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

Thanks Oliver and Sparky. The case is the CPS versus the driver, and if he pleads not guilty and it goes to crown court it will still be CPS versus the driver - I will go along as a witness, even though I was the victim. The police have not said much about a civil case against him (ie. me claiming compensation) but it has been mentioned that I would have a strong case if the driver is guilty.

I will get some legal advice soon then.

Get a solicitor; the driver's insurance company will have solicitors defending and you won't stand a chance without advice. Are you an LCC/CTC member? They will sort you out, if so. There are a number of recommendations on this forum. I believe Levenes are among them (also the LCC solicitors) and their website proclaims "no win, no fee" so it can't hurt to give them a call.

Getting advice is certainly free and with the no win no fee agreement, the solicitors would only really enter such agreement with you if they think you have a good chance of winning. This is what's happening to me anyway.

Waiting at a red in primary in the right hand lane at the start of Camden High Street - as I always do - some dickhead pulls up on the right of me, nearly clipping me, and his passengers tells me I should be all the way over on the left.

We then had a rolling argument all the way up the road, with him seeming not to understand why I needed to be on the right, or my point that if I could move at the same speed as the traffic even while arguing with him I wasn't holding anyone up. He swerved at me once and then offered to get out and teach me a lesson (in road safety? the highway code?) but even though we stopped at a couple more lights he didn't make good on it until after he started an illegal right across oncoming traffic on Camden Road and I called him a cunt as I went past.

But now I've forgotten his number plate, maybe I should've stopped to hear his lecture after all, he shouldn't be on the road.

Fuck. Me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZCS3FLgYWM&feature=player_embedded

Neanderthals are out there.

Christ. That's the sort of video that makes me want one of those cameras. If she'd been squashed that driver would've just said SMIDSY and walked free.

Christ. That's the sort of video that makes me want one of those cameras. If she'd been squashed that driver would've just said SMIDSY and walked free.

Precisely. Or "She undertook". Beyond belief, we allow knuckle-dragging meat heads on the roads and shrug when the inevitable happens, that clip made my heart beat faster. I would have taken a stronger primary but I'm definitely NOT blaming the cyclist, look how the neanderthal turns JUST before indicating, she was in clear view!

When I see things like that I'm often struck by how pointless it all is. The difference between an aggressive, hurried, inattentive driver and a thoughtful, relaxed, let-people-out driver over a 30 minute journey is negligible. If I drove all day, every day for a living I'd want to be a bit more Zen about it. Why fly about in a hurried rage all the time? Sure there are deadlines, targets, etc, but it's hardly going to make a difference. Especially bus drivers - they're just going in a bloody loop anyway...

[email]info@clearingwasteinlondon.co.uk

I've expressed my thoughts. If the cops do nothing with that clip it's shameful.

heart-skipping.

that junction...
before the CS7 was painted in, I think the left lane (not left of the island, the one where the lorry is) was left-turn only. as a cyclist wanting to go straight on, you could sit in primary, or pull out into the next lane, and be sure no-one was going to undertake you at speed.
now it's straight ahead and left, and the CS7 is painted all over it. it's a mess. I think, on balance I still tend to move into the next lane most of the time but I do sometimes site in primary in the left lane - frequently someone undertakes at a squeeze to go straight on. I hate it.
it's such a stupid stretch of road too - it's the only place I regularly cycle where it's often very difficult to move out or change lanes comfortably as the traffic is too close together and fast.

That junction is a mess. I don't commute down there anymore but I always rode primary out of cs7 when I needed to go straight across. I had a load of cars beeping at me to get out the way, but at least they've seen me and didn't overtake me to turn left.

On the northbound route to go up to E&C I often switched out of the cycle lane early to safely bridge the junction before cars could overtake and cut me up too.

The Cycle Superhighway scheme here made that junction worse. We'll continue to push for it to be changed.

That's quite shocking.

Cripe that's horrible, as the cyclist could've easily die had she not manoeuvre as quickly as she could.

The driver indicated way too late almost just second before hitting her too.

I got shouted at by a motorcyclist down holloway road this morning to 'get further to the left while he pumped his palm to the left about 10cm form my face. he got beeped by a car as he was half in the the bus lane half in the middle lane all over the place and proceeded to cut my up and zoom off.

idiot.

I cycle down Holloway road every day to and from work, you get some right numpties on that road!

Just over a year ago I pulled up at a red at an intersection near Marble Arch. As the traffic in the cross street to my right began to move, led by a cyclist on a new mountain bike, a car passed close by to my left against the red, and attempted to turn right at the intersection in front of me. The rider, by now approaching the middle of the junction, grabbed a handful, locked up his brakes and flew over his handlebars. He landed badly and, as it turned out, was pretty banged up.

I got off my bike, approached the car and I as I drew close the driver, a woman in her late 50's-early 60's, wound down her window and said "I didn't hit him" I told her to pull over and she drove towards the curb…but then kept going and drove away. The rider was standing but in pain by this stage. We exchanged details and notes and I rode home.

A month or so later the police contacted me and I was summoned as a witness to the court case earlier this year. And it turned out the defendant was titled - Lady X.

The first court case was adjourned because she was representing herself and after a couple of hours delay phoned in to say she couldn't make it. I had no idea this was possible and it stank as a ruse.

Finally the case was heard yesterday and predictably enough, she'd lawyered up with a posh rottweiler. He gave the victim a bit of a beasting and then it was my turn. He went round and round, trying to smear cyclists in general and me and my recall in particular.

Then he questioned his client and after 10 minutes of softball questions he called her character referees, including one of the Guinness family. All spoke glowingly about her and I felt whole thing was heading south particularly as the CPS lawyer really wasn't up to much at all.

And then the Chief Magistrate got in on the act with some followup of his own and she got a bit of heavy weather. All her attempts at tribal cultural alignment blew past him and it all got a bit embarrassing really.

There was a brief adjournment while the Magistrates considered the referees and we all sat at the back of the room. Nearby Lady X was claiming "that cyclist had lied through his teeth" in a stage whisper to her friends. When the panel reappeared, her lawyer got around to summing up. Listening to him I thought I was in the wrong court room and in retrospect I think he really overreached.

Later in the afternoon she was found guilty of driving without due care and attention and leaving the scene of an accident. That's 6 points on her licence, a £1400, two convictions, and, quite satisfying this, a bit of a savaging by the Magistrate. I wasn't there for that as I had to get to work but according to the victim it was pretty chastening. So the actual penalty is probably light. But it seemed to me what was most important to her was her reputation, and the idea that the rules didn't apply to her. Stupid really as all of this could have been avoided if she'd just fronted it. Anyway hopefully it will help with the cyclists insurance claim as they're holding out on him too. He says he hasn't been able to ride since the accident.

This could have so easily gone the other way. I'd love to know if it was a deliberate strategy to delay in the hope that I couldn't attend the second time around. It would have ended in a "he said-she said" Throughout the day I kept thinking how a helmet cam would have ended the matter almost as soon as it had got off the ground.

Surely she should have got done for running the red too? She should have got a ban for a year or two for that spectacularly bad driving.

Well done for being a witness and best wishes to the guy who came off, hope he takes her to the cleaners.

Also, name and shame Lady Can't Drive? She is a convicted criminal now.

Throughout the day I kept thinking how a helmet cam would have ended the matter almost as soon as it had got off the ground.

It would, but we shouldn't required it to get a conviction.

Of course you will likely to have a stronger stance if you recorded everything you do, be it's shopping, walking the dog, at work, giving the lady a good rearing, but we shouldn't resort to needing a camera in order to get a conviction - this is what a trial is for.

[QUOTE=Ubergroover;3085492]Throughout the day I kept thinking how a helmet cam would have ended the matter almost as soon as it had got off the ground.

It would, but we shouldn't required it to get a conviction.

Of course you will likely to have a stronger stance if you recorded everything you do, be it's shopping, walking the dog, at work, giving the lady a good rearing, but we shouldn't resort to needing a camera in order to get a conviction - this is what a trial is for.[/QUOTE]

Not quite, a trial is to uncover the truth of the situation, looking at all of the evidence, and assesing it's reliability. A helmet camera helps this by providing an unbiased viewpoint that the court can actually see.

I suspect that in this case a camera would have forced an early guilty plea, and thus have lowered the sentance that she got.

Was there any press there? That'd be a great story.

Was there any press there? That'd be a great story.

No press.

Agree with the sentiments about cameras but in practice we know it's different. Her lawyer did a pretty thorough job of trying to tie me in knots over the timing of the traffic lights at the junction and other minute details. He threw plenty of mud in the air and I wonder whether anyone on the bench could have been bothered parsing the questioning at the end of a long hot day for example.

Not necessarily a Police report, more a plaintive cry to the staff at the transportation driver that almost mashed me last week. Here's the letter I sent:

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am writing to take issue with one of your drivers (license plate, SK04 RUS/KUS) who this morning overtook me with no more than 12" to spare at a pinch point in the road at 10:30 at the junction of Salamander Street and Constitution Street in Leith, Edinburgh. I believe the telephone number on the cab began with 01698. I am an experienced cyclist and cycle this route 4 times a day on average. The incident occurred at the junction below (link to Google Maps)

https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&q=constitution+street+leith&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=0x4887b804d6adc94b:0x4c5c5f372d2e6d0a,Constitution+St,+Edinburgh,+Midlothian+EH6+7BT&gl=uk&ei=QN8oUKz7LIGYhQfLnICwDg&ved=0CAoQ8gEwAA

This junction is notoriously narrow with a pedestrian island allowing insufficient space to overtake, and I take a primary line (2-3ft from the kerb, so as to have room to move if need be) through here so as to prevent said action. I was not, as your driver asserted, "In the middle of the f***ing road", I was riding defensively since there is no room for a vehicle to overtake here. What's more, we were approaching a red light at Bernard Street 25 yards further on. Nonetheless, your driver squeezed past me at the aforementioned distance, some way short of the requisite 3ft that the Highway Code Rule 166B states. Road conditions were wet, and had I had to swerve for a pothole or other obstacle in the road I would have been under his wheels at about 20mph. I shouldn't have to state the importance of giving room to other road users, and I assume your drivers are aware of the amount of road collisions resulting in death between HGVs and cyclists (we have had two in Edinburgh) in the last few years, but what concerned me greatly was the attitude of your driver. I approached his cab when stopped at the lights and calmly, without swearing, told him that he had passed me far too close. I received a torrent of abuse in response, driver stating that I was in the middle of the road and that I should be in at the side. I know this road very well, and past the lights onto Commercial Street offers far greater room to overtake safely. Yet, once again, your driver passed me at the same distance, perhaps to make a point, but it was incredibly dangerous driving.

I would appreciate if you could speak to your driver about the correct distance to pass other traffic, point out that the road in question is far too narrow to overtake on, and that swearing at someone who is trying to point out that their driving was dangerous and inconsiderate is not an act of aggression, merely an assertion that I have just as much right to be on the road as him.

For the record, I am a qualified bike instructor who teaches children how to ride safely but it is incidents like these that act as massive impediments to those children taking up cycling since the attitude of a few road users is a detriment to this.

I look forward to hearing from you.

And the response:

Dear Mr Clark,

Thank you for your e-mail regarding the incident which occurred on 13th August 2012. We at Evans Transport take great pride in our safety record and always stress to our drivers the importance of road safety and the care and caution which must be exercised towards other road users. We have been deeply concerned to learn of this incident and will carry out a full investigation as normal process.

We would like to extend our sincere apologies for the distress caused and, as previously stated, assure you of our commitment to road safety in all aspects of our business.

Once again, thank you for taking the time to contact us and advise us of your concerns.

Kind Regards
Meghan

A result of sorts, I reckon. I'm aware I probably sounded like a bit of a douche in the original email, but I wanted to appear reasoned and informed. Unlike the driver, who had an impressive array of insults and threats perched up in his cab to add to his rather "intimate" driving skills. Normally I am the first one to rack up a sizable debt to the swear jar's coffers when a driver is acting like a tool, but some weird spidey sense kicked in and I was as calm as I could be this time around. The fact he did the old "punishment pass" 25 yards further down the road was the most galling/worrying.