Nearly knocked off, on purpose!

[sarahale]

And I will be honest it has shaken me a bit. I commute every day by bike, mtb at the moment but mainly on roads.

Van driver pulled out a side road behind me, was instantly right behind me, he then over took so close that my elbow just touched his van. As soon as he was past he cut right in front of me (I was well over to the left) and straight away slammed on his breaks. I had already started slowing as was shocked by his driving so managed to stop without hitting him.

I just keep thinking to myself why? Ive had road rage before and been called all sorts, also had near misses. But this was really scary, secluded road no other cars. What if I had crashed into the back of him, then what. Feel like he would of got out and punched me and as a wimpy slight built female that's terrifying.

 

[fossyant]

At least you were OK. I got close passed last week by a van, close enough for me to touch it and run my fingers down the side.

Some idiots out there.

 

[sarahale]

I've had people overtake close enough to make contact with jackets or loose clothing I've been wearing but never my actual elbow, luckily just barely.

 

[Katherine]

Sounds horrible. Well done for slowing down. Glad that you are ok!
Don't let it get to you.

 

[derrick]

There are plenty of ******* out there but there are more good ones, Sorry to hear about this sort of thing, but you have to let it go and move on, Don't let one incedent put you of.

 

[Pat "5mph"]

What a scary experience, glad you're ok.
Sometimes folks are just crazy, try not to let it affect you. Hard, I know.
Did the van have any identifying markings? You could report him to the police if you have details.

 

[sarahale]

Earlier this year I got knocked off but didn't mind so much because I wasnt hurt and the driver was apologetic (the car was moving very slowly haha) This has scared me more! Not sure I could report them, I have a terrible memory so didn't manage to get plates and it was just an old white van

 

[alicat]

Very sorry to hear what happened. Try to get a good night's sleep. Tomorrow is another day.

 

[sarahale]

Thanks everyone, its nice to have some people to tell, makes me feel better!

 

[Buck]

Think positively on this. Your road sense and reading ahead meant that you were able to manoeuvre and stop rather than hitting him.

He was and is an idiot. You'll never change that but you stopped someone else damaging you or your. I've through their stupidity.

Well done you. Now get out on your bike over the weekend and have a confidence ride

 

[buggi]

I have had this happen to me. Why don't you nip on amazon and get a cheap camera. The little muvi ones are only about £40. It might give you some peace of mind knowing you have evidence if something else happens. If you have his plates you should report it, don't worry about not having evidence, even just having the cops knock on your door can be a deterrent. Chances are it was a couple of twats having a laugh at your expense and you won't see them again. The majority of drivers wouldn't dream of doing this, try to think of all the ones who passed you normally today to get some perspective back.

 

[sarahale]

Went out this morning but mainly stayed off road and just had fun. Commuting on the roads shortly though but I feel fine about it, like you say most drivers are okay. Might get a little camera was thinking about it anyway would be nice to film some of my off road stuff so might just go for it

 

[w00hoo_kent]

Glad to hear you are OK. Sounds like a complete psycho rather than merely a road user. Well done on anticipation and keeping yourself safe. Cameras have their uses but they are a lot of faff. My closest has been a Golf hitting my handlebars at 30 (down hill with the wind behind me) hard enough to fold its door mirror in. But they'd been all MGIF behind me for a bit, it's the 'why do it?' factor in all this that sounds most scary.

 

[vickster]

Do you know which side road he pulled out of? Does it lead anywhere? If you have access to a car, perhaps drive around later and see if you can see the van (if you can recall any of the reg)

Does sound like a complete nutter, fortunately a very very very small minority of road users

I got knocked off last year by wing mirror versus handlebars, a misjudgement from the driver no malice. These things do unfortunately happen

I've never felt the need for a camera, I don't want anything attached to my helmet and my handlebars and stem are crowded. But if you do want to go that route, I'm sure people will recommend some.

Glad you are ok. Well done for getting straight back on the bike

 

[Nigeyy]

Really sorry to hear that. If you are anything like me, its not so much what happened (you fortunately weren't hurt) but the sheer fact that someone has enough anger and ignorance to do it...... A similar thing happened to me (many years ago) and it was so deliberate yet random -and so uncalled for in all respects -it also shook me up. After a while I realized there are some very angry people out there. The only sense I could ever make from my incident was that perhaps the driver had a run in previously with a cyclist and thought it was me. Course, I'll never know.

Anyway, as another poster has mentioned, the positive is you had enough road sense to not get hurt; take pride from that. Secondly, a person who does something like this is very likely to be a pretty unhappy individual. Thirdly, the vast majority of people on the roads are good and decent people.