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news
Police tape (CC licensed by freefotouk on Flickr)School run cycling mum assaulted by driver in front of her children
A West Midlands woman who accompanies her children to school by bike has spoken on social media of the moment she was assaulted in front of them by a driver who was apparently frustrated that he had been unable to overtake them in his car.
Posting to X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, Nikki Dee copied in Adam Tranter, the West Midlands Active Travel Commissioner, as she wrote: “I got physically assaulted today whilst cycling to school with my 2 young children.
I got physically assaulted today whilst cycling to school with my 2 young children. The man assaulted me after telling my 2 children to go to school as his mom was going to get beat up. My kids are 8and 9 and this was on the same road as the primary school. @adamtranter
— Nikki Dee 🚴♀️ (@NixxiDee) October 12, 2023
“The man assaulted me after telling my 2 children to go to school as his mom was going to get beat up.
“My kids are 8 and 9 and this was on the same road as the primary school,” she continued.
She added that the journey to school is around a mile in distance, and that the driver “wanted to get past even though there were parked cars everywhere ,so we had to ride further out and no opportunity for an overtake.
“Obviously driver is getting triggered by this and attacks me, tries to damage the bike.”
In reply, Tranter said: “Very sorry to hear this. Please let me know if I can be or any further assistance. Awful behaviour out there on our roads.”
She also received support from road safety campaigner Cycling Mikey, who offered his assistance.
Thanks, we are ok I have it all on front and rear camera plus a member of the public filmed it on their phone and also witnessed the assault. The police have the footage
— Nikki Dee 🚴♀️ (@NixxiDee) October 13, 2023
Oh that’s really lovely of you thank you so much. It’s frightening to think that people can behave in that way because you’re on a bike.
— Nikki Dee 🚴♀️ (@NixxiDee) October 13, 2023
We contacted Nikki, who said that she was unable to share the footage for now since she had sent it to West Midlands Police.
“I appreciate the work that you do to highlight what cyclists deal with because they are treated as second class citizens for riding a bike, and I watch your Near Miss of the Day,” she told us.
She also said that one of her sons had recently been the victim of a hit-and-run while riding home from school.
“It’s very sad that two children aren’t able to ride to school which is less than a mile without being involved in a hit and run, and now seeing their mother be assaulted just because someone thinks they have more rights than anyone because they’re in a car,” she added.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
Latest Comments
- TimPedaller 1 sec ago
Bicycles are not required to have speedometers, and do not unless they are fitted voluntarily by the riders as 'aftermarket' devices. But riding ...
- mdavidford 43 min 33 sec ago
More likely they're just responding to a very skewed version of the incident presented to them by Royal Parks at face value.
- quadtodd 49 min 6 sec ago
We had to seriously brake to avoid a car running a red light this weekend; we were also in a car, following a green light....
- IanGlasgow 1 hour 14 min ago
I guess the FLock Light works best if you have paler legs for it to light up. Mine are actually blue (like any true Scotsman's legs they only turn...
- chrisonabike 2 hours 23 min ago
You say that, but Sunak got in. So maybe you just need to be waiting nearby when one of the more far-out spontaneously combusts or implodes?...
- marmotte27 2 hours 23 min ago
Helmet zealots' lack of logic and knowledge, as evidenced by your post I responded to, exasperate me I'm afraid.
- Rendel Harris 2 hours 46 min ago
Absolutely agree: "You'll be sure to make a statement with these brightly-coloured road shoes from Fizik" - the statement being "I have no taste...
- perce 3 hours 20 min ago
Well done to Nick for opening up and sharing his story. Much respect.
- pjclinch 3 hours 21 min ago
Anything shy of a watersports dry suit (and you don't want to ride a bike in one of those) will let in heavy, set-in rain, as identified typically...
- stonojnr 3 hours 34 min ago
They have their own forum for members, go check them out....
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24 comments
'Momentary lapse in concentration'
I'd love them to throw the book at him. I'm sure the moment of weakness/madness defense will be wheeled out, hardship etc. He's very remorful for what happened and is otherwise a pillar of the community and good character yada yada yada....
He will get a driving course and 200 quid fine. Even though he was out of the car and it's technically just a person assaulting another person.
What always makes me wonder when stuff like this happens. If he felt held up driving behind the bike and so angry he felt he needed to get out and assault the cyclist... Was he really in a rush? Or was he just out to assault a woman and didn't care how it happened? If it was just about time once you could get on your way you would wouldn't you? You wouldn't then find the time to stop otherwise your need to get past point is completely null and void. It's just 3 counts of irrational madness at this point.
1. Feeling held up when you have no where to be.
2. Spending time pulling over to get out
3. actually assaulting a female cyclist with your hands to remonstrate how in a rush you are....
I really hope the police deal with this case properly. Threatening behaviour is a criminal offence. If she has footage of this as well as witnesses, she will have a very strong case. If I were her legal advisor, I'd be pushing for some sort of banning order in this instance to make sure that the thug is kept away from her in future. If I were her, I wouldn't be accepting of some kind of 'amicable' resolution and would expect nelaties for his criminal behaviour.
It was a physical assault. Not just threatening behaviour...
Hopefully book thrown at him.
The police tend to be more pro-active in asault cases, particularly in instances like this. Let's hope the perp gets a suitable sentence. You'd have thought some time in prison would be likely but we'll see.
You'd have thought some time in prison would be likely but we'll see
This is only assault of a cyclist who are universally assumed to have brought it on themselves by being in the way on the road. I hope we do hear about the outcome, but my guess is 'words of advice and a course'
Is this a reflection of the government's Plan for Drivers? Is it my imagination but has this emboldened drivers, and this endorsement of their right to the road to the exclusion of everyone else made them even more aggressive?
I live in France and cycle to work throughout the Parisian region. Parisian drivers are considered the worst in France, however I have no problems on my 50km a day commute riding in and out of the centre of Paris. When I come back to the UK I am shocked at how agressive and thoughtless English drivers are. I find it unbelieve to see grown men having to cycle on the pavement because they are too terrified to cycle on the road! There really is a big, unnatural problem with car drivers in the UK.
I also cycle in Paris. The other day I was cycling home from school with my daughter and I stopped at a crossing to let some children cross and the driver behind me hooted. I was genuinely shocked - as this has never happened to me before in Paris. I regularly come to London for work and when in London I cycle. I expect to get shouted at / aggressive pass / hooted at every day in London.
Cycling through France quite a few years ago, from south to north on the west coast, it was noticeable that there were more such incidents the farther north you got, and quite frequently, those cars had Brit plates.
I live in a very small town with a single primary school. Once a week I'd take my 8yo to school on a tagalong, it was less than a mile. Got cut up and abused by a Mum of a kid IN HIS CLASS because I was riding centrally between parked cars. This was a kid he played with at break time and had even been round his house with a mutual friend. The language would have curled the toes of a miner. Audi Qx driver of course.
What is it about the people who drive those cars…? They all seem to be nut bags.
Well, kil0ran literally doubled the time her car journey took, from two minutes, to four!
Literally! She lives two streets away from us, about 800yds.
When I asked her she said she drives because it's not safe to walk due to the narrow pavements and big vehicles. This was 6 years ago before the arrival of the yank trucks.
Inferiority complex and buyer's remorse. They bought an Audi for the badge without realising they could get a better specced cheaper version of the same car with a Skoda or VW badge, and then realise what they should have bought was a BMW "Ultimate Driving Machine".
The fastest bastards on the backroads around here are the school-run Mums. Effing dangerous, some of them.
but what about a minor?
These days probably not, but her lad was only 8.
Hopefully the utter scumbag who did this will find themselves banned from driving for a while and if we're really lucky they will get some jail time.
Hope he feels like a big man beating up a women and scaring children.
Hopefully the utter scumbag who did this will find themselves banned from driving for a while and if we're really lucky they will get some jail time
No he won't!
Unlikely. The prisons are full, judges are being told not to send any more people to prison and to delay sentencing hearings. Another tory success story. And it was only a cyclist.
Did anyone see the car crash interview with Mark Harper, (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rl_1HyCFmg starts at 38:43 about transport) on the Laura Keunsberg show but it wasn't her, where she points out that the transport announcements at the party conference suddenly disappeared from the web and a lot of the new schemes had not only been announced years ago, but some of them already existed. Harper waffled and prevaricated and tried to justify making announcements that weren't true, but he was as convincing as a, well, any other tory.
As one wit has already pointed out, if the tories succeed in banning smoking, and hence fag packets, how will they produce new policies?
What shocks me is that situations such as this are no longer a surprise. Although 'Mom' rather than Mum does, but I'm a pedant...
Mom isnt that unusual in the midlands, similar to Mam in quite a few northern areas. But yeh, terrible for events like this to be happening.
I sit behind my keyboard admonished and educated in equal measure; thank you.