To the lady in the grey Hundai Sante Fe
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domtyler
Über Member
Some stoopid woman in a Golf swerved in on me this morning. She then screeched to a halt at the lights that were less then twenty feet away. I took the opportunity to swerve in front of her obviously, her response was to drive into the back of my bike!!
I gave her bonnet an almighty clout with my clenched fist and a good dressing down in front of about a hundred pedestrians, obviously letting everyone know that she was on the phone too!
I gave her bonnet an almighty clout with my clenched fist and a good dressing down in front of about a hundred pedestrians, obviously letting everyone know that she was on the phone too!
spindrift said:
What collision? The OP hit the curb, agreed, but he give no indication of how hard he hit the curb, and made no suggestion that he came off his bike. I'm sure there was no legal requirement to stop.
Also it is very likely that the driver in question was scared of an angry looking cyclist. I would understand if she felt the need to drive off in this situation for fear of her safety. Of course if any collision had actually occurred she would be required to inform the police when she felt safe.
So you agree that what the OP did was a crime spindrift?
domtyler said:Some stoopid woman in a Golf swerved in on me this morning. She then screeched to a halt at the lights that were less then twenty feet away. I took the opportunity to swerve in front of her obviously, her response was to drive into the back of my bike!!
I gave her bonnet an almighty clout with my clenched fist and a good dressing down in front of about a hundred pedestrians, obviously letting everyone know that she was on the phone too!
Believe it or not Dom, I can understand what you did better than what the OP did. Her driving her car into you was assault and as you were still in a position of danger hitting the car could be seen as self defence. What the OP did was chase after her and cause criminal damage. There is no excuse for that. That is road rage.
Riding in Circles
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- EDINBURGH
A few weeks ago I was approaching some road works so slowing down when some brainless female in a Golf decided not to wait behind me, she got along side, realised there was not enough space to get in front in time so just started pulling in! I think I was justified by smashing the crap out of the side of her car, I ended up wedged between parked cars and her car on the trike. She rang the police, who I explained what happened to and they took statements from other drivers who backed me up then told her they were going to prosecute her for careless driving, I'm waiting to hear about it at the moment. I actually did fear for my life at the time.
At one point she said she had not seen me there, then the policeman asked her why she had pulled out and she said so she get around me! Idiot.
At one point she said she had not seen me there, then the policeman asked her why she had pulled out and she said so she get around me! Idiot.
Riding in Circles
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magnatom said:This I can understand. Self defence. I have no problem with that at all. I hope the driver is properly dealt with by the police. Too often they don't press charges
Well despite what the police said at the time it will go to the CPS and they will go "it's just a cyclist", or "her husband is in my lodge" or some such and she will get away with a warning so she can toodle off and kill someone next time.
Magnatom, ok let me expand on this
Now I was not happy with my reaction to her near killing me by purposefully trying to run me off the road. I am an experienced enough commuter to know how to react and not to get angry, which I usually don't.
However this was just downright dangerous driving. Probably the worse I have seen. She overtook, at speed an an approach to a RAB (not stopping I hasten to add to see if any thing was coming from the right) then hooked left. There was no way on earth she couldn't have seen me or not known what she was doing. It was just me and her on the approach. Yes I did chase after her and knocked on her window to remonstrate, at first not showing any anger. Simply wanting to ask what the hell she thought she was doing? What made me angry was that she indignantly waved me away with her hand and tried to ignore me. She knew exactly what she did and did not care. So in essence she bullied me, I bullied her back. She got back what she deserved
Now I was not happy with my reaction to her near killing me by purposefully trying to run me off the road. I am an experienced enough commuter to know how to react and not to get angry, which I usually don't.
However this was just downright dangerous driving. Probably the worse I have seen. She overtook, at speed an an approach to a RAB (not stopping I hasten to add to see if any thing was coming from the right) then hooked left. There was no way on earth she couldn't have seen me or not known what she was doing. It was just me and her on the approach. Yes I did chase after her and knocked on her window to remonstrate, at first not showing any anger. Simply wanting to ask what the hell she thought she was doing? What made me angry was that she indignantly waved me away with her hand and tried to ignore me. She knew exactly what she did and did not care. So in essence she bullied me, I bullied her back. She got back what she deserved
Riding in Circles
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She waved you off? There would not have been a straight panel or intact light left on the car if that had been me, well done for the restraint.
Sh4rkyBloke
Jaffa Cake monster
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- Manchester, UK
Hmmm, different slant on it now.. I have to say I'd struggle to restrain myself in this situation. It'd probably be the wing mirror as it's easy to hand and doesn't involve unclipping.ianrauk said:
TwickenhamCyclist
Guest
Mags – you are right of course, and good on you if you can maintain that high moral standard, especially after some of your more hair raising encounters– but I completely sympathise with ianrauk and would probably behave in a similar way.
Someone deliberately endangers your life and, when given the opportunity, doesn’t even attempt so much as a basic apology = red mist time for me as well I’m afraid.
Combined with the certain knowledge that, even if you caught their actions with a film crew, had the pope as a witness, the driver was an illegal immigrant and the copper you reported it to a Daily Mail reading member of the BNP, absolutely no action or whatsoever would be taken by the police/cps.
Sometimes dishing out a little bit of your own ultraviolence feels, however wrong it is, like a pretty justifiable response towards the kind of c**ts one occasionally encounters.
Someone deliberately endangers your life and, when given the opportunity, doesn’t even attempt so much as a basic apology = red mist time for me as well I’m afraid.
Combined with the certain knowledge that, even if you caught their actions with a film crew, had the pope as a witness, the driver was an illegal immigrant and the copper you reported it to a Daily Mail reading member of the BNP, absolutely no action or whatsoever would be taken by the police/cps.
Sometimes dishing out a little bit of your own ultraviolence feels, however wrong it is, like a pretty justifiable response towards the kind of c**ts one occasionally encounters.
last nights post was done in anger.
This morning in reflection and to see Magnatom's post made me realise I had not told the whole story.
As to Magnatom's comment that if people seeing me do what I did will make people hate cyclists more. Then the same could be said about car drivers if anyone saw what she did on the RAB. I am convinced that a less experienced cyclist we would be looking at a very serious hit & run
This morning in reflection and to see Magnatom's post made me realise I had not told the whole story.
As to Magnatom's comment that if people seeing me do what I did will make people hate cyclists more. Then the same could be said about car drivers if anyone saw what she did on the RAB. I am convinced that a less experienced cyclist we would be looking at a very serious hit & run
It is a difficult one.
A lone lady in a car may well have nearly cost you your life. It doesn't take much for a near miss to be a 'hit'. You have tried to approach her to tell her what she has done and she has waved you off.
It is often the case that when a car has been involved in an incident with another car or bike that there is nowhere for the car to 'escape' to to de-escalate the situation. The car becomes a protective cocoon. It is frustrating to try and engage someone who is not willing to be engaged perhaps for fear of what will happen. You have then acted in a way that has damaged her car.
So she then drove off without saying another word? Because she knew she was in the wrong?
If I was alone in a car and someone took out their frustration on my car I would do one thing. Drive to the nearest police station and report it.
Someone once tried to get my attention after an incident between my car and another on a roundabout. He was intent on exchanging words so I gave him the opportunity. In a busy, well lit car park underneath CCTV cameras. He said to me to drive around the corner away from the cameras so he could 'deck me'. Oh how I laughed. But seriously I should not have engaged with him at all. I was a bag of nerves afterwards.
I am not saying that what she did was right. But imagine yourself as a lone female in a car who has in all honesty realised that she has probably really pissed you off and is worried about what your reaction will be.
My missus cycles into work, she was on a cycle track last night and two other (male) cyclists said hello to her. I ride this track also and cyclists say hello to me when I do. My missus felt uneasy about someone saying hello to her in a friendly manner because she was alone. It is a dangerous world we live in. As magnatom says people have died as a result of road rage.
As I say a difficult one.
Any CCTV at either of the locations, the near miss or the damage?
A lone lady in a car may well have nearly cost you your life. It doesn't take much for a near miss to be a 'hit'. You have tried to approach her to tell her what she has done and she has waved you off.
It is often the case that when a car has been involved in an incident with another car or bike that there is nowhere for the car to 'escape' to to de-escalate the situation. The car becomes a protective cocoon. It is frustrating to try and engage someone who is not willing to be engaged perhaps for fear of what will happen. You have then acted in a way that has damaged her car.
So she then drove off without saying another word? Because she knew she was in the wrong?
If I was alone in a car and someone took out their frustration on my car I would do one thing. Drive to the nearest police station and report it.
Someone once tried to get my attention after an incident between my car and another on a roundabout. He was intent on exchanging words so I gave him the opportunity. In a busy, well lit car park underneath CCTV cameras. He said to me to drive around the corner away from the cameras so he could 'deck me'. Oh how I laughed. But seriously I should not have engaged with him at all. I was a bag of nerves afterwards.
I am not saying that what she did was right. But imagine yourself as a lone female in a car who has in all honesty realised that she has probably really pissed you off and is worried about what your reaction will be.
My missus cycles into work, she was on a cycle track last night and two other (male) cyclists said hello to her. I ride this track also and cyclists say hello to me when I do. My missus felt uneasy about someone saying hello to her in a friendly manner because she was alone. It is a dangerous world we live in. As magnatom says people have died as a result of road rage.
As I say a difficult one.
Any CCTV at either of the locations, the near miss or the damage?
"Not willing engage for fear of what will happen?"
As I said previously, When I knocked on her window, I was not showing (more repressing) any anger. What really got my goat was seeing her looking at me and seeing in her face that she knew she was in the wrong, then waving me away as if it was a trivial matter.
re the damage, I say damage however, it was a glancing blow as she drove off. More of a frustrated kick out rather then premeditated damage.
As I said previously, When I knocked on her window, I was not showing (more repressing) any anger. What really got my goat was seeing her looking at me and seeing in her face that she knew she was in the wrong, then waving me away as if it was a trivial matter.
re the damage, I say damage however, it was a glancing blow as she drove off. More of a frustrated kick out rather then premeditated damage.
I see where you are coming from ianruk and your clarification helps to put it into better context.
Of course it is easy for me to say, 'yah shouldn't have done that, blah, blah'. I accept that in the heat of the moment it is very difficult to hold back, especially when you really feel it was done with intent.
That is one of the reasons why I love the helmet camera. I can be just as angry as the next bloke, but knowing I have caught what has happened on camera relaxes me. I can put it online and show them up (and sometimes me) for the idiot, twat, whatever, that they are, so I rarely get really flustered.
However, see it from my point of view; I am trying to campaign for cyclists (cyclists might not want me to though). I am trying to get across the message that the majority of cyclists are law abiding. It just makes the job harder when someone posts that they went after a car and intentionally damaged it, especially when others say, 'good on ye mate!'. The way it was originally written, sounded as if you enjoyed it and were boasting about it. I am sure that was down to you being angry at the time. However, I felt compelled to say my bit.
However, I am certainly not as TT would probably call me a 'moton apologiser', or a cyclist apologiser for that matter. Good and bad in all groups.
Of course it is easy for me to say, 'yah shouldn't have done that, blah, blah'. I accept that in the heat of the moment it is very difficult to hold back, especially when you really feel it was done with intent.
That is one of the reasons why I love the helmet camera. I can be just as angry as the next bloke, but knowing I have caught what has happened on camera relaxes me. I can put it online and show them up (and sometimes me) for the idiot, twat, whatever, that they are, so I rarely get really flustered.
However, see it from my point of view; I am trying to campaign for cyclists (cyclists might not want me to though
). I am trying to get across the message that the majority of cyclists are law abiding. It just makes the job harder when someone posts that they went after a car and intentionally damaged it, especially when others say, 'good on ye mate!'. The way it was originally written, sounded as if you enjoyed it and were boasting about it. I am sure that was down to you being angry at the time. However, I felt compelled to say my bit. However, I am certainly not as TT would probably call me a 'moton apologiser', or a cyclist apologiser for that matter. Good and bad in all groups.
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