Knobs

If watching frustrated drivers leaning on their horns gives you a laugh, then hanging out at the bottom of Victoria Rd on any weekday morning will have you in fits. During the morning peak, the lanes are fiddled with so that 3 lanes go left and one goes right. The odd nerk doesn't realise this, and ends up trying to turn right from a lane that is going left. You very quickly end up with a long queue of drivers who have no qualms about letting their feelings known about the driving habits of the driver in the car up front. Some people just stuff up - they aren't from around here, and they don't know about the morning lane change. But others are wankers - they do it to bounce to the front of the line. I've seen drivers so mad at that sort of behaviour, I thought I was about to see a good fight break out in the middle of the road.

The horn honking erupted just as I was going over the bike bridge on Friday morning, so I grabbed a shot of the knob above. Just after the lights went green, a wanker (photo below) tried to push their way in at the front. The driver he was pushing in front of didn't look happy - if the cop car wasn't right next to them at the time, I'm sure he would have pushed the wanker's car into the traffic barriers.

Friday must have been a good day for this sort of thing, as when I got into town, another chorus of furious honking broke out behind me. I had a quick look, and it was apparent that a taxi driver had decided to jump the queue by going down the left hand lane at a set of lights, then going straight ahead when the lights went green. The courier in the next lane across refused to let the taxi in, and much honking and swearing resulted.

Couriers and taxis are normally the sworn enemies of cyclists. However, in this matter, the courier saw that I was a witness, and at the next lights, he wound down his window and the two of us had a good chat about what an arsehole the taxi driver was. I agreed that the courier was completely in the right, and should have pushed the taxi into one of the support posts for the monorail.

The enemy of my enemy is my friend.