British cyclist to miss Tour of Britain after being hit by driver who tried to "squeeze huge 4x4 past at high speed" on country lane blind bend before returning to "verbally abuse and threaten" female rider

If can try and put your mind at ease, I've lost count of the number of incidents that I have reported to the Greater Manchester Police over recent years.  I always tick the "agree to attend court" tickbox as I'm worried the police will not attempt to take any further action if I don't tick it.  It usually takes me around 15 minutes to complete the form and a similar amount of time to edit the video evidence before submitting it to them.

On the plus side, I've never been contacted once to attend court and the GMP does make the effort to let you know if they are taking things further.  Something they started doing after I left them some feedback on the website.

I do agree that it would be nice if there were a common portal for all police forces.  They do seem to have similar forms, but not identical.

I've never been contacted once to attend court and the GMP does make the effort to let you know if they are taking things further.  Something they started doing after I left them some feedback on the website

I smell several rats here! I agree that the police never taking any of these countless alleged offenders to court sounds authentic. The police starting to do something after 'feedback on the website' is unheard of. 'Making the effort' sounds like the letter where they say they are doing one of several things, but they won't tell you what it is- that means they did nothing or possible sent an 'advice letter'. Lancashire, before they stopped responding at all, adopted a variant where 'doing nothing at all' was one of the possibilities offered for 'action'.

I would hope for more than that, surely a prison sentence for knowingly assaulting someone with a 2 tonne metal weapon and then fleeing the scene?

As the judge will also be a driver, then we can expect a £300 fine and 3 points. In the UK the highway culture is highly toxic, getting worse, amplified by police, CPS, juries and judges who don't cycle, are clueless about this culture, and view people on push bikes as poor/stupid/jobless and need to be taught a lesson by close passing or hitting with a two tonne machine. 

You forgot Nick Freeman, and probably lot's more!

JLasTSR wrote:

What a truly unpleasant person. Who goes back and berates the person they have crashed. I do hope the victim gets well soon.

Is that better or worse than going back and asking the police to breath test the cyclist? 

https://beyondthekerb.org.uk/the-incompetence-paradox/

mdavidford wrote:

CCTV? On a 'narrow country lane'? Is this a 'mistranslation' of 'on-board camera', or did the perp really manage to get extremely unlucky?

I'd guess CCTV might mean from commercial premises, doorbells etc on roads leading into and out of the area allowing the police to narrow it down to a fairly small group of vehicles that could have been on the road in question at the time; Kate has at least some idea of the type of vehicle and one would presume a good description of the driver so that should all help with tracing him, though not actually proving he was at fault (though in any sane legal system the fact that he did a runner should prove that beyond reasonable doubt).

Some now drive a "Mini" which is anything but...

And many more who didn't seem to learn to drive, at all.

This is not about misjudging gaps, it's the massive (and wholly misplaced) sense of entitlement that is the issue with too many drivers.

But overtaking at speed on a single track road, knocking someone off their bike then returning, not to apologise, but to verbally abuse the victim - that takes a special kind of pathetic, bullying c**t. He deserves to end up in a ditch himself and his car written off.

I hope Kate gets her physical fitness and her confidence back soon.

"The police/CPS don't want to protect us..." is a thoroughly ignorant comment. 14 years of cuts, choas and carnage in the pubilc sector has meant that those charged with "protecting us" just don't have the manpower/budget to do all they'd wish to. The Police Service has been hollowed out, (where have all the traffic Officers gone?) Prosecutors struggle under a mountain of cases and, as ever, it's the public that pay the price. So, no it's not "don't want to" we just no longer have the all the tools or time or the staff or the money to fulfill our mission; remember that on 4th July.

jaymack wrote:

(where have all the traffic Officers gone?)

The dismantling of Road Policing Units began in 2002 when the Blair government decided that road safety could simply be implemented by getting rid of thousands of highly trained and skilled traffic officers (most of them returned to beat duty or retrained as armed response) and replacing them with civilians sat in the back of vans operating speed cameras. At the time, the local "partnerships" were able to retain the revenue collected and use it to fund more civilians in camera vans. A massive pyramid scheme, which has led us to a generation of drivers who think that speed is the sole factor in road safety, and little or no deterrent of other offences (ever wondered why nobody seems to think they'll get caught with no insurance, using their phone, defective tyres, driving like a c**t, etc?) The only way back is to bring in the Road Policing Units similar to their previous levels of personnel and training, who can educate as well as enforce. 

I personally don't think that there's a government in waiting of any colour that will do this, and until one does, nothing will change regarding road policing. 

You are of course absolutely right about the dismanteling of Road Policy Units but let's not forget that we've had a 24% cut in road traffic officers since 2012. You can prove anything with statistics, even the truth!

If it weren't for the constant stream of reports from cyclists who have been brushed off, dismissed and threatened with counter charges by police for reporting, as well as the refusal to build reporting portals despite being given the cash, I might believe that.
You may want to and be constrained by budget, but many in the force are, at best dismissal, and more likely contemptuous of cyclists.

The police/CPS don't want to protect us..." is a thoroughly ignorant comment.

You're quite right.  That's very poorly phrased and I withdraw it.  I'm personally friends with serving police officers that I think are very decent people.

You can take my comment as a poorly worded sign of frustration about a long term political failure to tackle poor and persistant aggressive driving.

When you can see almost daily videos online of aggresive driving and experience it on rides and then see only soft sentencing it's... frustrating.

I don't think I've ever heard of a driver having their licence permantly revoked in the UK even when they've killed multiple times.  That's a sign that the will isn't there.

If an amateur like Cycling Mikey can regualarly film drivers on the wrong side of the road but those drivers get let off because they know the right people it's ...frustrating.

We've even had people report aggresive dirving, with video evidence, and the result being the police threatening them for swearing.

The tabloids are full of guff about the "War on Drivers" but as far I can see only one side is actually hurting people and getting away with it.