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Alan 1 - 0 Wing Mirror

by alansmurphy
Wed, Oct 09, 2019 14:25
9

I was enjoying a relatively skirmish free commute in today and riding about 5 metres behind a car, that was behind 3 other cars, following a tractor at about 20mph. The gap was maintained as we were all moving at the speed of the tractor, and oh yes there it appeared, a car on my right trying to overtake and get into the non existent gap.

 

As there was no gap forthcoming he decided to create one by veering towards me trying to push me from the road. The first punch of his passenger window (good times now the big gloves are out) seemed to wake him up but he kept coming. At this point I hit his bodywork pretty hard and he applied the brakes leading to me connecting pretty hard with his wingmirror which skittled off down the road.

 

As the tractor departed and the traffic sped up he created space to park in a lay by for an exchange of opinions. He seemed surprised that I denied touching his car as he'd clearly have passed far too far away for a cyclist to be able to touch it.

 

He then got aggressive but being 20 years past his best and technically a midget didn't get too far... Tossers!

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9 comments

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CyclingInBeastMode | 5 years ago
2 likes

Sadly or not I don't wait until winter, have had many cuts and bruises to hands, all well worth it IMO, especially to the Golf drivers bonnet who firstly rear ended me (fortunately at low sped) then as he tried to drive away though his bumper came off worse than my crank arm. I punched a fist sized dent to grab his attention and called plod, who when turned up gave it well you were the one shouting/being agressive. As I said to this young pup, he commited three criminal offences, one careless driving, one of hit and run, or attempted to drive off and thirdly dangerous driving when he drove straight at me to get away. I told him to either do his job or I was going to call his desk sergeant to actually uphold the law and make a formal complaint.

he had 'words' with the driver and said that he accepted his version of events and would take matters no further and called it knock for knock, Typical plod response but the cretin would have a big bill for the dent. it's hardly worth bothering chasing these things because the higher ups protect their plebs anyway. 

The last incident was 3 weeks ago, doing 28mph on the downhill stretch to work (30 zone), van driver skims my elbow, I catch him 3 seconds later at the roundabout and he gets a hard thump into his door, he tries to give me some biff I swing back and the wet blanket runs back into his van.

Seriously thinking of getting something stabby slightly scratchy to affix to the outside of the pannier rack, set so I can lower it to give a good yard or so extension.

Avatar
kil0ran replied to CyclingInBeastMode | 5 years ago
1 like

CyclingInBeastMode wrote:

Sadly or not I don't wait until winter, have had many cuts and bruises to hands, all well worth it IMO, especially to the Golf drivers bonnet who firstly rear ended me (fortunately at low sped) then as he tried to drive away though his bumper came off worse than my crank arm. I punched a fist sized dent to grab his attention and called plod, who when turned up gave it well you were the one shouting/being agressive. As I said to this young pup, he commited three criminal offences, one careless driving, one of hit and run, or attempted to drive off and thirdly dangerous driving when he drove straight at me to get away. I told him to either do his job or I was going to call his desk sergeant to actually uphold the law and make a formal complaint.

he had 'words' with the driver and said that he accepted his version of events and would take matters no further and called it knock for knock, Typical plod response but the cretin would have a big bill for the dent. it's hardly worth bothering chasing these things because the higher ups protect their plebs anyway. 

The last incident was 3 weeks ago, doing 28mph on the downhill stretch to work (30 zone), van driver skims my elbow, I catch him 3 seconds later at the roundabout and he gets a hard thump into his door, he tries to give me some biff I swing back and the wet blanket runs back into his van.

Seriously thinking of getting something stabby slightly scratchy to affix to the outside of the pannier rack, set so I can lower it to give a good yard or so extension.

Hubs with deployable shuriken like Bond's Aston had in Goldfinger, sorted

Avatar
alansmurphy | 5 years ago
7 likes

All good Hawkins - as said winter gloves help when punching stuff.

 

The stupid thing was I could see it all coming, had followed the tractor for a minute or so thinking 'which idiot is going to try this'.

 

I have a rear light camera but seatpost room is a bit cramped now a pannier rack is on - i need to rearrange my back end a bit. The front camera is awkward to get at so rarely gets charged, again a better bracket has been ordered.

 

These types are some of the worst, motorists 'risking' a close pass is bad, someone flooring it to get out of a junction is stupid. But when they are cruising alongside you and realise they don't have the speed to pass thinking they can push you off the road rather than abort the pass is madness!

 

Organon, I tend to applaud bad motorists on the whole, or point at the empty lane next to them to suggest there's plenty of space. On the whole you're right, the driver always seems to believe in their own ability, that they're in the right, that my life means nothing and you're unlikely to change it.

 

One of the reasons I stopped this time was he'd gone out of his way to get a gap, pull over and get out of his car for a fight (and I was bigger than him). My worry was if i went past him then he'd be angry and in charge of his tonne of metal speeding behind me!

Avatar
Organon | 5 years ago
7 likes

Although they keep happening, because there are just so many bad or arrogant drivers, I do worry about these confrontations. I was stuck behind a bus that seemed to be not moving, I edged to its right and passed and as I got to its front a car blocking it moved off. At the next lights less than 100 yards away I stop on the inside of the driver as I know what he was doing, his window is half down, and I shout at him as he SHOVES HIS MOBILE PHONE IN HIS POCKET. The rest is just a paraphrase: What the eff are you doing? Driving with Mobile Phone, you are going to hurt someone, You are a effing criminal, bang on his window. His response something like, Whats you effing problem, I wasn't on my phone, leave my car alone, eff off.

The lights change and he pulls away, I put my hand up to the bus for delaying it a few more seconds. Nothing has changed. I don't think he agrees with me that he is committing a crime. If anything he will take this as confirmation that cyclists are crazy arrogant road users and he is perfectly safe using his mobile whilst driving. I don't know what is more stupid, his actions or me getting angry trying to do something about it when it is pointless and will probably reinforce his opinions.

Good work on the spacial logic Alan, how could you have hit his car?

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Hirsute | 5 years ago
1 like

Perhaps a camera would be a better option.
Depending on police force.

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hawkinspeter replied to Hirsute | 5 years ago
6 likes

hirsute wrote:

Perhaps a camera would be a better option. Depending on police force.

Wouldn't a camera get broken if you used it to smash into cars?

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bogbrush replied to hawkinspeter | 5 years ago
3 likes

hawkinspeter wrote:

hirsute wrote:

Perhaps a camera would be a better option. Depending on police force.

Wouldn't a camera get broken if you used it to smash into cars?

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hawkinspeter | 5 years ago
5 likes

Hope you didn't hurt yourself.

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peted76 | 5 years ago
7 likes

LOL seems reasonable 1

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