Having fun with cyclists

[kiwigeo]

Just talked to a cycling buddy of mine today about a run in he had with a V8 ute driver yesterday.

My mate was riding along with two other cycling friends between Meadows and Ashton South Australia (early afternoon 5/2). They were riding single file wearing highly visible clothing and toting lights and not presenting an obstacle to traffic. Along comes a black ute and the passenger decides to lean out the window and whack my mates girlfriend on the #### as they go by. He misses and as the the two boof heads scream off they lose control of their ute and end up stacking it into a tree further up the road.

My mate got to the car and stopped to check how the driver and passenger were (I would have kept on riding). The passenger reaked of alcohol and was semi conscious while the driver obviously had something seriously wrong with his arm. The two idiots then attempted to flee the scene pleading with my mate not to call the police. By this time a number of other motorists who had witnessed the act of stupidity had stopped and the police had been called.

I haven't heard what happened after the police arrived but I hope they throw the book at these clowns. What these idiots did is dumber than the dumbest thing I've ever seen a cyclist do.

[InterTD6]

What these idiots did is dumber than the dumbest thing I've ever seen a cyclist do.

Sure it was stupid, but some of the things I have seen cycle couriers do in sydney defies belief.
regards inter

[AlexS]

Bewdiful!

[corbs]

Glad to hear that karma caught up with one idiot swiftly. It's because of tools like that, that I now record all my rides on a video camera mounted to my handlebars

[Woodwould]

It's because of tools like that, that I now record all my rides on a video camera mounted to my handlebars

It won't do you much good with a dozen or more cyclists in front of you all riding four-abreast.

[corbs]

I don't do group rides, I find that very few are well enough organised and you get situations like you have just alluded to. There's generally too much ego out there too with everyone wanting to ride first wheel. I would really like to think that poor cyclists are the minority but riding around Sydney there's a lot of idiot cyclists on the road. That said, I have no issue telling them that they're making it hard to be taken seriously as a road user when they continue to flaunt the rules.

Comparing bike couriers to cyclists is like comparing taxi drivers to all other cage drivers

[Sir Stinkalot]

Along comes a black ute and the passenger decides to lean out the window and whack my mates girlfriend on the #### as they go by. He misses and as the the two boof heads scream off they lose control of their ute and end up stacking it into a tree further up the road.

Your friend should contact the police and explain the events leading up to the tool hitting the tree. There could be charges for stupidity for the passenger as well as the other issues associated with the driver.

If you friends were going along at 40+ km\h a whack on the bum leading to a fall could do a lot of damage. Only way to stamp out the stupidity of the passenger and driver is to hit them as hard as you can with charges and perhaps they will spread the word to their other stupid mates.

[kiwigeo]

It won't do you much good with a dozen or more cyclists in front of you all riding four-abreast.

I made a point of stating in my original post that the three cyclists in question were riding in SINGLE file, wearing bright clothing and they also had front and rear lights on their bikes. The section of road they were on has enough room to allow them to ride off the carriage way...they were NOT impeding the traffic.

This is not a bunch of wanna be pros pack riding along a narrow city street (I have no time for these people). My friends were riding responsibly and obeying all the road rules when along came an idiot who decided to endanger the lives of both my friends, themselves and other motorists with a senseless and illegal act. At least two other motorists stopped and expressed their disgust at the ute driver's (and passenger's) behaviour..there is no way you could argue that the cyclists were at fault in this incident.

[kiwigeo]

Your friend should contact the police and explain the events leading up to the tool hitting the tree. There could be charges for stupidity for the passenger as well as the other issues associated with the driver.

If you friends were going along at 40+ kmh a whack on the bum leading to a fall could do a lot of damage. Only way to stamp out the stupidity of the passenger and driver is to hit them as hard as you can with charges and perhaps they will spread the word to their other stupid mates.

Two motorists stopped and one of them called the police before my friend could get his phone out. The motorist was more angry than my friend was at the whole incident. My friends were climbing a steep hill so they werent going very fast but my best mates girlfriend hasnt had her road bike very long and has just made the switch from a mountain bike....theres a very good chance she would have come off her bike if the passenger of the ute had made contact with her.

[Christos]

That's one point here to make.

You would not go slap a car or pedestrian.

[Woodwould]

I made a point of stating in my original post that the three cyclists in question were riding in SINGLE file, wearing bright clothing and they also had front and rear lights on their bikes. The section of road they were on has enough room to allow them to ride off the carriage way...they were NOT impeding the traffic.

This is not a bunch of wanna be pros pack riding along a narrow city street (I have no time for these people). My friends were riding responsibly and obeying all the road rules when along came an idiot who decided to endanger the lives of both my friends, themselves and other motorists with a senseless and illegal act. At least two other motorists stopped and expressed their disgust at the ute driver's (and passenger's) behaviour..there is no way you could argue that the cyclists were at fault in this incident.

I quoted corbs and made no reference to your post or your cyclist friends.

[kiwigeo]

I quoted corbs and made no reference to your post or your cyclist friends.

And Corbs in turn was responding to my original post. I dont see how pack riding cyclists have anything to do with motorists going out of their way to endanger the lives of cyclists as well as other motorists which was the subject of my original post.

Regards Martin

[Woodwould]

I dont see how pack riding cyclists have anything to do with motorists going out of their way to endanger the lives of cyclists as well as other motorists [...]

It doesn't. As stated, I was responding to corbs and the subject of his camera. The glory of these forums is that they diversify and flourish. You don't own this thread and can't dictate its direction. Surely that's an end of it now?

[A Duke]

Hi,
A frightening incident
If you slap some one from a moving car you usually end up with a broken arm not to mention worse damage to the slapee. But as this mob was driving so badly they hit a tree it's a miracle they didn't mow all the cyclists down.
I hope they get a nice long holiday at tax payers expense to contemplate the errors of their ways.
Regards

[rsser]

FWIW I had a mini-bus driver come so close to me I had to swerve into the gutter to avoid being hit. When I caught up with him at the next Stop sign and confronted him, his reply was that he was teaching me a lesson for riding too far out on the road.

I tried to take a shot of the vehicle and no. plate with the mobile phone but was too rattled to make it work.

I ride with flashing LED lights front and back at all times because apart from malevolent individuals there are some drivers who don't register anything smaller than a car in their field of view.