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

http://road.cc/content/news/23959-legal-first-cyclists-helmet-cam-footage-helps-convict-driver

anyone we know?

£5 on it being Ed Scoble using an alias*

*Poster reserves the right to pay out debts in Monopoly money in lieu of actual fivers

*Poster reserves the right to pay out debts in Monopoly money in lieu of actual fivers

You must be mad to jeopardise the completeness of your Monopoly set.

this morning, streatham high road.
3 blokes. in a transit van. i'm in the left hand lane after the station, there's a false lane situation. it's not a lane, it's car park spaces. i didn't move over. stop at lights. tries to swerve into me. stop. wait. shouting. he gets out. fat cunt. i still don't move. shitting it thinking, it might turn to violence. more shouting. ride off.
i'm still chastising myself for wishing a heart attack on him.

off to roadsafe.

Had the worst day imaginable - almost taken out by a coach pulling out and then deciding to swerve towards me to mke sure I got the message and then followed by a throat slshing gesture. Photos tken & reported. Then on way home, a truck passed me so close and pulled over so sharply I have no idea how I kept on the bike. Asked the driver if he was trying to kill me at next lights only to get called a c@nt & f'ing mug, then took some photos resulting in the driver getting out and wanting a fight. Told him I would act in self defence and alerted a driver that they were a witness to any assault and bingo he got back into his cab. Also reported.

After today, made me wonder what on earth is going on. I've done thie cycle training with Will and adhere to defensive riding, but this doesn't cater for nutters. Would v much like to start just taking down those who want a punch up, but am a father not a fighter!

Sorry to hear you had such a crap time. Two on the same day must make it hard to take. I think you responded properly; getting the evidence you need and not getting in to a fight. I have started telling trainees not to let one (or two) bad experiences put them off (trying to be realistic with them and not wanting them to imagine that they will never again have any kind of dicey moment on the road) and instead ask themselves if there was anything they could have done to prevent the incident - which is not the same as saying it was their fault and the answer might well be, no, there was nothing they could have done. I guess we all have to accept there will be times when you encounter a bastard in a car or van. And, who knows, I like to think that by cycling assertively, and by doing all the things we know we need to do, we actually avert most of these incidents before they even start and, in that sense, the training works without you knowing it. I hope so anyway.

Many thanks Will. I to try and right today off, but this evening was far too close, it was like I had my face against a speeding train that was getting ever closer.... Cant beleive he didnt catch my backpac. I have a sneaking suspicion that the driver of the truck was so aggressive in overtaking & pulling in, that he took exception at me being out from the kerb in primary position.... And all of that just so he could get to the queuing traffic faster. Have glass of scotch now!

On reflection, had I not been in primary position & the same thing happened, I would probably have been hit, as I would have had no room to move out of his way.

Today i was cycling to work, there was a cyclist up ahead and a bus in the same lane, so I moved into the outside lane to overtake the bus. Was now in primary position when the bus decides he wants to overtake the cyclist so he just veers into my lane forcing me towards the oncoming traffic.

I banged on the bus and as I passed he gave me an earful of abuse, so I responded in likewise manner. At the lights he gets out of the bus and comes at me, so I started reaching for my phone to photograph him. Policeman then intervenes from across the road. He had not seen the piss poor driving but after getting both sides of the story (the bus driver just said firstly that he had not seen me and then when pressed that i was just in his way!) the policeman agrees I had done nothing wrong but decides to let cunting bus driver off.

Fucksticks

Strewth, almost a carbon copy of my 1st incident of the day..

What on earth was going on today?

The twats were out in force

The police officer was having a go at me for banging on the side of the bus, he said it was dangerous of me to do so and was likely to antagonise the driver, i had to point out the other options were to be hit by the bus or be pushed into the oncoming traffic. He also told me that I was quite worked up, I had to point out that the adrenal dump after a few tons of metal driven dangerously towards me was likely to have such an effect.

He also had a go at me for overtaking the bus, as I pointed out, the bus was following the cyclist so had not chosen to overtake and so was limited to the speed of the nodder in front. He was telling me off for overtaking correctly!

He was like one of those fucking idiot liberal teachers at school where despite the school bully having clearly behaved like a cunt he has to remonstrate both parties out of some misguided notion of fairness.

Cunt!

One reason not to swear at drivers who put you in danger is that it cuts the feet from under idiot police officers of the kind James describes. If you have sworn it just gives them an excuse to say it was half a dozen of one and six of the other. It's very hard to stay calm in those situations and I think it is worth rehearsing in your head what you are going to do if you ever find yourself in one; so that the adrenaline and anger does not get in the way. One of the things to rehearse is being polite to the copper and if he is a fool not trying to win the battle there and then; take his number, ask him what station he works at and follow it up later with a proper letter of complaint.
Easier said than done, I know.

Good point Will, though my adrenal response is generally go straight to war of words. Though running mental rings around a dimwitted plod does tend to antagonise the fuckers.

swear at them in a foreign language - 'POES!' works well.

foreign work, I call them the spanish equation to dick, I know how to says it, just don't remember the spelling (and it wasn't pene).

also puta work too, it mean whore.

*[I]Pollo? [/I][I]Pendejo? [/I]

I personally like [I]cabrón, *[/I]*giripolla, jodido or the ever useful coño*.

Pendejo I think, pronouncation sound slightly different, will have to ask the missus.

another one is 'chinga tu madre', which is 'fuck your mother', a bit long though.

"you useless chav scum cunt" works for me

That's South American Spanish; is your missus from there?

Yep, they speak better spanish than the spanish spanish oddly enough.

Like Americans and English then. ;^)

One reason not to swear at drivers who put you in danger is that it cuts the feet from under idiot police officers of the kind James describes. If you have sworn it just gives them an excuse to say it was half a dozen of one and six of the other. It's very hard to stay calm in those situations and I think it is worth rehearsing in your head what you are going to do if you ever find yourself in one; so that the adrenaline and anger does not get in the way. One of the things to rehearse is being polite to the copper and if he is a fool not trying to win the battle there and then; take his number, ask him what station he works at and follow it up later with a proper letter of complaint.
Easier said than done, I know.

+1 Keeping your cool works best, followed by a detailed letter of complaint including photos.

Coach driver - disciplinary proceedings have commenced.
HGV driver will not be working for the company concerned again.

Commie

Are you a member of lcc? Contact them anyway as it could make a good news story.

Commie: excellent news.

Commie, good news. Scary!

I have had an odd week. A car driver overtook me in a corner this week and went so far to the right that an oncoming moped rider fell off his bike. He was ok and left straight away, I stopped to talk to the driver (who was on a car phone - speakers) who told me that because I was in the middle of the road she had to give me lots of space. ie it was my fault :(

On 3 different occasions a cyclist, a black cab driver and a driver proceeded to my right after I had looked behind, indicated right to change lanes. I am pretty sure I was doing everything correctly but now feeling quite nervous.

To be fair, it does not stop there. I was in a supermarket and stopped to wait for people to move along when a guy pushed his trolley into my legs twice and tried to cut through. It was quite amusing and his wife had to tell him "slow down!". And they had a child in the trolley! pfffff.

I'd love to report the moron who nearly took me out this morning, but I can't ...
White Vauxhall Vivaro van tried to overtake me at a pinch point (outside All Saints Church, Rosendale Road, Dulwich) despite me deliberately taking primary in advance to reduce the risk of that (so I thought). Swerves into me, pushes me towards the kerb - I somehow manage to avoid hitting the kerb but my shoes bounce out of their clips and my cranks are spinning too fast to get back in as I was doing about 20 at the time.
I catch up with him at the next lights and ask (reasonably politely, given the circumstances) what on earth he thought he was doing. The guy (early 60s, Irish, looked like he'd had a hard life) just lets loose with a stream of invective - like that priest from Father Ted. I caught phrases around jumping red lights (nope - I don't but there weren't any red lights anywhere near anyway) and being in the centre of the road - yep, to stop cunts like you overtaking me, I suggested.
When the lights go green, he then deliberately swerves towards me to stop me setting off. But I follow him all the way up to the crossroads in the centre of Dulwich Village and we resume our discussion at that crossroads.
That's the third time in three days I've had someone almost take me out at a pinch point - though this was the worst - no idea why I've had a spate of them. Fuck - I've got wound-up again now just thinking about it.
Annoying thing is: I tried very hard to remember his number plate but at some point over the next few miles it morphed into my own number plate. Bugger, I'm not reporting myself. And my Muvi knock-off has stopped working after I got caught in a bad storm a couple of weeks ago. I've tried working out the number plate but nothing fits.
LD, LF, LM, LN - I'm sure it was a London plate
52 - definitely
HFS/HVS/HDS/LFS/LVS/LDS - something like that. But tried all combinations of those and not found him.
Ah well, I might just buy myself another Muvi knock-off for next time.