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Moped rider attempts to kick Chi Yong LaUPDATE: Police looking into moped rider caught on cam trying to kick London cyclist
Police are looking into a moped rider who attacked a cyclist in London this week, attempting to kick him off his bike for taking the lane.
Chi Yong La was riding on New Kent Road between his job as a systems engineer for publisher Condé Nast and his home in Greenwich.
Conditions were very wet and slippery and the road is notoriously badly potholed so Chi was following Transport for London advice and taking the middle of the lane.
At about 6:45pm, a man on a moped rode up on Chi’s left “shouting something about ‘is the middle of the road yours...’” Chi said on the YouTube video of the incident. (The time stamp on his cam is an hour out, he says.)
When Chi pointed out the potholes and invited the motorcyclist to pass him properly, on the right, the man attempted to kick him as he pulled away.
Chi told the Metro website: “I was trying to cycle in the middle of my lane because that’s what I’ve been advised when it’s wet and there are potholes.
“The motorcyclist came up beside me and accused me of owning the middle of the lane. I said he could overtake on the right.
“But he suddenly whipped past and kicked out at me – he kicked my front wheel but luckily I managed to cling on.
“It was a close call but very worrying. I hope he can be traced.”
Chi contacted road.cc this weekend to telll us he'd filed a police report under the category of "Road Traffic Collision/Accident". He accompanied his report with the video below.
The police have forwarded the report to the transport department for further investigation.
"I hope they at least have a word with him," he said.
The incident left him unsurprisingly rattled. "I was really shaken up," he said. "I was really holding on for dear life, making sure I didn't topple over."
Shortly after the incident, another rider caught Chi. "The cyclist behind me pulled up [with me]," he said. "I think he was even more rattled than me."
John has been writing about bikes and cycling for over 30 years since discovering that people were mug enough to pay him for it rather than expecting him to do an honest day's work.
He was heavily involved in the mountain bike boom of the late 1980s as a racer, team manager and race promoter, and that led to writing for Mountain Biking UK magazine shortly after its inception. He got the gig by phoning up the editor and telling him the magazine was rubbish and he could do better. Rather than telling him to get lost, MBUK editor Tym Manley called John’s bluff and the rest is history.
Since then he has worked on MTB Pro magazine and was editor of Maximum Mountain Bike and Australian Mountain Bike magazines, before switching to the web in 2000 to work for CyclingNews.com. Along with road.cc founder Tony Farrelly, John was on the launch team for BikeRadar.com and subsequently became editor in chief of Future Publishing’s group of cycling magazines and websites, including Cycling Plus, MBUK, What Mountain Bike and Procycling.
John has also written for Cyclist magazine, edited the BikeMagic website and was founding editor of TotalWomensCycling.com before handing over to someone far more representative of the site's main audience.
He joined road.cc in 2013. He lives in Cambridge where the lack of hills is more than made up for by the headwinds.
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63 comments
My (thus far) one experience of trying to use video evidence to have someone's bad roadcraft followed up has left me with no confidence in the Met's willingness to accept it.
After being buzzed - deliberately - by a significantly faster moving motorbike (me, approx. 25mph, him, based on the video footage, approx. 50mph, in a 30 zone) at a distance of less than 1 foot (and then his subsequently using a (rare) no-motorbikes bus lane and stopping in an ASZ), I was told that my video showed nothing illegal and the person responding proceeded to instead critique my road position, and even an attempt to turn it around in some 'tu quoque' defence by suggesting that I'd passed very close to another cyclist so how could I reasonably complain about the motorbike.
So forgive me for thinking that the Met will only get involved here because of the publicity it has received, not because anyone there actually thinking that it's worth following up on.
Such a shame, the truck almost took the scooterarse out. Damn.
mental note to check any parked moped number plates in that area and slash tyres accordingly......
There is no excuse for not reporting theses incidents particularly when you have a registration number. The individual may have a history of violence/threatening behaviour; you could be saving another cyclist from injury or worse!
I've reported 20+ incidents to roadsafe but all they will do is write a letter to the driver asking them not to do it again - at the most, seems like 19/20 times they may have done nothing at all. I give up, but still record journeys in case of serious accident.
As for visiting my local police station, they seem to be closed most of the week, and they only seem to be open when I am at work. Even if I did visit, they would most likely say video evidence is not enough and still do nothing.
Problem is you're pretty exposed on a bike. Only takes one idiot and the next thing you know you're in the back of an ambulance or worse.
I cannot for the life of me figure out how folk in motorised transport think its totally ok to cut up, abuse, shove, kick cyclists - I mean do we suddenly not become human beings or something when we get on a bike?
Given the annual road deaths and huge numbers of serious injuries I just can't work out why this kind of thing isn't taken seriously by the police/government.
If the plate cannot be tracked down on his recording then maybe the police should check the CCTV on this street? In my mind that was assault and should be treated as such by the police.
Potholes and arseholes.
The cyclist was doing what any smart and properly trained cyclist would do. It is necessary to take the lane in London, particularly as the roadsides are littered with debris and potholed.
The scooter rider has a screw loose.
The truck driver could have indicated earlier and this wasn't great driving, but didn't deliberately try to take the cyclist out.
I agree with the other comment about the dangers caused to others by poorly trained scooter riders. The number of smashed mopeds I see by the roadside suggests that these people figure highly in the crash statistics also.
I'm not sure I see that many potholes and the like. I don't condone what the moped rider did for one second (undertaking is bad enough). But you are less likely to get the aggression of other road users if you ride with consideration (for the point of self-preservation it is better not to nark off other people whatever you're doing - you wouldn't practise the trumpet in a crowded bar!?)
I'm not saying you have to stick your wheel in a hole the size of Brighton riding on the left, but if you are taking the lane it has to be for a purpose. He even overtakes another cyclist who is riding on the left without going around him. Who knows how many vehicles there were behind him - again it doesn't excuse the moped driver, but it is common sense not to block a lane.
Bring back the birch!
no, the stocks... stick them in the stocks in the middle of town on a Saturday afternoon and leave plenty of over ripe vegetables for the public to hurl at them...
I get what you're saying, and cyclists who make a point of riding in the centre of a lane at a slow pace, just because they're entitled to do so, do annoy me, but I don't think it's fair to insinuate that this guy was doing that. You can see by his pace relative to the traffic on the right that he's merely looking after himself in a sensible, legal way. That nob-end of a moped rider is peeved because he wants the inside lane as his own personal undertaking lane.
I ride Brixton Road at night and it's much the same deal: the two or three feet next to the curb are littered with potholes, drain covers and general detritus. Mostly I stick within that area, as I don't want to antagonise the not-very-bright motorists who frequent that stretch, but in doing so I often experience some really dangerous overtakes and have to weave in and out a fair bit. You just can't win.
Cyclists' safety is a hot topic these days and while the powers are discussing and discussing what should be done I don't think it would be a bad idea to start showing some old-school-style public information ads. There's a lot of ignorance among road users about where cyclists are entitled to ride, and how it is not the motorist's right to overtake if it is not safe to do so. Equally, to keep things balanced, ads telling cyclists how best to keep themselves safe could be offered.
Anyway, I hope the moped riding tosspot gets his comeuppance.
Hear, hear about Brixton Road. We probably pass each other at times. And yes, there is a lot of ignorance amongst drivers as to what cyclists are entitled to do and how drivers should overtake. I was nearly taken out by a muppet in a van earlier this week, who cut in front of me after overtaking me on Dulwich Road. There was no need for the overtake as there was a massive queue of vehicles at the junction at Herne Hill. All he did was get to the end of the queue a bit earlier.
Too many drivers don't appreciate that it's the queues at junctions that lengthen their journey from point A to B, not the momentary slowing down while waiting to pass a cyclist. Twerps like Jeremy Clarkson do nothing for road safety overall.
Spot on.
Incorrect - this week the roads are full of water. Any standing water implies a pothole - otherwise it wouldn't be there. And I NEVER cycle right next to the pavement - pedestrians reading smartphones are the bane of my life as they wander into the road without looking.
There are two lanes here, and they didn't look full. I understand the need to be very cautious when the traffic is fairly solid, but he had plenty of space to pass, both on the right and in the other lane.
I would have shown him the value of his indicators and their use in overtaking after a bit of a chase if I had the opportunity.
It's contagious
A couple of tweets by @Normally_Human this morning:
Before Christmas I had an altercation with the driver of a red van (DC10 TCZ) because I briefly 'took the lane' approaching a mini-roundabout. There's a bollard on the approach and it gets tight. We were in a line of traffic that was doing 15mph at the most. The twat forced past, clipping me with his wing mirror, then stopped dead in the road and shouting at me. A mile or so later on he was waiting in a lay-by. Shortly after I rode by he accelerated hard and passed me as close as he could at 35-40mph, even though the road is particularly wide at this point. Didn't bother going to the police, they would just treat my complaint with contempt and file it in the bin. But I bet they would be interested if I took his wing mirror off with a hammer.
Report it. You have the plate. If this person is then involved in an accident or a incident with another cyclist this will be on file and used as additional evidence to display to the court this individuals morals and conduct.
Unfortunately it seems the Met is very disparaging of video evidence. I'd love to be surprised, but there is enough evidence or their stated opinion on this topic and anecdotal stories to suggest it'll be dropped due to lack of evidence.
Yes, the logic escapes me.
This is both dangerous driving and attempted assault in a situation where the consequences are readily understood to be potentially deadly.
The moped rider should be prosecuted, and should see jail time for this due to the clear intent to cause harm.
Yes, the Met seem to pick and choose video evidence as it suits them. They will, for instance, choose to use all sorts of low quality CCTV video to bolster various criminal case evidence yet all too frequently dismiss cyclist video of (quite frequently) better quality.
One comes to the conclusion that most of them don't give a flying fig about motorised vehicles terrorising cyclists or, to be honest, just about anybody else. Oh, unless it's a Police Officer who is the one being terrorised. The car is king and, as most Met Police officers would't be seen dread on a bicycle and, as they drive (and have much more sympathy with the drivers of) cars, they're really not that bothered about turning their attention towards that sizeable group of people who appear to break the law with impunity on a massive scale. By that I am, of course, referring to the legions of motorists who regularly get away with illegal behaviour - with very little censure from the authorities. Yes, they (the put-upon motorists) mutter and curse about the "iniquities" of speed cameras but, in reality you can kill someone using a car as your weapon of choice and get away with a non-custodial sentence. This largely explains the major problem we have with cyclists in London (and elsewhere) experiencing all sorts of antagonistic behaviour from motorists on a continuing basis about which almost nothing is done. Motorists know this and act accordingly. This, unfortunately, is a facet of our, arguably, screwed up society.
Jeremy Clarkson recently tweeted a picture of a cyclist which he'd taken on his phone whilst driving. Clearly, this was completely illegal - not the taking of the photo but the fact he did so whilst driving several tons of ludicrous 4x4 on a public highway. I shan't be holding my breath waiting for the Police to prosecute his quite obvious law breaking.
Ditto this case. I'd love to be proved wrong but...........
Someone in the comments on youtube has reported the same moped ride doing a similar thing on 11th December!
I do hope the police pick him up.
From the floor.
After someones give him a taste of his own medicine.
Met Police will want to see this so hopefully prior to sending it in to here he's already gone to them. Video record of the incident so far more chance of it being taken up tge police even gave an online method of submitting videos for evidence. Good luck to him. Shocking behaviour by the other road user involved.
Good luck to him. He was doing everything right and the moped madman everything wrong.
And seconds later the lorry tries to take him out. Someone's got it in for him.
Video evidence and a record of the licence plate, surely he'll be getting arrested in the next day or so ? Surely ?
God, it's just so depressing, isn't it?
Here's hoping there's a positive follow up.
I motorcycle and cycle to work in London in almost equal measure, and it disgusts me how some people ride their motorbikes. It’s not difficult to overtake safely on a motorbike, so there is no reason to make a meal of it or undertake like this idiot does.
The trouble is, it is quite easy to get a licence to ride a moped or 125cc motorbike. Some people with driving licences obtained at certain times and places can hop onto a 125cc bike with no further training. You’d think they’d at least have some empathy for fellow vulnerable road users, if nothing else.
Bloody hell! If that kick had brought him off the bike in that busy traffic it could have been very serious indeed. Wonder what charge is appropriate. Waiting to see how Police handle it - looks like an open and shut case.
'Attempted bl00dy murder' would be appropriate but there's fat chance. There even no chance of Plod going around and feeling his collar, never mind charging him.
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