Please report dangerous drivers to the police - Roadsafe. Report to plod, not just whinge here.

Further update to my fucking pointless court case - chap pleaded guilty to the charge of running a red light (£40 fine, 3 points on his licence), but was found not guilty of the close pass. I suspected this was going to happen, as the magistrates were very interested in the fact that there was a shared path that I could have been on had I chose to pointlessly inconvenience myself with a terrible piece of cycling infrastructure. Wankers.

Pic is a still from the video submitted as evidence. Nice and safe.

1 Attachment

Heading up to Streatham I saw a sign on a corner with the MET logo, saying “Traffic Incident, (date), (police telephone number)”.

What the actual fuck. I reported a cunt who tried to hit me head on last year, right in front of buses and cars, and I was told they wouldn’t do anything except file it as a traffic incident. I took days off taking letters to nearby businesses looking for witnesses, and now I learn the police use these fucking signs?! I’m certain at least one bus driver witnessed everything, they definitely would’ve gotten a response.

Jerks.

Yeah, but that traffic incident would'nt have involved a cyclist so is important.

Ffs. Went out to the shop this afternoon. First time on the bike in a couple of weeks. 10 minute journey each way. Mercilessly close passed by a van cunt on the way there, beeped by a Merc cunt for being out of the bike lane (imagine needing to overtake a slower cyclist!) on the way back. I fucking hate drivers.

At the set of lights in front of the Marquis of Granby pub in New Cross - heading towards lewisham.

I’m approaching and the lights are red, I pulled into the ride hand lane at the speed of moving traffic- no inconvenience to the car behind me (if I was a ped, motorbike or car there wouldn’t have been an issue). If you don’t move into the right hand lane it means you have to cross two lanes..

Guy in the merc behind me pulls into the left hand lane and starts to ask why I did that blah blah, eventually ends up saying he’d slap me.

I didn’t really say much back but I couldn’t help but laugh.

So sad that man doesn’t understand the rules of the road and that just because I’m on a bike it means I can’t hold a place in the road even if I’m riding at the speed of traffic.

Sad.

How is everyone getting on with response times at the moment? Has anyone heard back after the 10 working days mentioned on the met website?

I was walloped in a hit and run on the 23rd November. I reported it over the phone at the scene, and later completed an online submission that day when I got home from hospital with plenty of footage.

I haven't heard anything since, despite requests for an update. If I remember correctly the police have a limited amount of time to issue a notice of intended prosecution after the incident, is that right? Is it possible it's taking longer because I listed quite a lot of complaints eg. driver was (probably) speeding, ran a red light, hit me, failed to stop, vehicle did not have an MOT?

Sorry to hear about the crash. Unfortunately, it's generally a problem if police don't attend the scene of a personal injury collision. I don't think the Roadsafe mechanism is really set up to deal with actual crashes in which someone gets injured, more with close passes and the like. It may be too late now, but you may want to attend a police station to make a report that way. I don't know if that would work, though. Perhaps @Constable_Savage could comment if he knows what's best to do?

The police have 14 days to issue an NIP (notice of intended prosecution) to the registered keeper of the vehicle. The keeper can then confirm who was driving. The driver has committed other offences by not reporting the collision. I think you would be better reporting it either in person or by phone to the police station where it happened stating you previously reported to Roads are. The only offences they'll prosecute will be the careless driving and fail to stop and report, probably. If you have a Roadside reference that'll help.

Thanks, C_S. Hope there's still time and pizzarat gets some kind of redress.

Aargh, I've just realised it has been two weeks. I'd forgotten that pizzarat did give a date. :|

Thanks, C_S.

I've seen this abbreviation before somewhere...

The police may have sent an NIP from that initial report but I wouldn't bet on it.

Thank you @Constable_Savage and @Oliver Schick. I did some chasing, first by emailing an officer who I had corresponded with in relation to a different incident a few years ago. They then referred me to the unit that likely would be investigating, and eventually I had a very helpful conversation with someone who could access the report and investigation info.

Turns out, the investigating officer issued a NIP on the 24th November and for whatever reason this wasn't communicated to me. I have an email address and phone number for them now if I want any further updates.

Interestingly, during my efforts to chase this up I was assured that even if the 14 days have elapsed they can issue a different form instead of a NIP(...?)

Good to hear there's a process going. Have they advised you on any next steps?

What a wonderful organisation the Met are.

They’ve provided a special reference number to pass on to insurers or a solicitor and I have asked if they can confirm which offences exactly were listed on the NIP (because I’m curious).

It sounds like next steps depend on whether or not they hear from the owner (who has 28 days to respond to the NIP) and whether or not they declare that the owner was driving or nominate someone else. If it’s someone else another NIP is issued and they have a further 28 days to respond.

If I don’t hear from the officer after 28 days since the first NIP was issued I’ll give them a nudge.

ah, oh dear!

Addison Lee van driver failed to stop at a give way near Westminster Abby. I just about managed to avoid the bonnet but still smashed my left hand on his wing mirror - which has now ballooned and swelled up and I scraped a good few layers of skin the top of my shoulder.

I think I scared him enough to not make the same mistake again when I got up and opened his van door and dragged him out the van (resisting the urge to lamp him) before berating him verbally in the road until two police officers came over, who happened to be nearby.

They took details and said they’d be in touch.

If it's properly swollen, I'd consider dropping in to the nearest ED/walk-in centre to have it x-rayed.

Phone 111 first, they'll give you an ETA for an ED near you.

https://twitter.com/jonnytrunk/status/1344348090887766016?s=20

Seriously fuck van drivers at the moment. Can any of them actually drive?

Especially what is with people (mainly van drivers it seems) driving full speed at you down narrow residential streets as if youre not there, maybe even just straight up accelerating towards you. What happens if they hit you with their wing mirror - will they stop or not? Who knows... fucking cunts. When I'm driving and I see a cyclist coming the other way I slow the fuck down and move as far over to the left as I can. Its a natural response I have (I don't want to break someone's bones!). Have fantasies of buying one of those little emergency hammers you find in buses just so I can hold it out and smash people's windscreens when they do this. Best I don't go through with it...

On Sunday car pulled a maneuver which had me braking more swiftly than i would like. Passed him given that he was stuck behind a bus and lightly tapped his car as a heads up look out. He went pretty ballistic driving towards me and eventually pulling in front of me and verbally having a go.

I attempted to take a photo of his license plate at which point he went to grab my mobile. Fortunately he didn't manage to wrestle it off me and he eventually got back into his car and drove off. Reminded me of how vulnerable you can feel on a bike.

Reported to police with photograph of car and driver. Will see how it goes. Fortunately also got detail of witness (stress this is really important to avoid he said/she said situations)

Glad you're OK. I'm sure some drivers' usual anxiety inside their cars will have been exacerbated by the pandemic.

The stats for 2020 are not good, a reflection of widely-observed poor driver behaviour:

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/sadiq-khan-scrutiny-rise-london-road-safety-deaths-b918970.html

Managed to retrieve CCTV footage from a bus. Features the driver passing within touching distance at some speed into oncoming traffic.

This has taken 14 days to achieve but Avon and Somerset police won’t accept footage after 7 days. Anyone know of any avenues for taking this further? TIA.

Currently looking at informing the bus company - woosh into the HR black hole most likely. Could post to social media but reluctant due to Motorist/Cyclist culture wars narrative and the risk of scaring off new cyclists.