Video: Cyclist uses bike to smash car windscreen after claiming motorist veered into cycle lane

This whole thing stinks.  No sound?  Edited to a short clip?  I wouldn't be surprised if there was a blaring horn plus a spittle-flecked passenger abusing the guy as he rode along.  If this was the case then I'd probably find myself cheering on the guy on the bike.

Of course there were two wrongs here... Even lunatics don't just throw bikes through windscreens.

There was clearly provocation.

However, as the saying goes, two wrongs, don't make a right, and criminal damage is a lot easier to prove than careless driving etc. etc.

I think the way these stories are reported is actually dangerous. 

I'd imagine most of on here are relatively grounded members of the community, however people commenting are generally more drawn to understanding why this happened rather than simply being appauled and wondering how to catch the perpetrator.

I don't think thats a problem with the our moral compasses, I think it is a natural reaction to how the story has been presented. 

Having watched the longer footage on the MEN website there is a need for sound to get the full picture (as well as footage of the driving 2 minutes before the incident, the same as is required for prosecution based on helmet cam footage). Without sound it looks like initially the cyclist just turned round to either berate the driver for doing something wrong (either current road position or something prior) or is responding to abuse shouted from the car initially. The fact that he then goes up to the car to engage and tries to leave a couple of times would indicate that the car occupant(s) continued to argue/hurl abuse. I find it hard to believe that someone who looks like they were trying to walk away and carry on was not provoked when trying to leave.

The drivers personal situation is irrelevant in my opinion but if it is relevant in others opinions does it make it OK if the cyclist has both parents in hospital and was on his way to see them?

There is of course no excuse for this sort of behaviour and no-one should resort to this, two wrongs do not make a right. Lets find out though if it was two wrongs though...

There seems to be a lot of people sympathising with the guy smashing an occupied car up with a 15kg piece of metal and not a lot of sympathy with the occupants of the car, who may or may not have made a mistake by drifting into a very badly marked advisory cycle lane.

Am I weird in thinking that the guy who resorted to violence is the villain (literally) here?

That's what you get when you park in the middle of my segment. Don't f**k with my KOM day and I won't f**k with your windscreen.

I do always raise an eyebrow as to why private cars have dashcams.
Makes me wonder if they have a in proportionate amount of negative interactions with other road users.

DNA test?

I had a bus cross to the opposite side of the road and drive directly at me and cant even get to speak to a copper about it. 

Whilst people on bikes know there not going to get anything from the state they'll sort these things out themselves. 

There are a lot of drivers who deserve having a bike smashed thru their windshield. If I ever get angry/stupid/crazy enough to actually do it I'll have to enlist the help of another road user: "Excuse me, may I borrow your heavy mountain bike? I'd like to put it thru that cars' windshield. If I use mine I think the only damage to be done will be to my wallet".

looks like the guy was about to ride off and be on his merry way when something was said

maybe they had a go at him for riding on the pavement, unaware that he was only doing that because they had blocked the cycle lane, and he over-reacted slightly - as already pointed out, the sound is possibly muted for a reason

windscreens are usually insured and two a penny - had he wanted to cause them real bother he would've taken the rear one out

Whilst obviously an extreme case, maybe these stupid drivers deserve to be confronted. She clearly has no idea what a cycling lane is and shouldn't have a licence. Funnily enough as always, on a news website I saw this story and it basically made out that the cyclist rode past and decided to stop and throw his bike through her windscreen....

On the same newspaper web page:

"Killer driver who mowed down a dad-of-four without realising walks free from court"

While I find it difficult to condone violence against the car, no-one was injured, so a bit of a non-story, a bit like all the punishment passes which don't actually kill the cyclist.  I've frequently felt like doing something similar when the victim of particularly bad driving.

Does remind me of a similar situation in the USA about thirty years ago, when there was a spate of drivers shooting other drivers who had offended them with their driving.  Apparently driving standards suddenly improved and levels of courtesy on the roads were unprecedented.  Perhaps we need a few more violent cyclists to intimidate the drivers?  After all, they get away with it 24/7/365.

Bizarrely, this is just yards away from the spot featured in 'photoflippinggate' from a couple of weeks ago. This is Hathersage Road, and there is a bit of a lane at the end there, but it is just 10 yards to filter to the box not an actual lane further back. The road is very narrow, this cannot be the only reason. There are temp lights and road works at the moment, so it is entirely possible she squeezed past when she shouldn't have earlier. So it seems the video is quite out of context without seeing what proceeded.

Even so it does seem a bit of an over reaction. I can understand her feelings. I too have an elderly mother, all my other immediate ancestors are dead, thousands of them, dead, including my grandfather murdered by the Japanese! I am so distressed, perhaps only a free bike could relieve this anxiety, a Canyon CF slx 9.0 Aero, no disc, thanks.   

car driver was asking for it...should have been wearing hi viz and a helmet

@ush and mackadoo

Well done both. 

It's just a thug who happens to be on a bike, likely stolen, looking for an argument. Little oik deserves everything he gets. The driver albeit slightly over the line hardly veered.

Video is edited, or it is no dashcam. The point of view is moving.

Nobody died...

The guy with a bike is totally over reacting but would have been good to see 10 seconds earlier of the video, to get a fuller picture, the car seems to be a little over to the left of the lane and pssibly in the cycle lane. And yes this is something to be referenced when the gm police ignore / are blasé about cars knocking cyclist over. 

And in other news, Killer driver who ran over a dad-of-four without realising walks free from court. But let's deal with the important stuff first.