car drivers DOH!

merrily rideing on my way to work thismorning.
in the far right lane on a roundabout intending to turn right, all of a sudden matey in his tin box decides he needs my space. Pulls right into my lane and right next to me.
I was quickly loosing room and decided the grass roundabout may be the soft option. Hmm, tyres bounce off kurb stones! i bounce/swerve back across and have an elbow&knee car contact thing. Well that got his attention, oh yes, he then decides i must have moved into his space (from where i have no idea) and procedes to swerve deliberately at me. Repeat above bounce/contact scenario.
Ha, he had to stop at the lights!
How much are wing mirrors on a SAAB? he needs 1 of those and some boot marks popped out his door
sore elbow an knee, bikes OK, car lost:MILD:

stopped shakeing after my second ciggy.
sorry, had to share my not-ordinary start to the day

 

Hiya it sounds like its not your day then, I hope you are ok. Do you know what kind of saab is was, was the mirror colour coded? Mirrors can cost anything from £25 - £200 depending on exactly what type it is etc.

 

no idea what model, as far as i know cars have 4 wheels and a roof
Im fine, annoyed but ok

 

pennance,
cost of the wing mirror depends on the model and age but a good few hundred of quid. i think it's a bit childish though. he was obviously in the wrong, and the law was on your side so i think a brush with the police would have been a more mature answer rather than road rage which will only embitter the driver against cyclists. get the guys registration number and ask for his details. if he drives off then that's more points for him.
i've had a couple of run ins with cyclists, usually from them trying to run over my child whilst they illegally ride on the pavement. usually i tell them that they are lucky i'm not going to report them to the police for attempted murder and then get them to appologise - to my 6 year old in a sincere manner, always good for a laugh.
best one was the woman who drove into the side of my car one morning. now i know my car is difficult to see what with being so small and all :ffrc: but you would have thought that the fact that i was stationary and sounding my horn at the time would have given it away.
the moral is: there are dicks on 2 as well as 4 wheels the best way to deal with them is via the police or calmly at least. that way is sinks in and they may think about it next time. it's just a shame that bicycles aren't licenced and mandatorarily insured like cars are so it's a 2 way street but that's life.
cheers


julian

 

HI Julian

I understand your comment, unfortunately i have tried on a few occasions before with the police, they arent interested. i was knocked off a few years ago and the guy stopped, this gave me time to write down the reg before he drove off again. The police did absolutely nothing. Again 2 years ago some-one drove into my bike whilst it was parked and caused £1800 of damage, again had the number before they drove off and again the police did nothing.
2 months ago someone took a corner wide and hit my girlfriends car and failed to stop, again we had a number (from a witness) again the police did nowt. So i have very little faith in the "official path" in these matters.

I do agree though, my actions were not those of a rational person. But when youve just had the poo scared out of you it can be hard to stay rational and maintain some decorum.

 

pennance,
if you are met with this kind of treatment by the police then ask to speak to their superior. if you are injured or have property damaged by a car driver then you are entitled to claim on their insurance or pursue them for damages throug the courts. in order to do this you need a crime number and their address / insurance details, the police are, i believe, obliged to provide these if a hit and run has taken place.
as much as i hate the uk's movement towards a litegeous society like the USA, that should not stop anyone making a claim if they have just cause.
if the police still block your attempts just say you are an undercover journalist, that should get them moving .
cheers


julian

 

I've got a mate who had a car turn right accross his path, and knocked him off. The drive never stopped, but my mate got his number. The police contacted the driver who simply claimed he wasn't there when it happened.

No witnesses, so the police said they couldn't do anything.

Good that your ok though.

Ian.

 

LoL,

seriously tho, i stay well clear of our local constabulary these days.
My and mrs P saw a very nasty fight outside a pub, guy had head stamped on and was certainly not in a good way. Mrs P being a nurse and myself a certified firstaider decided to help him (after the nasty people had run away) grabbed first aid kit from landlord and went to help. When the police turn up mrs P is checking vitals as i am holding a dressing over the gapeing hole in the back of the guys head. Copper starts to push me and says to move along. I tell copper we are administering first aid. He says he doesnt give a **** and will arrest us for disturbing the peace. Well i had a few choice words for him and pointed out what a complete fool he would look in court when we are charged with the grievous crime of administering first aid. I complained about said pleb of a copper, nothing happened.
I reported a vandalised car in our road, police show at 2:30AM and wake me up to have a go cause the car was moved, long story, needless to say our local coppers need a rocket up thier preverbial.

So i really dont have faith and wont go near them.

sorry, off topic raNT

 

pennance,
that's ****'n shock'n. i'd write to the police complaints commission (or whatever it's called), your local council (they control the funding), your local mp and the local crusading newspaper - you're bound to have one. it may not do any good on it's own but enough people do this rather than throw their hands up and say 'i can't make a difference on my own' and do nothing then it may change.
cheers


julian

 

Maybe ive gone daft in the last few years, but i prefer to stay quiet. I just feel that if i stood out from the crowd then my face is remembered.
Although, again yours is the voice of reason, we should stand up against these scare tactics, especially in situation such as i described. I had seen that face of the police before but Mrs P hadnt, she was shocked and scared.
To late now, but if i am unfortunate enough to experiance it again i should make a stand.
Maybe it's just in Bristol, but it is a worrying event.

 

Penance is right - you make trouble for the police and they'll make trouble for you - the filth look after their own in these matters and I TOO don't trust them. It's not like they make enough of an effort to stop crime anyway - they of late have a care less attitude in all kinds of matters it would appear.

As for that driver - I feel for you. This is the first day in ages I didn't cycle in to work (due to being soaked on the way home yesterday!) and I can empathise about that roundabout thing - there's an evil one just after leaving work that I (so far) haven't had any problems with, but if I did, I can see it would be nasty.

I hope that guy's bill's expensive.

I had some twat decide to do a U-turn in rush hour traffic last week - he then decided (as he'd ran out of room) to REVERSE into the oncoming traffic - ie me, and a car up my arse, and so I then had to swerve into the oncoming traffic (well, the middle of the 2 lane road anyway, but that was bad enough). I'm glad he had the window wound down so he heard me bellow WANKER! in his face as I went past.

Had some twat yesterday jumping the lights on the junction INTO work - it was green for up/down traffic, but this c*** in a 4x4 (no offence 4x4 drivers here, but most of them are prats) decides to cut across the oncoming traffic when there was a gap in the cars. Didn't occur to him to look out for cyclists - he missed me by about 3 inches. Oh well, he's a fellow colleage, and thus he DEFINITELY got the middle finger treatment.

 

penance good on ya,steel toe cap boots tend to leave nice little dents in doors, dont you carry a nice heavey bike lock? one of those tapping on the side window soon wakes the dozy barstewards up.

 

That'll be me then

 

Ah yeah, but no-one on this forum (well, maybe me!) is a prat, so of course present company is excluded...

Although I hope you don't drive it 1/2 a mile to get the paper or whatever - that's the worst thing. Is yours a 4x4 that will actually WORK off-road, or just an artsyfartsy for show one?

 

Sorry to hear about your little tangle. Glad you are OK though.

As a pedestrian, ex-cyclist, ex-motorcylist, car driver and on occassion a driver of LGVs too it seems theres a simple rule on the road. Drivers of a certain vehicle type only really notice vehicles of a similar size to their own or larger. Most car drivers see vans and trucks as a threat; motorcyclists see cars, vans & trucks; pedestrians see everyone...you get the idea.

Winter is the worst time. Car drivers with their heaters on full blast, radio turned up to drown out the noise, windows misted on the inside and icy on the outside, and of course they've only cleaned a little porthole in the ice to see out of; not bothered with the sides. Gits

Defensive driving/riding can help. Compensating for the idiocy of others keeps you out of the way of harm most of the time. How many of us have seen some idiot going all the way around the outside of a roundabout causing chaos for other road users? As a motorcyclist I learned sometimes it better to get out of the way. You might have right of way, but that's no consolation when you're lying bleeding in the gutter.

To balance the debate I noticed you said "he stopped at the lights". Didn't you have to too? I hope you aren't one of those cyclists who ignores traffic lights or rides on the pavement. As a pedestrian that really P's me off.

Glad you're OK.

 

well spoted, yup i had to stop aswell.
motorcyclist not cyclist

 

Re: Re: car drivers DOH!

Me too - and as a PARTIALLY SIGHTED rider I fail to see why normal people can't abide by the rules if I can. The worst are teh ones at night when you're walking on the pavement - they'll run you down, without lights on their bikes, and then moan at YOU when they're illegally there in the first place. One of these days I'll make a citizen's arrest on one of them...