Dilemma

Pufftmw
Pufftmw Posts: 1,941
edited September 2014 in Commuting chat
Riding along a main single lane highway last night, there's a bus unloading, so as I approached I indicated to move out and overtake, followed with a shoulder check just as a car starts to pass me, allowing any following vehicles the opportunity to see my intention - there was a gap I could safely slip into. I then heard the car behind speed up as I started to move out and it passed me really close, forcing me to back off and move back in. I shouted out "thanks for that, leave me some space mate". The car then had to slow down at the end of the bus and I was just behind catching up, then just as it passed the front of the bus, it swung into toward the curb and started to slow down - just at the point where a cyclist might make the same manoeuvre, so wondering if they were trying to cut me off. Anyway, car slowed down and as I started to undertake and the woman driver starts shouting out the window "I don't care! I don't care!" :shock:

I just looked at her askance and carried on pedaling. There was a nodder ahead so I accelerated a bit to move out and overtake and she swerved her car in towards me :o I managed to avoid her & the nodder but she's still alongside me screaming at me "I don't care! I don't care!" but has to jam on her brakes to avoid a car that has pulled out in front of her. Seeing another parked car up ahead, the other side of a pedestrian crossing, I accelerated and took primary in front of her in the middle of the road, size of road being that there was no space for her on either side. Not this idiot, she speeds up draws level and swerves in on me again, about 20 ft from the crossing :shock: Again, I avoid and back off, but just through the pedestrian crossing she pulls into the hatched lines to turn right and has to stop to give way to oncoming traffic.

I'm not so stupid as to get into a row with some pyscho witch in a 1500kg car so I just stop in front of her and memorise her face and registration.

So, what would the collective do? Take a chill pill or report her to the police? There's no witnesses, maybe some CCTV I don't know, but will the police actually do something? At some point, I'd un-clipped and grazed my leg with the pedal, it stings but nothing that requires attention or would constitute a civil claim. She didn't actually hit me though I could quite happily have leant on her bonnet she was that close. But I've got good reactions, another might not have been so quick.

I'm undecided but as far as I can see, I didn't do anything wrong and she's got a shocking attitude towards other road users (or maybe just cyclists) that whilst it didn't cause an accident this time, the next time someone might not be so lucky.

Comments

  • To me the question is would the police be bothered enough to contact her as even a letter may be enough to calm her down and help stop her from killing somebody else.
  • that sounds quite dangerous... she should be spoken to.
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  • dhope
    dhope Posts: 6,699
    Think I'd report it, if only online
    http://content.met.police.uk/Site/roadsafelondon
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  • I take it this is the Met...?

    I'd be surprised if they take it on in all honesty.

    Just accept she's a nutter, there's a lot of them out there, and keep riding defensively.
  • veronese68
    veronese68 Posts: 27,249
    Unfortunately I think Colin is probably right, but I'd still report it as Dhope says.
    If there's a record online of her being reported and she does actually drive over someone would that affect any possible enquiry and prosecution? I hope so.
  • slowbike
    slowbike Posts: 8,498
    I'd report it but without believing anything will come of it.

    I think I'd've stopped as soon as she started the aggressive driving - or at least turned off anotherway ... me ... chicken?! yup ... ;)
  • iPete
    iPete Posts: 6,076
    I've had similar, holding primary and going the same speed as a car in front, not far from the back bumper! someone still wanted to overtake. They pulled alongside on the other side of the road and closed me against the curb.

    Backed out and kicked the side of the car. Pulled along the drivers side and asked if they 'f**king liked their wing mirrors' before backing off and letting them go. Could have overtaken but didn't want to be in front. Angry but you gotta know when to back off.

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  • Report to police 100%
  • Koncordski
    Koncordski Posts: 1,009
    Report it via the roadsafe form like dhope says and forget about it. To paraphrase our pilot friends, "Any commute you can walk away from is a good one".

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  • Got to be worth reporting, although I tend to fall into the can't be bothered category. Had an incident a few weeks back where a driver in a Range Rover Sport repeatedly tried to overtake me by driving on the opposite side of the road only to be forced back in by incoming traffic. Once she got level with me she drove along side me for a good minute calling me a F**ing animal revving her engine, all this with a baby in the front seat. Surpisingly all I could come out with was "please give me some room". To calm myself down I just think of them as sad pathetic individuals who have issues, its also not a good look squaring up to a female driver. :oops:
    Fat lads take longer to stop.
  • I have found that the following, immature as it sounds, works *excellently* as a means to leave you feeling that you have acquired the better of the situation.

    Once they open the dialogue, look innocent, and ask "what's the matter?"

    They respond, or start to. About one sentence in, put your fingers in your ears at say, quite loudly "Fattyfattyfatty! I can't hear you fattyman/woman! You're so fat and blubbery you can't talk properly! Fattyfattyfatty!"

    Of course, this need not be delivered word perfectly. You can improvise.
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  • If it's the Met then forget it. In my experience they just dont give a s_hit, unless until someone gets killed or seriously injured. The law isn;t on your side, it will he her word agaist yours and without 3rd party evidence or cctv it will go nowhere.

    I might accidentally take the guys door mirror off if they did that to me.
  • rower63
    rower63 Posts: 1,991
    These people by the time it gets to overtake=>no room=>brake hard=>behind you again or push you across=> start swearing are way beyond reasoning. Just back off and survive. They imagine they have priority over cyclists even if it means overtaking dangerously.
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  • tgotb
    tgotb Posts: 4,714
    I've experienced the same thing, I think it's just a specific manifestation of the more general "have to overtake a cyclist regardless of the situation" mentality. These people are beyond education, better just to let it go.

    Before anyone starts feeling all superior, a possibly higher proportion of cyclists exhibit an equivalent "have to filter past a motor vehicle regardless of the situation" mentality. This is equally pointless, at least as dangerous, and its practitioners are equally beyond education. Whilst it's true that the cyclist generally comes off worse in both cases, it's hard to argue that being the worst-injured party in an accident you caused, somehow makes it OK.

    My rule of thumb is, other than in a few fairly specific situations, not to bother overtaking vehicles that are likely to overtake me again shortly after. This works equally well on the bike and in the car, and does wonders for the blood pressure...
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  • Pufftmw
    Pufftmw Posts: 1,941
    Thanks for the link Duncan, duly filled in.

    I've avoided using my GoPro for commuting but I think I'll start doing so...
  • rower63
    rower63 Posts: 1,991
    TGOTB wrote:
    My rule of thumb is ... not to bother overtaking vehicles that are likely to overtake me again shortly after.
    I'll remind you of this next time you go past me :evil:
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  • They respond, or start to. About one sentence in, put your fingers in your ears at say, quite loudly "Fattyfattyfatty! I can't hear you fattyman/woman! You're so fat and blubbery you can't talk properly! Fattyfattyfatty!"

    Of course, this need not be delivered word perfectly. You can improvise.


    Excellent, would you recommend this in the work environment too...?

    :lol:
  • Colinthecop
    Colinthecop Posts: 996
    edited September 2014
    Double Post. :oops:
  • Having filled in the met form i'v had varying responses of from the met of:

    a) We don't care
    b) We are going to write to them
    c) Here's a statement form to fill in
    d) Oooh that sounds dangerous maybe you should report it

    Under d) I had report the reg and company of K9 Capers (now Kingston K9's) on here as well to which 3 months later I received a call from the Met as to claim harrasment by the company owner as someone had posted in the thread in the chain about brake fluid as the numpty thought this was a threat to burn their house down.

    When I pointed out i'd reported to get response d) the detective seemed a bit stumped as evidently there was no way of joining any of this up back at the police station.

    Report it if you want, in all honesty, I think the met will laugh and go buy another donut.
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  • jds_1981
    jds_1981 Posts: 1,858
    I think it's worth reporting. I've had a number of responses, from claims they'll send relevant road rules to a driver who I reported for using her horn on every cyclist she passed (wouldn't have bothered, but she then carried out an appalling overtake almost taking me out as she swerved to avoid the traffic island we were approaching and then claimed when I caught up that all cyclists should cycle in the gutter), to saying that a driver who was using his mobile was probably okay "Although the use of hand held mobile telephones whilst driving is prohibited under current legislation, there are circumstances where exemptions will apply and this may be one such case." (He was driving along with a flat tyre for almost a kilometre, so I followed him to warn him and turned out he was on the phone, but was aware of his flat)
    to the most promising (where a driver was using his horn at cyclist in the ASL box and then swerving aggresively towards them)
    " The vehicles, and the owners documentation has been checked and the details have been added to our ANPR (automatic number plate registration ) system, and to the briefing for that area so as to alert officers to this incident. Intelligents suggests that there are other probable offences which need to be established when stopped. "
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