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I have been out on the roadbike as I couldn't be bothered with cleaning the freshly polished mtbs and was travelling along a busyish road, right up near the pavement when someone drove past me and hit me quite hard with their wing mirror. I sustained no injury and managed to stay on the bike, but was quite pissed off and chased him down the road, overtook him at some traffic lights and got in the middle of the road and slowed almost to a stop, unfortunately he got round me and sped off up a big enough hill to lose me.
Luckily enough he had a private plate which I remembered and reported to the police straight away, obviously I said I wasn't badly hurt and my bike wasn't damaged but pointed out that had that been some old dear on a bike popping down the shops they would certainly have had her off which could have been quite serious.
Now had he have stopped and apologised like a decent human being I would have let it go possibly but his behaviour makes me think he needs at least a telling off, anyone have any experience with similiar incidents? What can the police do? in the end of the day it's my word against his and there's no damage to prove he actually hit me, but he has effectively abbandonded the scene of an accident which I'm sure is quite serious
Get his address and take a shit on his bonnet.
[quote=chrishc777 ]I have been out on the roadbike as I couldn't be bothered with cleaning the freshly polished mtbs and was travelling along a busyish road, [b]right up near the pavement[/b]Who is going to be first? 😆
Glad you're OK OP, but it does sound like you're riding in the wrong place. What's more you are only adding to the problem by riding along slowly in front of him after the initial incident.
Glad you're ok OP.
As Scotroutes says, primary position is recommended for a reason 🙂
Get his address and take a shit on his bonnet.
[keyboard warrior]
Amateur. Get his address and use paint stripper to write shit on his bonnet.
[/keyboard warrior]
Break off that wing mirror and use it write shit on his face?
Have him killed
[img] http://www.cheetah3d.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=7425&stc=1&d=1250121293 [/img]
I was stopping in front of him to make him stop so I could confront him outside of his large metal box, not riding slowly in front of him.
Explain 'primary position'.
right up near the pavement when someone drove past me and hit me quite hard with their wing mirror
Did you not have a moment of realisation as you typed those words?
Thankfully you came of lightly.
Leaving aside the riding position debate, the police can pursue it if they think there's a reasonable chance of conviction - to do this you'd need to make a witness statement, and would probably also need some evidence of damage or additional witnesses.
A similar thing happened to me when I was on a training ride with friends and the offending driver eventually got a conviction for driving without due care and attention, with points and a fine.
Primary position is owning your lane as you are entitled to, and not riding in the gutter
As in in the middle of it?
Fair point but when doing that I find people get annoyed and purposely pass far too close.
So does that put me in the wrong? Ie it's my fault he drove his vehicle into me?
Primary position, this should explain OP. [img] 
[/img]
It's his fault but riding in the gutter gives you no leeway and if you had sat out a bit further he may have slowed down to pass and do a proper overtake rather than squeeze by, no need to ride in the middle of the road but don't ride in the gutter either.
So does that put me in the wrong? Ie it's my fault he drove his vehicle into me?
Doesn't put you in the wrong at all, and doesn't make him right. The comments above are a bit unfair, imo.
But it's worth considering for future rides. In the right situations it should encourage drivers to overtake properly. If you're in the gutter, you'll not even be considered part of the traffic, and plenty of people will just continue how they are, without moving an inch.
Cheers tthew, clear now, but does being in secondary position put me in the wrong?
Cheers all will pay more attention in future, could have been quite nasty! Just another reason why mtb is so much better than the dark side!
Two cyclists where killed today glad youre still with us.
Enter his detail of reg number into google, you tube and see what comes up, sometimes dangerous and stupid drivers video their drives or somebody videos their driving.
Secondary position isn't wrong, it's where you go when you consider it safe to let cars go past you. But it is your choice, don't let cars bully you to move over and allow them the room to pull a punishment pass.
You also have some space to move into if a driver is doing something really stupid. Like a lot of lifes situations, assertive gets you a bit of respect an patience. (Usually 😀 )
You did good OP, ignore the sanctimonious pricks on here who just want to pick you up on something.
Police response varies between constabularies. Last time similar happened to me, Derbyshire said, as it was my word against his, they wouldn't even do that old fashioned "pop around and have a word".
Extremely disappointing to say the least.
You did good OP, ignore the sanctimonious pricks on here who just want to pick you up on something.
Indeed, had you been further out the bloke may well of ploughed straight into you. It's new years day, the guy is probably still pissed from last night. There's no reason to believe if you were further out in the lane he would have been any better at judging the overtake.
Indeed, had you been further out the bloke may well of ploughed straight into you. It's new years day, the guy is probably still pissed from last night. There's no reason to believe if you were further out in the lane he would have been any better at judging the overtake.
+1. This is what I don't understand, If the driver doesn't see you, he doesn't see you & I'd rather be clipped by a mirror than flattened.
I realise I must be missing something but I've no idea what it is.
Given that he refused to stop afterwards the driver sounds like a complete c*nt, I doubt the OP could have done anything to avoid it. Even if he had been in primary and the driver hadn't just mowed him down, could he have moved left to avoid the car given he'd have had fractions of a second from seeing how close the bonnet was to being hit by the mirror?
This kind of thing happens to me all too often (and no, I'm not riding in the gutter and I'm bikeability level 3 trained) and if I catch up with the drivers the usual response is that it's my fault for being "in the way"/being "in the middle of the road*"/or "there was no room to get past safely so I had to side-swipe you into the kerb". It feels like a real choice between occasional careless close passes from being in the gutter vs deliberate tailgating and sideswipes as punishment for being in primary.
I must admit to getting a bit sick of road riding at the moment. Admittedly it's virtually all commuting miles so busier times of day but the constant hassle (incompetence and outright aggression) from rubbish drivers, feeling like I'm spending the whole journey waiting for someone to flatten me, knowing that if something happened the police would probably blame me and do as little as possible to go after the driver....It's just not fun. Unfortunately we've got some awful cycle paths round here (Mud and deep, loose, gravel for a commuter route? Thanks Sustrans. Well, there is one bit of the NCN that is well surfaced..because it's a 50mph main road that you've stuck a blue sign on, the road, not the pavement!) so they're not very appealing, and even if I wanted to use them I've still have 6-7 miles of road either side of the off road stuff.
I'm sure it's probably better to use the 'vehicular cycling'/bikeability principles than not, but I can't see how people can genuinely believe that this is a better situation than the Dutch way, even when you get confident people out on their bikes they still have to put up with stuff like this.
*I know it's not the middle of the road, but you really think a someone like the driver in this incident will appreciate why you're riding there?
[Police response varies between constabularies]
It also differs between officers unfortunately. If it was a bobby who understands cycling there is a good chance they would get a section 59 warning (vehicle can be confiscated should there be another report of bad driving). If it was a lazy petrolhead then the Derbyshire response would be likely.
chakaping - Member
You did good OP, ignore the sanctimonious pricks on here who just want to pick you up on something.
+1, glad you are OK
the bloke may well of ploughed straight into you. It's new years day, the guy is probably still pissed from last night. There's no reason to believe if you were further out in the lane he would have been any better at judging the overtake
No reason to believe he wouldn't have slowed and passed properly either.
Maybe the OP should ride in the gutter all the time? Seeing as you have suggested it saved him from serious injury.
Some drivers don't know or care what is a safe distance to overtake. A couple of weeks ago I was on the way to a hospital appointment in a medical services transport transit connect when the driver passed a cyclist with literally half inch to spare.
When I pointed out his driving was piss poor he said don't criticise my driving then refused to acknowledge me for the rest of the way there or back.
[Police response varies between constabularies]
It also differs between officers unfortunately. If it was a bobby who understands cycling there is a good chance they would get a section 59 warning (vehicle can be confiscated should there be another report of bad driving). If it was a lazy petrolhead then the Derbyshire response would be likely.
I was told is was policy within the Derbyshire constabulary. Never thought to check if that was the case, May have been fobbed off thinking about it.
Thinking about it he must have realised that in the time I spent chasing him I'd have remembered his plate and reported him, so it is quite probable that he was in fact drunk or at least over the limit, if he had of stopped and the police had gotten involved and breathalised him he would have been in serious trouble, whilst now the worst he will receive will be a warning..
No reason to believe he wouldn't have slowed and passed properly either.
Yes there is. The driver has already demonstrated he won't give safe space when overtaking.
It could have been that the driver simply didn't see the OP, in which case he probably wouldn't have seen him in primary (who here seriously can't see a perfectly visible cyclist if they move 2 ft to the left?!) and would have ploughed into him and then told the police that the OP [url= https://beyondthekerb.wordpress.com/2014/01/21/from-out-of-nowhere/ ]came out of nowhere[/url].
Didn't Dr Ian Walker (Bath uni transport psychologist/scientist) do some research a while ago and found that the further out you ride, the closer the passes get? Bikeability folk like to say the opposite happens but I'm not sure they've ever actually measured it.
Well done for not throwing your bike through his windscreen OP. That would have been me. Fact that he didn't stop probably telling regarding being hungover/pissed.
[quote=bails ]It could have been that the driver simply didn't see the OP, in which case he probably wouldn't have seen him in primary (who here seriously can't see a perfectly visible cyclist if they move 2 ft to the left?!)And yet, that's one of the "primary" reasons for cycling out towards the centre of the lane - you become more visible.
I have had a few road incidents and have had a huge amount of anger at the time. I have not been out on the road bike for a couple of weeks, as I saw a guy nearly taken out by a driver, I think it was a case of very strong low sun so the driver didn`t see the cyclist.
Great you are ok to tell the tale. Not a huge amount you can do, as the driver is obviously rude and ignorant if they know they clipped you!
If I could track them I probably would leave a rude message... Your choice of pen I guess ; )
Trust me JCL, had he stopped when I caught him that might of happened, and may still happen if I spot the car in a car park somewhere, beautiful thing living on an island!
[quote=JCL ]Fact that he didn't stop probably telling regarding being hungover/pissed.Nah - I reckon (based on exactly the same information being available) that we was an illegal immigrant paedophile drug carrier with a dead body in the boot. His tyre treads were probably below the legal limit too.
or maybe he was trying to stop me getting all the 2015 KOMs
😆
You did good OP, ignore the sanctimonious pricks on here who just want to pick you up on something.
I don't get this comment at all... Primary position is the recommended position to make yourself visible - it's in John Franklin's Cyclecraft, Bikeability training, British Cycling and CTC recommend it... The OP just got hit, but luckily wasn't seriously hurt, and riding primary could have prevented the whole thing. I can't see how bringing the subject into the thread is sanctimonious? No-one's criticising him...
And yet, that's one of the "primary" reasons for cycling out towards the centre of the lane - you become more visible.
Well, it's one of the [i]claims[/i]. I certainly agree at junctions it's a big help, e.g. riding past a T junction it means drivers pulling out are more likely to see you and you get fewer left hooks. But for the riding in a straight line stuff with a car approaching from behind at relatively high speed I'm not so sure. Like I said, if you're on a straight road and get someone to stand in 'primary' 100 ft away then they're perfectly visible. If they take one step to the left they don't disappear. It might change how people overtake IF they've seen you but if you've been missed in secondary then you're unlikely to be seen in primary either IMO.
or maybe he was trying to stop me getting all the 2015 KOMs
Maybe he was trying to help you, bet you got one hell of an adrenaline rush 😉
Nah - I reckon (based on exactly the same information being available) that we was an illegal immigrant paedophile drug carrier with a dead body in the boot. His tyre treads were probably below the legal limit too.
Are they known for being hungover/drunk on NYD more than most then? 12% increase in DUI's on NYD on this side of the pond.
Well I'm with Bails on this. There's no way on this earth (well the A168 from Boroughbridge to Wetherby at least) that you'd get me riding in 'primary position'. Not a chance. I use that road a LOT, & I've never seen any other cyclists do it either, secondary maybe, in the 'mini hard shoulder' often, but not primary.
Some drivers don't know or care what is a safe distance to overtake. A couple of weeks ago I was on the way to a hospital appointment in a medical services transport transit connect when the driver passed a cyclist with literally half inch to spare.
When I pointed out his driving was piss poor he said don't criticise my driving then refused to acknowledge me for the rest of the way there or back.
You should have pointed out that his job was to deliver patients, not create them - then question his professional driver status, and report him to his employers.
check in the bathroom mirror - if there is any bruising where the mirror has hit you, and you can 'add weight' to your claim that he struck you, by 'sizing up' where his wing mirror on that car theoretically would have hit you when in a seated cycling position, if the bruising is in the same place, the Police have to consider it as a form of evidence, even circumstantial. You never know - the guy may have a track record of run-ins with cyclists. If that's the case, sooner or later he's going to kill someone! You know the kind of people "we pay road tax" blah blah blah.
I got hit just over a month ago on an open country road, in broad daylight and frankly I'm lucky to be alive. THE NEXT PERSON MIGHT NOT BE - We all have a duty to one another to try and make the roads safer. We can each do a tiny bit. Eventually, those tiny bits add up to something big.
I hope you get to the bottom of it all and nothing else happens to your detriment.
Glad you are ok op. I overtake cyclists giving a fill lane, as if they were a car, I often get flashed and gestures from following vehicles as if I am doing something wrong!
I think part of the driving test should be riding 5 miles down a busy A road at rush hour, drivers may the begin to appreciate the vulnerability of cyclist, rather than just seeing them as another obstacle between a-b.
I bet it was and audi!