Self Defence Question

thiscocks

Had to stop myself from giving an earfull to a chavvy girl who strolled across the road infront of me with her dog the other day. I was doing a fair speed with no other cars around and could see her crossing several hundred meters away.

She was not looking and I was slamming on the brakes which she must have heard, then when I stopped right infront of her to avoid totally taking her out she just gave me a blank look and carried on walking! I just said under my breath 'thanks for looking' to which she shouted 'WHAT'. By that time i was accelarating again so couldn't be arsed to stop again... Guess bicycles don't excist in some peoples worlds.

dilemna

MichaelW wrote:

pidism wrote:

In relation to Self Defence - you will need to be careful...... You can employ self defence if you feel you are under risk of imminent or actual attack and use reasonable force to repel your attacker - example > fist to fist. Not D lock to fist or other improvised weapon.
That would be perceived in a court as attack and more than reasonable force.

That is just plain incorrect. If you feel you are being threatened with violence you can defend yourself using reasonable force. You dont have to react with exactly the same force (eg fist for fist).

You cant carry any item specifically to defend yourself so chille concoctions are illegal.
You can legally carry a shackle lock. You can make use of it in a self defence situation.

In my experience, the best way to defend yourself against a thug when on a bike and you cant ride away is to raise your bike and use it as a fence. Watch your back if there is more than one (and there usually is). Get out of Dodge City as quickly as you can. If you cant run, try to out manouvre the thug using parked cars, lamp posts etc. They will soon get bored.

If you need to take someone down then hit them with your shackle lock, but not in the head. You might miss and find yourself in a grappling match you will loose. You might kill them. Better to duck down and swipe their knee or lower leg .

If you intend to defend yourself, do the thinking and planning now. Keep your shackle quick to deploy. Plan to hit then run. Never hang around to get one last hit in. If you want to call the cops, think before you speak. It is your words, not your actions that will send you to jail. Criminals all know the correct form of legalese to use when talking to cops. The thug you just hit knows what to say and will have witnesses to back him up and all the legal aid your taxes can pay for.

+1. but above all try to avoid confrontation and not to escalate things. On a bike you are very vulnerable. A hardened thug will see it purely as a respect thing and hurting a cyclist who has been "disrespectful" is fairly easy I am afraid. Once you get this far into a situation then you run the risk of being seriously injured/killed or your bike being totalled. Self defence is one thing but actively escalting a siutation by damaging a car is criminal damage and is more likely going to annoy a thug even more which if he is a genuine psycho will put you in even more danger or risk him calling a few mates which will mean you will be riding or running for your life hoping they don't catch up with you. How would you explain criminal damage to the vehicle as reasonable force? I think if you get to this stage where you know you are going to be hit or attacked you are wise to try to get away as quickly as possible. Enough time to call 999 if you have to. Also bear in mind there may be witnesses so do not provoke a situation. You never know who is behind the wheel of a vehicle.

de_sisti

dualistic wrote:

turnerjohn wrote:

Moodyman wrote:

Ride assertively and expect the unexpected. .

no way a guarrenty though is it ?! The guy here is passed by a car...no problems there...the issues with the passengers.....the driver MAY not have been a fault ...if they were drunk that is !

Fyi, the driver was in on it.... he slowed downed behind so they could take aim (cowards) and stopped for 1-2 seconds ahead whilst the main idiot shouted words....

In such a situation, the best policy would be to come to a stop. IMO, as most car drivers like
to be on the move, I get the impression that they would do just that, keep on moving. If there's
other traffic coming up from behind, chances are that the initial driver won't want to hold others up.

Drfabulous0

In two decades of commuting I have only twice got into an actual fight, first when an idiot leaned out of the passenger window of a modded Corsa and tried to push me off. When I caught up at the lights I swiftly removed the LH wing mirror with my barend. When the same passenger opened the door to kick off I booted the door, making a nice cleat imprint and trapping his legs, obviously I then got off down a cycle path where I couldn't be followed.

The second was a different matter, I rode up behind a pedestrian at speed and hit him round the back of the head with a D lock in revenge for him sleeping with my wife.

I don't recommend aggression, but where it is needed most fat lazy motorists will back down from violent confrontation with somebody who is clearly a lot fitter than they are.

de_sisti

Drfabulous0 wrote:

The second was a different matter, I rode up behind a pedestrian at speed and hit him round the back of the head with a D lock in revenge for him sleeping with my wife.
.

Surely the issue should have been with (you and) your wife. Did she get a D lock around
her head from you? NO, I thought not. Did you reflect on your behaviour to find out why
your wife slept with someone else? :roll: I mean, she wasn't forced to do it. Get real mate, most
blokes will sleep with a woman they like, if a shag is put on a plate for them.

Why didn't you confront him face to face like a man and sort it out (with fists, if necessary)?
That was a cowardly cheap shot. I hope the law dealt with you in the manner that you
deserved.

Mr Tom

I think most people's reaction if there's been some kind of incident on the road is to assume they're right. Before anything else, before even thinking about what happened - they're right, that's the only thing. I think often being able to hold your tongue and not respond or just respond very reasonably (but not in an irritating way) and riding off will leave them feeling like an idiot a few minutes later. I also remind myself that they have a number plate which can identify them if they do anything really nasty.

Pross

thiscocks wrote:

Had to stop myself from giving an earfull to a chavvy girl who strolled across the road infront of me with her dog the other day. I was doing a fair speed with no other cars around and could see her crossing several hundred meters away.

She was not looking and I was slamming on the brakes which she must have heard, then when I stopped right infront of her to avoid totally taking her out she just gave me a blank look and carried on walking! I just said under my breath 'thanks for looking' to which she shouted 'WHAT'. By that time i was accelarating again so couldn't be arsed to stop again... Guess bicycles don't excist in some peoples worlds.

Jeez, you must have been going a fair pace if you saw her crossing several hundred metres in front of you, slammed on your brakes and only just stopped! Even a top sprinter going flat out would have had 20 odd seconds to have reacted and stopped and a car could have stopped easily from 120kph over that distance. No wonder she felt it was safe to cross, she wasn't expecting someone riding at world record speed. Could you be exagerating?

dcurzon

late last year, i was going along a narrow road, cars parked either side, and a car behind me revving and shouting 'come on get a move on' or words to that effect. I reacted to it.
i pulled into a gap between 2 parked cars and the car pulled up next to me and the guy was a hulk, looked like a cage fighter, and was half way out of his car saying 'what did you fukn say?' etc etc. he seemed up for a ruck. i decided discretion was the better part of valour and explained i was going as quick as i could and was just looking for a place to pull over to let him through.

i'm glad to say it didnt escalate any further than that and we both went on our way.