I read the Twitter thread. It's no great surprise that if these cases get to court, aggressive, or very poor, drivers are found not guilty. Even with that video, a large number of Twitter commenters believe the cyclist to be at fault for 'winding the driver up', or 'riding in the middle of the road'. Many of those people claim to be cyclists. If people who are cyclists (however occasionally) don't understand the difference between the middle of a lane (primary position) and the middle of the road (the centre line), and can't understand why a rider might be riding there (solid white lines, driver behind clearly wanting to squeeze in oncoming traffic), then there is clearly a lack of understanding of what is expected behaviour from various road users.
I think the active publicity of some police forces regarding overtaking distances etc., are a good step in the right direction, but there clearly needs to be more understanding from the average road user about where vulnerable road users have a right to be, and what the expected driving standard around them should be.
The comments also show a general prejudice in society - the idea that anger and violence can be justified if it is road rage. If I thought someone in the street looked at me funny, and then punched them, no one would be defending my actions. But if I drove into a cyclists because of some perceived slight (e.g. they weren't wearing a helmet, or they caused me to slow down), that's a defensible action?
