Driver Reactions


I have been having a laugh at some of Magnatoms helmetcam videos:

http://www.youtube.com/user/magnatom

For the uninitiated, Magnatom rides his bike to work everyday and records his route with a helmet video.  He gets a bit heated with his fellow road users since he posts any particularly nasty motorists on his web site.  He gets the police involved.  He has received verbal abuse, death threats, etc.  So what is he doing that makes people hate him so much?  Simple, he criticizes their driving.

Now some of his videos I agree with and some I don't.  He can be a bit mouthy at times, but he is from Glasgow.  The most interesting thing about his Youtube videos is the comments left underneath:

I hope you die.

I hope that somebody kicks the ***** out of you.

However, lots of the motorists are really peeved off that he:

A.  Slows them down.

B.  Doesn't pay road tax.

There seems to be a lot of motorists out there who feel that they have more rights on the road, just because they display a tax disc.  They were defending one van driver for tailgaiting the cyclist for just this reason.  Following that logical conclusion it follows that I am OK to stick my bumper 3 inches from theirs, just because I pay more road tax or drive a faster car than theirs.  Dumb.

The question of who is right or wrong seems to be lost on many drivers.  If you point out the errors of one driver, they take it personally, as though you have insulted theirs.  I watch one video from another helmet cam where some thug and his mates got out of their car and smacked a cyclist, before getting back into their car and driving off.  And motorists were defending this blatant act assault as somehow justifiable.

Another thing that I find interesting is the complete ignorance of the highway code that most of these idiots display.  The sort of motorists who offer death threats seem t assume that because you ride a bike you have never passed your driving test and that, by definition, they know the law and safe driving practice.  Hah.

So they don't understand the tax system.  Think they are the only ones who have a right to be on the road and are obnoxious when their errors are pointed out to them.

Einstein once said that he had hope for the future of humanity whenever he sees someone riding a bike.   I, on the other hand, despair for our future whenever I see anybody behind the wheel.

Luck