[Closed] God forgives….apparently. Should I??

Just move on and enjoy life

one of their drunk drivers

A perfectly good rant, but being at a pub doesn't mean the driver would be drunk (or even have had any alcohol).

In my old job getting done for drunk driving in work time was gross misconduct/instant dismissal.

Report to company and the police?

I wouldn't mention that you slapped his car.

If you could prove driver was drunk, definitely 2 and 3.
If you can't, probably 1 but possibly consider 2 without the 'drunk driver' comment; let the employer decide on what to do.

I was once run into by an RNLI man, apparently on a shout. Seems that saving lives at sea takes precedence over saving lives on the road. (It was a long time ago now, and I've calmed down but still...)

It happens too often - Monday this week was my most recent. The dark nights have freed any road sense from my local drivers.

If you thought he was a drunk you should have reported it to the police straight away, not waited to you got home and post on a forum asking if you should report it to the company without proof.

I reckon the key word here is [i]nearly[/i].

What I do with 'nearly's, is watch them back and think, ooh, that was shit. Then move on. Unless it's a bus, or a liveried van, then I'd report them. Some obviously pissed, drunk loads, followed by chasers and a snog off the barmaid (yes, johndoh, that definitely all happened) dickhead nearly got me? Move on. Or stick it on youtube with a nice rant in the description to look back on later.

i have to nearly get run over every day

I think I have to say something here, but first:

I don't condone poor driving of which there is loads
I don't want to victim-blame

But

This has only happened to me once or twice ever, in loads of commuting and road riding - is there maybe something you can do to mitigate others' poor driving? I have to ride defensively, and I shouldn't, but it's the way things are.

Having said that - definitely send it in to police if you have the footage. They won't do anything if they think it's not a big deal, and they won't know it's a big deal if people don't send in evidence. The more footage we all send in the harder it will be for them to ignore it.

Oh…i never thought he was drunk. My vindictive self wants to make his life hard work for a while knowing the company he works for would have instant dismissal if found drunk. Might be a disciplinary or a few words to start with.

Option 1. Deep breath.

I should take solace in the fact my calmness at the time absolutely enraged him. To the point he stopped at the roundabout ahead with who knows what objectives. I was going the other way anyway.

@molgrips there is only so much you can do when drivers give you 2cm of space trying to squeeze past. Regardless of whether i ride in the gutters or 1.5m from the kerb.

But fair point. As you say, it is what it is and better to ride defensively.

On the other hand...
I overtook a cyclist who decided to swerve into me and kick the car putting a dent in the side. I pulled over and got out. He shit himself and backed down. I was all calm and told him he was a militant dick and there had been plenty of room for me to overtake him. We calmly went our separate ways.

I still regret this. I should have given him a kicking and done some damage to his bike. Still feel that I let myself down that day.

I overtook a cyclist who decided to swerve into me and kick the car putting a dent in the side.

Must be a pretty skilful rider to swerve far enough out and kick your car hard enough to dent it without taking themselves out, if you were at a safe distance. I suspect that you were closer than you thought, and if you're close enough to be kicked, you're too close..

Stanley if you were close enough for your car to be kicked you were too close. 1.5 metres minimum space is required. Unless he has incredibly long legs and amazing balance?
I’ve never kicked out at a car, but have had a few disagreements about the space I’ve been left, a lot of folk don’t realise how scary or disconcerting a close pass is. I’ve ridden road for decades, raced lots in fast packs, so I’m not a some sort of newbie to the road, but I do hate close passes especially by folks who clearly think they’ve given plenty of space when they obviously haven’t.

i slapped his door a few time to let him know i was there.

For once i stayed perfectly calm.

One of these things is not the same as the other thing.

Nope I've slapped cars quite calmly when they get too close.

It can be done. They blatently have not seen me they need reminded.

Reporting to the police has nothing to do with how you feel. Report it. It might save someone else’s life. If nothing else and at the very least you are adding to the pressure on the police to take action against careless driving.

Report to the employer. You don’t know the driver was drunk. You do know where they were. A responsible employer will take proportionate measure in response. It’s not for you to second guess what the employer will or won’t do, but if you do nothing that driver will never change.

I got a bit shouty one day cycling to school with my kids. It turned out the driver i’d had a go at was a fellow parent who recognised why I was upset, apologised and had thought about an action he took for granted and changed his behaviour.

I've not been on the road much for a while and not ridden to work for a handful of years. Purely for safety reasons. Driving on the road is bad enough. I do my absolute best to drive safely around all other road users. Makes it difficult to train so I'm stuck to the turbo between MTB rides.

Stanley if you were close enough for your car to be kicked you were too close. 1.5 metres minimum space is required. Unless he has incredibly long legs and amazing balance?
I’ve never kicked out at a car, but have had a few disagreements about the space I’ve been left, a lot of folk don’t realise how scary or disconcerting a close pass is. I’ve ridden road for decades, raced lots in fast packs, so I’m not a some sort of newbie to the road, but I do hate close passes especially by folks who clearly think they’ve given plenty of space when they obviously haven’t.

Not too close. He looked over his shoulder as I was approaching him, then began to swerve out causing me to swerve almost into oncoming traffic. I was about 3m out from the curb at this point. He was an aggressive, bell-end.

Anyway, the point is, I regret not being more "Assertive" in my actions towards him following his actions and criminal damage to my car.

2 and 3 all day long but I'm an [s]angry bugger[/s] daily cycle commuter too.

To answer the question (which I failed to do above) yes report it. Leave out anything like "he was drunk". You do t know that. Stick to the facts and if he was genuinely a wrongun he'll get what's coming to him. He won't change if not pulled up on it.

God will forgive them. He'll forgive them and allow them into Heaven. I can't live with that.

You know what you need to do. Make him pay. With his life.

Have a bottle on the bike filled with brake fluid?

* don’t forget and take a swig by mistake?

Option 4 like i did.
Think **** it I've had enough of doing my bit for the environment and drive instead. My stress levels are far better even when I'm stuck not moving listening to radio4.
It's not my fault the environment loses because the government can't provide safe infrastructure for me to pedal on or education for drivers to not attempt to kill me or to give the courts adequate powers that my wife would have some justice when I'm killed to death pedalling home from work.

If it is a real near miss upload it for via website. My local plod have been quite good following things up, never more than a warning letter/call other than one sent on a course but it all helps. Oh and one old lady handed back her license when she saw what she'd done.

It’s not my fault

It is really though

It’s not my fault
It is really though

I'm not Boris!🤔

God forgives

yeah, jesus loves him too, but the rest of us think he’s a ****.

God forgives….apparently. Should I??

You are Not God but striving to be one. The standard is high for a mere mortal with shortcomings like all of us. Therefore, it is Not good to measure up to God.

Whatever you do don't bottle it up because that's no good for your mental health.

If you wish to rage then RRRRAAaaagggeeee! (death metal voice)

Have a bit of punch up if you wish in the middle of the road but try not to over do it coz you don't want to cause bodily harm to the other person, God will definitely not forgive you for over doing it.

However, if you think you are on the path to sainthood then just forgive and forget coz life is too short to bother.

Is where he works relevant?

Report to the police all day long but,  unless he's a professional driver, can't see the point in reporting him to his employer.

Jesus loves you but I'm his favourite.

So i slapped his door a few time

And you lost.

I’ve never kicked out at a car

Oh, I have! Riding into town, slow-ish moving traffic, so I’m already fairly close to the kerb, and a car comes alongside and just keeps moving in towards me, to the point my tyre is rubbing the kerb, and I have barely enough room to kick sideways! I think I was perfectly justified in leaving some marks on his/her passenger door, otherwise I would have been lying on the pavement with my wheels likely under the car, almost certainly suffering injuries. There’s a left turn just in front, which goes up the the station and college, it’s entirely possible the driver was going to just turn across in front of me with zero regard for my presence.
I had another at the bottom of my road, where a car was waiting to my right, the driver looked straight at me, then pulled out and almost hit me, he was again right alongside, forcing me up against the kerb, until I banged on his roof!
He actually looked straight into my eyes and then turned out, wilful stupidity, or deliberate, I don’t know, but I was really pissed at both drivers. And that’s as a driver. 🤬

Wow, stanley must have met the toughest cyclist in the world - a cyclist who deliberately serves into an overtaking car, and can dent the car with a kick while remaining on his bike.

... either that or stanley made the whole thing up, I just cannot decide which.

2.

But leave it a couple of months before you pour hydraulic fluid over his bonnet 😉

I had a mate who used to cycle to work and was fed up with getting bullied into the kerb by car drivers.
He had a sock or similar filled with old scrap tungsten carbide lathe tool tips to hand. Any car driver who shoved him, tooted him, screamed at him out of the passenger window whilst passing , etc, had his quarter lights taken out in short order.

^’cos that’s cool.

FFS

Can we all not just get along?

Getting a bit sick of drivers thinking its perfectly acceptable to kill or try to kill a road cyclist

I think you should tone down this idea. The vast majority of problems are just that people make mistakes out of carelessness, not intent. No, carelessness doesn't make it ok, but it's a lot easier to get on with your day if you accept that the other person is an idiot who made a dumb mistake than someone who deliberately set out to harm you. Ultimately, you need to get on with what you're doing instead of spending all your time on problems you can't control. (This is the "do as I say, not as I do" advice, I spend plenty of time being pissed off with things that I have no control over, it's an utter dead end, the only result you'll get out of it is being permanently in a bad mood.)

And, of course, some incidents are deliberate. Those need to be dealt with by the police and courts. The vigilante thing is tempting in the heat of the moment but that's a long-term losing strategy. You might win a battle or two but you only have to lose once and you've lost the war. You're not Batman and you aren't going to bring justice to a lawless world so not much point getting angry about stuff you can't fix.

You should forgive, it beneifits you more than the perp, but you can at least report him and then forgive..

Oh-er Stanley, perhaps you need to go to spec savers and get your eyes checked ‘cause clearly you’re not seeing very clearly.

Just move on and enjoy life

Yep

Wow, stanley must have met the toughest cyclist in the world – a cyclist who deliberately serves into an overtaking car, and can dent the car with a kick while remaining on his bike.

… either that or stanley made the whole thing up, I just cannot decide which.

Oh-er Stanley, perhaps you need to go to spec savers and get your eyes checked ‘cause clearly you’re not seeing very clearly.

Gosh, I love these experts who know what really happened just from another's brief description. And the mind readers. If it helps you, I cycle along this particular road more often than I drive along it! I know what it feels lie to be overtaken on it... It's ok!

Calm down and knock off the personal insults. I wasn't sticking up for the car driver in the OP's description, or anyone else... I was making the point that walking away is not always the best thing to do. Sometimes we should make a stand. My aggressive cyclist has probably carried on in his militant ways. Who knows... maybe he got it wrong the next time and is no longer a cyclist?

West Yorkshire police have a website you can upload camera footage to. Many other police forces now have similar facilities.

Do this.

You have then done your bit to help a poor driver be educated / punished and hopefully prevent them doing worse to someone else.

It doesn’t matter why someone is driving badly. They are a danger to other road users. Some can learn to drive better and some need to stop driving but that’s not your worry. You’ve done your bit if you report it.

Stanley, I think it’s because you failed to mention the cyclist swerved towards you, unclipped and kicked out at your car in your first post.
Most of us on her are likely to be competent cyclist who aren’t swerving in traffic. So when someone says a cyclist kicked their car we put ourselves in the cyclists position and wonder why a car driver would be close enough to be kicked.
You’ve explained it and I stand corrected from my earlier post.

The driver pulled out on you from a car park presumably without you seeing him and you had to swerve three metres out from the kerb into 'almost' oncoming traffic? Were you trying to avoid them or overtake them?

Either I'm misreading or something doesn't quite add up here. Not that I'm in any way condoning the driver's behaviour, but as written this sounds an awful lot like you should put a bit of work into looking where you're going, thinking ahead and slowing down a bit. Why would you throw yourself towards seemingly hypothetical oncoming traffic rather than grabbing a handful of brake lever?

I'm wary of car park mouths - doubly so pub ones - when on four wheels let alone on two. You have to be able to stop in the distance you can see, there's little merit in being "right" when they're scraping you out from under a Transit.

I've reported three close passes to businesses.

One was a disability support organisation with a freephone number on the back. I pulled over and reported it immediately. Within an hour i had the CE on the phone telling me how he would be talking to all driving staff about being safer on the road.

Another was a Landscaping/Earthmoving business - two of his big trucks had almost run me off the road.
I planned my discussion all the way to work and came up with "Have you ever had to call an employees' wife to tell them that their husband died at work today?" I left lots of long pauses and he was getting quite worried. It worked and I gave him all the details, promised he'd understood and would be talking to "all of the boys."

Last one ended up in a toe-to-bike-to-toe situation with a truck driver, discussions with police, a call from the police to the driver and eventually an apology from the driver for acting like a prize pillock.

Make the call. But do it thoughtfully.

Not too close. He looked over his shoulder as I was approaching him, then began to swerve out causing me to swerve almost into oncoming traffic. I was about 3m out from the curb at this point.

How wide was this road?

I'm a bit confused about how you can have given this guy so much space but still remained in your lane.

Is it possible that he was moving to the primary position to stop you from overtaking because there was oncoming traffic and you decided to squeeze past anyway?

I overtook a cyclist who decided to swerve into me and kick the car putting a dent in the side. I pulled over and got out. He shit himself and backed down. I was all calm and told him he was a militant dick and there had been plenty of room for me to overtake him. We calmly went our separate ways.

Nice story bro.

Cycling home today, a dick pulls out of pub carpark and nearly runs me off the road.

I'm generally not an angry fokker, but this kind of thing makes me angry.

My order of preference would be 3,2,1.

3. Depends how close it all was, if nothing ostensibly happened the Police probably won't / couldn't do anything.

2. Was he working at the time? Might be irrelevant assuming he's in a liveried vehicle. If I was an employer I wouldn't want my staff driving like dicks and then raging at people who calmly brought it to their attention..

1. It will fade in time, but for now I'd do something, then move on.