Chased for miles by a driver: what would you have done?

TonyWard

Plus you might want to reflect on your relative good fortune. You are lucky enough to only meet a real di ckhead every now and then. He has to see one in the mirror every morning.

ronstrutt

Don't forget that he has spent £7000 on a vehicle which, in traffic, has little better performance (and much greater running costs) than a sub-£500 mountain bike. I guess that can be very galling.

And the fact that he couldn't achieve anything like 25mph on a bike makes it even worse.

Your initial signal, confirming the obvious, and possibly inflaming any male-dimension concerns he may have, just made things worse.

downfader

Paulie W wrote:

No criticism of the OP here - this was obviously a very unsettling and scary situation - but the notion expressed here (implictly and explcitly) that we as cyclists must not react in any way to driver intimidation (physical or vocal) on the basis that the driver may turn out to be a psycho seems very unsatisfactory to me!

I think you misread the potential. the potential being that they may cause a hit and run, or get out and use violence. Fair enough if they attack you from the off you have a right to defend yourself with reasonable force - most drivers (and some cyclists to be fair) like this are simply after a reaction so they can tell their mates "this bloody cyclist" and further expand the myth.

We have a right to use the roads and there needs to be a national poster and tv campaign to remind some people what their taxes are spent on and why, and why cycling is exempt. Its true that no one deserves to be a recipient of this behaviour but answering back all sarky aint gonna do our cause any good. :?

secretsam

arewenotmen wrote:

souped up 306

Another MaxPower moron. They are scum, there are hordes of them in Aylesbury where I live, a total nightmare, zoom around like twa7s but have the driving skill of a baby on a pedal car. I get totally Daily Mail about them, I really do.

But in answer to your question...I really don't know, glad you're OK, typical that plod totally failed to do their jobs.

Personally, on reflection I'd have been tempted to beat the :evil: out of him.

arewenotmen

Well, we'll see what they do. Rang Hampshire police last night and they said an officer will want to take a statement & get in touch - nothing as yet though. It was only 999 that kind of let me down, which thankfully didn't matter as there was no eventual physical risk.

There are, of course, no known witnesses so that won't help me - but frankly the guy was so convinced he was right, he'll probably tell them the same thing I will.

I'm glad I didn't do anything stupid - it leaves me in the clear and able to potentially do something useful about it.

Surf-Matt

I think we live in a society too scared to dish out the odd bit of justice when necessary.

Fact - if a driver potentially endangers my life/health, he gets no mercy whatsoever - I don't care whether he is armed, a ninja or whatever. I'll damage his car (almost never a "her") and him if I can.
If he tried to take the cowardly option of chasing me in his tin box, I have a mountain bike and can go anywhere - he can't.

People can mock, shout, swear, whatever - I'll ignore that. But as soon as there's a possible physical risk, then it's time to sort it out.

The legal side can wait and makes it's judgement later if necessary.

There is too much protection for aggressors these days - making everyone scared to look after themselves. That's wrong.

Paulie W

downfader wrote:

Paulie W wrote:

No criticism of the OP here - this was obviously a very unsettling and scary situation - but the notion expressed here (implictly and explcitly) that we as cyclists must not react in any way to driver intimidation (physical or vocal) on the basis that the driver may turn out to be a psycho seems very unsatisfactory to me!

I think you misread the potential. the potential being that they may cause a hit and run, or get out and use violence. Fair enough if they attack you from the off you have a right to defend yourself with reasonable force - most drivers (and some cyclists to be fair) like this are simply after a reaction so they can tell their mates "this bloody cyclist" and further expand the myth.

We have a right to use the roads and there needs to be a national poster and tv campaign to remind some people what their taxes are spent on and why, and why cycling is exempt. Its true that no one deserves to be a recipient of this behaviour but answering back all sarky aint gonna do our cause any good. :?

And I think you miss the point. This isnt about 'causes' it's about not living in fear. I dont have to be 'sarky', I dont have to shout and swear, make a w@nker sign, to show my displeasure at bad driving; I can simply hold my hand up or shake my head. Yet even these gestures can enrage some drivers in my experience. So are you suggesting that I should refrain from even this just in case the guy turns around and mows me down? By the same measure the next time someone pushes in front of me in the supermarket queue should I keep my head down and say nothing in case he is carrying a knife?

ronstrutt

I was recently cycling through North London. A combination of the weight of traffic and the frequency of the traffic lights meant that I was keeping pace with a sports car over a considerable distance.

At each set of lights he would roar off ahead, only to be stopped at the next set, where I would catch him up. after this had happened several times you could sense the tension building up - the revving of his engine becoming more pronounced, him blocking my way up the inside, and what have you.

Fortunately our ways parted after about the seventh set of lights because things seemed to be on the point of turning nasty.
Surely no-one ihere is suggesting that I should have held back because some idiot cannot handle delays caused by traffic conditions.