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Riding home tonight along a 40mph dual-carriagway (two lanes each way) and heard a vehicle behind me drop a gear and accelerate hard.
Vehicle shot past me VERY close, no more than a few inches off my handlebar and pulled in hard to the left. Gave me a real shock, so when i caught up at the lights i pulled alongside his passenger side and waved at the driver. When he wound down his window i said "That was a bit close mate" and then it all kicked off.
He started screaming that i should have been riding on the double yellow lines, that i was too far out into the road, that i should get out of the way because he was in a car etc.
I was 3ft from the kerb, it's a wide straight road (Manchester Rd, Rochdale nr Highfield Hospital) that i ride every day with no trouble.
I attempted to point out that i was riding in the correct manner when he shouted me down and threatened to hit me, so i told him i was reporting him to the police - at this point i just wanted him to think about what he was saying.
Anyway, he shoots off at speed and i catch up with him again at the next set of lights. He's turning left in a feeder-lane and i'm going straight ahead. At this point i'm in the left hand lane of two lanes going straight on and he (and his wife) are in the further left hand lane to turn left. All lights are red.
As i pass him he yells out of his window, i stop at the lights and say look, i'm reporting you if you don't stop.
He then climbs out and runs down the road leaving his door wide open and his car blocking the lane. He gets right in my face - about 2" away - and starts making threats again. I ask him if he's going to assault me, cos i'm sure the police will be interested in that.
Lots more threats, threats to hit me etc.
I stayed calm and told him i was reporting him to which he replied "Good".
Said something about all cyclists deserve to get run over, which made me think he'd done the original fly-by on purpose.
Just reported to the cops, waiting on a phone call/visit from the officer dealing with the case.
Must be something in the air today... 🙄
Can be quite wild out there these days, try to stay safe muddy dwarf 😉
Did well mate remaining calm there - you must have talked him down v effectively if he got back in his car, that or he didn't fancy taking you on 🙂
Seriously that is a shite thing to happen so glad you're ok.
You did not bring your zombie shotgun out while riding? ts! ts! ts!
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Benelli M4, don't leave home without it!
or
Glock 19 - effective but without safety. Easy to service.
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p/s: why do the Italian made such nice gun as does Austrian ... hmmm ... plenty of zombies over there?
Garry - he was a hefty bloke about 5'10" and i'm a shortarse at 5'2" and about 9.5 stone so i doubt that was running through his mind! 😆
Hmm, Ithaca MAC10 assault shotgun is the preferred toy, one round will kill/disable everyone in a softskinned vehicle - i.e. a car.
Only carries three rounds but after three rounds the war's over... 😉
where's your axe when you need it eh MD?
Edukator will be along shortly to advise riding in the gutter so as not to upset people
Did you not have your axe?
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No axe today folks, cops took the last one so all the others are safely tucked away 🙂
Edukator will be along in a minute, to tell you you where wrong and to adjust your behaviour to the area.
The police will take it seriously,its road rage and a serious threat.
There really are some ****s about. Shame you didn't have a helmet/headcam on (not that you should have to) as the only other likely witness the Police will find will be the passenger. I've had a few similar 'incidents', though I didn't manage to stay as calm as you 😳
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in all seriousness you did the right thing, lets hope when the police pop round for a chat they find out hes got no insurance
Silly thing is, i have one of those muvi camera things, didn't have it with me today though.
Might be worth using it for a bit as i have to ride that bit of road every day at that time...
Warra bumwipe!
Glad you got away okay and I hope the police follow it up.
I hate to disappoint so:
It's all down to public attitudes which stem from the media stereotyping of cyclists which encourages prejudice and discrimination. In short, it's all Clarkson's fault.
<s****> 😛
Did you get his reg? So the police know which door to knock on?
Make sure to mention the large bags of white powder you saw on the back seat.;)
imply he had a knife
Full reg, description of vehicle etc.
Just waiting to hear from the cops now.
No witnesses, passenger says you were riding recklessly and provoked them, very sorry sir but there's nothing we can do.
Just waiting to hear from the cops now.
probably be a long wait for nothing
Pretty much what i'm expecting Cougar, from previous reports i've given.
Mind you, not been actually threatened up close before, wonder if there is CCTV round there?
cctv would be a help otherwise not much can be done - however the idiot will get a marker on his ANPR thingy more than likley
a lot of angry people about and for some reason cyclists are a target
think one issue on dual carriageways is that they are perceived by some drivers to be vehicle only routes - also (speeding/tailgaters) in outside lane give any driver that thinks it a good idea to pull out to pass a cyclist a hard time
a sort of successful prosecution from the news over on roadCC
[url] http://road.cc/content/news/51269-birmingham-motorist-pleads-guilty-following-road-rage-incident-caught-helmet [/url]
I agree with Edukator.
I feel dirty, and not in that good way.
Oh - and yo clealry need an axe holder on your bike. that'll learn 'em
Pity he wasn't fat eh md? You could have used your best line ever. 🙂
Anyway, well done for staying calm. The most that'll happen is that the cops will have to visit him. I'm sure it'll go no further than that. However, a squad car turning up and a couple of bobbies questioning him might make him think about his future behaviour.
Doesn't matter whether they nick him or not, at least it shows him that you did report him. They will probably listen, hear his bullshit side and do nothing as there's no witnesses. I had a case similar to this but had a witness and he was done - also for no documentation on his vehicle so you never know. Best of luck.
I'd like to hear his version - especially the bit where the cyclist 20 yards away forced him to exit his vehicle!
i'm so glad that i don't have to ride on british roads.... the worst i have to deal with here is being told taht i'm cycling on the wrong side of the street by some cantankerous codger...
Jeez mate that sounds pretty scary.
Really I think we ALL need to be a bit careful out there (to coin a Hill St Blues phrase). You've no way of knowing who you're about to confront, what kind of person they are or what they're willing to do.
There is a pretty strong argument for not confronting someone unnecessarily unless you can back it up. By unnecessarily I simply mean if they've p**ed you off but not actually done anything to harm or wrong you, then confront them by all means, but maybe make sure you can back it up?
Oh and if someone had done that to me, being toe to toe is more than enough of a threatening behaviour to warrant a first strike.
Karate ni sente ashi my arse.
I was sat astride my bike at a junction in full view of at least a dozen vehicles so no real need to get physical - even if i thought i could have done.
He knew he was in the wrong 'cos of his reaction when i tried to say he'd been too close. He was instantly on the offensive which makes me think he'd done it on purpose.
Most people, if someone quietly says "Bit close there mate" would say something along the lines of "Oh, i'm sorry i didn't realise".
Pretty much what i'm expecting Cougar, from previous reports i've given.
Thing is, if enough people report it, and the same drivers keep getting reported, it might actually make a difference. You'd hope anyway.
a few years ago I got jumped by a couple of neds at the front of stopped traffic.
Off the numerous drivers that were sitting and must have seen the whole thing...one helped...by moving my fallen bike out of his way...then like the rest he drove off 🙄
Cops looked into cctv but no joy. Does make me wonder in that situation if an appropriate response is to whack them with your kryptonite...
Does make me wonder in that situation if an appropriate response is to whack them with your kryptonite...
Funny you should mention that because of the very few 'street fights' I've had, one was with a bike courier riding his bike on the pavement who ended up coming at me with his krptonite D-Lock. I still have a scar from where he contacted me in the ribs (hard enough to break the skin but I managed to block the worst of the impact).
Not sure what injuries he sustained as by the time he'd picked himself up I'd walked off.
Report it anyway. Driver of AJ04OBB is wanted by the police for my assault under exactly the same circumstances. Unfortunately, his car wasn't registered.
Most reasonable drivers acknowledge their mistakes.
Does make me wonder in that situation if an appropriate response is to whack them with your kryptonite...
I have pondered this one.
I did / do carry the lock looped over my bars so its a handy " weapon of opportunity" I id get into an altercation with a white van man and ended up damaging the van with the lock - fairly indefensible really. The guy did nudge his van into me during the row, I waved the lock - he nudged again so I whacked the van hard - I did resist the temptation to but his screen in but I did do a fair bit of damage. Having a weapon to hand tempts one to use it. A known concept
I also discussed the concept with a senior cop and he reckoned that as the lock has the potential to be really dangerous you are on very shaky self defence grounds. they would need to have made the first blow and / or have a weapon and / or you were badly outnumbered
http://thecyclingsilk.blogspot.com/2012/01/scott-lomas-convicted-and-sentenced-for.html
a QC who had a driver threaten to kill him and got it on CCTV...eventually culminated in a prosecution.
*keyboard warrior time* I'm amazed you managed to stay so calm with him in your face like that. I'm afraid I'd be the one up for assault in that situation *keyboard warrior time*
Disclaimer - years and years of martial arts train you to react rather stongly to somone in that situation (the 2" from your face, not shouting out a car window bit). This is not always right and you'll def get nicked for it!
Must be something in the air today...
or you were cycling in Rochdale 😉 the majority of the w@nker driver issues I've ever had are around there
Disclaimer - years and years of martial arts train you to react rather stongly to somone in that situation
Try that in a pair of road cleats, straddling your fully laden bike on a wet road. 🙄
Do I remember you having anger management issues a while back? If so, massive congratulations on the progress you've made! Good to have a practical examination once in a while 😉
Try that in a pair of road cleats, straddling your fully laden bike on a wet road.
That's the part that used to worry me as well when I was riding my bike through London on the way to my Karate class.
Aye TJ you'd be done pretty badly for smacking someone with a U lock I think, I'd only want to do it if I knew I wouldn't get done, and even then only for some soft tissue damage like a dead leg - no long term damage but sore as **** and disables scrote so you can have a good word.
I'm not usually a keyboard warrior but my car got vandalised again today (only the aerial, same to the other MX5 on the street) which generally raises my anger levels for a bit!
Not heard from the police yet 🙁
I'm rather surprised at my reaction to be honest, in the past i'de have gone off on one but i was very calm - for me.
Voices did get raised at the first altercation when i was trying to point out that i had every right to ride as i was doing and that he should look in the Highway Code for confirmation as to pass a cyclist safely.
Thing is, i saw his vehicle slow down and wait for me so i knew there was trouble coming up yet i didn't rev up myself for some reason.
For those that know, it was the junction at Manchester Rd/Edinburgh Way nr Tesco where he got out of the car. Always a dodgy section as i'm going straight ahead and therefore in lane 2 of 3, regularly get idiots hooning up the outside (lane 3) then cutting across me into lane 1 so always hyped up around there anyway.
I knew I should've have resisted commenting. But I cant.....
The thing is, I've actually thought about this a fair bit (visualisation is a key skill in anticipating, and being ready to respond to situations. This is NOT the same as being a thug looking for a fight). Kicks, knees and even punches would be out. I'd suggest something like the following video, obviously the foot work that would increase the power would be impossible, but as you're looking to knock the opponent back far enough to bugger off and hopefully not come after you as opposed to breaking his jaw, I don't see that as something to worry about.
However, I don't actually recommend this to anyone at all - if I had to do it, I would, but I'd rather run away (no I'm not suggesting that MrDwarf did anything wrong) and not have to.
Good for you for staying calm - I got pushed into a hedge by a driver (after he'd got out his car) back in the summer, he got a warning from the cops for the assault.
I was just grateful that he had a personalised plate that I could remember, and for the fact that any online car insurance quote will allow you to enter the reg no. to verify the car's make and model.....
This bloke had a personalised reg plate too 🙂
EDIT: trying to fight whilst climbing off bike and wearing cleated shoes is probably not conducive to staying unhurt i reckon.
http://www.amazon.com/Cycle-Saver-Install-Bicycles-Mountain/dp/B004II61JO
(illegal here!)
But in all seriousness staying calm is by long way the best thing to do. I tend not to even say anything to people now, but report any incidents (rare) to the police.
the problem is too many drivers cant be bothered to wait the extra few seconds it takes to pass a cyclist safely, last week whilst sat at a red traffic light (yes in a car) witnessed a guy reversing out of his drive ok near to a junction so awkward but he bought the house almost took out cyclist legally coming through lights in opposite direction he had to swerve round the car once alongside cyclist gestured what you doing not rudely only for the driver to accelerate and almost get cyclist again,driver wasnt bothered and the government want more people to leave cars at home and use alternative transport, theres been 3/4cyclists killed near where i live in last few months and i live nowhere near any major city. unless police do something were all screwed
Why didn't you shout him down until he agreed with what you were saying? You must always shout people down until they agree with you. Shame on you. It's the typical 'victim is always a coward' stance that sickens me to the core. You could have repeated the sme point over and over again until his opinion changed completely. Shame on you again.
This guy wasn't merely impatient, he deliberately buzzed me as close as he could without actually clipping me. It's a wide road and there was plenty of room to get past me, every other car in that lane had done so perfectly safely. He simply decided for whatever reason to attempt to scare me with his driving.
That's what i will be reporting if the police ever get in touch...
They're not called personalised plates they're called vanity plates, one place where the US has it right
Zombie street sweeper time
To be fair to the Police, no one was hurt and they may have more pressing priorities tonight - have to say our local neighbourhood officer was quite quick, but I think he saw a quick win to get a recorded incident cleared off his stats!
His advice was "You can argue as much as you like, but the first one to touch the other loses the game"! Which was funny at the time but I still get jumpy if I spot a dark coloured Audi A3 when I'm out riding.
On a more serious note. I came to the conclusion after years of commuting through London that pointing out a driver's error/misjudgement is ALWAYS a bad idea because it almost always provokes a maniacal response.
And now back to zombie sweeping
Don't ride at exactly the same time tomorrow. Staying safe is paramount.
Must admit i'm thinking of taking a different route tomorrow night 🙁
Just in case, having watched transapp's linked clip, be sure to strip naked and paint yourself silver before starting your journey
Naked - in THIS weather?????
😯
Well done for staying calm. Had a similar [url= http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/road-rage-driver-defeated-by-pleasant-and-logical-cyclists ]incident[/url] a couple of weeks ago Not even a busy road in traffic, was just a quiet country lane and an idiot looking for an argument.
Don't get flustered and defeat then with persistant logical questions, idiots brains can't cope with that!
I ask him if he's going to assault me
😆 I can't get the image of you saying "are you going to assault me" out of my head, you must have sounded like a proper wimp.
the worst i have to deal with here is being told taht i'm cycling on the wrong side of the street by some cantankerous codger.
I got shouted at quite regularly in Germany in the winter. Why? No idea but I think it was because I was riding on the road not on the footpath aka 'cycleway'. Way out in the countryside mind, not in town.
Probably did - but the repeated question did the job, it stopped him in his tracks and pushed him off his mental rails.
He came barrelling up mouthing all sorts of threats. Stayed calm, still sat on my bike and said "So you are going to assault me as well?!"
More mouthing off.
"Are you going to assault me?"
More mouthing off.
"Are you going to assault me then?"
More mouthing off etc.
Clown backed off because he wasn't getting the result he wanted. Hopefully he'll now be getting a visit from the police for his actions and i didn't even have to lose my temper.
I think you did exceptionally well under pressure. I had a similar circumstance a few months ago which didn't go particularly well.
What happened Andy?
His advice was "You can argue as much as you like, but the first one to touch the other loses the game"!
I reckon that the bobby who told you that was either clueless or trying to keep his workload down.
A pre emptive strike is justified in UK law.
BeliefsThe modern law on belief is stated in R v Owino (1996) 2 Cr. App. R. 128 at 134:
A person may use such force as is [objectively] reasonable in the circumstances as he [subjectively] believes them to be.
To gain an acquittal, the defendant must fulfil a number of conditions. The defendant must believe, rightly or wrongly, that the attack is imminent. Lord Griffith said in Beckford v R:
"A man about to be attacked does not have to wait for his assailant to strike the first blow or fire the first shot; circumstances may justify a pre-emptive strike."
The time factor is important. If there is an opportunity to retreat or to obtain protection from the police, the defendant should do so, thereby demonstrating an intention to avoid being involved in the use of violence. However, the defendant is not obliged to leave a particular location even if forewarned of the arrival of an assailant (see duty to retreat). Furthermore, a defendant does not lose the right to claim self-defence merely because they instigated the confrontation that created the alleged need for self defence. A person who kills in the course of a quarrel they started might still act in self-defence if the 'victim' retaliates or counterattacks.
Not tht I am advocating violence and I do feel that muddydwarf acting quite correctly in this instance but if you feel that someone is going to "do you" by their words ,actions ,gestures or movement towards you ,then you can strike first to protect yourself.
Muddy - i think i saw you was it about 5ish maybe a bit later? I was riding up to the lights and heard and saw a "discussion" between a guy in a car and a cyclist
oooh a witness!
Nick...here Mr Dwarf arguably had an "opportunity to retreat".
Also...there's no such thing as "UK law".
I was riding along a signed and painted [u]shared use[/u] pavement. Not normally any peds on it at all but yesterday morning there was a nice little old dear, probably in her 70s, bobbling towards me.
I made eye contact and slowed down to walking pace. She was on her right, so I moved as close to the kerb on my right as I could, maintaining eye contact, smiling, generally doing my best to not be a "lycra lout".
As I got close she took a couple of steps to her left, effectively blocking my path. I stopped. She shouted "F... off" in my face then bobbled on. 😆
Next time I'm taking a D-lock...
the media stereotyping of cyclists
Unfortunately there are also some cyclists who don't make it easy for the riders who do ride respectfully - I find myself getting annoyed at some on my normal commute and I often feel like saying something to them because their attitude makes some drivers hate all cyclists.
In Harrogate it is normally the riders who either ignore red lights or use the pavements to circumnavigate them. I had a close call before Christmas when I was going through a green light turning right to go up a hill near my house and a cyclist bombed down the hill and straight through the red light on the pavement - fortunately I spotted him but it was too close for me.
Muddy,
You did right to stay calm. Moreover you did right to report it. If nothing else it is important that the police learn that cyclists are being subjected to unwarranted intimidation. Some police have a record of not taking such incidents seriously or of assuming that the cyclist must have 'asked for it'.
Fadass - if the cyclist wa@ wearing a bright yellow jacket then yes it was me, just after 5pm.
I saw some guy in a dark coloured Kia Soul i think it was (one of the boxy ones) having a right ding dong with a chap on a bike, then the lights changed and you (if it was you)rode down past me before my filter changed.
This is what comes of people watching too much Top Gear.
Top Gear (NOT Clarkson) actively encourage this do they? Come on.
MD Well done for not rising to the bait. If I was driving Kia soul, I'd be angry with the world too though. 😆
Make sure you double check the registration number with MD before reporting to the police, fadass 😉
This is what comes of people watching too much Top Gear.
Of course its Top Gears fault this happened 🙄