to report threatening behaviour to the police

[BankHolidayUnpleasantness]

I was out with my dogs walking along a single track country lane in a 30 mph zone by a small hamlet of houses. A car drove up behind me really quickly, so i turned and mouthed slow down at him. He screeched to a halt, reversed and started shouting that he was only doing 30. I suggested that he should drive slower then, as there were walkers (me) and potentially children playing (houses nearby). He shouted a few more words then started to drive off, at which point i made a rude hand sign at him. He then screeched to a halt again, leapt out, stood 6 inches from my face and waved his hand about, threateningly whilst shouting at me. Tbh, i cant remember what he was shouting at this point as i was quite scared. His wife was shouting at him to leave it, and he had a child in the back.
Would ibu to report him to the police for yelling in my face and waving his fist about?

Did you have a similar thread about a zebra crossing recently?

I disagree that it's 6 of one and half a dozen of another.

On a single track road shared with pedestrians, a car should slow down and pass with a wide berth, whether overtaking a cyclist, pedestrian or horse rider.

30 is the limit, not a speed to which you adhere regardless of circumstances.

I think this is the problem with a lot of rural single track roads of this type. It’s not unusual for them to be 60 zones, whilst in practice it would be madness to do over 30.

Some people are unable to see that just because they can do a certain speed legally, it isn’t compulsory.

I think I probably would report, although you didn’t cover yourself in glory with the rude gesture.

As I frequently tell my 13 year old DD 'If you are doing something that will wind people up, don't be surprised when they get wound up'.

You are probably a fair bit older than her, so should have learnt that lesson well before now!

You were provocative and your gesture made the Driver agitated
Being a woman on your own isn’t in itself an issue here
I know he scared you,but don’t get into altercation with drivers. It’s risky

Chalk it up as a bad experience and move on

I agree, i didnt cover myself in glory with the gesture , just a horribly scary thing to experience. I guess I'd better let it go, so many of you think his behaviour is justified. And no, webuilt, not been on any zebra crossings recently.

No he’s not justified,you’re both in the wrong I’m afraid
you both unnecessarily escalated a situation to an altercation.

Well now I know you don't have form for bad road experiences I don't actually think you were being that U.

He was confrontational and shouting when you "suggested" he should drive more slowly as there were pedestrians and possibly children about. He was aggressive towards you, to which you understandably if perhaps foolishly, reacted with a rude gesture when you thought he was leaving. He then returned and threatened you to the point you felt scared and his wife was unhappy and asking him to leave it. In front of his child too. Would any of you saying OP was BU tolerate or expect that behaviour from your DH/DP? I doubt it. Well I hope not anyway.

Your suggestion he slowed down was correct, IMO. He escalated the situation. Do people believe OP was in the wrong for making a suggestion? He over reacted at this point.

I don't believe women with a concern for safety should never say anything to men (or anyone!) in case they react with abuse. OP reacted to his abuse to her when she made a suggestion.

I would genuinely be interested to know if the people saying OP was unreasonable, would tolerate their partners acting in this way towards a lone woman, with your DC in the car?

I have no comment to make about the situation (except maybe that you were probably BU) but why were you walking with your back to the traffic? Where there are no pavements, you should always face into on-coming traffic.

I don't believe women with a concern for safety should never say anything to men (or anyone!) in case they react with abuse.

Who has said this? I certainly haven't. In fact I'm pretty pissed off at the "lone woman" card being pulled when it was OP who started the confrontation in the first place! My DP wouldn't have reacted the way this driver did, he's not a dick. But then, if I started a confrontation with every dickhead driver I came across I'd spend most of my day arguing.

Knowing when to just walk away (literally in OPs case) is part of being a grown up.

Oh and generally I'd advise against starting confrontations with random strangers irrespective of which parties are male or female.

She didn't start a confrontation.

She suggested he slow down.

His ensuing behaviour shows he doesn't have much regard for peoples' safety so OP appeared to have called it correctly!

webuilt thank you, you've summed it up exactly.
owlish would have made no difference which side of the road i was. The road is wide enough for a car and nothing else, you certainly couldn't overtake e.g. a cyclist. I was on the edge, as it happens the 'right side', i always move onto the verge (not possible to walk on it as it is very uneven), but the car came up very fast behind me, making me jump out of the way, hauling the dogs with me. I guess this triggered my initial reaction of mouthing 'slow down'.

Fair enough, I just think you can't complain when you begin something and then escalate it. Some drivers are dickheads, this isn't front page news. If I stopped to confront every arsehole I came across I'd never get anywhere!