Raging drivers: repeat offenders

Yes, another one of these threads.

On my commute to work I share the road with (among many others) a local tradesman (very local to me in fact….). We go the same way.

On two occasions now he has beeped me multiple times for filtering, a couple of deliberately close passes and today I stop at the lights, turn round, and he appears to be dancing with rage inside is cab. He looked ridiculous, I smiled and shrugged my shoulders. I resisted the urge to tell him to calm down.

Joking aside, this is bothering me – his close passing is ridiculous and malicious, and I’m worried he may actually lose it.

I could go another way to work, adding on circa ten minutes to a 30 minute commute, but then I think why should I.

Other info – his contact info is helpfully displayed on his van!

Should I carry on as if nothing has happened?

Try reasoning with him?

Go-Pro?

Any suggestions? Preferably silly ones.

Phone for quotes and send him to a number of spurious (preferably not real) addresses in real streets?

^that’s the kind of thing I’m looking for 😈

Put up his name and number here and we’ll all send him a friendly text?

No need to use his contact details from the van

Did you read the hipstercide thread ? You can reply straight onto that

Police. File a report, ask them to have a word. If he does this to you he does this to everyone, one day he will misjudge.

(unless you slept with his wife ?)

Potential options, not mutually exclusive.

Change your departure time.
Contact the police.
Social media bomb (perhaps not a good idea 🙂 ).

Doesn’t sound like he’s the happy, compromising sort and as you say, he might escalate and cause you harm.

sleep with his wife

Thanks for the replies so far – the police is an interesting one, but I’ve no hard evidence. Hence thinking about a camera.

The thing that worries me is the consistency of his anger – it’s not just a one off lost the rag/having a bad day type thing.

I think the changing leaving time might not be a bad idea.

As an aside, this sort of thing is becoming very, very boring….

that’s the kind of thing I’m looking for

Doesn’t that make you as bad as him?

Organise a massive cycle ride starting right outside his premises.

Footwear urination.

Doesn’t that make you as bad as him?

Yes, of course it does. I just like the amusing ideas.

Definitely get a camera and report him.

Borrow a camera. Fit it (no need to switch it on). Point it out to him next time you are at the lights.

Perhaps he just doesn’t like Seinfeld. 🙂

Are we allowed to guess the trade? I’m going for joiner.

Although if you were filtering (no matter how legally) see Bez’s story on how previous road behaviour can be taken into account when determining whether to prosecute…

Do you filter to the front of traffic lights when there is no traffic ahead? Might be getting wound up that your moving to the front so all the traffic has to overtake you again.

Often if the other side of the lights is clear and the road long enough that all the cars would pass me, ill just join the end of the queue as it is when i arrive, so im not passing cars only to be re-passed. It makes no difference to my time as i cross through the lights only a few seconds later, but dont get lots of cars trying the squeeze through. You only really need to join a queue at the front if its not safe to join at the back (i.e. you arrive at queue same time a car is alongside you)

Sleep with his wife and his brother.

Preferably at the same time.

Statto: No, not really – this stretch is an urban dual carriage way 30/40mph which is solid with cars for about 1.5 miles, and with 4 sets of traffic lights.

At that time in the morning cycling and filtering is quicker, and when the traffic is flowing I keep pace with it (because they are going slowly) – expect for a 100 m stretch.

The thing I find baffling is it makes no odds to him, I don’t hold anyone up, and I clear the section far faster than the cars. That leads me to believe he just has it in for cyclists – which is more worrying than just a bit of one off aggro.

and I clear the section far faster than the cars.

This, I imagine, is the source of his rage-fest. You gliding serenely by while he sits impotently in his expensive vehicle not earning any money must appear to breach all the laws of white van justice.

I’d go round his house, knock on the door and politely ask him what his issue is.

I once had a particularly unsettling incident landscape gardener who tried to force me off the road. I rang him up and invited him to quote on some work in my sprawling gardens. Told him I was going to sell the property and had a budget of £2-grand and asked him how much he could get done… But it needed to be within the next month.
He said he could do 2-weeks work, but he’d have to cancel a few of his regulars. He turned up on day one, I let him unload his trailer and then told him why he wouldn’t be doing any of the work… I reckon he’ll think twice about using his van as a weapon in future!

Failing that, set up a Grindr account in his name, hint at gay rape fantasies and let the bears do the rest.

He said he could do 2-weeks work, but he’d have to cancel a few of his regulars. He turned up on day one, I let him unload his trailer and then told him why he wouldn’t be doing any of the work… I reckon he’ll think twice about using his van as a weapon in future!

I dunno, I think I’d be looking over my shoulder for his vehicle for eternity after that.

<adds gatsby to do_not_piss_off_list.xls >

arrange for him to go to a “quote” in the other direction from your journey, at exactly the same time as your commute. 5 days in a row.

That could have back-fired, he knows where you live…

Report it, not just for you, but for anyone else he does this to.

Even if they do nothing to begin with it will be on file.
Then if you or anyone else has cause to report again, or there is an actual incident then it’ll be documented that he has prior form, for all you know he’s already been reported several times by other people and yours could be the one that actually triggers him getting a quiet talking to.

Even if they do nothing to begin with it will be on file.

Is that true? Is there really a register of dickish drivers? thegreatape / easygirl any of our local coppers know how it works?

That could have back-fired, he knows where you live…

I ended the conversation with “…and there will be NO repercussions or you will find out what I’m really capable of, do you understand?” accompanied by my thousand-yard-stare. I’m not sure if it was the stare, or the rifle I was holding at the time that hammered the message home. 😉

Not a register of dickish drivers as such, but if you report it it is logged with all the relevant details.

Whether or not anyone checks for previous reports every time or not when there is an incident I don’t know.

I know they do/would for other offences, but not sure if they would always for driving related issues but when I was recently a victim of a road rage attack they did say they would check for previous reports (for both assault and road/driving offences), as it turns out they were known the police for ‘other reasons’.

But you’d like to hope multiple reports about the same thing from the same person might just get noticed.

Even if they do nothing to begin with it will be on file.
Is that true? Is there really a register of dickish drivers? thegreatape / easygirl any of our local coppers know how it works?

Last time I logged something with Hampshire Police I was told the Reg and incident is held on record and might impact the weight they give to investigating accidents and other incidents with the vehicle involved.

Probably won’t help but I do this when someone performs dangerous overtakes and the likes

Catch up at traffic lights, filter in front, stop, turn around, pull phone out of pocket pretend to photograph driver and number plate. Ride off. They invariably go ballistic. Highly amusing, no confrontation no harm done to anyone and the faft they get annoyed is pretty much admission of guilt.

Next time they encounter me they’ll either be very careful as they think i have their pic and plate or run me over. The latter has yet to happen

In your shoes, I would file a report with the police for instances of bad driving (close passes, aggressive use of the horn etc). Where they don’t seek prosecution (which they might for a close pass, but probably not for aggressive honking etc) they should still record it in an intelligence report which can be referred back to should anything more significant take place at a later date. It’s probably worth dropping them an email to explain the context and the long-running nature of the problem, and stating that you feel at risk of assault and that others may be too. If the worst happens and you, or indeed someone else, ends up being a victim of one without the police having intervened, it will at least stand up as something that wasn’t acted upon.

If you can borrow a camera and capture this to show that you’re not just someone with a grudge trying to get him fitted up then so much the better, and it may be sufficient to get them to take action immediately: depending on what you capture, careless and dangerous driving are both possible charges, as is a public order offence. And of course they have the option of simply paying the guy a visit and having a word. A helmet camera is probably better for capturing aggressive behaviour, a bar-mounted one is probably better for demonstrating a close pass. A helmet camera is more conspicuous, too, so is the better option if you want to influence his actions (though there may be merit to more covertly capturing evidence first).

If you often see other people cycling on the same route it might be worth asking whether they get the same aggro and seeing whether they want to submit a report.

Which force’s turf are you on?

And yes, possibly worth a read:
http://singletrackworld.com/columns/2015/09/catapulting-boulders-bez/

comforting to know I guess.

http://ratethatdriver.co.uk 🙂

The old Guardian Talk favourite:

Shit in his handbag.

Thanks Bez very helpful. I did recently report a bus driver for (even more) ludicrous behavior and got a positive response. Police Scotland here, so it may be different procedures from England.

I’ve decided to get a helment cam despite the cost – as much to influence behaviour as anything. I’m convinced the belief that he can behave without consequence is important.

larrydavid

I’ve decided to get a helment cam despite the cost – as much to influence behaviour as anything. I’m convinced the belief that he can behave without consequence is important.

Apparently riding with a camera instantly turns you into

Don’t know if its been said but the grown up thing to do would be to give him a call, ask him politely what the issue is, explain why you do what you do and take it from there.

If it continues after that then follow another course of action.