised by an Artic - leaving a gap and then accelerating up to her and slamming on the brakes etc. etc.
This annoyed me and was scaring the girl, so the second there was a gap I put the Landcruiser between them; not that its any match for a truck, but its bigger than a Mini and I'm bigger than her.
The truck then decided to try the same tactics with me. I slowed to a stop, stopped and put the handbrake on and visibly crossed my arms. Truck man was full of abusive language, abusive and threatening gestures and roaring engine.
He made to get out of his truck; knowing better than to be caught sat in a vehicle I was out of mine immediately. He leapt back into his, locked the doors and waved his cellphone at me - presumably indicating his willingness to call the police.
What really [imagine the expletive] annoyed me about this is the bullying nature of it. The jumped up little prat was quite willing to terrorise a young girl, threaten and abuse a man in a suit, put everybody at risk and threaten everything under the sun - but the first sign of anybody pushing back and he wimped.
What on earth is a man of that type like to be around if he is your friend, brother, husband, whatever ? Scum. Reported to the police scum at that. If he tried that in Brazil he would be shot, and I'm not convinced that would be a bad thing. If nothing else, the thought of being shot for bullying tactics might just make him think, if he is capable of the act, next time.
By no means are all truck drivers are like that, not even the majority - but its a growing and unacceptably large minority.
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Did you see "Traffic Cops" on the BBC this week? Road rage incident between large TNT artic and small (golf i think) hatcback? Hatchback man gets out of golf to remonstrate with truck driver, truckie proceeds to drive over hatchback man and rips his leg off.......(and i mean loss of limb) Police unable to prove if truckie did it on purpose, or hatcback man had a death wish - so no charges brought...................
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Yes, I did. Although I reckon there must have been more to it. Apparantly the Peugeot had a dent in the back door, on the opposite side to the Truck, where it had been kicked. Given that I doubt he kicked his own car, I guess it was either another irate driver or the trucker.
And who in their right mind rushes up to a moving truck !
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I've had several occasions where I have been verbally threatened with physical assault by another driver and I was driving pretty much by the book.
What is worrying is that if there are no witnesses and they do follow through then the chances are the police can't touch them.
I often wonder what it is about driving that causes this aggression. Or are these people nut cases anyway and I don't usually come across them?
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What on earth is a man of that type like to be around if he is your friend, brother, husband, whatever ? Scum. Reported to the police scum at that. If he tried that in Brazil he would be shot, and I'm not convinced that would be a bad thing. If nothing else, the thought of being shot for bullying tactics might just make him think, if he is capable of the act, next time.
Mark,
you should have reported him to his employer, as well as the police.
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>>you should have reported him to his employer, as well as the police.
I tried that. I took both a company number and a cell phone number form the truck door. The company was something along the lines of "Bill's Transport". When I called the company there was an amateurish message on an answer phone saying he was on the road and to call his mobile. I figured it was a one man band and that I had already met Bill and saw little point in calling the cell phone.
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Blimey. Some poster the other day said in oblique response to a post of mine how lucky he was to live in (paraphrased) nice civilised England and made some patronising remarks about the Third World. Maybe he needs a re-think.
Serious competitive macho stuff I get a lot of, often dangerous, that's the cut and thrust of driving here, but I've never seen anything like unwarranted aggression for the sake of it. Two locals come to blows over a parking dispute or who got to the intersection first, maybe. It's generally expected and while often colorful, equally seldom is it seriously nasty.
Surely this example is gratuitous violence, nothing less. Against a woman at that.
Do that to someone's sister here and (we have large families) you will have a group of visitors round your place smartish with blunt instruments (a) to avenge the family's honor, and (b) to rearrange your face.
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Growler -
Your ultimate paragraph reminded me of the Bermondsey of my childhood. Suffice it to say that age has now wearied me and the locale is now a foreign country.
The biggest insult then was to be called "effin' ignorant" which implied more than it sounds. Many a dispute was sorted and/or family honour restored without recourse to the local nick at Tower Bridge. Mind you, the nearby fire station at Dockhead , being the nearest bastion of authority ,was often the first port of call in an emergency - and thereby hangs many a tale
Rita- when and only if it really was necessary to call upon the assistance of officildom.
Those were the days!
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Growler-
My text editing, as usual, stinks.
Rita.
ps. Never mind Rio, I blame it on the Ruby Sauvignon (sp).
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>>Surely this example is gratuitous violence, nothing less.
Absolutely. And done by a wimp without the guts to back up his mouth or his truck.
I find the fact that he was prepared to threaten me and try and bully him, no doubt feeling superior and powerful, but equally prepared to run away as soon as there was resistance, the act of a pathetic and socially inadequate individual.
Mind you, I suspect its a fairly normal trait for him. More people need to stand up to this stuff. If every trucker, van or car driver *knew* he would be reported to the police by all the cars around him, if he knew that if he got out of his vehicle then everybody around was going to get out of theirs, it would stop; If he knew that if he did anything agressive his employer would get half a dozen calls, then there would be a lot less wilingness to behave like that. The problem is that we turn the other cheek too often and allow these inadequates to get away with it.
I think we should start a movement. Every time you see someone bullying with their vehicle, beit a truck, car or whatever, ring the police and/or his employer, even if it didn\'t affect you directly - if everybody did it, it would eventually have an effect - and I *always* call the employer if I can, and the police if it was bad enough.
You have to hope that one day you come across a guy like that under different circumstances, perhaps as his boss or something, and can make him suffer.
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I think we should start a movement. Every time you see someone bullying with their vehicle, beit a truck, car or whatever, ring the police and/or his employer, ... it would eventually have an effect -
Certainly would. Plod would be driven barking.
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I already do this. Until last year I was an Agency driver, and so from week to week I'd be driving for a different company and my ethos has always been that if there's a name on the truck then you drive at your best.
That rule of thumb, however, should be applied to a certain aggregate waste company in the Gatwick area with yellow trucks. I have YET to see one of their drivers a) stick to the speed limit or b) drive considerately. And it's pointless ringing their number because their Transport Dept don't care. It's also the only company I've ever heard of to be banned from a specific road, namely in Reigate, because of their consistent speeding on it.
Now, if I see bad driving, and there's a number on the vehicle I call it and report it to their manager.
Regards
Dom F
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Not much point in reporting it to the police as they're as guilty as the rest - traffic T5 going N/bnd through the works at the Thelwall Viaduct on M6 last Monday - exceeding the 40mph speed limit (by at least 25%) and driving way too close to the car(s) in front. He was not on a call as he had no lights on, and was on his own. Not exactly setting a good example.
BTW Nice one Mark - I'm not sure I'd have the nerve!
Richard
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Mark(RLBS) wrote
it would eventually have an effect - and I *always* call the employer if I can, and the police if it was bad enough.
Mark,
Top marks for coming to the assistance of a damsel in distress (extra credit for her being in a Mini).
Perhaps that idiot will think twice in future about jumping out of his lorry, although somehow I doubt it. Let's just hope that whoever he causes to be hurt by the inevitable consequences of this driving is someone he's close to.
As for calling the employer, done it a few times now, always interesting to see the reaction to nutters operating in the company name.
Lee.
Lee
MINI adventure in progress
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