Has anyone ever bothered.................

[Night Train]

I tend not to phone the 'Is this vehicle driven considerately?' number as it is too small to read without being too close. If the vehicle has a company name and number on it then I will phone that and have a 'chat' with the transport manager. I once saw a van bully a car in lane three of the M6, it forced its way through between lanes two and three causing the car to have to run in the central reservation while cars in lane two had to move close to lane one to let the van through.

I phoned the company at the start of the bullying and asked them to record the conversation. I then described the action as it happened while staying safely back in lane three. The driver was effectively sacked on the spot.

I have also phoned the Police to report dangerous driving. On one occasion there was a 4x4 tailgating and bullying its way through a bit of congestion on the M60 until it caught up with me in lane three. It then drove within 6' of my car at 70mph with the passenger gesticulating at me and the driver speeding up and slowing down as if to ram me. I phoned the police and then had to accelerate ahead a bit to read the registration number in my mirror before the 4x4 caught up again. I told the police I was now doing 90mph and unable to slow or get back into lane two to let them pass due to the 4x4 being so close I could only see the radiator grille in my mirror. I eventually cleared the front of the traffic in lane two and moved out the way.
A few miles up the road the 4x4 was boxed in and stopped by four police cars in lane three.

I have found that the Manchester Police are really helpful with things like this but When I tried to report dangerous driving on the M25 I was told to get off the phone or I will be arrested for wasting Police time. That time it was a group of hot hatches playing chicken (speeding up to slower cars and emergency braking at the last moment) and running rings around other cars (racing past an innocent motorist in lane three, breaking hard and cutting across to lane one, racing around again).

 

[Rhythm Thief]

I felt a bit bad about that letter (if the sacking story was true) but that bloke just lost it. the traffic warden was entirely unfazed. Used to it, I expect.

Don't feel guilty. Anyone driving like that deserves everything they get. The sooner he's off the road, the better for everyone.

 

[Jaded]

I believe the Corporate Manslaughter Act now makes the company liable for ensuring their vehicles are driven safely, if a fleet manager ignores a letter and the driver then goes on to kill a cyclist. The company can be taken to court. It is in their interest to act on a complaint.

They have always been liable.

If you report an incident (particularly to one of those How is my driving' numbers - which I believe are to a separate call centre, not the call box in the drivers canteen) then the details are logged. If a company had a number of calls about bad driving related to cyclists and then a driver killed a cyclist there would be H&S questions asked about what they had done about the phone calls.

 

[Maz]

Fired off an email to the HR dept of a company this morning, as a matter of fact - complimenting the HGV driver. The email trail showed it'd been seen by several depts before I got a reply from one fella who thanked me for taking the time to contact them and said he'd post my comment on the notice board of the drivers' office.

 

[simoncc]

I find a satisfying way to deal with dangerous white van men is to go in front of them at the next traffic light queue and take things from there. Most of them don't react to any 'tactics', but its fun to observe the antics and gestures of the ones who do. And if find you someone who is silly enough to be annoyed by your roadcraft you can often treat them to repeat performances at every traffic light along the road.

 

[Jaded]

simoncc, it is a useful tactic. I sometimes do that too. You can hear their cogs whirring... Why has he stopped in front of me and not gone to the front of the queue?