Hairy incident - Not happy with response

[ABlipInContinuity]

I popped into the office to do some printing and on the way back home I had an extremely close call.

I was cycling along at about, I'd guess, 25 mph. The driver of a silver Ford Ka overtakes me, left indicator on. I draw on the brakes, then pull them on hard as I see her start turning. I shout three times:

STOP TURNING
STOP TURNING
STOP TURNING

But to no avail, the driver continues with the manoeuvre. I manage to stop, but only just. I felt the back wheel unweighted - I've never work so hard to stop. Phew! I'm still alive!

That has to be the shortest stop I've ever achieved. I'm ever so grateful that I swapped some better cartridges into my brakes in only the last two weeks. And if that had been me a couple of years ago, I would have collided with that car for sure. It's really something to anticipate an accident happening and call upon all your resources to prevent it in fractions of a second.

Anyway as I collected my thoughts and drew breath, the woman driving this car having made her left turn, immediately turns right into a road that runs paralell to the main road and I see her do the worst turn I've ever seen. She drives off in the opposite direction.

From this I think either:

a) She is an incompetent driver and hasn't got a clue what really just happened
b) She is inconsiderate in not stopping

I noted the registration number, and when I got home I had a think about what to do. I decided that it might be a good idea to let the police know, for information. Even if it just helped statistics on cycling/motoring incidents.

I decided to call the local number for the police (neighbourhood policing team) and someone answers. I explain what just happened, and tell them explicitly the report I'm making is informational. I make clear that I think, if possible, a note of the incident should be recorded against the registration mark, just in case any officers on patrol see the vehicle driven erratically or below par. The person on the phone decides (for some reason) that the call should be put through to the control room.

So I re-explain everything to a man on the other end of the phone in the control room. He replies that there is nothing they can do with this information. I ask what do they generally do with information that is supplied to them from members of the public? I state that in effect, a road traffic offense has occured here and although no one was injured, it was not the most likely outcome of the scenario. I also ask, if they do nothing with the information, how it is I've reported vehicles before and been told that other reports have already been received from members of the public about the same vehicle?

The person on the end of the phone then goes on to tell me that no offense has occured, and therefore there's nothing they can do.

I explain that an offense did occur, in that the driver of the vehicle was driving below a reasonable standard and that amounts to the offense of inconsiderate or potentially dangerous driving.

The person on the end of the phone then says that dangerous driving doesn't occur, unless a police officer sees it.

At this point, it's almost getting comical. I say, "so you are telling me that an offense is not an offense, unless someone sees it?" He said "not a driving offense, no".

I suggest that there have been many incidents over the years where someone was injured, yet no police were present at the time and charges of dangerous driving were brought.

At that point he made out as to relent and record an incident, criming it as dangerous driving.

Thing is, I don't think he has. He asked if I was going to be in all evening, for a police officer to visit my house. I've reported two prior incidents before, one was an assault. The police wouldn't visit on either occasion.

I'm starting to get the impression that the local force don't really take these kind of complaints seriously at all, or don't know how to deal with them. I accept they do have other priorities and it maybe a problem/limitation with policing as a whole.

I've read plenty of advice from plenty of sources encouraging the reporting of incidents but I'm really starting to think it's not worth it.

[clarion]

It's only a motoring offence - and involving a cyclist, innit?  Trivial. 

[Wowbagger]

Write to the chief constable.

Include details of the vehicle, time, date and place of offence and a description of the driver. Say exaxctly what happened.

Let him know how dissatisfied you were with your treatment when you reported the incident.

[Jezza]

Just to offer you a different take on things, I'd let it go. It was a narrow escape and your reflexes are clearly in good shape, but it sounds like she was just incompetent rather than deliberately out to get you - and god knows, there's enough incompetent driving out there. If someone rang the police and wrote to the Chief Constable every time they had a close call, would the roads miraculously become a safer place? No - the police would just be swamped with unimportant calls. So move on, expect the unexpected, watch out for incompetent drivers and keep riding safe. 

[Awaits predictable tutting and finger-wagging from the old dears]

[Pancho]

I think a degree of chill is required.

There is a danger for utility cyclists that one's desire to assert cyclists' rights can lead to too many close calls and a very real danger of being branded a looney.

I know this as I recognised it in myself. It was one of the reasons I stopped cycling.

But, why was it so important to me to ride primary down the d/c rather than use the (admittedly v poor shared space cycle track)? Why did I chose to get into so many arguments with tossers in cars? And I haven't even mentioned the green ink letters I, fortunately, imagined rather than posted to transport companies.

So, I'd chill.

Of course you're right and the driver and police are in the wrong but it's really not worth the candle.

[Wowbagger]

I would say that once ABIC decided to report the incident, clearly deciding not to let it go, then he has strong grounds for dissatisfaction with his treatment by the police. It has to be his decision whether or not to report it - and of course we all let go a lot of "near misses" and incidents of bad driving. Once he has reported it, he deserves to be taken seriously.

My personal yardstick is if the a driver displays an aggressive attitude. I have two in the pipeline at the moment in which I was absolutely certain that the vehicle was used deliberately to threaten me. In both cases my certainty is based upon having had verbals with the driver. There was no doubt that they had seen me and deliberately drove in a manner which endangered me. If I had been threatened with a knife I'd have reported it, so why not when it's a ton of metal?

I accept that ABIC's incident could be put down to simple inattention on the part of the driver. Good policing is about more than just gaining convictions, however: if enough people wrote in about incidents of bad driving, and the police were finding that more of their time were spent on such incidents, then more officers would need to be employed, current traffic law would be better enforced and we would all be safer as a result.

[teethgrinder]

I accept that ABIC's incident could be put down to simple inattention on the part of the driver. Good policing is about more than just gaining convictions, however: if enough people wrote in about incidents of bad driving, and the police were finding that more of their time were spent on such incidents, then more officers would need to be employed, current traffic law would be better enforced and we would all be safer as a result.

I don't see how innatention can justify it. If I was in the machine shop at a former workplace and left the chuck key in the lathe and started the lathe up, I'd have been in deep shit, regardless of how much or little damage the chuck key flying across the machine shop did or didn't do.
Somehow, it's OK of you do it with a car?

I wouldn't bother going to the police myself. I'd most likely take it on the chin and move on as I always do. I realy don't have time to keep complaining. I couldn't keep track of all the illegal, dangerous and threatening driving I see, let alone remember every location etc.
I think that the best thing to do to encourage cycling and make cycling safer is to cycle more. make a bigger cyclist presence on the roads. I can see how effective this has been in London.


A few things I notice about the incident. Your description suggests a 30mph speed limit. As you were doing 25ish, were they speeding to get past you?

Another thing, if you were doing 25, then I suspect that they were alongside you for some time. Having a car alongside me always rings alarm bells. I'd be looking and trying to work out there next move if I were in that situation. The best place for a driver I don't trust is in front of me, where I can keep a good eye on them and stay away from them. The worst place is alongside you when you have very little time to react to their actions.

[Wowbagger]

I accept that ABIC's incident could be put down to simple inattention on the part of the driver. Good policing is about more than just gaining convictions, however: if enough people wrote in about incidents of bad driving, and the police were finding that more of their time were spent on such incidents, then more officers would need to be employed, current traffic law would be better enforced and we would all be safer as a result.

I don't see how innatention can justify it. If I was in the machine shop at a former workplace and left the chuck key in the lathe and started the lathe up, I'd have been in deep shit, regardless of how much or little damage the chuck key flying across the machine shop did or didn't do.
Somehow, it's OK of you do it with a car?

I didn't say it could be justified - far from it - but at least the driver didn't compound the felony with a stream of abuse or an attempt to run ABIC down. We see so much unchallenged bad driving that a line has to be drawn somewhere. Given my recent spate of such incidents, I have decided to adopt a policy of only having two on the go at one, because life's too short to do any more.

[janm399]

Because she decided to drive away, you have to report it. You can't allow her to get away with it. I too am more lenient towards drivers who have simply made a mistake; if the driver then apologises, I will often forget about the whole incident. If, on the other hand, the driver speeds away or -- even worse -- drivers aggressively, I report it.
Write a letter to the chief constable explaining why you were unsatisfied and detail the entire incident -- that usually gets things going. After I got a helmet cam, I usually include magic line "I have video recording of the incident"; that too seems to get attention.

[ABlipInContinuity]

I forgot to make clear in the OP, I didn't want the incident treated as an offense.

A police officer working on the public service desk at the local station phoned and his attitude was much better. When I explained what had happened with the control room and explained that my report was for information, he apologised profusely and agreed that it was right to report the incident and put an information marker for the vehicle on the Police National Computer.

That for me leaves the matter at a satisfactory resolution.

There is a danger for utility cyclists that one's desire to assert cyclists' rights can lead to too many close calls and a very real danger of being branded a looney.

Pancho,
I don't often disagree with you, but I think in this instance your post is a little off base (except for the part about me being a looney!  ). I know exactly where you are coming from with the cyclists rights thing, I've been there and still sometimes end up back there, but this has nothing to do with riding assertively or standing up for cyclists. It is about bad driving and the way the constabulary deal with members of the public who report it.

I reported the driver because she driver did not respond to a very loud and clear instruction to stop turning during the incident and because she did not give any acknowledgement following the incident. In every pant-wetting incident I can recall, that has never been the case. Drivers either respond or react in someway afterwards, even if it is negatively*. It makes me wonder whether she was drowsy because of some medication she was on or whether there was some other reason for her apalling driving.

*Even when the response is a stream of profanities, I think the driver usually knows they were in the wrong and maybe, even unconciously, to be more careful next time. I really do think it's only a minority that will run down the next cyclist they see.

I accept that ABIC's incident could be put down to simple inattention on the part of the driver. Good policing is about more than just gaining convictions, however: if enough people wrote in about incidents of bad driving, and the police were finding that more of their time were spent on such incidents, then more officers would need to be employed, current traffic law would be better enforced and we would all be safer as a result.

Is it oversimplified to think that maybe if the Police took road safety a bit more seriously, members of the general public would?

[byegad]

To be honest I feel the Police will do absolutely nothing. They should but they won't! Unless there is a collision, AND an injury they won't show an interest. Even then, without a witness, they'll treat it as knock for knock and again do nothing.

We are on our own out there. If you want to kill someone, aim a ton or more of metal (so long as it's on four wheels and you have a licence, insurance, etc.) at them and, even if you succeed, the most you'll get is a small fine and a few months in jail. Sad but true.

[dkahn400]

Because she decided to drive away, you have to report it. You can't allow her to get away with it.

My money would be on her not even being aware there had been an incident. Some people are just completely disconnected from what's going on around them - not a desirable trait in a driver. Out on a club run once the whole group was nearly skittled by a woman in a 4x4 who turned left across 10 of us at once. We managed to come to a halt with little more than minor scrapes from each other. She pulled up just round the corner to visit the shops. She was completely unaware that she had done anything wrong, she had not heard any shouting, had not been aware of any incident, had not noticed any cyclists, and was completely mystified as to why we were upset.

[teethgrinder]

I didn't say it could be justified - far from it -

I got that. But the difference being that I never needed policing when I was working. I think there are other ways of dealing with it.

My money would be on her not even being aware there had been an incident. Some people are just completely disconnected from what's going on around them -

Probably too busy texting...
Personally, I'd make them very aware if I was that bothered about it and caught up with them. Much quicker and less time consuming than going the police route.


I often do this on people I can tell are about to pull out in front of me.
I slow down and get as close as possible,(make sure they can't possibly turn into you though, better to be some way off) but am almost at a standstill when a few feet away from them. As they pull out, and if I hadn't of slowed down, I'd have hit them by now, I shout very loud. It's a bit like sneaking up on someone and shouting BOO! Except that they should be expecting you to be there.
It wakes them up, I can tell you. You'll have to wait a little while, as they slam on the brakes, realise that nothing has happened, maybe re-start the car if they've stalled it, then get going after re-checking. You get extra emphasis if nother motorst has had to use their brakes, because they get very impatient and start having a go at them too.

Serious side aside, it's funny.

[dkahn400]

Probably too busy texting...
Personally, I'd make them very aware if I was that bothered about it and caught up with them. Much quicker and less time consuming than going the police route.

Let me explain.



 

[nuttycyclist]

I got hit on Friday.

Driver pulled out of a side road on my right, she was turning right, and in order to avoid the central island she pulled into me. 

I know she heard the noise of the impact of my handlebars against her rear wing as she looked in her mirrors.


I didn't fall off.  I can't be arsed to take it any further, it's just not worth my time.

Zen.