B
burtthebike
Guest
On monday, riding home, daylight, dry, good visibility, I had an "incident"
with one of those strange people who drive cars. Going down steep hill,
tailwind, 40mph limit, doing well over 30 (Filton Hill on the A38 north of
Bristol for those who know it). Lights change at the junction at the bottom
of the hill, so I start to slow down and I'm coasting to a halt at the
lights, about 10m away, when a horn is sounded behind me, I'm my usual metre
out from the kerb. I ignore the horn as it can't be anything to do with me.
Wrong! A car pulls alongside, the driver winds down the passenger window
and tells me to "effing get on the effing cycle path". I point out that it
is perfectly legal to ride on the road, the lights change and we both move
off, except that he stops 100m farther on, flings open his door and stands
in my way. Thinking that I'd rather point out the error of his ways here
and now, rather than having him driving behind me, I stopped. The
conversation was pretty much what he'd already said though, but with a lot
more effing and blinding and a finger shoved within an inch of my face, and
accusing me of blocking the traffic - it's dual carriageway and plenty of
room for buses to pass no prob. I could see that there was no point in
carrying on the conversation, so I turned around to walk off, and as I did
so, he gave me a shove, which made me stumble, but I managed to stay upright
using my bike as a support. I turned around and said that I would be
reporting him for assault, whereupon he threatened to run me over if he saw
me riding on the road again. I took down his number and waited until he
drove off before carrying on myself. It was only when I got home that I
realised that there is no cycle path at that point, it starts about 300m
farther on, not that it would have justified his behaviour anyway.
When I got home, I wondered about reporting this to the police, having read
of many instances on this group where they just weren't interested, and
there were no witnesses. Whatever, I went on line and reported it,
including as much as I could remember about the guy, but I wasn't expecting
anything to happen other than a polite acknowledgement. I was pleasantly
surprised to receive the polite acknowledgement and a phone call from the
police at work early next morning, telling me that they were taking it
seriously and that they would come to my house to take a statement, which
should be happening tonight.
The driver appeared to be a post office worker, there is a big depot on the
A38 very close to where this happened, so I reported it to them too, but no
response as yet.
I'll post updates when there is anything to report.
I am very impressed with the fact that the police are taking some kind of
action and have responded quickly, so are the police taking this kind of
thing seriously at last, or is this just a one off?
with one of those strange people who drive cars. Going down steep hill,
tailwind, 40mph limit, doing well over 30 (Filton Hill on the A38 north of
Bristol for those who know it). Lights change at the junction at the bottom
of the hill, so I start to slow down and I'm coasting to a halt at the
lights, about 10m away, when a horn is sounded behind me, I'm my usual metre
out from the kerb. I ignore the horn as it can't be anything to do with me.
Wrong! A car pulls alongside, the driver winds down the passenger window
and tells me to "effing get on the effing cycle path". I point out that it
is perfectly legal to ride on the road, the lights change and we both move
off, except that he stops 100m farther on, flings open his door and stands
in my way. Thinking that I'd rather point out the error of his ways here
and now, rather than having him driving behind me, I stopped. The
conversation was pretty much what he'd already said though, but with a lot
more effing and blinding and a finger shoved within an inch of my face, and
accusing me of blocking the traffic - it's dual carriageway and plenty of
room for buses to pass no prob. I could see that there was no point in
carrying on the conversation, so I turned around to walk off, and as I did
so, he gave me a shove, which made me stumble, but I managed to stay upright
using my bike as a support. I turned around and said that I would be
reporting him for assault, whereupon he threatened to run me over if he saw
me riding on the road again. I took down his number and waited until he
drove off before carrying on myself. It was only when I got home that I
realised that there is no cycle path at that point, it starts about 300m
farther on, not that it would have justified his behaviour anyway.
When I got home, I wondered about reporting this to the police, having read
of many instances on this group where they just weren't interested, and
there were no witnesses. Whatever, I went on line and reported it,
including as much as I could remember about the guy, but I wasn't expecting
anything to happen other than a polite acknowledgement. I was pleasantly
surprised to receive the polite acknowledgement and a phone call from the
police at work early next morning, telling me that they were taking it
seriously and that they would come to my house to take a statement, which
should be happening tonight.
The driver appeared to be a post office worker, there is a big depot on the
A38 very close to where this happened, so I reported it to them too, but no
response as yet.
I'll post updates when there is anything to report.
I am very impressed with the fact that the police are taking some kind of
action and have responded quickly, so are the police taking this kind of
thing seriously at last, or is this just a one off?