Vigilante Motorist and could the cyclist 'fess up?

Given that every cyclist with a helmet cam is now a ‘vigilante’ I assume motorists with phone cams are too?

http://www.northamptonchron.co.uk/news/crime/police-release-image-of-cyclist-suspected-of-punching-wing-mirror-off-car-in-northampton-1-6570042

I don’t know if the driver’s being prosecuted for using a phone whilst in charge of a motor vehicle…

I was thinking Chuck Norris after reading the headline but he would have punched the car off the wing mirror.

Bike looks like a Peugeot

Regardless of the ins and outs of the incident leading up to this, there’s no excuse for punching a mirror off. Suggests some anger issues.

Bellendery all round. Being on 2 wheels doesn’t automatically allow you to be a cock.

Muddydwarf?

The police didn’t seem so bothered by this incident, and in fact apportioned blame to the cyclist.

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/bike-blog/video/2013/aug/08/nottingham-police-cyclist-video

I actually knocked the mirror of a car when I was younger, when the passenger threw a half full can of pop at me as they passed, and then had to stop at the next set of lights.

It is easy to label it as the rider having anger issues, but the reality is that cyclists are frequently under attack from either just plane bad driving or frequently deliberate aggression, and it isn’t an equal situation, all the danger is on the cyclist.

I had something similar to this last month, no leaning on the horn but a truck turned in on me as soon as his cab had passed me. I can’t be sure if it was deliberate or just an act of stupidity, but if I had to ride off the road onto the dirt verge to avoid ending under the trucks wheels. If I could have caught the driver I would have kicked the **** out of him, and it still wouldn’t come close to the danger he put me in.

Jesus MSP that guardian link! Can’t see how was he ‘partly to blame’ for being shunted off his bike, that is ridiculous. Asshats.

My issue with helmet cams has always been the inevitable arms race and the number of angry cyclist blogs cropping up. Some are very justified, some more whiney.

Whatever, we can complain about anti cycle hate, but video posting and attacks on vehicles are not helping, and it’s hardly a surprise that drivers are increasingly filming their surroundings also.

I’m still angry about a mate who had his bike destroyed and was hospitalised for weeks by a driver in a Range Rover, who Police decided not to prosecute although as the driver was a Headmaster at a local school and it might affect his job – and the cyclist was actually told this. He’s struggling to even get the value of the bike back as the drivers’ insurers are being arses pointing at the Police decision) the official one)

Can’t be anybody from here. Everybody on here rides pickenflicks/London Roads/CdF’s or the eq. 😀

I’m still angry about a mate who had his bike destroyed and was hospitalised for weeks by a driver in a Range Rover, who Police decided not to prosecute although as the driver was a Headmaster at a local school and it might affect his job – and the cyclist was actually told this. He’s struggling to even get the value of the bike back as the drivers’ insurers are being arses pointing at the Police decision) the official one)

Got to be worth taking it higher.

As to the OP, I don’t think people in cars realise the damage they can do to a person a on bike. A broken wing mirror is small beer.

Drivers aren’t filming their surroundings because of cyclists, it for the same reason AS cyclists, some people on the road are idiots.

Could easily be someone off here. We always keep banging on about how good those Aldi tops are!

I fess up to hitting a car yesterday! Unfortunately, the intended crack in the bumper didn’t happen my rims were wet which extended my braking distance 🙂 . Places these bloody ignoramuses overtake..

DezB, we all moan about motor users doing stupid things because we are slowing them down and you have done exactly the same thing there!! There was no need for the verbal abuse or the fact you hit the car. Stupid riding like that is what escalates situations and ends up with stories in the news.

Loads of time to slow down there.

😆

Yeah, that idiot in the car did nothing wrong at all 🙄

My issue with helmet cams has always been the inevitable arms race and the number of angry cyclist blogs cropping up. Some are very justified, some more whiney.

Whatever, we can complain about anti cycle hate, but video posting and attacks on vehicles are not helping, and it’s hardly a surprise that drivers are increasingly filming their surroundings also.

Cause and effect I guess. Crappy road situations for all, little to no comeback for antisocial road users of any vehicle, people need an outlet and some do a poor job of it. ‘Looking for trouble’ bike camera users and spleen-venting anti-bike bile on the DM comments, each side vents in different ways.

Some countries have almost made dash-cams pretty much mandatory through insurance claim culture. It’ll happen here too and eventually the effect of posting up clips will be drowned by the sheer volume, only the best will make the shortlists –

https://youtube.com/watch?v=5RAaW_1FzYg%3Fautoplay%3D1%26modestbranding%3D1%26rel%3D0%26s

2 wrongs…….

That’s right. Drivers should act like complete morons and not be told. I will contact the lady now and apologise for causing her undue stress by taking up her road.

Yeah, that idiot in the car did nothing wrong at all

Bad choice of location for an overtake, but there was ample space between you and the car to come to a complete stop well before touching the bumper.

Police later said the incident was at least partly his fault

from guardian link. Which ****ing idiotic police/cps official made that call? cyclist moves out at the pinch point as per advice and some nob head runs into the back of him.

I have in the past (a while back now) hit wing mirrors when someone has properly scared the shit out of me and endangered my life, still haven’t managed to punch a wing mirror off. Still clip the occasional mirror with my bars but that’s usually due to them closing in on me and me maybe not jumping out of the way quite as fast as I maybe could.
I’m trying the stay calm approach in any dealings with idiots but it’s tricky when they’re endangering your life and the adrenaline kicks in.

You could have done that at the time, in a more reasonable manner than you did, which was to my mind quite confrontational.

She was wrong but that doesn’t give carte blanche.

I took someone’s wing mirror off 20-odd years ago after he cut me up two days running and had the audacity to respond to my verbal abuse in kind.

The following day he lay in wait for a word. I decided best not to stop so he tried to grab me off my bike, causing me to fall off. After seeing the cuts and grazes on my face (no helmets back then) he drove off and I never saw him again, I think he must have changed his route to work.

Both of us were in the wrong, of course, and I suspect that this behaviour was out of character in both cases, but when you’re young, in the heat of the moment, things can easily escalate out of control.

I still get very sweary when people nearly kill me but I no longer retaliate.

Just thought I’d share.

overtake looked fine to me, plenty of space given, no oncoming traffic.

Well, you’re clearly wrong. I was there and you weren’t. They knew the pinchpoint was coming up so they should’ve waited. Your post has been reported to avoid this getting abusive.

It is easy to label it as the rider having anger issues, but the reality is that cyclists are frequently under attack from either just plane bad driving or frequently deliberate aggression, and it isn’t an equal situation, all the danger is on the cyclist.

I had something similar to this last month, no leaning on the horn but a truck turned in on me as soon as his cab had passed me. I can’t be sure if it was deliberate or just an act of stupidity, but if I had to ride off the road onto the dirt verge to avoid ending under the trucks wheels. If I could have caught the driver I would have kicked the **** out of him, and it still wouldn’t come close to the danger he put me in.

This this this!

I am so tired of this being common place!

Got to ask – from a driving point of view – those who say I was wrong to shout and ooh upset the poor lady in the Suzuki – would YOU drive like that?
Would you overtake anything knowing you’ll have to brake and maybe stop in front of them 4 seconds later?

No, I think I’m less impatient and hotheaded, and more tolerant of all other road users than those portrayed on the video.

No, I think I’m less impatient and hotheaded, and more tolerant of all other road users I’ve not had quite so many routine near misses than those portrayed on the video.

Just a suggestion, not a dig. Meant to illustrate why some people get more upset about this than others.

I had exactly the same happen as DezB. This was back in my 20s, when I was a little more confrontational than I am now.
The twazzock in the car seemed surprised when I knocked on his window and handed him his rear wiper.
Not proud of it, but the red mist took over!

I had exactly the same happen as DezB. This was back in my 20s

By christ, you surely can’t ride on the road much! I get it all the time. If it was just a one-off, or every 20 years, I certainly wouldn’t get so annoyed!

I’ve had plenty, the main road from Guildford to Aldershot through Normandy is one that frequently makes me wonder if I’m going to see my kids again as buses, trucks, etc. all fly past at 50+ mph. Then i get to take on the Farnham one way system, with the fantastically designed lane changes, hard enough to manage when paying attention, so why not spice it up by texting at the same time! When i’ve had a proper close one, yes you do get angry, but you have to bite it back because otherwise the rage and stress will kill you more than they will.

I’ve had plenty of ‘not so close’ ones too, and while that one above was shit driving, frankly it wasn’t life threatening and running into the back of them and then giving them verbals wasn’t a sudden fight or flight adrenaline fuelled rant, but a conscious action. There, I’ve said it. She committed an error because of being stupid / incapable. You had a choice, and IMHO made a bad one.

I took someone’s wing mirror off – on a very wet and windy November night driver waited until the last minute, I had right of way and had to assume I’d been seen, and pulled out on me.

I smeared myself against the side of the car and removed the wing mirror with my hand; cue a trip to A&E, a couple of physio sessions and a lifetime of no right handed hammering.

Fortunately the driver behind had seen me and gave me a lift home, the driver whose fault it was, was very apologetic.

It’s a downward spiral – near miss, stressed cyclist, near miss, cyclist reacts, stressed driver, etc etc.

I covered 5000 miles last year, more than half of that commuting. I have occasional near misses. Getting assaulted by the driver I did have a go at taught me to ignore 99% of them. If I have time to over react, it probably wasn’t as close as I thought.

+1

The thing is if you commute by bike, it only takes 1 in a 1000 to do something dangerous and 1 in 100 to do something frustrating (as in dezb’s example) and you are being the victim of bad driving 20+ times a day and being endangered at least a couple of times a day. And the majority of the media. championed by Clarkson, is to at best make a joke of it and usually encourage the abuse of cylists.

from guardian link. Which ****ing idiotic police/cps official made that call? cyclist moves out at the pinch point as per advice and some nob head runs into the back of him.

I think the problem is that the Police, along with 99% of the population, have no idea that its good sense for a cyclist to move out into the lane at pinch points.

Someone cycling in middle of road = arrogant cyclist who thinks they own the road.

DezB – Member
overtake looked fine to me, plenty of space given, no oncoming traffic.

Well, you’re clearly wrong. I was there and you weren’t. They knew the pinchpoint was coming up so they should’ve waited. Your post has been reported to avoid this getting abusive.

POSTED 50 MINUTES AGO # REPORT-POST

Not trying to be awkward, but how do you know they knew the pinch point was there? Are they a regular passer on that route of yours. They may have been unfamiliar with the road layout.

I can’t see from the video if it is clearly visible on approach or if you could see if they could see that something was approaching.

From my point, I think if you try and deliberately make some contact with any vehicle that causes you grief or you deem to be driven lass than satisfactorily, it’s only a matter of time before that strategy goes teets up.

The next day, the driver sees you again, as he approaches from behind, and decides to give you a little knock!

It’ll end in tears.

You had a choice, and IMHO made a bad one.

Well, there we are – at least it’s your opinion (which I disagree with).

DezB, we all moan about motor users doing stupid things because we are slowing them down and you have done exactly the same thing there!!

Huh? who have I slowed down?

Annnnyway, I don’t think this thread was supposed to be about me and my one blip in an otherwise exemplary riding career 🙂

Not trying to be awkward, but how do you know they knew the pinch point was there?
because I was there and I saw them brake before the pinch point was in view.

I commute 24 miles a day. Maybe once a week I have a worrying moment.

If I was getting the hassle like some of you describe, I’d change something – my route, my time, how I ride. It doesn’t happen to all of us all of the time.

Over-reacting to bad driving doesn’t help anyone.

Annnnyway, I don’t think this thread was supposed to be about me and my one blip in an otherwise exemplary riding career 🙂