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Video: Cyclist and driver in huge road rage row in Toronto

It’s not clear what sparked incident … but wow did it escalate quickly

Footage posted to Twitter shows a huge road rage row between a cyclist and a driver in Toronto, Canada – although it is not clear what sparked the incident.

It seems that there was already some sort of altercation going on at the start of the clip, which is almost a minute in length and was filmed from an elevated position in one of the vehicles queueing behind.

The driver of a silver pick-up truck, stationary at an intersection, is leaning out of the cab, then gets out and pushes a cyclist – until now, out of view, in front of the vehicle – away, then gestures at him.

As the driver walks back round to the other side of the pick-up truck, the cyclist takes something from his pocket and appears to puncture – or at least, attempt to puncture – one of the vehicle’s tyres.

The motorist, who had seen it happen, runs back round and chases after the bike rider, who is just a little too slow to remount and the pair tangle, the cyclist turning round and trying to make his getaway on the sidewalk.

The driver catches him, however, and pushes him off his bike, which he then starts swinging at the wall of a building – just as a policeman runs towards the scene.

There still doesn’t appear to be any news on what actually sparked the incident, but hopefully tempers calmed down quickly.

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.

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25 comments

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BadgerBeaver | 2 years ago
4 likes

What a couple of arseholes

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PRSboy | 2 years ago
1 like

Well, I wouldn't try getting away on the bike, not least because it would take me ages to clip in!

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andystow | 2 years ago
2 likes

Looks like the cyclist actually got away at the end. With the police right there, there's a chance the motorist was dumb enough to admit what he did.

"He wouldn't get in the bike lane so I pushed him into it."

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brooksby | 2 years ago
3 likes

Lesson One: If you going to vandalise anything, make sure that you can accelerate away from it before the aggrieved owner can catch you.

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HarrogateSpa replied to brooksby | 2 years ago
3 likes

The error here was not waiting until Mr Angry got back in his oversized truck, shut his oversized door, and put his [normal-sized, I guess] seatbelt on.

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HoarseMann replied to brooksby | 2 years ago
0 likes
brooksby wrote:

make sure that you can accelerate away from it before the aggrieved owner can catch you.

Need an e-bike with at least 80Nm of torque if you're going to pull that stunt.

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Captain Badger replied to HoarseMann | 2 years ago
5 likes
HoarseMann wrote:
brooksby wrote:

make sure that you can accelerate away from it before the aggrieved owner can catch you.

Need an e-bike with at least 80Nm of torque if you're going to pull that stunt.

Yeah, but that would be cheating....

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HoarseMann | 2 years ago
9 likes

That tall geared fixie doesn't accelerate too well!

Hipster on hipster violence is never a pretty sight.

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Kronsteen replied to HoarseMann | 2 years ago
4 likes

Manbun-tastic!

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wycombewheeler | 2 years ago
9 likes
Quote:

although it is not clear what sparked the incident

My money is on the entitled driver trying to drive in the cycle lane and the cyclist not getting out of his way.

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Jenova20 | 2 years ago
2 likes

I hope there's an update to this so we can find out what started this all.

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AlsoSomniloquism replied to Jenova20 | 2 years ago
1 like

I doubt there will be. Video only started with truck driver getting back in from initial confrontation and remonstrating with cyclist before physically pushing him into the "cycle lane". So was the driver complaining he was in the wrong lane or did the cyclist do a wheelie upto his door first and deserve to be pushed away?

From the indication and placement of the truck, I suspect the driver wanted to suddenly make a right turn (which they can on red) but cyclist wouldn't move out of the way. This is just on the push out the way and the pointing at "lane" action that seems to happen. After that I don't condone the actions of the cyclist at all as he also started to endanger others with first cycling back up against other cyclists and then on the pavement towards a corner / junction. 

 

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OldRidgeback replied to AlsoSomniloquism | 2 years ago
1 like

The cyclists also tried to slash the vehicle tyre, and vandalism's not a good move. Maybe it was the red mist, who knows? In the end both the driver and cyclist come out of this looking like a pair of idiots.

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Jenova20 replied to OldRidgeback | 2 years ago
0 likes
OldRidgeback wrote:

The cyclists also tried to slash the vehicle tyre, and vandalism's not a good move. Maybe it was the red mist, who knows? In the end both the driver and cyclist come out of this looking like a pair of idiots.

The fact the cyclist was carrying a knife in general doesn't look good, but without the context at the start it's hard to know if the cyclist was attacked, or just aggressive.

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brooksby replied to Jenova20 | 2 years ago
0 likes
Jenova20 wrote:
OldRidgeback wrote:

The cyclists also tried to slash the vehicle tyre, and vandalism's not a good move. Maybe it was the red mist, who knows? In the end both the driver and cyclist come out of this looking like a pair of idiots.

The fact the cyclist was carrying a knife in general doesn't look good, but without the context at the start it's hard to know if the cyclist was attacked, or just aggressive.

Was it a knife?  Wouldn't anything sufficiently rigid and pointy do that particular job?

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Captain Badger replied to brooksby | 2 years ago
0 likes
brooksby wrote:

....Was it a knife?  Wouldn't anything sufficiently rigid and pointy do that particular job?

Have you tried stabbing a 4x4 tyre with anything blunter than a knife?

No neither have I (or with a knife ftm), but I doubt you'd make much of an impression

But the point (see what I did?) is fair, we can't say for a fact that he was carrying a knife, although it certainly is within the realm of possibility.

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brooksby replied to Captain Badger | 2 years ago
1 like
Captain Badger wrote:
brooksby wrote:

....Was it a knife?  Wouldn't anything sufficiently rigid and pointy do that particular job?

Have you tried stabbing a 4x4 tyre with anything blunter than a knife?

No neither have I (or with a knife ftm), but I doubt you'd make much of an impression

But the point (see what I did?) is fair, we can't say for a fact that he was carrying a knife, although it certainly is within the realm of possibility.

In the interests of full disclosure, I've never tried stabbing a tyre full stop.

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Captain Badger replied to brooksby | 2 years ago
1 like
brooksby wrote:

.....

In the interests of full disclosure, I've never tried stabbing a tyre full stop.

Save it for the judge....

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ktache replied to Captain Badger | 2 years ago
1 like

Wouldn't a tubeless anchovie insertion tool almost be designed for that very purpose.

I had difficulties with my cheap version and upgrades to the Muc off one

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Captain Badger replied to ktache | 2 years ago
0 likes
ktache wrote:

Wouldn't a tubeless anchovie insertion tool almost be designed for that very purpose.

I had difficulties with my cheap version and upgrades to the Muc off one

Hmm, interesting, together with reason to carry! I'll bear that in mind, for future discussion of course....

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brooksby replied to ktache | 2 years ago
1 like
ktache wrote:

Wouldn't a tubeless anchovie insertion tool almost be designed for that very purpose.

I had difficulties with my cheap version and upgrades to the Muc off one

Where exactly did you want to insert an anchovie?

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AlsoSomniloquism replied to brooksby | 2 years ago
0 likes

The way he moved his hand when he got it out looked like a butterfly blade. 

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AlsoSomniloquism replied to OldRidgeback | 2 years ago
0 likes

I said I didn't condone anything he did after the push on him but concentrated on the 'attempted getaways' because he was putting other people in danger there. 

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systemBuilder replied to AlsoSomniloquism | 2 years ago
0 likes

Note to self:  If you regularly carry a switchblade / box cutter to defend your road conduct in Toronto, bike messenger is not the job for you!  You will probably not live to see 2022 !!  In a battle with a 5,000 pound pickup truck guess who wins?

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Boopop | 2 years ago
0 likes

I think this is one of the situations where cycling away from a pedestrian wasn't going to work. At least not towards the intersection anyway.

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