Just been hit

[Trevrev]

And now you're just going to be like the 100s of cars mentioned and not stop - so why try and even differentiate yourself between them and you now? Maybe they've had the same happen before to them - is it acceptable now that they didn't stop

I'll leave it to perfect people like yourself.

You condem people for not helping and you condem people for not doing the right thing when they did try to make a difference.
Just because they didn't take the right approach!

I've now got young children to worry about and i'm not going to put myself at risk anymore. Unless it involves my family!

So, i'll stick with being an idiot thanks.

 

[davefb]

bit rubbish set of choices though,, as you say shame someone else didnt get out the car to help..

after all , theres at least one case i can immediately think of where a guy has tried to intervene in a 'domestic' and ended up being killed as he fell onto the pavement ..


wrt phones, i tend to stick with looking/tutting , if in car pointing ,shaking the head and flashing lights... maybe shouting 'dkhead' ( though in car ) , i'd stay clear of the stopping shouting ...

as a ped, i was about to tell this bloke in an open top merc 'OY get off the phone mate' , when he noticed the police car across the road and threw the phone onto the passenger seat ... why was i bothered? coz he'd stopped on the ped crossing bit of the lights, so was already doing one offence

 

[As Easy As Riding A Bike]

No i didn't call the Police. I'm not into running to the police over what i class as minor issues.

A woman being beaten up is not a minor issue.


You should have called the police, regardless of anyone's willingness to directly intervene.


Seriously.

 

[Mark_Robson]

You have a legal duty to prevent crimes from being committed, unless that puts you in any real danger.

What a load of rubbish!

Anyone who decided to confront people who are breaking the law has to accept that there is an element of risk. It's silly to expect unreasonable people to behave in a reasonable way when they are critiscised for their wrong doings. If you choose to go down this route then don't be surprised when it blows up in your face.

And for the record.... Yes I have confronted people for minor things.. And not once have I had a positive outcome. When they tell you to F**c off where do you go from there?

 

[Paul_L]

What a load of rubbish!

Anyone who decided to confront people who are breaking the law has to accept that there is an element of risk. It's silly to expect unreasonable people to behave in a reasonable way when they are critiscised for their wrong doings. If you choose to go down this route then don't be surprised when it blows up in your face.

And for the record.... Yes I have confronted people for minor things.. And not once have I had a positive outcome. When they tell you to F**c off where do you go from there?

first of all you should correct their spelling!

 

[Trevrev]

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A woman being beaten up is not a minor issue.

I'd use the term woman lightly ! If you'd seen the way she was laying into him, and the threats to my life from her aswell as him for trying to break up their domestic. I'd say this fighting thing was quite a common place for her!
I'm sure they went home had more to drink and carried it on all over again!

 

[DrSquirrel]

I'd use the term woman lightly ! If you'd seen the way she was laying into him, and the threats to my life from her aswell as him for trying to break up their domestic. I'd say this fighting thing was quite a common place for her!
I'm sure they went home had more to drink and carried it on all over again!

Do you realise that women (and even men) that are victims of domestic violence often defend their tormentor?

And simply calling the Police is hardly "claptrap", even if it just gets the Police in to split them up. Regardless of if they can fight or not - it's hardly a trivial offence.

If its common place then Police intervention could be considered more important...!

 

[Trevrev]

Do you realise that women (and even men) that are victims of domestic violence often defend their tormentor?

And simply calling the Police is hardly "claptrap", even if it just gets the Police in to split them up. Regardless of if they can fight or not - it's hardly a trivial offence.

If its common place then Police intervention could be considered more important...!

Yeah well, it's done now!!
And i've never lost any sleep over it!
I did what i thought was best, clearly it wasn't good enough.......

 

[DrSquirrel]

I don't think anyone is complaining about what you did - although a bit surprised that even though you intervened you didn't call or didn't think it was a suitable enough event to call/involve the Police.

The main point is you now decide that you won't do anything - intervening because you've tried before - that might make sense. The problem is you reckon that you will do nothing even including calling the police for "trivial" events... and many here are surprised that this could be considered trivial - no matter how much they both "wanted" to fight.

 

[CopperBrompton]

The exception to this seems to be little old ladies who seem to be able to confront who they like without much fear of retaliation, as beating up old ladies is not going to gain the chavs anything in terms of "hardness points", quite the opposite in fact.

Little old ladies and redheads, in my experience ...

Years ago, I was passenger in a car driven by my then-wife, a 30-something size 10 redhead. A drunk driver drove into the side of us. That driver was a huge bloke, about six feet tall and built like the side of a house. It was obvious from the positions of the crashed cars what had happened.

I called the police, and while I was on the phone the drunk driver tried to move his car. My slightly-built wife shouted "Don't you dare!" at him. When I turned round, he'd switched off the engine and locked the door. He was still sitting locked into his car when the police arrived.

 

[Sheffield_Tiger]

In the majority of cases I think a person has to do something. This doesn't mean that you have to take "Physical Action". Sometimes just remaining calm and remembering a description / number plate etc. is enough.

Few weeks ago I was driving through town, a car pulled out a bit close in front of another, this led to a war of the other car trying to cut up the other one, and so on, until the original "aggrieved" driver properly cut up the one who made the mistake.

I pulled in and stopped too, admittedly partly because I was a little annoyed that their antics had almost involved me (one brakes sharply then swaps lane to pull behind the other, causing me to avoid him), but mainly because I could see that this was getting out of hand and told the pair of them to stop behaving like idiots, that they were both as bad as each other and were just causing everyone else hassle.

The response was generally "nowt to do with you, **** off" as they continued to square up.

I popped back to my car and grabbed my camera and took a photo of both of them and told them that if they carried on, the police would be given it as evidencewhich stopped them in their tracks. I didn't report it to the police as the battery was actually flat in the camera, but they weren't to know that!

One pulled up next to me at traffic lights a few moments later giving it "you took a photo of my car, you haven't got permission". I said "that's right, and I don't need permission"

He sneered and said "well, I'm taking your number plate down then!" Never quite worked out what kind of threat (as it was obviously meant as one) that was supposed to be, so I just asked him if he needed a pen and paper.

Right or wrong for involving myself, I have no doubt from the way it was rapidly escalating that there would have been an assault, it was just a case of who was going to swing the first punch

 

[gaz]

Anyone that has watched some of my videos will know that i sometimes confront people about what they are doing to endanger my life whilst i'm out on my bike. Being it almost knocking me off due to their impatience or them using a mobile phone whilst driving.

People can tell me to eff off or ignore me, no problem. I don't have the right to do anything. But i should be allowed to use the road without being felt endangered by other road users who choose to break the laws that are put down for everyones safety. I'm just naming and shaming them.

Would i do it without the camera? No.
Do i only do it so i can post videos on youtube? no.
Then why do i do it when i have the camera? so if what happened to the OP happens to me, i have their numberplate and picture.

 

[Crankarm]

I think what these above anecdotes show is that life is indeed cheap and to be careful. A few have posted this already. You never know who you might upset and how they will react. Even the police get chased, rammed and assaulted so thugs and pyschos won't think twice about doing harm to or even killing a cyclist. The red mist can blind many drivers. Go easy weigh up the situation if you have time. If you make the wrong decision you could be a long time DEAD then your family and friends will be without you all because you told some driver who turned out to be a care in the community nutter, gangsta or thoroughly nasty piece of work not to use their phone whilst driving.

As Vike said if you do want to do something make a mental note of vehicle registrations, occupants and types of vehicles etc and report them. But above all stay safe.

 

[tongskie01]

Yeah well, it's done now!!
And i've never lost any sleep over it!
I did what i thought was best, clearly it wasn't good enough.......

could have been killed. in any of these situations, consider your safety first.

 

[newbiebiker]

I'd leave him alone to avoid confrontation. Let him get an accident if that's what he wishes.