Cyclist posts video of London road rage assault online

[Gogoplata]

kambites said:

trashbat said:

ven in the extreme situation where someone turns up with a golf club and starts literally smashing your car to bits for no reason, it's not acceptable to (try and) punch them in the face. It's not legitimate self defence - it's property - and for all you know it may kill them.

I believe they're talking about making defence of property a legitimate cause for causing injury to someone else.

However, if your car is so badly made that "tapping" it will cause a problem, and your driving is so bad that you get close enough to be tapped (while overtaking, obviously) then frankly, you have little cause for complaint, IMO.

I've worked hard to buy the car I own (One that I've wanted since a child), I've spent a lot of money on my car, and put I've a lot of time into maintaining it. Regardless of what may or may not have happened in the video, I wouldn't just stand idle whilst anybody damaged my car, and I imagine I'm not alone <inserts Cage Fighta with goatee comment here>

[Parrot of Doom]

shouldbworking said:

It's embarassing to see the amount of complete idiots on this thread.

Seeing as you clearly never venture outside your metal boxes, let me explain this to you. Getting hit or crushed by a ton and a half of metal is not something you just shrug off, it means serious injury or the end of your life and thus yes.. its quite likely you will take it personally or take action to alert the driver to your presence.

Anyone who believes that cyclist deserved to be attacked is an absolute bellend, there is absolutely no argument in that. It's very fortunate the attacker was such a poor shot and that nothing worse resulted.

[ChiChoAndy]

I think the vast majority of people have ridden bikes. I rode road racers before I stopped due to crappy ankles. It's the victim mentality that annoys people the most, to be honest.

[kambites]

I would tend to agree - if you're overtaking a cyclist close enough that he can reach you with his hand without moving a considerable distance across the road to do so, then you are FAR too close and have little right to take the moral high-ground.

[Parrot of Doom]

Gogoplata said:

I've worked hard to buy the car I own (One that I've wanted since a child), I've spent a lot of money on my car, and put I've a lot of time into maintaining it. Regardless of what may or may not have happened in the video, I wouldn't just stand idle whilst anybody damaged my car, and I imagine I'm not alone <inserts Cage Fighta with goatee comment here>

Your car must be a complete pile of st if hitting the window can result in damage.

[kambites]

Gogoplata said:

I've worked hard to buy the car I own (One that I've wanted since a child), I've spent a lot of money on my car, and put I've a lot of time into maintaining it. Regardless of what may or may not have happened in the video, I wouldn't just stand idle whilst anybody damaged my car, and I imagine I'm not alone <inserts Cage Fighta with goatee comment here>

Obviously I'm not advocating damage to property - be it a car or anything else. I'm just pointing out that (1) the severity of the response was not justified and (2) if the driver was close enough for the cyclist to "tap" his car, then he's a menace and shouldn't be on the road in the first place.

[trashbat]

Gogoplata said:

I've worked hard to buy the car I own (One that I've wanted since a child), I've spent a lot of money on my car, and put I've a lot of time into maintaining it. Regardless of what may or may not have happened in the video, I wouldn't just stand idle whilst anybody damaged my car, and I imagine I'm not alone <inserts Cage Fighta with goatee comment here>

I'm not suggesting you should, but I'd hope you can think of more reasonable or imaginative ways of preventing/restraining them that don't foreseeably end in their death. Is the time and money you spent on a material item worth killing someone over? I expect that for the vast majority of people the answer would be no but for some perhaps only after the fact.

[budgie smuggler]

Is this the same incident?
http://road.cc/content/forum/37729-road-rage?quick...

article said:

A few weeks ago I was cycling from Dover to London with 6 other riders. We were coming through a Southeast London suburb when a car tried to overtake whist we were going past a traffic island which significantly narrowed the road. We remonstrated with the driver, shouting etc.

The car stopped and the driver and passenger got out and started using very threatening language and their body language was highly aggressive.

I was slightly ahead of the "gentlemen" concerned, standing astride my bike, looking over my right shoulder at what was making all the noise. I said nothing. They saw me reading the number plate and said "we see you have our number, now we're effing gonna run you over you ****ing etc...".

So they got back in the car and drove off with wheels spinning and clipped my right hand with a wing mirror. Being on a spring, it made a loud noise, and they stopped again, but this time the driver came over and punched me to the ground. I thought they would start kicking me, as I lay tangled in bike on the pavement, but the bystanders (people waiting outside a restaurant) told them to "go away".

I was shaken but not hurt. The event was witnessed by my fellow riders, a bus driver and the bystanders. It was also captured on video from a helmet cam. The police were called and eventually came.

You'd think that it would be easy to locate and prosecute. It turns out that the registered keeper of the car was not using the car that day (he/she was not on the video) and apparently whilst the keeper went to a funeral the car was left unlocked with the keys in the ignition.

Upshot is that someone else, obviously being protected, was the driver and assaulter that day. Unless the police can get the keeper to talk, the assaulter goes scott free!

What a world!!!

ETA:

yep, it is, here's the follow up

http://road.cc/content/news/38709-violent-assault-...

[anonymous-user]

Parrot of Doom said:

PSBuckshot said:

Sorry no.

You're the idiot who drives at launch speed over hump back bridges, and who bhes about people who brake hard in front of you (because you don't leave an adequate stopping distance), aren't you?

Like I should value your opinion.

And you're a parrot. This works both ways, and the hump back bridge was fun.

[OMNIO]

Parrot of Doom said:

Your car must be a complete pile of st if hitting the window can result in damage.

But what if the cyclists hit wings, kick doors etc? They can be quite easily dented. Would the cyclist be guilty of a hit and run if they put a fat dent in one of the doors and rode off?

[Mr Gear]

kambites said:

Sorry. I really hate the anti-cyclist idiots on PH (not you, the others on this thread).

I agree. They bring the whole tone of the place down with their stink, and I don't feel like part of the same community as these idiots at all.

[trashbat]

Off topic, I've been pleasantly surprised by the prevailing attitudes towards cyclists/cycling on PH. I say this after I posted on a generally very friendly marque forum about a bike accident I had recently and got a load of cliched anti-cyclist grief; that shifted my perceptions about what the average driver thinks, but most PHers bring it back towards the positive, for which I commend you.

[ChiChoAndy]

trashbat said:

Off topic, I've been pleasantly surprised by the prevailing attitudes towards cyclists/cycling on PH. I say this after I posted on a generally very friendly marque forum about a bike accident I had recently and got a load of cliched anti-cyclist grief; that shifted my perceptions about what the average driver thinks, but most PHers bring it back towards the positive, for which I commend you.

That's lovely you Lycra wearing tt



I kid, honest!

[Mr Gear]

trashbat said:

Off topic, I've been pleasantly surprised by the prevailing attitudes towards cyclists/cycling on PH. I say this after I posted on a generally very friendly marque forum about a bike accident I had recently and got a load of cliched anti-cyclist grief; that shifted my perceptions about what the average driver thinks, but most PHers bring it back towards the positive, for which I commend you.

A lot of people think that car drivers and motorcyclists are not the same people as cyclists. They are wrong.

[y2blade]

budgie smuggler said:

kambites said:

What the hell is a fixie?

A fixie bike does not have a freehub, i.e. the pedals always rotate with the wheels.

Nothing wrong with that in principle, it is meant to be good for technique and fitness. Unfortunately a few complete nobbers have turned it into a fashion thing. They take the brakes off, fit really narrow bars and wear stupid clothes. Think 'rise of the idiots' from Nathan Barley, and you're basically there.

I think they're trying to copy the look of inner city bike messengers, without having the actual skills.

y2blade said:

skinley said:

GilbertGutbucket said:

nickythesaint said:

On the beeb he (49 yo Simon Page) said he friend tapped the car with his hand

Tapped? Yeah right! He was lucky only to get tapped back being as (sadly) the driver's punch didn't connect properly.

Summary.
Cyclist tried to show off in front of his lycra clad buddies. Cyclist failed. Cyclist got punched in the face. I laughed.

I'm pretty sure the cyclist wont be so brave before 'tapping' another car.

Edited by skinley on Tuesday 12th July 23:31

this^^^

Oh and why did he hit the car? Think perhaps it cut him up? If you can get a decent hit on a car it's too close. Try riding a bike sometime, you will surprised just how close people think they can overtake, (i presume because they judge the gap from your body, not the end width of the handlebars).

Edited by budgie smuggler on Wednesday 13th July 10:48

I do ride a pushbike, I don't "think" I own the road on it though

[Big E 118]

Although I'm not part of the "pro cyclist" side on this thread I must add that no matter how hard the cyclist "tapped" the car, assault was not a justifiable reaction.

[Parrot of Doom]

OMNIO said:

But what if the cyclists hit wings, kick doors etc? They can be quite easily dented. Would the cyclist be guilty of a hit and run if they put a fat dent in one of the doors and rode off?

With respect, for a cleated cyclist that kind of behaviour is extremely difficult. If you take your foot from the pedal and lash out, you've effectively got nothing to brace yourself with, so you're very likely to fall off. So you use your clenched fist, but you're still having to lean quite far away from the centre of gravity, and you can only hit things at the same height as your elbow, so that's the roof (of a low car) or the window. You certainly cannot reach the door or wing.

The result is that in reality, while moving, any tap or hit would be very unlikely to cause damage. I've never done it myself but I've certainly remonstrated with more than a few drivers when I've caught them up. Most of them shrink into their seats when faced with the person whose life they've risked. The bloke in the video is an out and out nutter and needs locking up.

[ZesPak]

trashbat said:

Off topic, I've been pleasantly surprised by the prevailing attitudes towards cyclists/cycling on PH. I say this after I posted on a generally very friendly marque forum about a bike accident I had recently and got a load of cliched anti-cyclist grief; that shifted my perceptions about what the average driver thinks, but most PHers bring it back towards the positive, for which I commend you.

Well, to me the "anti-bike" comment is a lot like the "racism card", it's played way to fast.
I'm a cyclist myself, did it for years as my commute as well, but some cyclist take the "weaker road user" a tad to far.

The thing is, you see a mad bloke exiting his car, punching the cyclist (or trying to at least), and run off.
You don't get any backstory on this?
That's like seeing "man on fire" without the kidnappings. Boy, Denzel plays a pretty nasty serial killer in that one, doesn't he?

[Mr Whippy]

will_ said:

If it comes down to having to tap a car to avoid being run off the road, or having a crash, I'd tap the car everytime.

Or just brake? Let the offending car get ahead if possible?

I once pulled out of a junction turning right, but left a big gap for a cyclist coming down that lane, and they clearly moved out to the middle of the lane and sped up a bit to tap my car like a fanny.

You have to remember some cyclists, like car drivers, are probably just tits, and like to make a scene or drama out of something that didn't have to be one.

Everyone on the road can be a bellend, and that extends to police, lorries, cars, cyclists, motorcyclists, walkers, etc etc...

For every video you see like this, you see one of that bellend cyclist who goes looking for trouble. The pre-cursor to this video could well be of an idiot cyclist/s inflaming a situation.

Idiocy begets idiocy, in my experience.

Dave

[ChiChoAndy]

Mr Whippy said:

Or just brake? Let the offending car get ahead if possible?

I once pulled out of a junction turning right, but left a big gap for a cyclist coming down that lane, and they clearly moved out to the middle of the lane and sped up a bit to tap my car like a fanny.

You have to remember some cyclists, like car drivers, are probably just tits, and like to make a scene or drama out of something that didn't have to be one.

Everyone on the road can be a bellend, and that extends to police, lorries, cars, cyclists, motorcyclists, walkers, etc etc...

For every video you see like this, you see one of that bellend cyclist who goes looking for trouble. The pre-cursor to this video could well be of an idiot cyclist/s inflaming a situation.

Idiocy begets idiocy, in my experience.

Dave

This... Taking the moral high ground based entirely on a mode of transport seems very silly to me. Cocks are cocks, no matter what they are sat in, or on.