[Closed] Excuse Me Kind Sir, That Was Rather Close!

Fair play to the cyclist & probably the driver too for his backing down & being mildly willing to accept some responsibility.
But, what the hell was he doing In the first place. He was clearly trying to bully his way past, took a dislike to having his car slapped & probably decided to get all confrontational without really thinking about it.

What is the offence of touching someone's private property. I'd have argued that the offence of trying to run me off the road probably trumped any (non existing) offence of touching private property.

At least he did back down & they had a semi-discussion about the rights & wrongs of the whole thing...

[i]If the cyclist had dabbed his brakes around the 13 second mark instead of speeding up, the whole incident would never had happened. Sometimes, it's not just about driving according to your rights, it's also about being considerate to other traffic.[/i]

Jeez, it's like you know [i]exactly[/i] what to type to get me wound up.
*leaves thread*

That's fine. Thinking "victory" will make him less defensive and more open to pondering whether the cyclist may have had a point.

I dont think it was his "defensive" behavior that put the cyclist at risk more likely he has had his behavior reinforced and will either continue or be even worse in future.

Well, I've watched the clip again and the Audi driver quite clearly crossed the solid white line and entered (albeit partially) the bus lane in the initial move that was the cause of the fuss.

Regardless of anything else, that plainly puts the audi driver at fault doesn't it? The cyclist had no obligation to move over being permitted to be in the bus lane. Consideration or not on the part of the cyclist is irrelevant, in my view

probably decided to get all confrontational without really thinking about it

Since when is road rage ever a carefully thought out response?

It just proves once again that half the drivers on the road are of less than average intelligence.

And Audi drivers think they can share bus/cycle lanes.

I had a similar with a driver of a small bus this morning in Morden, swerving into the clearly marked cycle lane just opposite the Amadhiya Mosque.

I banged on the side of his vehicle and when it stopped, I squeezed through the narrow gap between it and the kerb and carried on.

Further on, when I had stopped to put on my smog mask in preparation for Boris's CS7 through south London, he pulled up alongside me and opened the bus door.

"If you want to take my name, it's difficult driving with people overtaking, I have to swerve and..."

At that point, I employed a phrase that I reserve for these situations:

"I'm not interested. Go away."

It's so much more time efficient than getting involved in stupid conversations when you're busy trying to get somewhere..

I dont think it was his "defensive" behavior that put the cyclist at risk more likely he has had his behavior reinforced and will either continue or be even worse in future.

I think the exact opposite.

Having a relatively polite, non-aggressive discussion about it, and allowing the driver to go away without feeling overwhelmingly angry and defensive means he is far more likely to think about it rationally later when he has a clear head or when he faces a similar situation.

Smacking him in the face or shouting him down would do absolutely nothing to change his attitude, just reinforce his resentment of cyclists and probably make him more aggressive towards them in the future.

Think about how you would react to someone physically assaulting you. Would you later reflect on the possible truth of the argument they shouted at you while punching you in the face?

Have a read of this: http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=10&t=1215166&mid=0&nmt=Cyclist+falls+near%28edit%3Bonto%29+vehicle%2Eit+%26+mobile+impounded+

and the Police report/request:

http://www.northyorkshire.police.uk/index.aspx?articleid=9736

Since when is road rage ever a carefully thought out response?

I called a woman a "f*c*i*g c*nt" once when she pulled out on me from a side street. Her face was priceless and her argument was the fact that I wasn't indicating. Bearing in mind I was going straight on, I struggled to see how my lack of indicating gave her permission to pull straight out in front of me"

I don't think the driver was being reasonable to begin with after he got out the car, you don't get out the car and get right in someones face after that kind of incident. You keep some distance, I'd have felt threatened by him coming so close and may have done something about that.

I struggle with long sentences but although I never ride on the road the motorist-forces-cyclist-into-kerb theme seems to occur quite often here on STW

Wouldn't it be easier to simply bunny hop onto the pavement to avoid getting squeezed?

It's a brave motorist who pursues a cyclist along the pavement.

Feel free to flame my naive suggestion

[quote=slowoldgit ]It just proves once again that half the [s]drivers[/s] cyclists on the road are of less than average intelligence.
😆

We have reached a new low when even a cyclist being forced off the road is seen as 50:50 at best 🙄

My most recent altercation with a motorist was after he'd forced his way around me at a mini roundabout infront of another car on the roundabout, to arrive at some clearly red lights about 20 yards away a few seconds before me.

He chastised me for not indicating. But I was going straight on.

Police should get involved, he nearly knocked the cyclist off
Car driver just needs to grow up and recognise cyclists are legally in the road, and recommended to take primary position

Car driver just needs to grow up and recognise cyclists are legally in the road, and recommended to take primary position

Car driver just needs to grow up and recognise cyclists are legally in the road,

Car driver just needs to grow up and recognise cyclists are legally in the bus lane, unlike him.

rocketman - Member

I struggle with long sentences but although I never ride on the road the motorist-forces-cyclist-into-kerb theme seems to occur quite often here on STW

Wouldn't it be easier to simply bunny hop onto the pavement to avoid getting squeezed?

It's a brave motorist who pursues a cyclist along the pavement.

Feel free to flame my naive suggestion

In reality he'll follow you along on the road. Unless you can go somewhere he can't then he may be there for a while.

Of course one could giv it a go. Combined with opening his NS rr door any time he stops 😎 should wind him up

Well done for not resolving it quietly.
Him getting out the car like that would've suggested he wanted me to break his nose...

It's a brave motorist who pursues a cyclist along the pavement.

Its happened before... Cyclist knocked drivers wing-mirror, driver mounts kerb and kills him, then washes his car down and books it in for repairs to cover up the evidence.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/7646957/Driver-killed-cyclist-in-revenge-attack.html

If the cyclist had dabbed his brakes around the 13 second mark instead of speeding up, the whole incident would never had happened. Sometimes, it's not just about driving according to your rights, it's also about being considerate to other traffic.

obvious troll is obvious

why is the cyclist so far out from the kerb? ie far right of the left hand lane?

you missed mrsmith THAT ^^^^ was obvious troll

Wouldn't it be easier to simply bunny hop onto the pavement to avoid getting squeezed?

Not always that easy to bunnyhop sideways up a kerb - especially at speed on a road bike. Not everyone is a trials god.

why is the cyclist so far out from the kerb? ie far right of the left hand lane?

Perhaps taking the primary, as recommended in basic cycle training?

If the cyclist had dabbed his brakes around the 13 second mark instead of speeding up, the whole incident would never had happened. Sometimes, it's not just about driving according to your rights, it's also about being considerate to other traffic.

yes...but...

If the car driver had been treating the cyclist as another vehicle on the road rather than a 2nd class user to bully out of the way then he never would have even attempted that.

would he have done that if it was a car? bus? van? milk float? no, he only did it because it was a cyclist and that's the whole point of incidents like this, highlighting that cyclists have to ride like that because some motorists behave like that.

And they behaviour of the driver with the horn and running the cyclist off the road afterwards is totally inexcusable.

I've banged on someones car like that when they pulled a similar manoeuvre on me once, he also got shirty at me for 'touching' his car but when I pointed out that had I not had my wits about me and managed to swerve it would have been my nice hard, pointy bar end making contact with his car instead of my relatively soft hand he kind of got the point.

[quote=timc ]why is the cyclist so far out from the kerb? ie far right of the left hand lane?
That's a good place to position yourself to "defend" your bit of the road as you approach a narrowing. It's a bit further out than I normally ride but I'll take up that position when necessary.

I usually choose not to race an overtaking vehicle to the pinch point though. That would be just stupid.

You new round here timc?

I think I might have braked as druid suggests (for my own safety), though there would have been some impotent fist-shaking.

If the car driver had been treating the cyclist as another vehicle on the road rather than a 2nd class user to bully out of the way then he never would have even attempted that.

He might have. My experience is that an idiot driver is just that, an idiot driver.

I really doubt it, any other vehicle and that would have been a collision.

he even acknowledged in the video that he knew he was there, and carried on anyway, that's not stupidity or idiocy, that's bullying.

It's not a them (car drivers) against us (cyclists) argument. It's more a question of a selfish twunt being let loose in public and wreaking havoc.

He may be a selfish twunt, but just walking down the street he isn't as much of a danger as when in charge of a moving vehicle.

The 'them' isn't 'car drivers' in general, it's 'people that drive cars like that', and unfortunately there are too many of them.

Not always that easy to bunnyhop sideways up a kerb - especially at speed on a road bike. Not everyone is a trials god

I really doubt it, any other vehicle and that would have been a collision.

Agreed - but perhaps it would be a useful skill to have in the event of a situation like this

"If the car driver had been treating the cyclist as another vehicle on the road rather than a 2nd class user to bully out of the way then he never would have even attempted that.

"

Do you ever drive a car yourself, like regularly? Cars 'bully' other cars all the time!

Do you ever drive a car yourself, like regularly? Cars 'bully' other cars all the time!

Drive a Citroen C1- you get a certain class of male driver who thinks he can bully you...until he pulls alongside.

Do you ever drive a car yourself, like regularly?

Yep, very regularly.

Cars 'bully' other cars all the time!

Doesn't make it right though does it? And the difference with a cyclist is that 'bullying' is a LOT more likely to cause injury

It still baffles me that, on a cycling forum of all places, we get people in threads like this defending bad and dangerous behaviour on the roads.

It's impatience mainly. Storming down an outside lane to cut in at the last moment, not wanting to get "stuck" behind a cyclist, pulling out on someone.
There's no excuse for it. The driver got away with it really. The next cyclist he tries to **** over may not be so timid, maybe the cyclist wasn't the most intimidating looking bloke (the driver certainly wasn't). the cyclist was a lot more passive than many of us on here would have been, and I respect him for that.

It still baffles me that, on a cycling forum of all places, we get people in threads like this defending bad and dangerous behaviour on the roads.

"Doesn't make it right though does it? And the difference with a cyclist is that 'bullying' is a LOT more likely to cause injury

"

I didn't say it was right, but it's not that it's simply because it's a cyclist that he tries to bully him.

IMO the difference is that, as a cyclist on the road, you've got a hell of a lot more to lose and are a lot more likely to get injured. So anticpate what other road users are going to do and adjust your riding accordingly.

And in the same vein, not all cyclists are without fault.

agreed, but I specifically siad '[i]defending bad and dangerous behaviour on the roads[/i]'

I did NOT say bad driving, I said 'dangerous behaviour'.

I see dangerous behaviour from other cyclists when I'm commuting in as well but in this particular case there is some obviously dangerous and bad behaviour from the driver.

but it's not that it's simply because it's a cyclist that he tries to bully him

I see what you mean, a driver like that would bully anyone, but I bet the fact that he was not a big steel box had more than a minor influence on his decision to start that manoeuvre and then continue it, purely because he knew he could push the cyclist further over, if it was a bus in that bus lane he would not have been able to push it anywhere and I bet he wouldn't have tried.

[quote=amedias ]I bet the fact that he was not a big steel box had more than a minor influence on his decision to start that manoeuvre and then continue it, purely because he knew he could push the cyclist further over, if it was a bus in that bus lane he would not have been able to push it anywhere and I bet he wouldn't have tried.
In fact, the reaction from the cyclist in that clip is to both speed up AND move further out from the kerb...

In fact, the reaction from the cyclist in that clip is to both speed up AND move further out from the kerb...

indeed, an element of cyclist deciding to push the point about not allowing himself to be bullied there...

Moving in and allowing him to push past like that would validate his behaviour. By staying out he was probably hoping to make the driver rethink his manoeuvre.

indeed, an element of cyclist deciding to push the point about not allowing himself to be bullied there...

Or the cyclist (being a bit of an idiot) knowing he had a camera stuck on his head and that was his ultimate safety blanket.

It does seem from youtube uploads that a lot of cyclists who film every commute like the attention and seek out trouble.

[quote=amedias ]
indeed, an element of cyclist deciding to push the point about not allowing himself to be bullied there...
Moving in and allowing him to push past like that would validate his behaviour. By staying out he was probably hoping to make the driver rethink his manoeuvre.
+1 As I said up there ^ sometimes it's not just about being "right".

the reaction from the cyclist in that clip is to both speed up AND move further out from the kerb

It does seem from youtube uploads that a lot of cyclist who film every comute like the attention and seek out trouble.