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close shave this morning

Posted: 11 Jan 2017, 20:39
by ratzzzzz
Riding to Marrickville this morning for the Lapa ride I got passed extremely closely by a car. Asking advice on whether its worth following up, anyone had any experience? or whether its not worth the bother and I just forget about it.

I was heading down king st? where it splits into King and Enmore rd. I stopped at the lights at Wilson st and was in the left lane but moved over to the right lane as a car pulled up behind me and theres only 50m or so until the road splits and I ride down enmore rd. As the lights changed to green a car pulled up behind me in the right lane. The car in the left lane passed in the left lane, the car behind me honked his horn, I was shooting for the left hand lane of enmore rd and was on the right hand side of the lane when the guy went passed middle finger extended. My impression was that he went purposely close. I have a fly12 so its recorded and you can see the numberplate.

It did give me a bit of a shake up but as everyone knows its not uncommon and this isn't the closest I've had. I'm not desperate to follow it up but maybe it'll stop someone else getting the abuse that I got. Thoughts welcome.
Ben

vid - https://www.dropbox.com/s/uamh6uijwtdh6 ... 5.mp4?dl=0

ugh can't get pics to work?
https://cl.ly/021c1g3A3t3P
https://cl.ly/0K012B3c0p2j

Re: close shave this morning

Posted: 11 Jan 2017, 21:20
by mikesbytes
Post it over here http://bicycles.net.au/forums/viewtopic ... 12&t=58039 There's a number of guys who have submitted evidence to the police and has resulted in the offender being ticketed.

The impression I get from the account is this is a person who does this again and again, that will eventually result in someone being hurt, so if you do manage to get him booked it will hopefully protect someone in the future

Re: close shave this morning

Posted: 12 Jan 2017, 17:33
by Stuart
Report it to Newtown police. Take the photos and video on a usb or CD

Re: close shave this morning

Posted: 13 Jan 2017, 11:47
by mikesbytes
I'm in agreement with Stuart that it should be reported. The reason I'm suggesting reposting on Bicycles.net.au is that there are a number of people there who are experienced with submitting to the police department.

A portion of the police department are only really interested in booking for offenses with easy metrics to quantify, which is speeding and drink driving. Offenses that aren't as clearly defined are seen by some police as being too much effort and the problem with this is that once a law isn't enforced then everyone will treat it with disregard.

Re: close shave this morning

Posted: 17 Jan 2017, 19:59
by marc2131
On Saturday 31 January, I came across a rather unnecessarily aggressive male driver in a immaculate bright red late model Ford or Holden Colorado (?) type truck. He drove way too close to me along an empty Hardy St, Hurlstone Pk (at 6.11am). I ignored this thinking it was a simple mistake. Came across him again when he was parked at either a bakery or a news agent near the corner of Marrickville and New Canterbury Rds in Dulwich Hill. This time he did it again. There was no other traffic to force him to push me aside like that. This time I politely shouted out. He stopped at the lights at Wardell St and I told him what he'd done. The middle aged numb nut told me there was no legal reason for him to keep a distance from me even though I told him about the 1 metre rule. I then told him I had video of this incident which is when he flipped. He then pointed to his NRMA shirt (obviously an employee) and appeared to indicate he was above the law. At that point I just moved on. This nasty drives south along Marrickville Rd at about 6.20am every Saturday (heading towards Sydenham?). Be on the lookout and be careful with this weirdo.
I will make sure my camera is charged up and get his license plate number next time.

Re: close shave this morning

Posted: 18 Jan 2017, 09:44
by jcaley
One common wisdom is that no useful conversation will ever occur between a person riding a bicycle and the person driving a vehicle in such a situation - despite your rage and the apparant need to inform them about what they have done wrong.

Re: close shave this morning

Posted: 21 Jan 2017, 17:26
by Katie U
This is so true John and most of the time you are not the best state to be providing a calm and convincing argument - not that we need to be explaining ourselves ! I would encourage you to follow it up. People aren't going to learn otherwise that it is not normal to have a grudge against cyclists and intentionally put their lives at risk.

Re: close shave this morning

Posted: 29 Jan 2017, 12:25
by ratzzzzz
Should prob update:
I took the video into the Newtown police - I thought it might be a waste of time. The officer watched the video, said that the guy was a jerk and was driving very dangerously. We went into an interview room and ran his plates - lets just say he didn't have a clean record. The officer asked me what I wanted to happen -I said I didn't want anyone else to get harassed, in another similar scenario someone could come down or get hit. He took down my story and kept the footage, I signed the statement. The officer said we might not be able to change his attitude but hopefully he could change his behaviour. He rang the guy and gave him a blast down the phone, he also mentioned that most bike riders have cameras now which I thought was a nice touch. He told the guy he would be getting a letter in the post - I think it was for $350. It took about 30 minutes and was really easy, the Officer was definitely really supportive and in my corner - happy with the result!

Re: close shave this morning

Posted: 29 Jan 2017, 19:58
by Eleri
That is great! Well done you and worth following up.

Re: close shave this morning

Posted: 29 Jan 2017, 20:16
by mikesbytes
+1 Clearly this is someone who presents danger to others. Your action has possibly saved someone else from injury or worse

Re: close shave this morning

Posted: 30 Jan 2017, 20:44
by humanbeing
Nice one Ben, a win for the good guys :D

close shave this morning

Posted: 31 Jan 2017, 11:05
by JoTheBuilder
That's great! Sounds like you got a sympathetic cop too.


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