Gracious?

[HDDon]

Last week my wife and I were out for a ride she on her trike and me on the Road Glide. We were about 90 miles north of where we live. We came into a town with a 45 MPH speed limit, on a four lane road and we were in the left lane preparing to make a left turn about 7 or 8 blocks further up. Traveling the speed limit I saw the car to my right move over to the left without a signal. To say the least I used all of my MSF course lessions and still it was a very close encounter. My wife who was behind me later said she knew I was going down and it was going to be bad. The driver of the car noticed me when he got fully in the left lane and waved his right hand, and then he moved back over to the right lane, without a signal, and stuck his left hand out to wave me to go ahead of him. I was not about to give him another shot at me so I stayed back and let him go ahead and he made the same left turn we were making. Once we cleared the city limits he moved out passing cars and traveling well above the speed limit. I put it out of my mind and about 50 miles up I stopped for gas and sure enough he was at the same station. He approched me and said he was sorry "he didn't see me". I asked him to please pay more attention, and how would he feel if he were apologizing to my wife while I was on my way to the hospital or worse? I did not raise my voice, use any expletives ar any hand jestures.
My wife says I should have graciously accepted his apology. What does the forum think?

 

[NEWHD74FAN]

Uhh, I think you did it by just expressing yourself calmly, and shall we say creatively. What the fellow said WAS NOT an apology, but an excuse for his poor behavior and basically he was "washing his hands" for any responsibility. You responded as best you could and I would think your wife would understand that you were gracious...after all you did not pull his arm off and beat him with it! :small3d015: Sorry, but your avatar name reminded me of the "God Father", could have been the 4th installment at the gas station...

 

[Gezzer Glide]

I know its hard to keep your cool when someone almost takes you out but I think you handled it right. He already said he was sorry and that he had not seen you. If you had gotten in his face it would have given him a bad image of all riders. What you did was get him to think of a worse scenario and maybe next time he will be more aware of motorcycles. You were in the right and he knew no sense in rubbing his nose in it.

 

[Jim B.]

It was good that you made him aware of the dangerous situation that he caused. However, I agree with your wife. You should have also graciously accepted his apology. He went out of his way to apologize instead of simply ignoring you or acting like the situation was somehow your fault. A gracious acceptance would have the courteous thing to do in response to his overture. Just my $02.

 

[cuznjed]

Your a better man then me, but I honestly think you handled it the right way. That will stick with him alot longer then you screaming and curssing! But your wife does have a valid point!

 

[Safehaven]

I've had a bad experience in the past with trying to tell someone (in a very polite and calm way as yourself) about a possible horrific outcome of their driving actions.

So I tend to agree with your wife that, generally, it isn't worth the trouble and just accept their appology.

But then again, if you managed to change one person's way of behaving on the road and made it a better place for all of us, then I salute you

Kris

 

[Rewind]

I think you did just right.

 

[softailhog]

No way I could have "calmly" discussed anything at that point, I salute your cool head.

 

[horizonchaser]

I think that you went about it the right way. Some people make an apology as a reflex action. You calmly and hopefully persuasively reinforced in him that he needs to not just make a blanket apology and be on his way, but rather think about what had just happened for a moment so that hopefully there won't be a next time for him.
All you tried to do was simply point out to him how important it is to really pay attention.

 

[Rewind]

Uhh, I think you did it by just expressing yourself calmly, and shall we say creatively. What the fellow said WAS NOT an apology, but an excuse for his poor behavior and basically he was "washing his hands" for any responsibility.

You're post got me to thinking.......what should the guy have done/said. I think the fact that he realized he had messed up and actually made an effort to make amends says something. Most folks at that point would have done/said nothing.