UKC

On the way into work this morning, a cyclist in front of me, approaching a blind S-bend, double white lines and not especially wide lanes. I could have squeezed past and hoped for the best but chose to slow right down and hang back, wait until we'd cleared the bends before overtaking. Became aware of some shouting behind and, checking my mirror, noticed the the passenger in the 32-tonne 8x4 tipper truck behind, leaning out of the window, gesticulating and yelling incomprehensibly. As there was now room enough, I pulled out and overtook the cyclist - then I saw in my mirror the truck basically force the poor guy off the road - he fell, luckily onto a grass verge and not under the wheels, accompanied by more shouting. I was already up the road and probably should have stopped, but didn't - instead, now I'm at my desk, I've reported it to the police, and offered to be a witness if the cyclist makes a complaint. Given that I didn't stop at the scene (yes, I know) is there anything else I could/should do now?

In reply to ripper:

Not much. Perhaps sit down and write up your account of what happened so that you have some notes 12 months or more down the line if it ever goes to court.

In reply to Siward:

good shout - already made a note of the time, date, location and truck's reg. no., so will add a few notes. Ta

In reply to ripper:

What sort of cyclist was it? If they looked pretty keen, then there's a good chance they've reported it and there may be a rant on one of the forums somewhere, so could be fairly easy to identify. They may possibly even have video evidence.

If more of a casual cyclist, then they may not even have reported it to the police - unlikely they would have got a reg number if they were in a heap on the floor, so nothing for the police to go on apart from your report.

It's also possible someone behind the lorry might have witnessed and reported it, so may tie the reports together, so hang onto your notes.

In reply to ripper:

If they are a regular commuter and you think you could recognize them again, you could wait at the same location and time tomorrow. Then flag the cyclist down and let them know you have reported it. They may not have bothered on the basis they didn't have the reg no' and even if they did without corroborating witness evidence the case would collapse.

be careful not to risk undermining the case by collusion, so might be worth taking a responsible member of society with you, and only say that you have reported it and not provide them any details they might lack e.g. Reg No. That way if the case goes to court you can prevent the evidence being thrown out and can't be accused of conspiring to alter the course of justice,

In reply to ripper:

Good for you.

Did you happen to notice if the lorry had a company name on it? If it was an owner driver you'd be wasting your time but if it's a company running a fleet of lorries it'd be worth reporting it to them too, they'll quite likely want to know they have a driver out there behaving this way. They're not going to sack him on the strength of one phone call, but if you're not the first they may well decide he's won't be driving one of their lorries any more.

In reply to deepsoup:



First thing I thought about - but unfortunately no name visible. A complaint to the company was exactly what I had in mind and yes I know responsible truck operators take this kind of thing very seriously

In reply to deepsoup:

I'd wait to see if the cyclist can be found. That way the truck passenger and the driver don't get a 'dry-run' of making their potentially false stories match in front of their boss, ahead of hopefully police interviews. As a witness you can formally request and then have to be told if the case is progressing or not.

If the police don't take it forward then if part of a larger co-operation complaining to the company would be the next best thing.

Forgot to say, good show noting the reg no and reporting it.

In reply to ripper:

Even if the cyclist didn't manage to get the registration they may well have noticed more basic things things like the colour of the truck, or the type of truck it was (you said it was a big tipper truck). I'd make sure that you have a note of anything you remember about the truck. Even a minor detail might turn out to be enough of a link to the incident for you to be a useful witness.

In reply to ripper:

Good for you.

In reply to ripper:

Good on you but as a cyclist I just treat being forced off my bike as par for the course and wouldn't dream of reporting something that didn't end in injury or at least a smashed bike - would be amazed if the police do anything

In reply to Martin W:

fortunately I know enough about trucks to have clocked the make, body type, gross weight, drive/axle configuration - and colour! (this knowledge comes through work, not because I spend my freetime hanging around on motorway bridges...)

to be honest I strongly suspect the cyclist won't even bother to report it but I hope he does. Even if there's no punishment for the driver it might give him something to think about before doing the same (or worse) in future.

In reply to ripper:

I've reported dangerous driving by trucks to the company's transport managers and they have always taken it very seriously. Obviously they need the reg and the time and place.

In reply to trouserburp:

What are people disliking - that I wouldn't waste my time reporting it to the police (this and similar happen at least a few times a year) or that I doubt the Police would do anything about it (in which case show me some reason to think otherwise)

In reply to trouserburp:

While you might treat it as par for the course others might feel that if drivers are not confronted over their dangerous actions, and given the opportunity to reflect on the potential consequences of their anti-social behaviour, then future victims might be more seriously hurt - or killed.

In reply to ripper:

It was a deliberate act that could easily have killed the cyclist. That driver needs taking off the road.

In reply to Lion Bakes:


Not just that but the OP suggests he was trying to influence other drivers to overtake when the weren't happy to. Possibly worse than knocking the cyclist over.

In reply to ripper:

Make a promise to yourself to stop and check that the victims of any future attacks you witness are ok...

In reply to trouserburp:
I've reported dangerous driving to the police three times. Once involving a serious injury, and twice with no resultant injuries and on all occasions the police have interviewed the drivers concerned. As a result of two of these incident reports were sent to the Fiscal, who didn't act- but that's a seperate story.

Id warrant having a file sent to the Fiscal with your name on it would cause most people angst....

It of course helps if your local plod are having a road safety campaign at the time, and reporting it on Friday evening gives any bright copper a decent excuse to avoid getting thumped by the drunks down the high street for a couple of hours.......but I guess it will all depend on resource and operational priorities at the time.

In reply to trouserburp:

I wish you would, even if it does feel like a waste of time. Incidents like these being under-reported just make it easier for the police to ignore them.

In reply to trouserburp:


Par for the course? How many times have you been forced off your bike or off the road?

In reply to trouserburp:


I reported an incident where a car full of yobs drove at me, shouting and jeering.

I stopped, got off the bike and called the police. Yobs stopped the car and driver got out and came towards me, doing the 'you got a problem' routine. I told him to go away.

An officer came to my place of work the next day, took a statement, and said they'd be issuing an s.59 notice to the vehicle holder. He encouraged me to report such behaviour in future, and to encourage everyone I knew to do so. His last words were something along the lines of "you shouldn't have to put up with that, and we won't stand for it".

Seemed a pretty fair response. That was before the worst of 'austerity', though...

In reply to ThunderCat:


Well I saw him get to his feet, in the rear-view mirror, and it looked like someone further back the line stopped - but yes that's a fair comment

In reply to ripper:


That probably came across as more of a dig than I intended...sorry

In reply to ThunderCat:

no worries - as I said it was a fair comment and I was already thinking the same myself

In reply to elsewhere:

Twice I can think of and would have been a lot more if not for being constantly wary of it and having to emergency brake every couple of months, see it happen to other cyclists every week, occasionally colliding or coming off. Usually vehicles turning left without indicating but have had a coach run me onto the pavement overtaking on a straight road only to stop at the red light queue 50 metres ahead, as in he could see that he was going to have to stop in 50 metres and did it anyway, half overtake and then pull into me. See all sorts

I do 'mention' it to them if I get the opportunity

Maybe it is misplaced but my feeling going by serious/fatal accidents never resulting in prosecution, including those I've seen the aftermath, is that I would be wasting my time telling the police about an incident of no consequence. 2 people (compared to 29 dislikes) said they have reported and something small came of it so I guess that's a slight argument. Perhaps OP can say whether the cyclist reported it or not

If I got hung up on every incident cycling I'd never think about anything else. Just vent when you get in and move on

In reply to ripper:

If there were other drivers who had stopped, they may have left their contact details with the cyclist. If you manage to track the cyclist down that then gives you 3 witnesses against the driver?