Tales from today's commute....

[StickyPTFE]

Update on this angry driver who had his trial today on a public order offence of threatening behaviour.

He was found guilty of using threatening behaviour and fined a lot of money and costs. I'd had to fend off his car which was closing in on me, and he took great exception to that, and then wouldn't engage civilly without threatening violence.

He or his lawyer said that I should've been no more than 50cm from the kerb, he knows this as he's a cyclist himself. His actions afterwards were reasonable remonstration for my rapping on his car, what right did I have to do that, and at no point did he intend me to think he was going to hit me. His fist, for example was not a fist but was his hand merely pointing at me and not clenched, despite the video showing otherwise. The prosecutor asked him about holding back until it was safe to overtake with more space, but he couldn't understand that idea at all.

If he'd started out with less aggression I would've been happy to apologise for touching his car and explain why I had felt it necessary to do so, especially as he stated in court that he didn't hear my horn. If he'd admitted the offence in police interview it would've ended with a caution. Instead he faces a criminal record and financial penalties of over £1300 on top of his legal costs.

It's a sad case demonstrating the need for people to realise that cycling on the road is legal and that we need to give proper space to cyclists. The highway code is going to be updated to spell out that this means 1.5 metres and that if you can't give that space safely, you need to wait until you can. And threatening to thump people may have condign legal consequences. It is nice when I can get to & from work without this sort of driving !

View: https://youtu.be/a6XOZ-g7wrY

I get close passed like that daily. I am also regularly heckled by drivers. I need to get a camera ASAP

 

[Arjimlad]

So much to take in, a truly special video.

If he had offered to bang me I would have insisted he take me out for a nice meal first.
He looked so small, did he indeed represent the Lollipop guild?

But in all seriousness it is so sad we have to deal with such issues, you did well to keep in control.

Thanks, that made me laugh. I really did think he was going to lump me one, which is why I disengaged towards the end. It was interesting seeing him refuse to recite the swear words in his account to the court, and try to explain away his aggression as "remonstrating". He wanted to know why I thought I had the right to touch his car, apparently.

I suppose I could have asked why he felt he had the right to put it so close to me, or make me think he was going to knock it into me. I was glad I had the camera on the helmet rather than the bars that day.

 

[Arjimlad]

I get close passed like that daily. I am also regularly heckled by drivers. I need to get a camera ASAP

I got mine because of the risk of injury but then decided to report close passes. It might encourage drivers to behave better if they realise they can be prosecuted based on this evidence. Once you are used to the process it takes very little time, and only if the occasional deluded idiot pleads NG do you have to go to court. In over 200 reports I have had to go to court 3 times.

 

[simongt]

they have the energy to say hello as they do it...

On any audax, I greet anyone I overtake. To me it's polite and friendly. On a Norwich 100 some years back, as I was passing a hefty lad on an even heftier dual susser, did the greeting thing and it was all he could manage to gasp out 'Hi' - ! And we were only about twelve miles out - !

 

[Lovacott]

On any audax, I greet anyone I overtake. To me it's polite and friendly.

I haven't overtaken anyone else on a bike on my commute but I do get overtaken quite a lot by people out training on their road bikes on my way home.

I always say good evening to everyone I come across on my route (maybe four or five people per day).

I say hello to dog walkers, farmers, people cutting their front hedges and other cyclists.

It brightens my day when people say hello and I hope that it works both ways.

 

[Andy in Germany]

On any audax, I greet anyone I overtake. To me it's polite and friendly. On a Norwich 100 some years back, as I was passing a hefty lad on an even heftier dual susser, did the greeting thing and it was all he could manage to gasp out 'Hi' - ! And we were only about twelve miles out - !

I once was on a "meeting local politicians" ride organised by the local cycling association, and it was only after I'd asked one half a dozen questions about why he wasn't keen on cycling infrastructure that I realised I'd chosen the only uphill section on the route to do it on. He'd gone a little red and wheezy...

 

[Andy in Germany]

I haven't overtaken anyone else on a bike on my commute but I do get overtaken quite a lot by people out training on their road bikes on my way home.

I always say good evening to everyone I come across on my route (maybe four or five people per day).

I say hello to dog walkers, farmers, people cutting their front hedges and other cyclists.

It brightens my day when people say hello and I hope that it works both ways.

This doesn't work very well in Stuttgart: people either ignore me completely or respond with a blank stare. I was therefore delighted to find that in this region most people smile back and say hello...

 

[Lovacott]

This doesn't work very well in Stuttgart: people either ignore me completely or respond with a blank stare. I was therefore delighted to find that in this region most people smile back and say hello...

In a big city, if you say hello to a stranger, you are a weirdo.

In the country, the opposite applies.

 

[Andy in Germany]

In a big city, if you say hello to a stranger, you are a weirdo.

In the country, the opposite applies.

It's a regional thing more than a city thing apparently. People don't move about as much here as in the UK, so these small cultural differences within Germany are still strong.

 

[HarryTheDog]

Back to my commute today ( will be at least twice a week) and a half amusing incident, going through Rainham just past the Jewish cemetery a lady with her probably 11 yr old daughter in the passenger seat pulled out on my from the right. I had to brake violently to avoid being taken out by her. The amusing thing was the window was down and I heard the daughter screaming at her mother that she was a crap driver and had nearly killed the little old man on a bike! but with more swear words.
I then overtook her in traffic ( didnt bother saying anything or gesturing she knew she had cocked up) and it took her nearly 2 miles to come past me, as she went past she gave me acres of room and seemed to sink down into her seat.
10 miles in I caught up with a old commute buddy and nearly did not recognise him as he was on a different bike. Turned out his old frame had failed at the seatpost 4 weeks ago so was riding a frame donated to him by a mate and he had transferred the bits. We then wafted in together for the next 8 chatting . Despite the near miss a enjoyable ride.

 

[skudupnorth]

Proper clouds this afternoon on my commute back from Bolton ! Just missed the heavy stuff as I got home

 

[I like Skol]

Proper clouds this afternoon on my commute back from Bolton ! Just missed the heavy stuff as I got home
View attachment 588273

View attachment 588274

View attachment 588275

Proper Manchester sky that is....

 

[MickytheHippo]

Been riding into Central London again for about three months after a year plus off, just starting to get quick again but what a purple patch in the last two rides. Yesterday evening I braked hard just on a hunch seeing a van stopped short of a petrol station in heavy traffic, i was on a well marked and raised cycle lane, just in time to watch a car whip through the gap from the opposite side with no hesitation whatsoever.

This morning slowing down for two lanes of solid stopped traffic and easing towards the curb to unclip when someone went full pelt through the tiny gap, solving the traffic issue by swerving onto the crowded pavement, also at full clip.

And 20 minutes later slowed again for two lanes of stopped traffic, a rider on an electic bike passed me on the inside and then turned into an immediate right hand turn to get to the centre of the road.

I take a lot of care but all three of those gave me a fright because there seemed to be nothing I could have done differently.

 

[Andy in Germany]

Been riding into Central London again for about three months after a year plus off, just starting to get quick again but what a purple patch in the last two rides. Yesterday evening I braked hard just on a hunch seeing a van stopped short of a petrol station in heavy traffic, i was on a well marked and raised cycle lane, just in time to watch a car whip through the gap from the opposite side with no hesitation whatsoever.

This morning slowing down for two lanes of solid stopped traffic and easing towards the curb to unclip when someone went full pelt through the tiny gap, solving the traffic issue by swerving onto the crowded pavement, also at full clip.

And 20 minutes later slowed again for two lanes of stopped traffic, a rider on an electic bike passed me on the inside and then turned into an immediate right hand turn to get to the centre of the road.

I take a lot of care but all three of those gave me a fright because there seemed to be nothing I could have done differently.

You seem to have read the road very well and ridden safely, while thinking for the people who weren't in some cases. And you came through unscathed.
It seems to me you did what you could correctly: Do you need to do anything differently?

 

[palinurus]

... he knows this as he's a cyclist himself.

Every time.