Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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35 comments
You can wait for the police to do their 'job' (which these days, seems to be spent monitoring social media for 'offensive' comments), which will involve spending fifteen minutes before deciding that the car 'can't be traced' or that if it can, it merits a 'local resolution'.
Or you can do justice yourself.
I really thought that I had mistakenly clicked on a Party Political Broadcast and then realised that it was a Pythonesque comedy sketch.
"Are you perchance from Yorkshire?" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ue7wM0QC5LE
Love that sketch, but I was more referring to don simon's possible Yorkshireman's attributes, world renowned attributes, of open-mindedness and humility. But of course he could be from somewhere else entirely.
Interesting that you think anyone who disagrees with you is narrow/closed of mind. I would also expect that you will take more umbrage at mention of perhaps that it is actually your good self who's lacking humility.
Well thanks for removing any lingering doubt. Which part of Yorkshire are you from?
Fall for it every time & yes eye'm still laughing at you.
Are you perchance from Yorkshire?
Interesting comments everyone but I see a complete mix of people behaving in this way. The self-righteous idiot in an expensive car pulling alongside and telling me to get on the cyclepath (then driving off breaking the speed limit!), passengers in vans shouting abuse and making gestures to slap fellow cyclists, endless close passes by all types of drivers - rich and poor. The brainless idiot who sprayed his screenwash at me was in a nice, new car with a baby seat fitted in the rear. They all act with apparent impunity possibly due to the almost total absence of the police . Ignorance of the Highway Code and a combination of being 'entitled' is probably also a factor. Whatever, it's starting to depress me that everytime I go out on the roads on my bike, I will be harassed by at least one motorist. And of course, I am a driver too, so it's not like I (we) can't see it from the other side.
I've had drinks thrown at me a couple of times (just down the road from a MuckyD's drive -through) and a few drivers/passengers thinking it's funny to blast the horn/scream at you as they go past to make you jump, but I've not been physically pushed - yet!
These days, I won't go out without a camera attached...
Nope, this kind of attack is just good old fashioned thuggery, the simple enjoyment of being unpleasant and antisocial to someone perceived as weaker and unable to retaliate.
The attitude of social media and some MSM certainly encourage this type of behaviour, maybe even providing some sort of warped justification in the minds of the lowlives involved.
I don't know about the MSM bit. But, I do agree with the think it's the "good old fashioned thuggery, the simple enjoyment of being unpleasant and antisocial to someone perceived as weaker and unable to retaliate" bit, plus inattention, ignorance and distraction. I've been shouted at, had things thrown at me, had someone whack me from a passing car, been physically assaulted, been knocked off and, of course, close-passed. I reckon these are for a variety of consequential reasons. But, I suspect they all come down to entitlement and lack of any sort of discipline. The close-passers either know they're not going to get strung up or they're ignorant of the risks. The abusers are just thugs (as Mungecrundle said) who either don't care about getting caught or know they won't.
Yes Brimstone, ridiculous and dangerous impatience, until you dare criticise, when they have all of the time in the world.
Is it just me or is there an almost complete breakdown of law and order on the roads by motorists against cyclists? The sort of incident descibed above (and much worse examples) have become an everyday occurrence up and down the country. Today, on a ride in Hampshire with another cyclist, a car driver squeezed past us and a traffic island so fast he/she almost lost control of the car. Upon seeing me wave my arm at the car in shock (no rude signs at all), what did the driver do? Show some conciliatory behaviour? Not a bit of it, instead, the driver slowed down almost to a stop (on a main road), waited for us to inevitably catch up, and then sprayed us with screenwash from his/her front windscreen wipers! Obviously, this angry driver couldn't recognise his own poor driving which nearly wiped us out - must have been our fault. What an absolute bell-end, low-life and inadequate person that git must be.
I'm wondering if this is part of the social conditions at the moment, with huge numbers of people not really able to afford to live, working two or three jobs to feed their children and no hope for the future. If you can't see any way out of your desperate situation, you're going to be in a pretty desperate state of mind, and if there aren't any police around to stop you, you're going to behave in an irrational manner. Might be useful if someone did some research into road crime and social deprivation, and perhaps knife crime too.
And when you're told that wages are rising when that's just a reflection of the people at the top paying themselves more, and prices keep rising, you're just going to get more desperate. Then you jump in your car and other people get in your way, so they are a handy outlet for your anger and frustration.
Yeah, because it's only poor people who drive like twats.
As we all know, that isn't true, but this kind of thing does seem to be increasing, so is it a result of the absolutely huge social inequality, with the rich totally divorced from the reality of many people; how can so many people be in poverty in one of the wealthiest countries in the world? I well remember being broke with a wife and child and rent and food going up and no prospects and getting more and more depressed and desperate. Multiply that by millions and we are approaching a failed society, and it would hardly be surprising if that effect didn't spread far and wide, including road behaviour.
With all due respect, what a load of twaddle!
Not so sure. When I don't get any overtime in to swell the coffers, I start mugging pensioners and kicking fellow cyclists off. It's society see. God help people if I ever lose my job.
Thank you for your concise and incisive criticism, so perfectly destroying my case with your irrefutable and witty logic.
It's kind of difficult to know where to start with such twaddle. How about you starting with something more realistic rather than pie in the sky guesswork? Once you've got something that isn't twaddle I'll try and take it seriously. Otherwise don't be surprised at people laughing at you.
If it's difficult to know where to start, perhaps things aren't quite as simple and clear as you think they are. I was merely proposing that having a repressed underclass might be increasing bad road behaviour, especially when the likelihood of being caught is so low, which seems at least arguable to me. But, hey, if it's made you laugh my day is complete.
Perhaps someone could do a survey or and invstigation to determine whether there is any validity in the statement, or they could not waste their time. your welcome.
My welcome? I haven't welcomed anything. However, I diverge, and I have to agree with you, it is such a waste of time to investigate anything that you know is true, like the earth being flat, blood circulation, bacteria etc, etc.
Have you stopped laughing yet?
No mate, you'll find that some drivers are equally twatty towards other drivers and pedestrians too. It's more a breakdown in society as a whole.
No, it's not just you. They know that there is almost no chance of being caught because there are hardly any coppers left, and the ones who are on the street are lazy, feckless, unmotivated, badly trained and atrociously managed.
And they know that should the old bill decide on a one-off 'operation', public opinion will ensure that it's cyclists who are targeted, and not them.
Sounds a bit like the recent firework attack on a cyclist.
Unfortunately MSM and social media allow certain people to think we're fair game.
i live not far from there i'm really surprised that such a tiny little village barely a town would have such behaviour, its not like you pass through there to anywhere.
Maybe a very stupid prank by kids rather than an planned assult.
Sorry more likely grown up low-life cycle haters who should know better.
Surely if the car was following behind, then sped up until it was abreast and the rear seat passenger deliberatley pushed him, this was a planned assault. It may well have been kids initiating a very stupid prank, but it is still a planned assault; prank or not.
It also does not matter if this done on a country road in the middle of nowhere or the centre of a metropolis, it is still the same. I grew up in a small town with surrounding small villages and I guarantee that there were idiots and supposed hard cases from the immediate and surrounding areas who would not have given a toss about doing the same to the cyclist. Unfortunately too many people lack empathy, are too egocentic and narcissistic to give a damn about the consequencies of their actions.
Just typical of the lowlife in Hants and of the Police here. The lives of people on bikes are worth less than others.
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