Dangerous driving complaint and response.

This, not me by the way:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=notuuDg1-tQ

prompted a complaint to the taxi licensing authorities.

This was their response:

complaint against driver of Private hire car plate no.2266

I refer to the above and can now make you aware of the conclusions
reached as a result of our investigation into the allegations raised.

We traced and interviewed the driver of the vehicle detailed in your
letter of complaint. The driver stated that while he was in the
process of overtaking, you moved to the right, therefore reducing the
space that he would normally leave for cyclists.

He also stated that as he passed you, you struck the side or roof of
his vehicle, at which point he stopped. The driver stated you then
approached him, shouting and swearing.

As he had a female passenger on board he decided to drive away, as
his passenger and he did not need to tolerate this. Although the
driver feels it was safe to pass when he did, he apologises for any
upset caused.


This concludes our investigation.

"spindrift" wrote in message
...
This, not me by the way:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=notuuDg1-tQ

prompted a complaint to the taxi licensing authorities.

This was their response:

complaint against driver of Private hire car plate no.2266

I refer to the above and can now make you aware of the conclusions
reached as a result of our investigation into the allegations raised.

We traced and interviewed the driver of the vehicle detailed in your
letter of complaint. The driver stated that while he was in the
process of overtaking, you moved to the right, therefore reducing the
space that he would normally leave for cyclists.

He also stated that as he passed you, you struck the side or roof of
his vehicle, at which point he stopped. The driver stated you then
approached him, shouting and swearing.

As he had a female passenger on board he decided to drive away, as
his passenger and he did not need to tolerate this. Although the
driver feels it was safe to pass when he did, he apologises for any
upset caused.


This concludes our investigation.

Having watched the video a few times over I observe the following.

[1] At the point which Mr Angry Cyclist was overtaken, the road was wide
enough to be overtaken. If he *really* did not want to be overtaken at that
point then perhaps he should have been further away from the kerb. That will
block them overtaking. If however he wanted to be courteous he might have
moved a little closer to the kerb (there were no parked cars). And then
moved out before reaching the pinch-point.

[2] Slapping a car as it overtakes is unwise.

[3] Shouting abuse at the driver probably does more harm than good.

While I can understand the frustrations of this cyclist (and cyclists in
general) I don't actually think that his method of educating motorists
actually does any good. All it does is make him appear aggressive, bitter,
twisted and perhaps ought not be on the road at all.

Standards of driving are generally pretty poor. Cyclists are generally not
respected as they should be. The combination of the two means that cyclists
need to ride defensively. Blocking overtaking traffic when it is not
necessary, slapping cars and hurling abuse is asking for trouble.

Shoot me down! but I am sure I am not the only cyclist who thinks this.

"spindrift" wrote in message
...
This, not me by the way:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=notuuDg1-tQ

prompted a complaint to the taxi licensing authorities.



It is not clear from the video if the cyclist indicated he was moving across
to "claim the lane". I always do and indicate palm backwards "stay back",
but I see others simply move across sometimes to the consternation of the
following cars.

pk

spindrift wrote:

This, not me by the way:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=notuuDg1-tQ

We traced and interviewed the driver of the vehicle detailed in your
letter of complaint. The driver stated that while he was in the
process of overtaking, you moved to the right, therefore reducing the
space that he would normally leave for cyclists.
He also stated that as he passed you, you struck the side or roof of
his vehicle, at which point he stopped. The driver stated you then
approached him, shouting and swearing.
As he had a female passenger on board he decided to drive away, as
his passenger and he did not need to tolerate this. Although the
driver feels it was safe to pass when he did, he apologises for any
upset caused.

Six of one, half a dozen of the other, IMHO.

There seemed to be plenty room for an overtake where it was done ...
the overtake was finished before the pinch point was reached, so
reaching out and slapping the windscreen/roof was completely
unnecessary.

The car driver could have left more room for the cyclist, it looks like
he's still a foot or so inside the white line. Ideally he could have
waited, I guess, but then he probably knows about the pinch point, just
as the cyclist says he does, and parked cars later, so wanted to get
past before possible further obstructions.

It's unfortunate that the cyclist decided to move out way before the
pinch point, but didn't move out far enough to stop overtakes.

It could, perhaps, also be argued that if he hadn't moved out quite so
early this would never have happened at all.

As I say, six of one, half a dozen of the other, edging towards the
cyclist being more at fault than the taxi driver.

My opinion ....

--
Paul - xxx ... somewhere else.

'96/'97 Landrover Discovery 300 Tdi 'Big and Butch'
Dyna Tech Cro-Mo comp "When I feel fit enough'

The driver overtook recklessly, you can hear the oncoming car hooting
him. It's not even as if the cabbie made progress, the cyclist would
have caught him at the next junction. This driver is going to smash
into something/someone, his boss or the representative of the
licencing authority is basically calling the cyclist a liar and a
thug, there was no swearing at all.


There was no swerve and even if there was the cyclist has a right
enshrined in case law to wobble and deviate from his or her path. This
means that overtaking a cyclist safely means that even if the cyclist
toppled sideways the overtaking vehicle would not run him or her over.
Look at the clip again, the driver basically bullies his way through
and the cyclist understandably wards off danger with an open hand,
there is no swerve whatsoever, the letter is a bare-faced lie.

I think this is the area to focus on. "Although the driver feels it
was safe to pass" is exceptionally weak wording.

Regardless of his feeling, the video shows him overtaking in the face
of oncoming traffic. The Highway Code is clear on when and where
overtaking is or isn't a good plan, and into oncoming traffic is
solidly in the "isn't" category.


So he can feel whatever he likes, but the expected standard of
driving says otherwise

On Fri, 30 Jan 2009 15:04:07 -0800 (PST), spindrift
wrote:

This seems to be a clear case of a motorist not being aware of the
needs of cyclists.

Further evidence, if further evidence is required, that everyone
should complete a Bikeability Level 3 course before being allowed to
start driving lessons unless there are good medical reasons for not
being able to ride a bike.

Should I offer to sell my domain, britishschoolofcycling.com to the
British School of Motoring for £10,000,000? Or has the credit crunch
now devalued my domain to 0.00000001p

spindrift wrote:

I think this is the area to focus on. "Although the driver feels it
was safe to pass" is exceptionally weak wording.

OK, the driver felt it was safe. You don't feel it was safe .. I feel
it was possibly safe ... so what? No-one got injured, IMHO the cyclist
wasn't in any 'real' danger, indeed there was a fair bit of room. I
doubt I would have overtaken him there, but I also doubt I would have
ridden how the cyclist did. Like I said earlier, 50-50 IMHO.

Regardless of his feeling, the video shows him overtaking in the face
of oncoming traffic.

He wasn't over the white line, but I agree it wasn't an optimal
overtake.

The Highway Code is clear on when and where
overtaking is or isn't a good plan, and into oncoming traffic is
solidly in the "isn't" category.

I quite agree.

So he can feel whatever he likes, but the expected standard of
driving says otherwise

I quite agree.

What I disagree with is the level of danger the cyclist felt he was in,
which he hardly mitigated by his actions.

--
Paul - xxx ... somewhere else.

'96/'97 Landrover Discovery 300 Tdi 'Big and Butch'
Dyna Tech Cro-Mo comp "When I feel fit enough'

spindrift wrote:

The driver overtook recklessly, you can hear the oncoming car hooting
him. It's not even as if the cabbie made progress, the cyclist would
have caught him at the next junction. This driver is going to smash
into something/someone, his boss or the representative of the
licencing authority is basically calling the cyclist a liar and a
thug, there was no swearing at all.

Hpw do you know it was the following car hooting? How do you know he
didn't make progress? How do you know he'd have been caught at the
next junction? How do you know he's ... yada yada yada .....

The audio isn't good enough to tell whether there was swearing or not,
well, I can't hear any, but then I wasn't getting shouted at either!

There was no swerve and even if there was the cyclist has a right
enshrined in case law to wobble and deviate from his or her path. This
means that overtaking a cyclist safely means that even if the cyclist
toppled sideways the overtaking vehicle would not run him or her over.
Look at the clip again, the driver basically bullies his way through
and the cyclist understandably wards off danger with an open hand,
there is no swerve whatsoever, the letter is a bare-faced lie.

So, was the rider hurt? Did the world stop and stare? What really
happened?

A car came a little closer than comfortable to a cyclist who complained
about it and nothing came of it .. tough ****.

--
Paul - xxx ... somewhere else.

'96/'97 Landrover Discovery 300 Tdi 'Big and Butch'
Dyna Tech Cro-Mo comp "When I feel fit enough'

"so what? No-one got injured"

IIRC, a cyclist was once nearly side swiped by a driver passing way
too close at speed. The cyclist remonstrated and the driver responded
"I didn't hit you, did I?"

The cyclist unclipped his D lock and swung it at the driver's head.
The shocked driver asked what the hell he thought he was doing.

"I didn't hit you, did I?" said the cyclist.