Take Care

Peter Main
Peter Main Posts: 60
edited April 2009 in Campaign
I hope this tale will encourage other cyclists to consider how they will respond if they find themselves in a similar situation to the one I encountered last week. I was assaulted by a motorist on the B970, near Aviemore, about 1.7 miles south-west of Inverdruie. I got away lightly, though badly shaken, with only cuts & bruises. I have reported the incident to the police. Looking back over what happened, I have drawn two conclusions:

1. When he passed me (very close) I made what I considered to be a ‘non-offensive’ gesture, but, with hindsight, I can see that I shouldn’t have made any sort of gesture; as long as you are still upright there is no point. At best it will achieve nothing; at worst it could lead to assault, injury, or worse.

2. When he stopped his car, got out, and stood in the middle of the road, why on earth did I stupidly think I could safely cycle past him? At that point I should have stopped and waited, ready for a rapid turn around if approached. If anyone stops and waits for you, keep your distance (unless you are big, strong, and young or there are more than one of you!)

Although well aware of this sort of thing happening to others in other parts of the country, it never crossed my mind that it might happen here and to me. At my age and with my long cycling experience I should have known better.
pete-the-bike

the idea is to die young as late as possible

Comments

  • teagar
    teagar Posts: 2,100
    It's no fun is it?
    Note: the above post is an opinion and not fact. It might be a lie.
  • eternal_headwind
    eternal_headwind Posts: 222
    There is an argument that if you take no action then they will continue to get closer until your next of kin reports an incident to the police.
    A tricky one though because two wrongs ever make a right.

    How did the police respond?
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    Sorry to hear that Peter, hope you recover well and are back on the bike.
    I also hope the Police get a grip of the person that did this to you...
  • Peter Main
    Peter Main Posts: 60
    My heartfelt thanks go to everyone who sent me messages of support after my assault last week. Reading the report about the attack on Eric Rogers in Cycling Weekly puts my small incident into perspective and confirms my own feelings about the futility and risk of gesturing to a motorists. It would be presumptuous of me to tell other cyclists how to behave; we all have to make up our own minds. If my report have raised awareness and contributed to the debate then that is a good outcome.

    The local police have been very supportive and the assailant has been charged with assault. It will be some months before we know the final outcome
    pete-the-bike

    the idea is to die young as late as possible
  • downfader
    downfader Posts: 3,686
    Peter Main wrote:
    My heartfelt thanks go to everyone who sent me messages of support after my assault last week. Reading the report about the attack on Eric Rogers in Cycling Weekly puts my small incident into perspective and confirms my own feelings about the futility and risk of gesturing to a motorists. It would be presumptuous of me to tell other cyclists how to behave; we all have to make up our own minds. If my report have raised awareness and contributed to the debate then that is a good outcome.

    The local police have been very supportive and the assailant has been charged with assault. It will be some months before we know the final outcome

    If what you said is correct then you did nothing wrong imo. You simply issued a warning in the same way as a driver would sound his or her horn to warn of danger. :?

    I hope the driver is given time. People cant go around thinking they can assualt people because they've had a bad day, etc.

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