Oh how I wish I'd been wearing a helmet cam this morning

spasypaddy

Some prick in a white van with his two mates decided to drive alongside me and shout my speed out the window, i told them i know how fast im going (it was 16mph up a hill). They then proceeded to pull in damn close and then go in front and stop dead in front of me.

They then did this once more at the top of the hill where the road bends round to the right, they did it right on the bend just as i was accelerating away to 20mph. Again they pulled close alongside shouted you're doing 20mph and then proceeded to slam their brakes on in front of me.

I didn't make contact with their vehicle either time as my brakes and my reactions aren't too shabby.

At this point i decided the only safe option as there are no turn offs on this road was to slow right down to 12mph as they wouldnt dare drive at that speed. Unfortunately there was another less experienced cyclist up in front of me who i hadn't spotted and they did the same to him. He started giving them verbals at the traffic lights at the bottom of this road. With the driver now leaning out the window giving them back.

I timed it right to slam straight through the lights as they went green and accelerated hard and fast away up the hill the van 2 cars behind, which eventually meant they came alongside me and AGAIN did the same trick. Speed, drive close, and try and slam me into a parked car by narrowing the gap and putting the brakes on.

At this point i noticed they were going to turn right at the lights and me left so i called them "fucking twats" mounted the pavement and rode round the corner on the pavement for my own safety.

Now my question to you is, if i have a helmet cam and i send footage of incidents like this to the police will they do anything?

I didn't get their numberplate as i was more interested in self preservation.

OH AND THIS WAS IN NORTH LONDON - HENDON/COLINDALE SO ANYONE IN THAT AREA BE CAREFUL

rick_chasey

Try not to re-live it.

Has happened to me a few times. Gets my blood boiling thinking about it so I try not to.

Police are unlikely to do anything. Look at Bails - he gets assaulted on camera and they do SFA.

spasypaddy

oh it didnt even get me annoyed in all honesty. takes a bit more than that to rile me.

wish i had decided to use my right foot along with my speedplay cleat to 'slow' myself down in their back door...

bails87

I'd expect you'd tell them what happened, they'd ask if you were injured, and when you say no they'd say the driver hasn't done anything wrong.

I'd hope for more, but I'd expect, as Rick says, sweet FA.

peat

That's vile.

Surely that is counted as 'intimidating behavior' though?

spasypaddy

bails87 wrote:

I'd expect you'd tell them what happened, they'd ask if you were injured, and when you say no they'd say the driver hasn't done anything wrong.

I'd hope for more, but I'd expect, as Rick says, sweet FA.

what happened to you? must have missed your thread sorry

Kieran_Burns

Rick Chasey wrote:

Try not to re-live it.

Has happened to me a few times. Gets my blood boiling thinking about it so I try not to.

Police are unlikely to do anything. Look at Bails - he gets assaulted on camera and they do SFA.

On the other hand - the VERY rare occasions I have contacted the Police and used my camera footage something has been done

(incidentally - two of these have been with South Notts Police)

However - I agree with the sentiment that you need to put these things behind you. An American comedian came out with a great analogy: if someone was to try and hand you a pile of steaming dog sh*t, would you accept it? Of course you wouldn't, so why accept any sh*t from anyone else in life? You don't have to, you can choose not to.

I'm a great believer in Karma - these idiots will get their comeuppance - it will happen, they'll try this trick once too often and a world of hurt will descend on them.

Put them out of your mind, they don't deserve a place in it.

clarkey cat

what a pair of fvcking morons.

If that was me I'd have just stopped on the pavement and let them drive on and then carried on my ride but sounds like you handled it well anyway.

bails87

spasypaddy wrote:

bails87 wrote:

I'd expect you'd tell them what happened, they'd ask if you were injured, and when you say no they'd say the driver hasn't done anything wrong.

I'd hope for more, but I'd expect, as Rick says, sweet FA.

what happened to you? must have missed your thread sorry

I'm at work so can't access youtube to share the link, someone else might have it from another thread though?

I was cycling over a bridge, driver beeped me, overtook so close that he hit my arm, thought I'd kicked his car so pulled over. I rode past, he floored it after me so I stopped and got on the the pavement to let him past. He pulls up, gets out of the car, knocks me to the ground and punches me in the face and head seven or eight times.

All on camera. The police told me there was nothing wrong with his driving and anything else he did was "only minor". So they asked him to write a letter. "I regret that we bumped into each other" he wrote..... Well so do I!

A month or two later I was passing stationary traffic (I was in primary the empty left turn lane, traffic was queueing in the straight/right lane) when a car decided not to wait in the queue, changed lanes to the lef without signalling, hit me side on with a bang and pushed me onto the verge, then floored it to drive away. I went to the police station as I ride past it on my way home anyway. I was told that they weren't interested in seeing the video because as I wasn't injured he hadn't committed an offence.

Solihull/West Midlands seemingly just don't give a F about cyclists. I've since moved and Warwickshire seem to be slightly more interested, the driver who pulled out in front of me (KB has/had the link if he wants to share) is being sent on a driver alertness course.

estampida

play the cops if they are being un helpful in your area

take the reg

fone from payphone

give reg and say crime in progress in area (burglary or summit)

fake name (make sure no cctv in area) and they will get stopped in the next 2 miles

with a bit of luck they will have bald tyres or something, and wasting the police time????, well if they were busy having words with motorists rather than saying sorry mate........

they are not customer services for life........

they are meant to uphold the rights of all civilians in civilian life.....

rolf_f

bails87 wrote:

I was told that they weren't interested in seeing the video because as I wasn't injured he hadn't committed an offence.

Makes you feel like asking if it's OK to put a brick through the window of one of their squad cars as it wouldn't be an offence if no one was injured.

I think in those circumstances all you can do is send the film to a paper in the vague hope that it will fit in with a planned article to slag the Police off for being crap.

gabriel959

I am sure The Times would have room for you with their campaign about cycling.

bails87

gabriel959 wrote:

I am sure The Times would have room for you with their campaign about cycling.

I've obviously got a face that:
1. Makes drivers angry, and
2. Makes police officers apathetic

Allez Mark

spasypaddy wrote:

Now my question to you is, if i have a helmet cam and i send footage of incidents like this to the police will they do anything?

Yes. They will do you for riding on the pavement.

DrLex

bails87 wrote:

{outrageous tale}

That's totally unacceptable - no recourse to PCA or your MP?
If he wrote to you, that's an address to attend to for a bit of pikey-style payback, Shirley?

spasypaddy

bails87 wrote:

LOTS OF TEXT

Bloody hell mate! Shows how ridiculous the police force in this country are sometimes.

gabriel959 wrote:

I am sure The Times would have room for you with their campaign about cycling.

that would be another option i guess.

Allez Mark wrote:

Yes. They will do you for riding on the pavement.

so very true

pangolin

bails87 wrote:

I've obviously got a face that:
1. Makes drivers angry, and
2. Makes police officers apathetic

I realllly hope it's the face in your sig. And that you have a card that says 'analrapist'

bails87

DrLex wrote:

bails87 wrote:

{outrageous tale}

That's totally unacceptable - no recourse to PCA or your MP?
If he wrote to you, that's an address to attend to for a bit of pikey-style payback, Shirley?

No, the letter was written at the police station and given to the officer who dealt with the case so I could pick it up.

I did write to my MP actually, I think it was something to do with the Times Cyclesafe campaign, and I mentioned that in passing. She asked for more details and passed it on to the police to investigate the handling of the case.

Essentially, I agreed to a local resolution, if I didn't want it then I shouldn't have agreed to it. Despite being told what was (not) going to happen in advance and turning up to the police station to find "my" statement accepting the letter of apology already written out.

Pangolin: I hope everyone else gets the reference! "May I remind you I held down two jobs, an analyst and a therapist, the world's first analrapist" "Yes, and you were almost arrested for those business cards"

Edit: My concerns about cycling safety were apparently passed on to Mike Penning. I mentioned the difficulty in cycling in the way bikeability/cyclecraft teaches you because lots of drivers don't know why we go into primary, or that we can move out to the right for junctions, hazards etc. I said there was a mismatch, a generation of kids being taught to ride in a way that generally results in hostility and punishment passes from several generations of drivers. As an example, I was cycling in the way Cyclecraft would have taught me to when I was assaulted. He said it's not a problem because some councils offer free bike training. Some cyclists who take up the training will also be drivers, so drivers are being educated. And kids are taught Bikeability, not Cyclecraft so my expereince was irrelevant. Problem solved.

I suggested a "Think Bike" style campaign for bicycles rather than motorbikes. He said "we spent lots of money on Think Bike for motorbikes". Problem solved.

:roll:

graeme_s-2

bails87 wrote:

Solihull/West Midlands seemingly just don't give a F about cyclists. I've since moved and Warwickshire seem to be slightly more interested, the driver who pulled out in front of me (KB has/had the link if he wants to share) is being sent on a driver alertness course.

This is my experience with West Midlands Police too. I've been knocked off my bike by a motorised vehicle 3 times.

1. Driver deliberately rammed me off my bike and drove off. West Midlands Police made me fill in an RTA form which they then lost - incident wasn't even recorded.
2. Driver pulled out on me at a round about and knocked me off. Warwickshire Police did record the incident correctly, but took no action against the driver.
3. Lorry driver turned into the side road I was on and swung out onto my side of the road as he did so. I moved across from primary into the gutter very quickly while shouting, and glanced off his front right wing, landing on the grass verge. If I hadn't moved so quickly the wing would have been coming from my left and I'd have gone under the front of the lorry. Phoned West Midlands Police to report it, once they established that I wasn't "seriously" injured, and that I had the driver's details they weren't interested and refused to record the incident.

West Midlands Police in particular have absolutely zero interest in cyclists getting hit by vehicles in my experience. Interesting that your experience has been the same.

DrLex

bails87 wrote:

[...]Essentially, I agreed to a local resolution, if I didn't want it then I shouldn't have agreed to it. Despite being told what was (not) going to happen in advance and turning up to the police station to find "my" statement accepting the letter of apology already written out.
[...]

You woz dun up like a kipper, moi son!

jonny_trousers

I've never experienced anything like this. I know I'm lucky and it's only a matter of time, but I don't know what I'd do. Would be good to find out if they were employees driving a company van as I suspect their employers might want to know about it, but I'm sure you would have mentioned a company name had their been one.

I guess experiences like yours do highlight the positive uses of headcams. Not so much so plod can ignore it, but to offer video footage to the press.

cookdn

bails87 wrote:

I was cycling over a bridge, driver beeped me, overtook so close that he hit my arm, thought I'd kicked his car so pulled over. I rode past, he floored it after me so I stopped and got on the the pavement to let him past. He pulls up, gets out of the car, knocks me to the ground and punches me in the face and head seven or eight times.

All on camera. The police told me there was nothing wrong with his driving and anything else he did was "only minor". So they asked him to write a letter. "I regret that we bumped into each other" he wrote..... Well so do I!

Here is the video and it is shocking, If bails87 had been assaulted in the same manner in a supermarket because of a misunderstanding involving shopping trolleys, would the police have been so apathetic? I think not.

The behavior of twats on the road is one thing, the abject apathy of the Police much of the time is something else. I'm not condoning direct retaliation but what is the situation going to be like if even a small group of cyclists start to kick-back, using ninja rocks for example, because they feel that is their only recourse.

I was I assaulted by a motorist in Sheffield after he had literally driven me off the road, damaging his car in the process. Luckily it was during the morning rush-hour immediately adjacent to a fuel station so there were plenty of witnesses and CCTV. The vehicle was uninsured and at the time the driver was banned from driving due to a dangerous driving conviction. He was arrested at the scene, got 120 hours of community service in court and had to pay costs and compensation. This demonstrates what the police and courts can do if they really want to.

The bottom line is that there are some seriously nasty people on the roads and there seems to be a small but growing number that are taking delight in taunting cyclists to the point of putting them in physical danger.

Best regards
David

whitebait01

cookdn wrote:

bails87 wrote:

I was cycling over a bridge, driver beeped me, overtook so close that he hit my arm, thought I'd kicked his car so pulled over. I rode past, he floored it after me so I stopped and got on the the pavement to let him past. He pulls up, gets out of the car, knocks me to the ground and punches me in the face and head seven or eight times.

All on camera. The police told me there was nothing wrong with his driving and anything else he did was "only minor". So they asked him to write a letter. "I regret that we bumped into each other" he wrote..... Well so do I!

Here is the video and it is shocking, If bails87 had been assaulted in the same manner in a supermarket because of a misunderstanding involving shopping trolleys, would the police have been so apathetic? I think not.

The behavior of twats on the road is one thing, the abject apathy of the Police much of the time is something else. I'm not condoning direct retaliation but what is the situation going to be like if even a small group of cyclists start to kick-back, using ninja rocks for example, because they feel that is their only recourse.

I was I assaulted by a motorist in Sheffield after he had literally driven me off the road, damaging his car in the process. Luckily it was during the morning rush-hour immediately adjacent to a fuel station so there were plenty of witnesses and CCTV. The vehicle was uninsured and at the time the driver was banned from driving due to a dangerous driving conviction. He was arrested at the scene, got 120 hours of community service in court and had to pay costs and compensation. This demonstrates what the police and courts can do if they really want to.

The bottom line is that there are some seriously nasty people on the roads and there seems to be a small but growing number that are taking delight in taunting cyclists to the point of putting them in physical danger.

Best regards
David

That's some of the worst driving and behaviour I've ever seen. What an absolutely unrepentant, bullying, violent dimwit. Were the police interested in the assault? I'd be pushing to get that simpleton in court.

clarkey cat

Oh my god that footage makes me so angry. Amazing restraint on your part there. I would have probably bitten his ears off and smashed his windscreen.

bails87

I'm surprised you lot can see anything. According to the police it was too dark to be of any use....

whitebait01

clarkey cat wrote:

Oh my god that footage makes me so angry. Amazing restraint on your part there. I would have probably bitten his ears off and smashed his windscreen.

This. My p1ss was boiling just watching it. There's no way I'd have been able to have a civil conversation with that bellend after he'd run over and punched me off my bike.

spasypaddy

videos like that are what make me keep my cool to some extent when im on the road. you never know how someone is going to react.

bails87

spasypaddy wrote:

videos like that are what make me keep my cool to some extent when im on the road. you never know how someone is going to react.

That's the annoying thing, I wasn't being a "cycle warrior" and ranting and raving at him. He beeped his horn, I thought "bellend", said/did nothing. And that still happened.

I know what you mean though. I don't want any hassle, I just want to ride my bike. If I ignore a 'transgression' and just get on with my journey I'll have forgotten about it within 30 seconds. If I give the driver abuse I'm more likely to end up in a situation like that where, months later, I can still feel my pulse racing when I think/type about it.

spasypaddy

sorry, it wasnt a dig at you at all. it was more the fact that it shows how little it takes for some people to fly off the handle. Hence me shouting fucking twat at the point i knew he wouldnt be able to do anything as i rode off round the corner in the opposite direction to him down a bus lane.

bails87

spasypaddy wrote:

sorry, it wasnt a dig at you at all.

Don't worry, I know it wasn't.

gabriel959

That is out of order. Why don't you spread the video around? Twitter is fantastic for this kind of thing.