Jeremy Vine posts video of angry driver threatening to knock him out

[Philip Benstead]

Crimewatch presenter and keen cyclist Jeremy Vine posts video of angry driver threatening to knock him out

Do we know who this women is?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/08/30/crimewatch-presenter-and-keen-cyclist-jeremy-vine-posts-video-of/

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

Thankfully, I have no idea but I  hope the police do by now.

[Cpt Sisko]

Good news that it's made mainstream news. Maybe the populous will now realise the crap we have to put up from motorists.

[Jon]

Shame about the idiotic racists on his Facebook post of the video though. They help undermine his valid point.

[Martin]

big Thumbsup to Jeremy for keeping his cool throughout!

[red marley]

Good news that it's made mainstream news. Maybe the populous will now realise the crap we have to put up from motorists.

Hopefully the populous will now realise the racist and misogynist  crap many have to put up with day on day too (but yes, terrible and not uncommon behaviour from the car driver there).

[Exit Stage Left]

The populace have to put up with pedantry as well.

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

There are obviously going to be people who nail their own agenda onto any story they can find.  Anti- this; anti-that..

Just see  this as a simple 'person on a bike (vulnerable road user) being abused by a person in a car' issue.  Simples..

[andyoxon]

Amazing amount of pent up anger some people seem to carry around with them.  Vehicle tax also apparently ~two months out of date, as someone pointed out.

[rogerzilla]

Some wag ran the car details through the DVLA vehicle search and it turns out to be untaxed.  She'll get the book thrown at her, hopefully.

[Wascally Weasel]

Some wag ran the car details through the DVLA vehicle search and it turns out to be untaxed.  She'll get the book thrown at her, hopefully.

"You don't pay road tax!"

"Neither do you!"

I actually said that back to someone a few years back, I swear he looked guilty after I said it.

[Redlight]

It appears she has now been spoken to and charges may follow:

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/driver-arrested-for-threat-to-knock-out-bbc-presenter-jeremy-vine-a3336646.html

I'm not sure, in the circumstances, mouthing off to the press about how annoying it is to be criticised is necessarily a wise move on her part.

[ian]

She's not exactly, erm, bright. Thought that's a bit cruel to dumb people. I suppose the great thing about being stupid is that by definition they're too dumb to know they're stupid.

Mind you, that kind of driving is perfectly NFC*.

*Normal For Croydon.

[clarion]

OTOH, Jeremy Clarkson has given his opinion.

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

OTOH, Jeremy Clarkson has given his opinion.

Not surprising.

Jezza knows what it's like wanting to assault someone.

[Veloman]

Jezza knows what it's like wanting to assault someone.

he also knows how to maintain his profile and no doubt some of what he said will appeal to some drivers and thereby gain him more kudos.  Always better to be in headlines rather than out of them in his particular case.

[rogerzilla]

Some wag ran the car details through the DVLA vehicle search and it turns out to be untaxed.  She'll get the book thrown at her, hopefully.

"You don't pay road tax!"

"Neither do you!"

I actually said that back to someone a few years back, I swear he looked guilty after I said it.

Sadly not true anymore, since HMG decided to re-hypothecate VED to please the mouth- breathing Clarkson acolytes.  However, drivers of electric cars still don't pay it.

[benborp]

Sadly not true anymore, since HMG decided to re-hypothecate VED to please the mouth- breathing Clarkson acolytes.  However, drivers of electric cars still don't pay it.

The new banding doesn't start until next year and hypothecation in 2020. So VED doesn't turn in to a road tax for a little while yet.

[Steph]

Just watched the video. Some little while ago, I was abused for riding in the middle of the road (pulling out around a deep pothole). Members OTP know how lit up I am, but the car driver who slowed to abuse me told me to get some... lights. Similarly, despite the fact that the video clearly shows Vine on the road with her pulling out from a side street after he passes, she claims pavement cycling. Cognitive dissonance, kneejerk prejudice or simple stupidity?

[ian]

I'd vote for stupidity. At some point you'd think she might have noticed that the incident is on video.

[red marley]

Anger tends to blind the best of us and no-one responds well to being labelled stupid. Which is why I think the 'us and them', 'war on the roads' narrative is unhelpful to us all.

I have mixed feelings about the wisdom of Vine's posting. On one hand the publicity has highlighted the need for cyclists to stay out from door zones with no deliberate attempt to 'hold up' other road users. But it also entrenches the anger among the minority who need to spend less time fuming and more time respecting others on the road.

[trekker12]

And I think it's worth remembering it is a minority.

[ian]

Anger tends to blind the best of us and no-one responds well to being labelled stupid. Which is why I think the 'us and them', 'war on the roads' narrative is unhelpful to us all.

I have mixed feelings about the wisdom of Vine's posting. On one hand the publicity has highlighted the need for cyclists to stay out from door zones with no deliberate attempt to 'hold up' other road users. But it also entrenches the anger among the minority who need to spend less time fuming and more time respecting others on the road.

Isn't that a bit like saying gay people shouldn't hold hands in the street on the grounds it entrenches homophobia? I'd rather call them out on their irrationality and it is irrational. How long was she held up? Seconds. There can't be any cyclist who isn't familiar with these angry, bullying drivers. And angry why? For seconds that they'll make up anyway. There's a vast sense of entitlement that road users have. It leaks through to cyclists too, I nearly lost my nose yesterday evening to mid-forties lady on the fully equipped cycle who'd assumed the green man for pedestrians shouldn't get in the way of her journey home. I think we could all dump a bit of that perceived urgency from our days, because unless you're a rocket neuroscientist charged with saving the world from a falling comet and zombie apocalypse on the way to deliver a baby panda, it's probably not warranted. I spent two weeks in a coma and got 147 stitches because someone didn't want to miss the start of a football game. The uniqueness of motor vehicles of course is that they're probably the only circumstance where ordinary folks have an easy means of killing and maiming even if they've no intent to do so. Impatience and anger in a motor vehicle is multiplied by the BHP under the bonnet and it's long past time we raised the level of responsibility of drivers to respect this. We close a nightclub if two people die, but if two people die on the road, we just shrug. Cars crash, roads are dangerous. Until we focus on the drivers, a (what ought to be shocking) number of people will continue to be killed and maimed on the roads.

[red marley]

Like I said, I have mixed feelings on Vine's particular example. The holding hands comparison is a false equivalence. I am all for an unapologetic holding the lane when out on a bike down the kinds of streets shown in that video. What I am less sure of is whether high profile coverage of filmed confrontation is helpful. It raises the issue but also frames it in the context of conflict.

[ian]

I don't think it is a false equivalence. We'd surely – and routinely do – highlight shocking homophobia. Why should bullies behind the wheel of a motor vehicle be treated any differently?