My first truly scary experience

[Mr Cheese]

For those that have asked, here's a view of where his first overtake happened that started the incident:


Poor place to overtake


and this is further down where he stopped to wait for us (in the entrance to the farmhouse on the left):


Psycho parking zone


I haven't reported it to the police. I thought long and hard about it, but for various reasons decided not to.

It hasn't put me off cycling though - there is no way I am going back to sitting in traffic jams in my car!

 

[e-rider]

An unnerving experience.

You can never know what frame of mind a motorist is in - your action in tapping the car might be the thing that just sends them over the edge of what's reasonable behaviour - so the expedient thing to do is not to deliberately make contact with the vehicle. If you feel your safety has been compromised to a severe extent, you could note the registration and inform the police.

Close overtakes are relatively common and not easy to deal with - you only have to read the forum to see the number of posts that mention the subject, and not all turn out well. I doubt there's a cyclist here who hasn't had experience of this several times.

I totally disagree with that. If your safety has been compromised to a severe extent, then you are close to a fatal accident and 'game over'. Wife becomes a widow, children lose their father etc etc. Although reporting it to the police might be a good idea, I'd be far more responsive than that. I would be more than happy to bang on the car window or shout "move you tosser" to avoid death; rather than die quietly and politely!

 

[Hicky]

Glad that it hasnt knocked your confidence

If you can remember anything of his reg I'd suggest going to the police, Rochdale(or possibly Oldham!) has enough idiots whom think they can get away with this sort of thing.....ie Outside the Deli bar a week or so ago( my wife was in the pub next door!) to those who done know some idiout dorve down a load of pedestrians for being refused entry to a bar!!!


If at the least he gets a visit then it is better than nothing.

 

[ManiaMuse]

The one advantage you have being on a bike is your maneuverability.

If oncoming traffic is clear you can do a U-turn and gain quite a lot of distance while the driver turns (if they even bother). If the driver tries to cut you up while you are turning you will at least make it obvious to other motorists and passers by that this guy is aggressively going after you.

Another idea is to hop on the pavement and again turn round and head in the opposite direction. Forget all pavement riding ethics, at least on the pavement you can turn around quickly relatively safely (so long as there aren't too many pedestrians about). And you can always duck into driveways or walk into a shop.

If the driver gets out the safest thing to do is generally to cycle away, so long as in doing so you aren't risking being knocked off your bike by him. So again riding off in the other direction is often a good idea if possible.

Going down a small track as you did was a good idea, although it might have been better for your wife and dad to stick with you until you were sure that he had given up following you?

 

[Nigel-YZ1]

Thankfully I've never had a 'chase' situation. But I've always thought I'd deal with it by hopefully stopping around other people, and getting off the bike - taking the vehicles out of the equation. Alone I'd probably make discretion the better part of valour and go where the car can't.

This guy was obviously prepared to use a vehicle as a weapon, and should not be allowed the privilege of a driving license.

I would certainly have reported it to the police. There's too many scum on the road these days. Since all I can do at the moment is road riding I've had my eyes opened.

And if it's any consolation, there's at least one considerate BMW driver in this world - Me :-)

 

[Amanda P]

I haven't reported it to the police. I thought long and hard about it, but for various reasons decided not to.

I wonder what those reasons are? I'm not questioning your judgement, but I would urge you to reconsider. The next person this nutter encounters might not be as restrained, as resourceful or as lucky as you were. Please make the police aware.

 

[Jezston]

I wonder what those reasons are? I'm not questioning your judgement, but I would urge you to reconsider. The next person this nutter encounters might not be as restrained, as resourceful or as lucky as you were. Please make the police aware.

Me too. And sorry to badger you about it when your confidence is already low, but you are in a position to take action against someone who is a threat to yourself and all of us, along with every other user of the roads out there. I believe you have a duty to report it, and can't understand why anyone wouldn't want to.

 

[beanzontoast]

I totally disagree with that. If your safety has been compromised to a severe extent, then you are close to a fatal accident and 'game over'. Wife becomes a widow, children lose their father etc etc. Although reporting it to the police might be a good idea, I'd be far more responsive than that. I would be more than happy to bang on the car window or shout "move you tosser" to avoid death; rather than die quietly and politely!

Happy for you to disagree - I can appreciate what you're saying, and it does depend on the situation.

A shout of warning is one thing. Deliberately hitting a vehicle could be seen IMO as more provocative - risking confrontation with the driver, as well as maybe weakening the cyclist's position if the police became involved.

 

[Simba]

For those that have asked, here's a view of where his first overtake happened that started the incident:


Poor place to overtake


and this is further down where he stopped to wait for us (in the entrance to the farmhouse on the left):


Psycho parking zone


I haven't reported it to the police. I thought long and hard about it, but for various reasons decided not to.

It hasn't put me off cycling though - there is no way I am going back to sitting in traffic jams in my car!

I know that road well, the drivers fly down that hill at 40+ I live near the spring inn pub, well about 10 minutes walk from there.

 

[Ste T.]

I know of people who would kill you over a parking place, literally kill you. A red mist comes down and they act and damn the consequences. A couple of these are on steroids but your average psycho would do just as well. The problem is, like the OP, I am a mild reasonable person and we tend to forget that these people are out there walking amongst us and they dont all shave their heads and drive blacked out Range Rovers.
If you get yourself unintentionaly into a ruck, I recommend clutching your chest in agony and collapsing in a faint. Just watch them sh:t them selves and beat a hasty retreat.

 

[Jaguar]

I had the same situation donkey's years ago (I didn't slap, just gesticulated). I was chased up and down a road by a ... you guessed it, Beemer.

I took the reg and went to nearest police station. They said they went round and warned him, but experience now tells me they probably were fobbing me off.

btw, I am a 5'3" female. Hardly a threat to a Beemer driving yobbo, but there you go. He went mental, tried to run me over 3 times


Thankfully I now has my Muvi bike cam