Near Miss of the Day 825: Police refuse to prosecute because cyclist swore after driver pulled out on him

Someone did this to me today. I didn't have quite the same reaction. It's extremely irritating and it shouldn't happen but I must say I am not planning to report mine. They waited until the last moment but often you just know what is coming.

Why are you not going to report it? The next time the cyclist may not be as experienced as you and the consequences may be very different. The police may do nothing if you do report it but they will definitely do nothing if you don’t.

I think Rendel's essentially re-iterated my point above in his solicitor conversation with a slightly different slant - the conflict was predictable and although the motorist was in the wrong, it was entirely foreseeable and it suggests seeking conflict rather than avoiding it. In the end the onus is on all road users to avoid incidents, so I am leaning towards it almost being a pre-meditated conflict "That person is going to pull out on me, how dare they?"

Depending on circumstance, I am not above taking a position to make a point but as soon as I've done that, I recognise that I have not taken the path of least risk and am unlikely to gain sympathy if it all goes wrong, and usually I've got an idea of what I would say, which if course never comes out as you hope!

You can hear the conversation - "You could see the car, why didn't you avoid it?" "Because I was in the right." "And how is the fractured skull?"

While I take your point I wasn’t referring to this incident I was referring to ooblyboo’s experience where they say the driver pulled out at the last minute. A slightly different scenario with no swearing. It happened to me when I restarted commuting after a few years off. I made eye contact and thought it was safe to proceed but the car pulled out and I went over the bonnet. It was a few years ago and I managed to roll as I landed but still had bruised ribs and discomfort for quite a few days. The driver was apologetic and it wasn’t taken further but I reckon he wouldn’t do it again. That was around 20 years ago and driving has got worse since. I have seen it happen and, like most on here, I like to think I would avoid a good few incidents including the one here and probably ooblyboo’s. That’s not the point though. If we are going to get people cycling it’s no good expecting them to be experienced from the start and things like this will put off many. That’s why I think we need to report. At best it’s inconsiderate, it verges on bullying and it has the potential to be dangerous.

I think we'll have to agree to disagree.

Oh, I don't think we are disagreeing, though actually I think most beginning cyclists would be defensive rather than riding at pace but getting into more scrapes because of positioning. I think generally the feeling is that beginners get into more trouble because they are timid.

Going back to the original video, I might backtrack a bit because I got the impression due to angles that the car had already crept but looking again it is pretty much a SMIDSY and the braking time is not great - I think the path on exit says they are oblivious to the cyclist. However, the hazard was visible from the start and in a car I would still be half expecting them to force their way out - it is not a cyclist only problem.

"Depending on circumstance, I am not above taking a position to make a point"

When taking primary position before a blind bend it's indeed to make a point:
to prevent dangerous overtaking, *because* you can see it coming so obviously.
When we ride assertively it's to make exactly this point: "Do take me seriously, because I've every right to be here (and indeed more so than you, because I'm in front of you)! And you have no right whatsoever to endanger me for a tiny litle bit of convenience!"

Awavey wrote:

Look swearing just as an initial shock reaction, youd probably get away with as long as it wasnt too offensive a verbal volley, but the type of persistent verbal abuse as shown in this video plus slapping on the side of the vehicle, thats very hard for the police to ignore and accept it's not gone over the line of acceptable behaviour because the cyclist was just in shock, the driver could rightly counter claim the cyclist is committing an act of assault there, just for an apparent minor mistake they made, and the HC does remind road users to allow for others to make mistakes,and not to get road ragey about it. Consequently no, especially where the appears to be no physical harm to each other or damage caused, the police arent going to follow up on cases like that. My advice would be to learn to bite your tongue more and easier said than done but dont overreact to those situations. Yes the car pulled out, it shouldn't have done, yes its annoying, yes slamming the brakes on isnt what you need or want to do, but if you are riding frequently these kinds of situations are going to come up alot so you need to be prepared to deal with them.

Good advice - let your camera/police do the talking for you. In my experience it takes some practice to not react angrily, but it's worth learning.

There is actually some science behind swearing as a response to physical pain, which you can relate to every time you hit your thumb with a hammer. There was even an IgNobel awarded for the work*. Search hard enough and there is some scientific speculation that the same mechanisms are so at work with psychological pain.
*https://journals.lww.com/neuroreport/abstract/2009/08050/swearing_as_a_r...

No physical pain with the cyclist.. just angry yelling at poor driving; the old primal screaming therapy has been rejected as bad science as well.

<em>Good advice - let your camera/police do the talking for you. In my experience it takes some practice to not react angrily, but it's worth learning</em>

Makes no difference. It's just a police dodge- the decision was already made that they weren't going to do anything, and they roll out this excuse as a routine when they think they can get away with it

History teaches us that Police officers behave wisely once they've exhausted all other options. So, my advice  as someone used to making charging decisions is to lodge a complaint and keep complaining 'till you're satisfied. I can't see the victim of a physical assault being told that their assailant isn't going to be prosecuted 'cos they swore at thier attacker. 

Then youd know full well the cyclist committed a section 4 public order act breach in the way they continued to react to the incident, possibly even escalating to common assault/road rage that any decent defence lawyer for the driver would present to a court.

And I say again the HC guidance says you have to allow other road users to make mistakes and not react with road rage.

People keep highlighting just the swearing, but the police line specifically says "conduct" thats the combination of the swearing, the slapping of the car, plus the threatening behaviour.

I think the problem was the intensely personal nature of the swearing and the anger evident in the slapping of the car, whilst understandable to a cyclist  it would be hard to argue it was warranted to a bunch of "civilians".

I think I'd be too ashamed of my own behaviour to send this one in, though I do appreciate it was probably a bad shock manifestation.

I'd put this down to experience.

Awavey wrote:

Look swearing just as an initial shock reaction, youd probably get away with as long as it wasnt too offensive a verbal volley, but the type of persistent verbal abuse as shown in this video plus slapping on the side of the vehicle, thats very hard for the police to ignore and accept it's not gone over the line of acceptable behaviour because the cyclist was just in shock, the driver could rightly counter claim the cyclist is committing an act of assault there, just for an apparent minor mistake they made, and the HC does remind road users to allow for others to make mistakes,and not to get road ragey about it.

Consequently no, especially where the appears to be no physical harm to each other or damage caused, the police arent going to follow up on cases like that.

My advice would be to learn to bite your tongue more and easier said than done but dont overreact to those situations.

Yes the car pulled out, it shouldn't have done, yes its annoying, yes slamming the brakes on isnt what you need or want to do, but if you are riding frequently these kinds of situations are going to come up alot so you need to be prepared to deal with them.

Exactly this. Even without the hindsight of knowing a dodgy pullout was coming due to it being a NMotD, that driver was showing every sign of not having seen (or not caring about) the cyclist. In that situation, the best move is to anticipate the problem and remove the risk.as far as possible. This is was not one that I would have been reporting. Yes, I would have expressed my frustration and displeasure but no I wouldn't have sworn repeatedly or to the extent that this rider did nor would I have slapped the car with a lone female occupant. I save that level of reaction for those incidents where I really see my life flash before me and feared death not the relatively benign ones I could and should have anticipated and avoided. Reacting in that way is never going to do you any favours. Even with the sound muted it would be clear the reaction was more aggressive than any shock at events would explain.

I suspect this kinda reflects our view of road crime as "not real crime" - certainly not if there's no blood or bodies.  It then becomes a "six of one..." judgement by the police, because potentially injuring or killing someone is seen as broadly equivalent to calling someone a bad name.

Or the police are just keen to avoid work that doesn't feed in to whatever priority targets they have.

Boopop wrote:

I still think the police should prosecute, however using gendered insults like "stupid cow" is a pretty bad look, and to me at least stinks of misogyny.

He is insulting her because of what she did, not because of what she is. Had he called her a "stupid woman" that also would be gendered. It becomes misogyny if he is insulting her because she is a woman, rather than just because he thinks she is stupid.

If I hear someone insult a woman by calling them a "bitch" or a "cow" to me that comes across as implying they did the stupid thing because of their gender, as well as criticising the stupid thing.

If it had been a male driver, I suspect the cyclist would have reacted identically but with the likely epithet of stupid prick upon seeing the driver was a man; I very much doubt that gender was the issue here.

The stereotype of women having lesser driving ability than men is largely untrue, however in a stressful situation such as an accident, men tend to have a less panicked reaction than women, who tend to freeze, close eyes and scream..

Would it be better in this situation to use the totally non-gendered "stupid pig?'' It is possible he was using "cow'' as a broad reference to "cattle,'' as many people do, and meant nothing sexist by it at all. Or maybe he's accustomed to riding in farm country where stupid cows do sometimes wander into the road and get in the way. 

cmedred wrote:

Would it be better in this situation to use the totally non-gendered "stupid pig?'' It is possible he was using "cow'' as a broad reference to "cattle,'' as many people do, and meant nothing sexist by it at all. Or maybe he's accustomed to riding in farm country where stupid cows do sometimes wander into the road and get in the way. 

I like to try and think the best of people, but have you ever heard a guy insulted as a cow? I haven't.

So if it were a bloke and it was fucking dickhead would that be misandry ?

Oh dear.. calling a woman driver a stupid cow may be rude and abusive but misogyny? Misogyny is hatred of, contempt for, or prejudice against women in general; just because a male cyclist verbally abuses a female driver for potentially putting his life at risk doesn't constitute misogyny.