For me it’s not even a conscious decision. Someone does something stupid and the finger is the immediate response. Been chased 3 times, haven’t been beaten, yet.
If he really cuts you up like a moron, flip the finger then IF being chased stop and get off your bike down a small lane then drag him out of the car by the hair and knee him in the face, then head butt his wife when she comes to assist. He won’t cut you up again! Well then again him and his m8’s might ha ha.
Just joking of course 
. Never flip the finger in Taiwan unless you are prepared to fight someone with a weapon. The bad point is that if he hits you with the weapon you are feuked (well i hope not literally feuked) and the good point is that if you really bash him and break some of his bones you are going to be OK cause he had a weapon and you didn’t. Of course that is providing there some brave witnesses or cameras are around.
Or if you are not the violent type and really feel the one finger urge then get a really fast motorcycle and drive like Steve Mc Queen in the “great escape”
The one finger hand gesture is internationally recognized. Try the British v sign as he will think you are being nice but are really telling him to feuk off. So you will feel so much better without being made to feel like a coyote or fox by being chased all over Taipei.
If you wish to know more about the secretive British V sign then research the rock band oasis they use it rather a lot and to my knowledege have not been beaten with a baseball bat yet!
And here is the expert of the infamous but secretive V sign
oasisfanatic.com/gallery/ima … pic446.jpg
You can’t get a better teacher than him.
That is Noel
Sad but true. The finger is as good as saying “fuck” in an already heated confrontation with the local folk. However, with this in mind, it gives you a nice lever to switch on the unreasonable button should you ever feel the urge. There’s no faster way to derail reason than blind rage.
HG
I once had a truck pull out from the curb, with no signal of course, and side swipe me. The driver then chased me and ran me off the road onto the sidewalk. Once I got up I proceeded to smash his mirrors and try to drag him out of the truck. He of course turtled locked his doors and stared straight ahead. I stood in front of his truck so he could not drive away. Eventually he backed up and drove away, however once he was 20 feet away then decided to stop and get out. I don’t think he expected me to cover the 20 feet so fast and I caught him half in a half out of the truck.
Long story short after the first shot he dropped and curled up like a baby crying I am sorry I’m sorry.
Not my finest moment but being forced off the road by a truck is beyond what a rational man can take. The cops refused to press charges because they said it was my fault for driving a bicycle on the road?!
Well I hope you learned your lesson, you wild youngster! 
[quote=“shifty”]I once had a truck pull out from the curb, with no signal of course, and side swipe me. The driver then chased me and ran me off the road onto the sidewalk. Once I got up I proceeded to smash his mirrors and try to drag him out of the truck. He of course turtled locked his doors and stared straight ahead. I stood in front of his truck so he could not drive away. Eventually he backed up and drove away, however once he was 20 feet away then decided to stop and get out. I don’t think he expected me to cover the 20 feet so fast and I caught him half in a half out of the truck.
Long story short after the first shot he dropped and curled up like a baby crying I am sorry I’m sorry.
Not my finest moment but being forced off the road by a truck is beyond what a rational man can take. The cops refused to press charges because they said it was my fault for driving a bicycle on the road?![/quote]
I am glad you gave him a lesson. N1
Most of the chasers are just posturing. If they try to get out the car you cover ground quick and take em when they are half in half out. Most will run and the ones that don’t take em before they can get enough space to wield the bat.
Sounds like you taught the prick a lesson. N1 shifty glad some foreigners have got the balls to do that 
and that guy sounds like a real number one prick. Running people off the road in a gravel truck. What a moron.
I feel like the moron for letting my anger get the best of me. Did I teach him a lesson, will he think twice before doing it again?..
Come on this is Taiwan, where the biggest asshole/liar/cheat wins.
He probably did the same thing to someone else before he even got home. I did a really stupid thing that felt REALLY good at the time, but was not the smartest thing I have ever done; it just felt really good.
And in America Bush wins…and he’s none of those things. 
[quote=“shifty”]I feel like the moron for letting my anger get the best of me. Did I teach him a lesson, will he think twice before doing it again?..
Come on this is Taiwan, where the biggest asshole/liar/cheat wins.
He probably did the same thing to someone else before he even got home. I did a really stupid thing that felt REALLY good at the time, but was not the smartest thing I have ever done; it just felt really good.[/quote]
You had a right to be angry and what you didn’t wasn’t stupid. The guy needed some pusnishment for nearly crushing a cyclist to death. Maybe he won’t change but when he will eventually (for sure) crush someone (probably a child) in that truck at least you tried to do something about the moron.
It felt good cause you did the right thing.
anyway that is my take on it!
I can’t believe you are telling him he did the right thing. He obviously overreacted: he smashed the guy’s mirrors and then assaulted the driver as he was coming out of his truck to perhaps talk about the incident.
Not to say that Mr. Driver was faultless but it’s not your place to teach people “lessons”.
Right… its the law’s job to teach people’s lessons, and the law is Taiwan is an f’ing joke. How about the cop that told whatshisface not to drive a pushbike on the road? What lesson did that truck driver learn?
At least in the case where that driver got beaten up, he’ll think twice about abusing people on the roads. I would have done exactly the same thing.
In Taipei and I am sure in other counties, the law is that you MUST ride your bike on the road. WTF was that cop on?
As a regular cyclist, I am often confronted by the same brand of selfish ignorance. I don’t hesitate to take it out verbally on people, many of whom are very surprised to find I can keep up with them as they accelerate to get away from a face-loss situation (well, up to about 55 or 60, when I am not going to stay there for long!). My Chinese is not very good but it is still good enough to let people around know that the driver in question is a dick.
I have been threatened with a bat from a window once, but then you know it’s time to leave. I have never yet tipped a scooter but have often been sorely tempted. A short but sharp foot push at the appropriate moment (just behind their legs) would make it less likely they’ll dangerously cut in again.
[quote=“Aether”]I can’t believe you are telling him he did the right thing. He obviously overreacted: he smashed the guy’s mirrors and then assaulted the driver as he was coming out of his truck to perhaps talk about the incident.
Not to say that Mr. Driver was faultless but it’s not your place to teach people “lessons”.[/quote]
Did you read the original post ? HE slammed with his truck to knock me off the road and crash onto the sidewalk. So yes perhaps he was trying to talk about hitting me in the first place and his his overzealous haste just decided to nudge me with his truck.
[quote=“shifty”]
Did you read the original post ? HE slammed with his truck to knock me off the road and crash onto the sidewalk. So yes perhaps he was trying to talk about hitting me in the first place and his his overzealous haste just decided to nudge me with his truck.[/quote]
Forgive me for saying this but there’s always 2 sides to a story. For instance, what’s this about the cops not pressing charges? Come on, the guy almost ran you over and you let it go when they told you “sorry, no can do”?
And as for the guy saying the law in Taiwan “being a joke”, what proof do you have of that? Let’s not generalize please.
[quote=“Aether”]
And as for the guy saying the law in Taiwan “being a joke”, what proof do you have of that? Let’s not generalize please.[/quote]
Are you kidding? Or are you some kind of local patriot that blindly supports and defends his country no matter how blindly obvious the negative comments made about it are?
Taiwan’s laws…or attempts thereof are a joke. I remember when a regular poster hit two kids on a scooter…as they rode through a red light…rider (not passenger) talking on a cell phone…at night with lights off…and no licenses. They were hurt and the foreigner was ordered to pay…I forget…but a lot…to both teenagers for loss of income. Taiwan’s feeble attempts at law are a joke.
[quote=“shifty”][quote=“Aether”]I can’t believe you are telling him he did the right thing. He obviously overreacted: he smashed the guy’s mirrors and then assaulted the driver as he was coming out of his truck to perhaps talk about the incident.
Not to say that Mr. Driver was faultless but it’s not your place to teach people “lessons”.[/quote]
Did you read the original post ? HE slammed with his truck to knock me off the road and crash onto the sidewalk. So yes perhaps he was trying to talk about hitting me in the first place and his his overzealous haste just decided to nudge me with his truck.[/quote]
Shifty Bronson is the man! :bravo:
[quote=“Mordeth”][quote=“Aether”]
And as for the guy saying the law in Taiwan “being a joke”, what proof do you have of that? Let’s not generalize please.[/quote]
Are you kidding? Or are you some kind of local patriot that blindly supports and defends his country no matter how blindly obvious the negative comments made about it are?
Taiwan’s laws…or attempts thereof are a joke. I remember when a regular poster hit two kids on a scooter…as they rode through a red light…rider (not passenger) talking on a cell phone…at night with lights off…and no licenses. They were hurt and the foreigner was ordered to pay…I forget…but a lot…to both teenagers for loss of income. Taiwan’s feeble attempts at law are a joke.[/quote]
Wanting proof is reasonable; I take everything I read with a grain of salt. I mean, you can deride Taiwan’s laws all you want but isolated examples of some exceptional incidents don’t make or break the law in my eyes. Both of these incidents (shifty being ignored and the other guy being fined) could’ve resulted from poor laws, incompetent enforcers (which says nothing about the laws themselves), miscommunication (after all, not all “foreigners” are fluent in Mandarin nor all locals fluent in English), etc which proves nothing about the laws of Taiwan.
lol @ image, let’s glorify vigilantism yeaaa 
What shifty did was wrong because by the same rule the aggrieved trucker could bring a gang of hairy trucker friends and beat shifty to a pulp and so on. You don’t go “eye for an eye”
Earth to Major Tom. Earth to Major Tom. Your circuits dead. Earth to Major Tom. Over.
[quote=“Aether”]
Wanting proof is reasonable; I take everything I read with a grain of salt. I mean, you can deride Taiwan’s laws all you want but isolated examples of some exceptional incidents don’t make or break the law in my eyes. Both of these incidents (shifty being ignored and the other guy being fined) could’ve resulted from poor laws, incompetent enforcers (which says nothing about the laws themselves), miscommunication (after all, not all “foreigners” are fluent in Mandarin nor all locals fluent in English), etc which proves nothing about the laws of Taiwan.
lol @ image, let’s glorify vigilantism yeaaa What shifty did was wrong because by the same rule the aggrieved trucker could bring a gang of hairy trucker friends and beat shifty to a pulp and so on. You don’t go “eye for an eye” [/quote]
I’ll agree that it might not be the laws that are always at fault…and more so the enforcers (police). But there are plenty of laws that are insane. For example…it’s illegal for a scooter to pass a car on the right…but it’s also illegal for a scooter to ride in the left lane…so every single time you pass a car in the scooter lane…you’re breaking the law. In Taiwan…if you are hurt in an accident that you are 100% at fault for…you can still sue the other person for injuries. In other words you can crash your scooter into the back of a car while it’s stopped at a red light…and sue and win. That’s intelligent.
Earth to Major Tom. Earth to Major Tom. Your circuits dead. Earth to Major Tom. Over.[/quote]
:roflmao: :roflmao: He want proof!