My First proper idiots.

[Vikeonabike]

Today, after 3 weeks of commuting 15 miles each way I met my first proper idiots. Working perfectly as a team, the driver comes to within foot of my right elbow, the passenger leans completely out of the window and screams "AGHHHHHHH" at the top of his voice. Frightened the crap out of me and I very nearly hit the verge at about 20 mph........


Yes! I did report it to the local police (who very disapointingly said they would put obs out for the vehicle). Yes I did get the index, Yes, the Notice of Intended Prosecution is in the post, Yes, I will be raising a crime for section 5 of the public order act .

There are days when I love my job, then there are days when I love my job even more....
So what would you suggest as a punishment?

...If I can get a prosecution, I am thinking of trying to get them to go on a bikeability course at there own expense...I think they are about £100 a shot. The driver is in line for 3 points and £60 the passenger for £80 ticket...So I think a Bikeability course would be fair restitution.

 

[marinyork]

3 points for what? I'm all for giving them a bollocking but you haven't said anything in your post to indicate they were behaving really badly. You just seem to be abusing your job to get your own back on some petty thing that has irked you off. That's totally out of order. I get people shout crap out of the window, not all of them mean it maliciously although it can be very intimidating to other people.

Thinking up extra punishments is just malicious.

 

[Tynan]

works for me, someone trying to scare someone off their bike at 20mph could kill them

let alone having peoper control of their car

 

[marinyork]

Perhaps there was some humour in there I missed.

I do still think it is hard to judge. I had some people shout some stuff at me recently and as they went past you could tell they were in good spirits rather than being nasty, rather like the finger up thread recently.

 

[Vikeonabike]

3 points for what? I'm all for giving them a bollocking but you haven't said anything in your post to indicate they were behaving really badly. You just seem to be abusing your job to get your own back on some petty thing that has irked you off. That's totally out of order. I get people shout crap out of the window, not all of them mean it maliciously although it can be very intimidating to other people.

Thinking up extra punishments is just malicious.

!. Careless and inconsiderate driving, passing that close at 50 mph when there was more than enough room to over take, no oncoming traffic and the pass was done deliberately so that the passenger could lean out of the window enough to get his shoulders out (had to take his seat belt off to do it...) Causing Harrasment Alarm and distress Section 5.....Now if I had hit the verge doing 20 mph there is a good chance that I would have been a little more than scared..broken limbs..fallen into the path of the vehicle behind....Might not of been done maliscioulsy and as I said..my idea of punishment would be to get them to do a Bikeability course instead of points on the license or the fine for a public order offence...

 

[marinyork]

If they unbelted and were trying to knock you off, then that's fair dos and I apologise. My blame would mostly be with the passenger though. I think a bikeability course would be appropriate. I'm not so sure about the driver. In your post you also didn't really make it clear bikeability would be instead of points, I thought it was on top . In which case I happily concur. I'd think something in the community.

The only time I've reported someone is when they threw lager cans at me, urinated in a public car park and passed a second time threatening abuse. I was pissed off but mostly reported them as I suspect the driver was strongly under the influence rather than my personal grudge. Likewise I would class someone leaning out and trying to knock someone off a bike at speed as someone that needs a bollocking.

 

[Crankarm]

If Vikeonabike you are indeed a cop why would you investigate your own incident? Surely as the "victim" it would be tasked to one of your colleagues to investigate to avoid accusations as Marinyork has suggested? It does seem your own agenda is taking precedence to objectivity. If the local police are "putting out observations" how can this then as you state immediately lead to a notice of intended prosecution being sent out without first actually apprehending the vehicle and it's owner what he/she has to say and trying to establish who the other occupants were and what their involvement was? I think you are just still annoyed and that there is little prospect of any action being successful against the driver. It would be unlikely the CPS would pursue this without other evidence.

As alarming as a car passing close to you at 50mph with some one shouting something at you from the window is, I believe it is a regular occurence for some cyclists in the areas they cycle. Some have objects thrown at them or are struck by oocupants leaning out of passing vehicles. Sounds like you have had a scare but you got off lightly compared to some cyclists who have endured a lot worse and to add insult to injury the police have done absolutely diddly sqwat. Will you be investigating these indicents as well encouraging the traumatised cyclists to make a complaint? If a car went past you at 50 mph and you didn't know it was approaching you would literally be none the wiser as it would literally be gone before you could say or do anything. Is there anyway you can substantiate the speed of 50mph you believe the car was travelling at? Were there any witnesses? Maybe it will be your word against the driver and the other occupants of the car if you catch up with them?

I don't condone that which you say happened to you but I do take issue that just because you imply you are a cop it will be taken seriously. I wish the cops had taken seriously the complaints I have made about dangerous drivers in the past. I wouldn't bother reporting anything now as most are indifferent, indolent and incompetent.

 

[eddiemee]

I hope you pursue this as far as you can. Completely agree that this occurrence, that most of us will have experienced at some stage, could cause a serious accident and should be treated as an attempt to do so. If you look at it from the perspective of the twats in the car, what do they hope to achieve.... they hope to scare the cyclist into losing control and falling off. I cannot see any other reason why they would shout into someone's face while speeding past. If I were to stand at the roadside with a laser pointer and try to distract oncoming traffic by shining it into their eyes I would be charged with attempting to cause an RTA, idiots like the ones described in the OP should be treated the same.

 

[sheddy]

+1. They may well go on and do it again

 

[summerdays]

If they will only take cops seriously then so be it... we just need to get more on bikes. I have had it happen to me once properly and it made me jump - and they didn't even come close. If you do wrong you should be prosecuted in some form, and making them do a bikeability/cycle training course might help their understanding of being in a bike in traffic.

Yes I would love the law to take my complaints as seriously ... I sat at one traffic light and watched 2 cars jump red and another go through on a mobile phone yesterday - they all believe they aren't going to get caught so carry on doing it. If cycling police report these crime and they appear on the stats, perhaps the others at the police station might start to take our complaints seriously.

 

[Bodhbh]

that most of us will have experienced at some stage, could cause a serious accident and should be treated as an attempt to do so. If you look at it from the perspective of the twats in the car, what do they hope to achieve.... they hope to scare the cyclist into losing control and falling off. I cannot see any other reason why they would shout into someone's face while speeding past.

I don't think many people who do this seriously want you falling off and if they do, it probably doesn't enter their minds that an off from a mere pushbike could be serious. They just aren't thinking - "Boo! Haha" is about the end of it. Not saying they shouldn't get their comeuppance - a legal boo! - but it's like nailing a jelly to the wall, might stop them doing it again, but plenty of others kicking about who'll get the one-off of stupid idea to give you a "boo!" or a random hornblow in busy traffic. Kids will be kids and there's plenty of them.

 

[summerdays]

I doubt if you fell off they would come back to help ... I suspect they would disappear into the distance laughing thinking ... lets do that again.

 

[eatmydust]

kudos for following it up. if they get caught it may deter other numpties from thinking about trying stupid stuff like that. it would be great to have more cops on bikes reporting incidents like this... and even catching other cyclists that perform dangerous stunts

 

[John the Monkey]

It's dangerous and it should be taken seriously. The shame of living in the UK is that it's unlikely to be unless this sort of stupidity results in death or serious injury, or the shouters pick the wrong person (as they did in this case).

Do 'em, teach them a lesson. Surprised to see other posters appearing to say otherwise, tbh.

 

[summerdays]

But hopefully they might start to notice that it was appearing as a statistic (good as its under reported at the moment) and if the looked closer they might wonder about the % that appeared to be police officers.