People pull and walk out infront of cyclists all the time. You just have to be ready on the brakes and keep your cool. This chap could have stopped easily and was daft to loose his temper. The van driver needs to be more considerate in future.

A blatant attempt at harming the cyclist, I would have to get revenge, maybe not today maybe not tomorrow but hey it would be worth the wait.

Does that Van Driver live here?

surfer – Member

Challenging idiots and those with no consideration is more likely to make drivers think twice before engaging in the type of behaviour exhibited in this video.

i've chased down a few vans, cars and buses in my time and either been threatened/couldn't care a toss or just no understanding of what they'd done

now i just wave and smile as that makes me feel better and as said earlier when i feel like thumping somebody's pride and joy i just pretend that my hands are gaffer taped to the bars

Surely what is needed is some tactical diving.

If the cyclist had performed a controlled fall as a result of the van's bad driving/hitting him then you have yourself an RTA for the police to attend.

Especially if you have a camera, no???

Keep your head and use tactics.

i've chased down a few vans, cars and buses in my time and either been threatened/couldn't care a toss or just no understanding of what they'd done

A guy came within inches of knocking me off on Sunday despite having at least 2 car widths worth of space to use he simply chose not to use the round thing on his dashboard and overtook me without changing his line.
I caught up with him as he pulled into a pub car park.
I told him he was too close and explained that he needs to give cyclists more room. No rant or swearing or hystrionics. I have to admit he didnt seem concerned but he may have been a bit embarrased in front of his wife and friends and there is a slim chance that a light may go on next time he is approaching a cyclist. Its definitely not going to happen if I do nothing.

Surprised the cyclist is getting criticised for banging the side of the van and escalating things – he only did that after the van was swerving into him. Perfectly acceptable to bang the side to let them know he was there in such a situation IMO

A couple of years ago, whilst pulling away from the lights into an opposite cycle lane, I got cut up by an overtaking mini with a Union Jack painted on the roof.

As the traffic slowed down, I caught up with the car and banged on the roof. Pulling alongside, I clocked the driver – body-builder (probably – or maybe just a builder), cropped haircut, going mental and shouting that if i touched his car again, he'd kill me.

I just said, calmly – "It's a cycle lane".

He said "If you touch my car again, I'll kill you".

I said "It's a cycle lane"

This went on for about 100 or so yards and then I said – "I couldn't care less about your little gay car. What are you, a hairdresser?" He went apopleptic with rage and slammed on the brakes (presumably in preparation of jumping out and making good his threat).

I rode off. Laugh? I nearly went to church… 😀

"Perfectly acceptable to bang the side to let them know he was there in such a situation IMO"

He didn't do it to "let them know he was there" though did he? He did it because he was annoyed. Not that I have a problem with that either myself.

I was in a similiar chat to this on Bikeradar a while back. Some people have an odd attitude to blame and risk and fault, it has to be totally polar. Like, it's the van driver's fault so nothing the cyclist did can possibly be wrong. Or, the cyclist was legally in the right so everything he did was fine. And any criticism of the cyclist was support for the van driver.

I got totally cut up by a bus a few weeks ago, put me on the verge. He stopped to pick up passengers, I hopped onto the kerb, still rather annoyed, and said "are you trying to kill me!?", he replied "I'm really sorry, should've given more room". I didn't really know what to say, well diffused.

I'm generally very mild mannered, it's not worth the hassle to get angry, it's all very well being in the right, but it's fairly irrelevant if you get the psycho who's not really phased by jail and actually kills you!

If the cyclist had performed a controlled fall as a result of the van's bad driving/hitting him then you have yourself an RTA for the police to attend.

controlled fall? Nice idea but I aint lying in the road, wouldn't trust some A-hole not to take the opportunity to cull our numbers.

This chap could have stopped easily

You can tell that from the video? I'm certainly not so sure myself – in combination with what he shouts it seems like a lot of the initial problem is the van pulling out very slowly, hence him going up the inside to avoid running into the back of it. Of course he could have braked sooner, but would you really expect to have to when the van could have avoided getting in his way simply by accelerating to the speed of the other traffic? This along with people getting things out of order and thinking he banged the van before it tried to run him off the road is the basis of a lot of the misperceptions.

The cyclist certainly isn't totally blameless, but nothing at all he does excuses any of the actions of the driver.

I am always up for an arguement with ****t drivers .They dont realise how big you are until they get out of the car.I had one prick by the throat after he overtook 6 of us and a tractor on a bend causing the car coming the other way onto the pavement.We found him working a few miles up the road .He thought we should have passed the tractor even though I had a kid on the tandem !

Reminds me of the time a van pulled across my path when crossing a road (running at speed) the guy pulled forward into my path quite blatanty as he saw me coming (too long winded to explain in detail but in summary my route was clear and he was just being a t**t) anyway I slowed quickly but used the side of his van to come to a complete stop!!
Although he brought it about he took offence at me hitting the side of his van and started to get out (he was a bruiser!) fortunatley another 6 of my mates came around the corner (I had dropped them a mile back!)
It was clear what had happened without me explaining and the look on the thugs face when he was confronted by another 6 blokes was quite comical!
Needless to say he jumped back into his van and f***** off!

and there is a slim chance that a light may go on next time he is approaching a cyclist. Its definitely not going to happen if I do nothing.

too slim i reckon but maybe i've developed a yellow streak

oh and one tip…never ever pick a fight if you spot someone who has stopped for fuel after carving you into the back of parked car hand on horn – diesel patches and roadie shoes are not a stable combination when the going gets tough

It ain't worth dying for that is for sure.

Yes the van did pull out on the cyclist and forced him to slow down. We do not know what was behind the cyclist but I doubt it was a continuous stream of traffic so why did he need to pull out in front. The guy is obviously having a bad day or can not drive or just a ****t. Any of these are sure signs that he should be avoided. By trying to knock the cyclist off he reinforces the point that you should stay away from him.

Did any one notice the motor cycle that needed to take evasive action. So lets look at this again.

Multiple vehicle pile up in Gosport, cyclist dead on scene, motor cyclist seriously injured and female passenger in shock. The driver is unhurt.

And all this was for what????

A lack of patience on the van drivers part and then the red mist aggression that followed, on both sides.

Patience and patient sound a like don't they. I wonder if that was planned or just coincidence?

To pick up on the point about the head cam. Why should you not wear a head cam when out and about on the bike. Some companies I understand insist on having a "crash cam" installed in their vehicles. Do they do this so that they can go and look for trouble? I do not think so. To suggest that wearing a head cam means you are out looking for trouble is very short sighted. Any footage just becomes a record of what happened and in this instance the cyclist made the situation worse by getting involved. I understand his actions and I would be hacked off by that move in front of me as well, on bike or in car, BUT IT AIN'T WORTH DYING FOR.

Gosport is traffic hell . Ask Dez , he commutes there almost very day by bike. It gridlocks really easily and , due to the weight of traffic , there are alot of cyclists. White van man might have been at the junction for 10 mins waiting to get out ,it might have been 1 minute, but could have been alot longer. He sees a gap , which involves making a cyclist slow down / stop and pulls out.
Cyclist has to slow considerably and handbags ensue.
Doesnt make it OK , but if he is a tradesman on business time is money.

I am almost certain I have seen that van with the grey tag top left hand side, in or around the area. Will keep an eye open for it and keep well clear.

its a wide angle lens, everything is closer than it looks in the video.

but if he is a tradesman on business time is money

some of the worst white van driving i see seems to centre around getting fags/pop/the sun in morning, getting burgers/butties/chips at lunchtime*

(*apologies to any guardain reading salad eating STW tradesfolk)

bit like car commuters – its a measure of how good the economy is how many there are – i presume all that speeding to work and home again is part of doing there bit

edit and chucking bottles/burger bags etc out of the window is to provide jobs for the less fortunate

gordimhor to the forum. Have you shown the video to the fuzz ?? Or have you just let it go ??

if he is a tradesman on business time is money

If so he lost lots of money pratting about going slowly in the middle of the road.

I am not involved I just saw the video somewhere

Guy in the van looks like he either rides a motorcycle or works in that business as it's a Yoshimura sticker top left at the back I think.

singletrackmind – Member

Doesnt make it OK , but if he is a tradesman on business time is money.

That's BS! A**holes like that never let anyone out themselves, squeeze in, drive like bullies.. all to get to the next red traffic light / queue a bit quicker.

Been counting the near misses since this post. I live in the sticks and have had four. Yesterdays was the worst, I did a full on broadside and made contact, but the driver just pootled off.
I think all four were down to drivers not expecting a cyclist to be traveling at the speed I was as yesterday and those before the drivers were actually looking at me!

Blimey, don't drag this one up again!
I haven't seen him yet, but when I do, I'll be "steering well clear" 😉

I think both driver and cyclist were acting like real dicks. The cyclist was clearly out to prove a point and the driver didn't look/care/misjudged intitally then decided to be a dick. The cyclist allowed himself to be drawn in. They should both have their heads banged together.
If I got really upset about every dick that pulled out, cut up, pulled in etc on my daily commute I'd be sectioned by now.

I find that I could have predicted when someone was going to pull out, but at the same time I'm strangely driven to cycle faster at them so I encounter a near miss and then shout and swear and rant. Tis very odd 😐