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Incident on my commute home

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  • November 4, 2014 at 10:25 pm #22685
    medic_ollie

    Hi all,

    This is my first post on the road.cc forums so bear with me.
    I’m just asking for advice really.

    Today on my cycle ride from the hospital in Southampton I passed a Sixth Form college. There was lots of traffic with cars parked on both sides of the road. As I’m passing the parked cars one decides to pull out, they’re facing the oncoming traffic. As I see this I shout “NO!” and both the car and I grind to a halt, with me just avoiding slamming into the car. Now, I put my hand up to say sorry and in reply the passenger in the car tells me to F*** off and begins to undo his seat belt and get out of the car. Not wishing to be involved further I make my escape. But as I pull away another person crossing the road decides to clock me on the shoulder as I pass. Thankfully I was able to maintain my balance and could cycle off, albeit rather shaken up after, probably, my scariest experience on the road so far.

    I’ve written a letter to the principal of the college outside of which this occurred, I presume these were all students.

    I am just asking if any of you would have done anything else in this situation?
    I am intending to invest in a camera as soon as possible, preferably a GoPro because I have had far too many cars just pull out infront of me in the few weeks I have been here.

    Thanks very much 🙂

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  • November 9, 2014 at 4:46 pm #820069
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    jacknorell

    medic_ollie wrote:I reported

    medic_ollie wrote:
    I reported it on Thursday, they seemed pretty shocked by it. Got a phone call on Friday asking for more information on the guy who punched me. They also told me that the car doesn’t have a registered keeper so there is now a stop order out on it. Someone is going to have an interesting day.

    Sounds like you’re getting a result out of this one. Good work.

    That’s the thing about road policing, ‘minor’ crimes like badly driven, non-registered cars, untaxed, etc, often go together with people wanted for more serious crimes (drug dealing, robbery, violence…). By stopping the cars, many arrests are made and the criminals feel less safe getting around, cutting down on more crime.

    But I guess policing has gone out of fashion.

    November 9, 2014 at 4:05 pm #820067
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    medic_ollie

    I reported it on Thursday,
    I reported it on Thursday, they seemed pretty shocked by it. Got a phone call on Friday asking for more information on the guy who punched me. They also told me that the car doesn’t have a registered keeper so there is now a stop order out on it. Someone is going to have an interesting day.

    November 8, 2014 at 8:51 pm #820065
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    severs1966

    Unless you already have
    Unless you already have camera footage, reporting it to the police will just be a depressing massive downer, as you get told that they are not interested and won’t do anything.

    Just move on and keep the eyes in the back of your head open, as we all must.

    November 8, 2014 at 6:06 pm #820063
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    Topcat

    You could have stopped and
    You could have stopped and had a fight. if you’d been involved in an incident with a minor I suspect the Police would not be on your side.

    I used to get angry driving or riding. But I spend a lot of time driving vans and have gotten used to a lot of stupid actions on top of what I have to put up with when riding. Bike riding time is supposed to fun time, putting out an open hand as if to say “woah you’re getting a bit close” is a lot more effective than shaking your head at someone or shouting as that’s aggressive and gives someone who has just done something stupid a reason to get angry at you rather than themselves.

    Being clothed in lycra with a bike between your legs and silly shoes on is a pretty silly place to be to try and administer some aggro for someone’s bad driving.

    November 8, 2014 at 10:15 am #820061
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    Colin Peyresourde

    Why did you apologise?
    Why did you apologise? Recognise why you do this.

    I really wish I had left a flying elbow out the other day to a beligerant chav pushing her pram down the middle of the road with her chum. Made no effort to get out of the road with their kids and just mouthed off abuse. But I guess we all got home in one piece so Teflon won out.

    November 7, 2014 at 10:10 am #820059
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    Paul_C

    I’d have considered not quite
    I’d have considered not quite managing to stop and gone slowly over his bonnet making sure to put dents in it and trying to kick in the windscreen on the way…

    After all, he’d pulled out on you…

    November 7, 2014 at 9:29 am #820057
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    truffy

    Matt eaton wrote:Even the

    Matt eaton wrote:
    Even the horn our the car has become a weapon of aggresion rather than a method of making others aware of your presence as per it’s intended function.

    True, that. A couple of times I’ve given a gentle toot to a pedestrian wandering blithely across a car park, to indicate that there is traffic around, and they look at you as if you’ve murdered their mother.

    November 7, 2014 at 9:04 am #820055
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    Matt eaton

    I think one of the problems
    I think one of the problems that we face, even as Teflon cyclists is that we do sometimes need to make a noise to make other road users aware of our presence. Giving a shout is my preferred method too but some people will perceive that we are being aggresive by shouting (the same goes for other options such as AirZound) and react accordingly. Even the horn our the car has become a weapon of aggresion rather than a method of making others aware of your presence as per it’s intended function.

    November 7, 2014 at 8:03 am #820053
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    medic_ollie

    Wow. Thank you for all of the
    Wow. Thank you for all of the comments, definitely kept me entertained whilst doing my assignment.

    I’ve reported the matter to the police, the lovely lady who took my call seemed genuinely shocked by the incident. I think they are taking it more seriously as it was an assault; the car is fairly distinctive (not many 2 year old cars in this part of southampton) and I think the registered keeper is going to get a knock on the door to see if the driver will identify the person who punched me. I can’t imagine anything will come of it but it definitely feels better having reported.

    A strongly worded letter is also now in the post to the head teacher of the college. And a few hints have been dropped to parents re a sports camera 🙂

    I do try to be Teflon cyclist usually with nothing more than shouting NO repeatedly as a car pulls out infront of me.

    As a medical student the last thing I want is to get involved in a fight and have assault charges pressed.

    Thanks to you all 🙂

    Ride safe

    November 6, 2014 at 9:00 pm #820051
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    PonteD

    Don’t forget to log this on
    Don’t forget to log this on the CTC website http://www.roadjustice.org.uk/ at the very least it will be one more piece of evidence the CTC can use and it benefits all cyclists not just yourself.

    I try to be a Teflon cyclist. On the commute its easy when every knob that passes too close I know that 100 yards down the road I’ll coast past them and by the time I’m sat having a cuppa they’ll still be sat stewing in traffic trying to make sure the car behind them doesn’t manage to gain a 2 second advantage over them.

    November 6, 2014 at 8:55 pm #820049
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    arfa

    For the OP, nasty experience
    For the OP, nasty experience and there are some grim people out there, the fact you were on a bicycle is probably largely superfluous to the fact that you happened to encounter a wrong’ un.
    My first advice would be to change your route. Don’t ask me why but school run zones are a no go zone around pick up and drop off time – people just lose their heads when it comes to their perception of primacy on the road. Don’t go there, flesh always yields to steel in a physical capacity !
    As for fronting up, it’s not necessarily pleasant discovering a primal violent side and that will become something you have to control or face the consequences. I prefer to think of Botham’s line about fighting – why bother, it’s a choice between prison or hospital food !
    Be the better person !

    November 6, 2014 at 8:55 pm #820047
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    arfa

    For the OP, nasty experience
    For the OP, nasty experience and there are some grim people out there, the fact you were on a bicycle is probably largely superfluous to the fact that you happened to encounter a wrong’ un.
    My first advice would be to change your route. Don’t ask me why but school run zones are a no go zone around pick up and drop off time – people just lose their heads when it comes to their perception of primacy on the road. Don’t go there, flesh always yields to steel in a physical capacity !
    As for fronting up, it’s not necessarily pleasant discovering a primal violent side and that will become something you have to control or face the consequences. I prefer to think of Botham’s line about fighting – why bother, it’s a choice between prison or hospital food !
    Be the better person !

    November 6, 2014 at 8:55 pm #820045
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    arfa

    For the OP, nasty experience
    For the OP, nasty experience and there are some grim people out there, the fact you were on a bicycle is probably largely superfluous to the fact that you happened to encounter a wrong’ un.
    My first advice would be to change your route. Don’t ask me why but school run zones are a no go zone around pick up and drop off time – people just lose their heads when it comes to their perception of primacy on the road. Don’t go there, flesh always yields to steel in a physical capacity !
    As for fronting up, it’s not necessarily pleasant discovering a primal violent side and that will become something you have to control or face the consequences. I prefer to think of Botham’s line about fighting – why bother, it’s a choice between prison or hospital food !
    Be the better person !

    November 6, 2014 at 8:21 pm #820043
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    Cheekyjohn

    Jump off the bike and give
    Jump off the bike and give the little shits a good f#¥king pasting. Don’t let the little bastards get away with it, simples!

    November 6, 2014 at 6:59 pm #820041
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    OldRidgeback

    double post – oops
    double post – oops

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