My First proper idiots.

[garrilla]

You have to react. Anyone with a functioning set of reflexes will react by being startled.

Personally, when this happens, I sit up on the bike and do the full 'self-gratification artist' sign - one hand behind the head, other mimicing the shuffle - because they will see it in the RVM and they will be in awe at my bike control.

 

[swee'pea99]

I think most such twats actually enjoy a reaction like that. I think the best response, if you can manage it, is a bored stare and a very modest shake of the head, as in 'you pathetic wee tosser'.

 

[Arch]

There's absolutely no way the passenger could act like that without the complicity of the driver.

Anyway, is the driver not responsible for the actions of passengers? I thought that was the case with door opening, seatbelt wearing and the like....

 

[manalog]

You have to react. Anyone with a functioning set of reflexes will react by being startled.

Personally, when this happens, I sit up on the bike and do the full 'self-gratification artist' sign - one hand behind the head, other mimicing the shuffle - because they will see it in the RVM and they will be in awe at my bike control.

Not really sure why I wasn't startled by these idiots but my reflex is very good. Perhaps I'm not susceptible to shouting/screaming while riding.

 

[Arch]

Oh, and vikeonabike, stick anything on them you can. I assume if commuting you were in civvies, so it might just make them think in future, that you really can't tell if you are bullying a little defenceless person, or a person who happens to have a metaphorical big stick.

 

[Vikeonabike]

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.

quote]
Crank arm, Fair point. The reason for investigating this myself is that it has happened in a "Foreign Force" area. That is to say not the force area I work in. I know the officers in that area are stretched because it is a rural area. The investigation I have carried out is quite simply to identify the vehicle, which I have done. Ascertain the identity of the driver and the passenger. I have not interviewed them at all under caustion so therefore not involved. I have then reported the section 5 offence to the local Police officer who has raised a crime and given him the details of those involved. Prosecution will be down to CPS and not me.
A notice of Inteneded prosecution is merely a form sent to the registered owner of the vehicle to advise them that there is a possibility of a prosecution and that they need to identify the driver of the vehicle that was in use at the time and date and location stated.
I have clamed down a bit since yesterday and am now quite happy that as long as no other driving offences are revealed and neither of those invovled have previous for anything similar, then strong words of advice should suffice.
A number of posters seem a little disconcerted by my "abuse of position". I don't consider following up on an incident like this as an abuse. I cannot get away with other retorts such as shouted insults or handsigns (section 5 offences) because of my position. The word will get around these lads and thier friends, not every helpless cyclist that you leave for dust in your rear view mirror is as helpless as you think.

 

[skwerl]

Anyway, is the driver not responsible for the actions of passengers? I thought that was the case with door opening, seatbelt wearing and the like....

no. unless they're (the passenger) a minor or the driver is driving a taxi. Or, as in this case, they're complicit in a criminal offence but then the fact they're driving a car is largely irrelevant

 

[Tynan]

The driver is assumed to be in control of the car, ie their license and insurance covers the whole vehicle

anyway, they'll have matched speeds and got close enough so they were in on it

they don;t do it to be funny, they do it to alarm/frighten/harass cyclists

and plenty of here say they've reported this sort of thing and got a god response from the cops

and because something happens all the time and doesn't necessarily hurt someone it's ok? some logic that is

 

[PBancroft]

they don;t do it to be funny, they do it to alarm/frighten/harass cyclists

Actually, I think some do do it to be funny. I once knew someone who loved to lean out windows and yell "Oi! Yourwheelsaregoinground!"

And he found it hilarious when people got off their bikes to check.

 

[ComedyPilot]

The driver of the vehicle is responsible if their vehicle is being driven in a manner likely to cause harrassment alarm or distress. Good old (catch all) section 59.

In my view driving a car at speed past a vulnerable road user (cyclist) whilst the passenger hangs out of the window shouting is a bit of an open/shut case.

 

[XmisterIS]

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........

Next time, stop abruptly just as he is about to overtake, turn round, and slap him across the face hard, in the opposite direction to the car ... being slapped at 30+ mph ... that's gotta hurt!

 

[Bollo]

VoaB

Please don't think my comments (or lee's I think) were against you personally. The more poleese like you and Cubist riding bikes and posting here the better. But the complaint in general is still valid - if you're a civilian, its very difficult to get the police interested in anything other than your own death. Why I don't know. When I had my coming together with a vehicle it certainly wasn't lack of evidence! But despite an open and shut careless driving charge, the driver wasn't even cautioned. There just didn't seem to be the will, either at the policy level or, in my dealings with the attending officer, a personal level.

 

[nigelnorris]

I don't consider following up on an incident like this as an abuse. I cannot get away with other retorts such as shouted insults or handsigns (section 5 offences) because of my position. The word will get around these lads and thier friends, not every helpless cyclist that you leave for dust in your rear view mirror is as helpless as you think.

More power to you I say. Happens to me much too often, I only wish there was some way in which I could make a positive contribution towards prevention.

Mind you I have noticed that this, [which I bought last time I went to the loo at 2 in the morning and found a wastrel walking about the living room with my DVD player under his arm] fits exactly [uncannily so] into the mounting bracket for my bike pump.

[Disclaimer: not a serious suggestion. But I was so pissed off after the last time some lowlife nearly had me off that I did actually check ]

 

[marinyork]

There's absolutely no way the passenger could act like that without the complicity of the driver.

Only to an extent. I'm talking intention here rather than the law. You can't extrapolate what the driver's intention was. The passenger, you can. Maybe the driver egged the passenger to do it. Maybe the passenger said they'd just shout to scare a cyclist and didn't mention they'd unbelt and try and knock them off. No way of telling. You have to give the driver the benefit of the doubt unless evidence suggests otherwise. They were stupid for instigating/going along with it but ultimately it is the passenger that is responsible.

Anyway, is the driver not responsible for the actions of passengers? I thought that was the case with door opening, seatbelt wearing and the like....

Not as I understand it. It is an offence to open the door onto a cyclist. It is an offence for a person 14 or over not to wear a seatbelt. This is explicitly stated as the passenger's responsibility, not the driver's. The driver is certainly responsible for the overall vehicle but these are things that are very definitely the responsibility of the adult passenger.

 

[Twanger]

Err you are the opposite to me... I desperately try to remember the number plate, and colour but as to make and model - no it just doesn't register with me... more likely to notice another bike details and give a description of it - still wouldn't be acurate but I would pay more attention to it.

E278 GLP is the reg number of a white van that tried to knock me off my bike in Vauxhall Bridge Road in 1987. That's the first time I have thought of it in years, but I still remember the number because I memorised it using mnemonics.

The mnemonic I made up for it was "E numbers, two 78 records and a gold LP". Silly, but effective. When you process information in some way, you remember it. When you just repeat it to yourself, you don't.