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

In The Mail:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2264400/Taxi-driver-Ichhpal-Bhamra-killed-cyclist-Tom-Ridgway-fined-just-35.html

Peas

http://thecyclingsilk.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/update-from-court-cps-v-bhamra.html

[INDENT]COMMENT FROM TOM'S FAMILY
Tom's aunt has been in contact and comments as follows:

"I could not agree more with your assessment. I am Tom Ridgway’s aunt, I attended the trial and – as I told the prosecuting solicitor – it felt to me as though a back-room deal had been done. All events leading up to the collision were dismissed without discussion. The prosecutor replied that he was new to the case that morning and he could not argue the charge, which had already been agreed. He added that we should complain if we wished to the CPS.
The family is not seeking further punishment for Mr Bhamra, who has lost his job and is depressed and suffering. He has paid his £150 penalty including costs and, like most reasonable people, understands that he was responsible for the death of a young man who was merely cycling ahead of him on the road. (Tom, a student, was on his way to Solihull to deliver his CV to New Look in the hope of getting a holiday job.) It is the law which has failed to us, by bizarrely dividing the event into Before and After Impact.
Although it cannot be proven that the taxi driver was driving carelessly before the accident, the fact that he hit and killed Tom is surely evidence enough that he was driving without due care and attention WHEN he hit him. The shattered windscreen, the subsequent panic, the death, are all part of a sequence of behaviours which killed my sister’s beloved son.
Many people, including the newspapers, are jumping to the conclusion that sentencing in this case was too light. But given the charge before them and the fact that Mr Bhamra was not proved to be drunk, drugged or speeding, the magistrates were directed to give the lightest level of fine. Indeed, the fact of Tom’s body being on the windscreen became a mitigating factor as the driver could not see where he was going, panicked and put his foot on the accelerator instead of the brake.
The point is not that hitting Tom caused Mr Bhamra’s erratic driving, but that Mr Bhamra’s erratic driving killed Tom. A distinction that would have been made in court if his case had been charged and prosecuted with proper respect for human life."[/INDENT]

I was at a friends wedding a little while ago, at a table of strangers.

We all got chatting, and I discovered that the chap next to me was a Barrister.

His belief was that hitting a cyclist with a car was far from being an automatic case of "driving without due care" as it was so easy to do.

His contention was that you'd have to prove that the driver of the vehicle had done something such as swerving that caused the collision, rather than simply running into someone due to not paying attention.

Did you hit him with your fork? They are also difficult not to hit people with.

I hope you got his registration plate. Were there any witnesses? And why call 101? He has hit you with his car and failed to stop. Although this was not a major crime you have been hurt, if you call 999 sometimes the police control circulate his reg number so that he can be picked up and 'talked to'...

How is your arm?

Yeah, got his number plate and now the police are trying to work out if it's assault or a traffic offence.

Arm was pretty sore for a few days. Should have dialed 999, yeah, although I'm always paranoid about dialing 999.

Twatty van driver...

http://youtu.be/Jk7ZIcwEdcs

Y u no take primary?

Why squeeze to the front? Not like there was a massive queue to wait behind.

Van driver is still in the wrong as he wasn't indicating.

But, we know vehicles often don't signal until they start the turn, and we know that there is a strong chance that someone in that lane will be turning left, best self preservation tactic is to find a position in the queue of traffic (primary, maybe a few cars back) where you are not put in danger by an idiot like him.

That same junction has caught him out before (looking at the other video).

On the way home tonight a taxi did something similar to me. Lights were turning green as I approached and the taxi waiting at the lights wasn't indicating. I slowed as I was turning left anyway and lo and behold the taxi turned left too. He indicated 3/4 of the way round the corner, so that's ok.

I don't undertake vehicles at lights if I can help it, but I often see cyclists at this junction (Hackney Road/Queensbridge Road) filter down the left and RLJ etc.

#csb

Twatty van driver...

http://youtu.be/Jk7ZIcwEdcs

Plenty of room to sit behind the van

Plenty of room to sit behind the van

Yep, agree, I wouldn't cycle right to the front like that.
Bikeability training wouldn't go amiss, I spotted three or four things that could be improved from a training session.

I was at a friends wedding a little while ago, at a table of strangers.

We all got chatting, and I discovered that the chap next to me was a Barrister.

His belief was that hitting a cyclist with a car was far from being an automatic case of "driving without due care" as it was so easy to do.

His contention was that you'd have to prove that the driver of the vehicle had done something such as swerving that caused the collision, rather than simply running into someone due to not paying attention.

Not ' paying attention' / 'driving without due care ' happens with drivers of vehicles but hitting a cyclist will have a more dramatic result than a vehicle on vehicle 'prang' .

I'm sure you responded with this reasoning adding that there are people on bicycles that put themselves in road positions where it is "easy to do "

Yeah, I guest you are all right. I do need to alter my style, particularly at that section.

I am suitable told...

I don't think it was that bad. You did nothing wrong (he did), your lane had a forward arrow in it, he didn't indicate, he is in the big metal killing machine.

You could have defused/prevented the situation but the onus isn't on you to go round preempting idiocy. What I mean is,.... hanging back would be a good idea for safety etc, but it doesn't mean he wasn't blatantly and needlessly putting you in danger

People are idiots. If you want to live you have to assume that everyone is an idiot. Not the way it should be, but it's the way it is.

I got undertaken by a fuel tanker on the A40 on the way out of London this morning who was doing at least 60 in a 40 zone. The guy was driving like a cunt in heavy traffic tailgating cars and weaving in and out to undertake / overtake in a vain effort to get up the road marginally quicker. In the maybe 10 minutes that he was in my sight he almost hit 2 cars and 3 motorcyclists, I'm talking a matter of inches. It made me shiver to think that this guy is aloud to drive an HGV on the roads in central London. I could not write down his number plate but repeated it all the way to my meeting, sadly when I arrived there I did not have any time before going in and by the time it had finished I forgot it, I am so pissed off with myself because this guy needs to be reported as he will kill someone sooner rather than later driving like that.

One day if he keep this up, he will kill a cyclist.

Do you know what company the tanker belonged to? They might be interested to hear how their driver was behaving. They might even be able to figure out which tanker of theirs was in the area, some companies take these things really seriously.

Complaint sent to TFL today:

This morning I was hit by a minicab. I was on Osnaborough Street at the junction with Longford Street (London NW1), I was indicating to turn right. A minicab, registration number AJ06 XAE was on Longford Street travelling westbound, the driver turned to his left onto Osnaborough Street but overshot the corner and hit me. I stumbled off my bike, the driver stopped, wound down his window and told me that I was allright (I don't know how he knew this) and then drove off. I shouted and cycled after him, he probably only travelled about 30 meters. He then told me that I was OK and that nothing serious had happened. Again, I do not know how he knew this.
Please could you contact this driver, he should not be driving in this manner - ie. on the wrong side of the road, and driving off after hitting another road user after incorrectly assuming that the person he hit was OK.
I await your prompt response.

^pop that on into a police station. That's failing to stop after an accident, which they take quite seriously. He should at the very least have given you his insurance details.

I need to find a driving insturctor whom drove really badly around me and told me to fuck off while eating crisp.

trouble is, he sped off very quickly not allowing me time to read the numberplate, but I vaguely remember it's a black vauxhall with either "I drive" or "I teach" written on it.