ALWAYS REPORT SCUM DRIVERS

[Saracen]

Sorry for capitals

 

[thelarkbox]

Good clear pic of the plate did you get a swing with a d-lock in??

 

[matthewslack]

Has he hit your mirror?

(What's the red thing?) Ok got that one- helmet cam! I use a bar cam.

Be careful publishing plate, can affect prosecution.

 

[Ghost1951]

Report him. Far too close.

 

[soundwave]

you need body armor to race ram rovers and no speed limit on the pavement

 

[guerney]

@Saracen - it's best to keep them away in the first place! I was inspired by @WheezyRider's 3D printed gizmo...

https://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum/threads/traffic-boom-legal.38198/

...also inspired by @matthewslack's solution for his solar trailer (can't find the original pic), to make this:

Things like that don't happen to me anymore.

Prevention is the best course of action, anyone can make a contraption which does the same - it's all very well reporting scum drivers after the fact, but you've allowed them to put you at unnecessary risk by not taking matters into your own hands, therefore this sort of thing will continue to occur.

@trevor brooker has also made a sidearm:

https://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum/threads/stop-close-passing-for-about-a-tenner.44836/


This short (untested) sidearm costs even less than that. Depending on how testing goes, I might need to reinforce the bottle cap with an internal washer and an external superglue + bicarbonate of soda layer.





In my experience, drivers wait to overtake at a safe distance, if you look too wide.

However, if you enjoy skewering drivers after they've risked your safety by passing too close, keep calm and carry on. The choice is yours, what will you do WHAT WILL YOU DO?!?!!??

 

[Saracen]

Here is the scumbag

 

[jamesporritt]

Here is the scumbag

Private video. Not viewable.

 

[Saracen]

Sorry my bad and MY horn not his

 

[matthewslack]

Before:



After:

 

[guerney]

Before:

View attachment 58458

After:

View attachment 58457

Bloody hell that looks wide. Don't want whatever that thing is sticking out touching my motor. It's striped too, stripey things spell trouble throughout nature. I'll drink more beer, check my faceaches and texts, watch a bit of telly, swipe Tinders and play a game until it goes away, or wait till a safe place to overtake turns up.

 

[Nealh]

Matthews sticky out thing is just a piece of foam pipe insulation.
On one of his rides the plod spoke to him after some knob in car reported him because of it.
The thing is if folks think it is solid or will scratch there metal tin they will keep their distance so the illusion of it is enough to send panic into their empty heads.

 

[guerney]

Matthews sticky out thing is just a piece of foam pipe insulation.
On one of his rides the plod spoke to him after some knob in car reported him because of it.
The thing is if folks think it is solid or will scratch there metal tin they will keep their distance so the illusion of it is enough to send panic into their empty heads.

Even the obviously plastic Oxford lollipop reflector sticking out from my right hand side handlebar-end stops drivers overtaking too close. I haven't experienced a close pass since. These sidearm things really work, but they have to extend out far enough - the Oxford on the rear rack is useless, not out far enough. The bike must look too wide to zoom past close at some stupid speed. It's important to make them so that steering isn't affected, if the sidearm is collided with.

 

[matthewslack]

I didn't report this one, because the driver immediately stopped, knew they were in the wrong and apologised.

The car didn't hit me: I hit the car, it was in easy reach in front of my handlebars!

GoPro Shared Link

gopro.com

 

[guerney]

I didn't report this one, because the driver immediately stopped, knew they were in the wrong and apologised.

The car didn't hit me: I hit the car, it was in easy reach in front of my handlebars!

GoPro Shared Link

gopro.com

Was that in Wales? Overtaking ahead of a bend like that is mental. Dude's a menace. Would he have overtaken further away (or not at all) and safely crashed into the oncoming car, if you'd had an Oxford lollipop on your right hand side handlebar? By "Safely", I mean safe for you, because the crash would have occured further away from your bike... unless the other car pushed that car and/or car parts at you. Hairy situation and potentially very nasty.

 

[matthewslack]

My substantial trailer is behind me, with slightly degraded floppy GuerniCar deflector, and they still overtook!

The driver, as well as apologetic, was a low confidence driver, and had succumbed to substantial pressure to overtake from the blue car rammed up their tailgate.

I was apoplectic at the time, I have never before had a vehicle corner invade the space beside my front wheel in front of my handlebar, but it was low speed, good conditions, and worse things happened later!

 

[guerney]

My substantial trailer is behind me, with slightly degraded floppy GuerniCar deflector, and they still overtook!

I didn't want to mention, it did look floppy and worse for wear in one of your recent pics, and unlikely to be complained to the rozzers about, misidentified as a steel bar.

The driver, as well as apologetic, was a low confidence driver, and had succumbed to substantial pressure to overtake from the blue car rammed up their tailgate.

They would have been even more apologetic if you'd lost a leg. I would have reported that driver. On the bright side, maybe they've crashed since and given up driving.

worse things happened later!

Oh no! Have you got vids and pics?

Before I installed theGuerneySiderating Illumimaker™℠ ®© , drivers would underestimate my speed despite my bike travelling at <25kph, despite dangerous potential obstacles being visible, and attempt to overtake ahead of traffic islands or oncoming traffic... only to screech to a halt directly to my right, to avoid collision. Now they lurk behind and wait.

On very narrow roads, I temporarily fold it inwards a bit.

 

[matthewslack]

It's the subject of a likely dangerous driving charge, so not publishing images or video yet.

Like @Saracen, it was a car plus caravan overtake, with oncoming traffic, in a 40mph limit with overtaking vehicle doing 40. My trailer means I got enough space, but the oncoming car was squeezed to the kerb, forced to almost stop, and was missed by about 100mm.

Car had bikes on the roof!

 

[Saracen]

Was that in Wales? Overtaking ahead of a bend like that is mental. Dude's a menace. Would he have overtaken further away (or not at all) and safely crashed into the oncoming car, if you'd had an Oxford lollipop on your right hand side handlebar? By "Safely", I mean safe for you, because the crash would have occured further away from your bike... unless the other car pushed that car and/or car parts at you. Hairy situation and potentially very nasty.

NO I would have reported it 100% as they will do it again

 

[matthewslack]

NO I would have reported it 100% as they will do it again

You are absolutely right. Problem in Scotland is we do not have Operation Snap to easily make reports, and on a long day involving some main road sections, it is rare to go even a mile without an incident! I have to be selective for now, but one day I may well publish a greatest (almost) hits album!

This is how it goes.

Something happens, I have one or two cameras running which capture it, I have a GoPro Remote which allows me to mark a highlight to find the incident easily later. At my next significant break, lunchtime or more often evening, I make clips, upload them, and email contactus@scotland.police.uk, effectively giving a statement to them, including the video clips and a still of each relevant number plate.

They will send me an incident number, tell me someone will contact me, completely ignore all the detail in my email, and not pass it on to the police station that they know the incident will be handled by.

Some days later usually more than one, I will get a call, and be asked to attend the handling police station to give a statement. I average 60 to 100 miles per day, so I am no longer in that area. Then we'll make an appointment, often two or three days in the future, at a police station I can be confident of reaching in that timescale, I will turn up at the appointed time, and most of the time I will not be expected, and that station's staff can be very hard to convince that I need to make a statement about something that happened several days and hundreds of miles away, on behalf of the station local to the incident. As often as not they don't take a statement because they don't think that procedure allows it.

And so most of the time, the 14 days to issue the notice of intended prosecution elapses before my statement is taken, and so likely that most of my reports go nowhere.

You would think that I would be able to simply call in at a police station as I pass through, but no. You need an appointment. So when I tried to report the close pass by the blue truck in #8 of
https://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum/threads/how-close.47356/#post-716096

I couldn't, and despite contactus@scotland.police.uk knowing about it at 21:10 on June 12th, and me giving a statement in Oban on 19th June after I got home, as yet no call back.

It is a waste of my time to report all but the most serious issues to the police.

This is not a front-line staff issue, they are universally fantastic in my experience. It will be partly down to resources, but after two years of reporting my conclusion is that the reporting mechanism is not fit for purpose.

What I have found that works very well is when the offender is commercial, contact the company. They will usually take it seriously and respond promptly.

The non-emergency 101 phone number is a waste of time except during the early hours of the morning. Always too busy.