Poirot, I have a very good arm from playing cricket and football in my youth and the car's windows were up. The risk to anyone was vanishingly small.

However, as I said, I would have preferred to be able to rely on the mechanisms of the state, but they don't work.

Houellie, I made the point above that some old men may have the excuse of poor faculties. That doesn't apply to young people of either gender.

As to the reason for their lack of engagement, that's not my problem. On the road they have an obligation to be switched on. There is actually an offence of "driving without due care and attention", but I don't recall anyone being charged with it unless their lack of attention actually causes an accident. Instead, the law has focussed on externalities, like using mobile phones, while ginoring the underlying reason, which is that they detract from the attention available to be given to the road.

There was a head-on collision on the Storey Bridge here in Brisbane a few days ago, in which a cabbie was killed. The driver at fault was a young woman driving her boyfriend home in the early hours who crossed the centre line of a 6 lane road.

I don't give a toss why she did that, I simply wish she had been better trained to appreciate the serious responsibility inherent in taking to the road. I don't have any "rage", I'm a very patient and considerate driver. It is not possible to drive a large truck with safety any other way, let alone survive being a motorcyclist in city traffic for 30 years. I do my best to assist the traffic flow, which is a basic piece of common sense.

That doesn't mean I don't get irked by those who aren't any of those things, as I'm sure you do as well. There is no need for such slackness and it's not hard to do better, so failing to do so is simply inconsiderate and lazy.

Anti,

So you are saying that if you had instead taken the guy's number and reported the $300 dollar damage to the authorities, then nothing would have been done?

Are you saying that lobbing a weighty projectile at an intact window is a wise course of action because you "have a good arm"? Young delinquent behaviour of tossing rocks at passing cars is aimed at breaking windows and often causes serious injury - albeit with no reason behind it other than to cause harm - yet it often seems to result in serious injury all the same.

What I'm getting at is that the person who caused the damage to your bike, did so by accident. Your reaction of causing deliberate damage with a dangerous projectile seems to be something you're rather proud of. If I was the guy you targeted, I'd report your actions even while wearing the guilt of inadvertently causing the initial damage.

What if, unbeknownst to you, there had been a small child in the car who got sprayed with flying shattered glass? When we react in the heat of the moment, sometimes we tend to overlook minor details such as that.

Poirot, I'm saying that the guy will be very unlikely to do anything like that again and that my course of action was completely safe. I was less than 20 meters from the scene when the incident occurred, but the fat fool didn't see me because he was unable to turn his head that far.

Cars have had safety glass in their windows for decades, that doesn't shatter into shards but into blocks and largely remains in its original form rather than flying apart. It the particular case the only actual penetration was at the point of impact, the rest of the window simply crazed into blocks and stayed put.

My action wasn't "spur of the moment". I tried to get his attention by yelling, but he couldn't hear me in his little cocooon with the radio going. When he started to drive off I felt I had to stop him, so I took the only course of action I had available. I could have aimed at the body work, perhaps, but I figured the glass was unlikely to break and would therefore be less expensive to him, which was my only mistake.

I don't encourage such responses, but as I keep saying, unless people are made directly accountable for their poor behaviour, they won't stop it. In my view that person is an accident waiting to happen as long as he is in charge of a car and should be prevented from holding a license. He actually offered his lack of flexibility in motion as some sort of excuse, when it is actually a good reason for him to be declared unfit to drive.

The worst thing is that I really do lack any confidence that the police will do anything at all. That's a much greater tragedy, as Ludwig points out and can only lead to more people feeling they have to act as I did, whether right or wrong.

Anti,

Do you reckon that the course of action that you took is likely to bring this guy's poor flexibility/driving problems to the attention of anyone who can do something about him being on the road?

Yeah, again, like with Hasbeen, I get your frustration, and these sorts of problems are endemic to the sort of society we have concocted for ourselves.

When it all boils down, the person who is lax and makes mistakes can always be written off as a "fat fool" or a "ditzy air-headed chick", etc - obviously far beyond a reasonably civilised encounter....

Like I said, it's a jungle out there.

Houell I'm a bit sick of this sympathy for the offender. It is this very attitude that has expanded the number of offenders.

I did mention that the offender had parked a foot into my marked parking bay. There were at least 30 empty bays in the area I had parked. There is no excuse possible for parking so close to any other car in this situation.

I know about difficulty of getting out of a car. I have great difficulty getting my left leg out of the door. It causes pain, & I have to lift it with my hands. I have a rough old Ford Capri convertible, with a big wide door, which with the roof down, is all I can manage some days. No one with any problem could have got out of a car parked that close. The reason for my damage was they had difficulty getting out with a door only half opened.

It was sheere bloody minded laziness, in not realigning their car that caused it.

Poirot perhaps if the cops did do their job with these people, society could be as courteous as it was when I was a kid. Unfortunately today, they are only interested in applying a fine to someone. If no chance of revenue, forget the cops. I mentioned a couple of teenagers they simply roused on, after they had done $8,000 worth of keying damage to 6 cars. If the cops bothered to charge these people, the problem would soon stop.

What happened to my car was negligent vandalism, & unless we stop these actions by these people, expect increasing rage & vigilantism to come. You pair have convinced me. I will get that tyre valve removal tool, next time I'm in town.

Tolerance is a two way street. You guys show no tolerance, and believe it is a ridiculous notion to show tolerance to someone who annoys you or damages your property through negligence and carelessness.

Yet you talk of a society where people look out for your property. You don't care about any ameliorating circumstance that could have been the cause of their carelessness, so you're perpetuating the society you despise. ie Everyone look out for themselves. You're saying that's not my problem, and that's exactly what you perceive to be the error of their attitude that has led to your misfortune.

Zero tolerance, no excuses, throw a can at em, they shouldn't have the right to participate in society without the very best of skills? I'm not saying people shouldn't be responsible for their actions or that there shouldn't be consequences, but violent and aggressive acts without any evidence of anything other than negligence and laziness is an illustration of the every same intolerance that angers you so.

'The reason for my damage was they had difficulty getting out with a door only half opened.'

So by your admission, the door opener could well be the victim of the lazy driver. Who could well be the victim of sleepless nights caused by x, who was the victim of poor personal hygene from y, who was the victim of boat people and Tony Abbot.

There is always someone to blame. You lash out at them, you perpetuate the comedic tragedy.

We're all in it together. Be annoyed, sure, look for compensation from the persons involved, it's just the shoot first ask questions later zero tolerance attitude that I'm sure you wouldn't appreciate if you made a mistake or were careless.