Cyclist who tried to rip door off Merc says motorist drove into him because he and a friend were riding two abreast

It seems that if you are scum then the courts seem to view your actions as almost a type of predestined crime. However, if you are normal and commit a similar act you are going to get a harsher sentence as really ypu should know better. The have always treats the generally law abiding harsher than deadbeats who get 2nd, 3rd and infinite chances to not do it again.

just shows that as ever damage property (never ever touch the car!) and the full force of the law will get you...multiple criminal charges....not a bad outcome considering my guess could have been a lot worse  - reported in some of the press as a "fine" but actually an order to pay damages...but no charges for the driver who slowed, harrassed and then hit Bernie Shrosbee with his vehicle....anyway these would have only been minor motoring offences at worst....always make me think I'm not so sure when I see comments that existing law adequately protects the more vulnerable road user...possibly it could in theory but not in the way it is applied and this is a good example of  that....

The Times' reporting of the court case is shown in a twitter thread about killer driver Michael Ricardo Robinson. The tweet shows the disparity in space given by The Times to the killing of an 11 year old (by someone who had already been banned 3 times) and the coverage of Bernie Shrosbree 's altercation:

https://mobile.twitter.com/humantravl/status/1098612528115081217

Says it all.

HoarseMann wrote:

Bernie doesn’t seem like the sort of person to be fazed by something like this, but I’m sure he's got the support of many cyclists who can empathise with the situation.

Agreed.

I'd not hold his actions up as a role model but can't help thinking that at least there are some people won't take that kind of shit lying down.

It’s not so much who calls the police first, as who crosses “the line” first. Driving your half tonne killing machine, in which you are insulated from all consequences of your actions, in the direction of a cyclist or ped doesn’t count, it’s on the ok side of the line:: what you do next does.   You’ve every right to get the red mist if you’ve been threatened like this.

Is that a selfie shotat the top of the Road.cc article?  Maybe it was a quintessential empty road, but I’ve seen another cyclist doing this around my way and I just think we’re not going to win the argument about mobiles while driving if this practice becomes “a thing” among cyclists.

GET OFF YOUR PHONE!! 

Bernie appears to be a trainer of some repute.  I wonder if he would like to offer courses in smashing off wing mirrors?

The same week a cyclist is left with long term injuries after being crushed by a van and the magistrate punishes him with £530 fine, 6 points plus court costs and victim surcharge.

https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/news/local-news/cyclist-crushed-after...

This seems wholly unjust and the reporting very one sided with loads of details about Bernie in the media, but very little about the mysterious Howard Harvey, the 50 something driver of an old, black, C-class Merc, who is allegedly from North London. But google brings up details of a surveyor behind a series of short lived businesses who lives close to the incident location in Poole - hmmm...

Bernie doesn’t seem like the sort of person to be fazed by something like this, but I’m sure he's got the support of many cyclists who can empathise with the situation.

A woman motorist pulled out of a side road without looking properly, hit and killed a motorcyclist: fined £200.

Crowd funding site to pay the fine? In Australia they did it for the jerk who road down a cycle path to shout abuse at cyclists

Unbelievable you have to be killed and someone see them hitting you for the car driver to be held accountable,then they get a rediculous sentence,it's a joke and a not very funny one

Imagine being fined for damaging the knife someone had stabbed you with, or getting a criminal record for ruining the gun that had been used to shoot you.

I sympathise with his reaction, would have been great if he had been able to rip the door off.

If it's not on camera, it didn't happen.  

Looks like he could rip a few Yellow Pages in half let alone rip a wing mirror off. 

Totally not surprised.  I repeatedly complained about motorists blocking a nearby cycle path, nobody would listen.  Went to the police, they said that it was ok because I could just about get past them.  Wouldn't listen to my pointing out they were illegally driving on a footway, didn't care about obstruction, didn't care about the danger to myself when they reversed back to get off the path.

The instant I said that if they wouldn't sort it, perhaps I should, with some brake fluid - the notepads were out and their faces became dead serious.  It was as though any personal risk to me was inconsequential - but the instant it because a property matter, that was worthy of note.

I politely told them to fuck off and left the station.

'The lesson I’ve learned: call the police first'

Well you've learned the wrong lesson.  The correct one is to get the hell away after putting your unconscious assailant in the recovery position.  

Quote:

He then cycled to where his car was parked nearby before returning to the scene shortly afterwards.

I've spotted the fatal flaw there.
Military in general and special forces in particular get taught that when you've neutralised a threat, you don't stand round and wait for the applause, the girl is not going to fall at your feet in admiration - you **** off sharpish.

John Stevenson wrote an article on here a while ago

edit: this one https://road.cc/content/blog/228327-involved-crash-heres-modest-proposal

about that very thing.

The next time somebody trys to drive into me it’ll be reported to the police like a potential terrorists incident is unfolding, you can’t be too careful in these situations. 

"It was at this point that the cyclist punched the car’s mirror, knocking it off." Surely this should be enough to have convinced the police/legal system that the car was far too close to the cyclist?

Road rage should not be tolerated in a civilized society. Unfortunately, it seems in this case it has been tolerated in one of the two perpetrators, but not the other.

Use your vehicle as a weapon; no charge.

Defend yourself against the attacker; £3,700 and 100 hours unpaid work.

British justice at its finest.

yup, get attacked with a killing weapon and get off scot free because someone retaliated. Sums up the priorities of police too as they don't blink an eyelid when a person on a bike is actually assaulted either with direct injuries (ABH or GBH) or common assault because another induced fear of harm!

However he was daft enough to attack the car when there were witnesses around, we all know how these things play out.

Should have punched the guy in the face made a citizens arrest as assault is an arrestable offence, and said 'this was the only safe way to stop the assailent from attacking me and my friend, I was in fear of my life and couldn't escape due to the crazed attacker driving a faster vehicle who I was sure would chase after us even on the footway (as we've seen motorists will mount the kerb and do kill/maim with virtual impunity) and severly injure if not kill me due to their previous attempt to do so.

I get the losing the rag thing, so many times I wanted to drag someone out and give them the same feeling they just gave me by using their vehicle as a weapon. And yes the system punishes the weak and the vulnerable all the time and ignores the one who actually commits a worse crime, that being aggravated assault.