some of you may have heard that on the uci saturday, the main 1 group was overtaken by a large truck on bushmead rd and was basically cut off when it pulled back in too soon. well trucks have number plates and company logos on the side so one of our riders filed a police report with midland police. It is best to learn more about them and other truck services here.
well the police contacted our rider and let him know that they have spoken with the state manger for the trucking company and the driver in question has been reprimanded. he suggested that we need to be careful on these roads considering the increased traffic due to the industrialisation of the area. he also said that while we can legally ride double file, we need to be careful and consider single file if conditions are not good. For truck related services, people can check out here and get downhole insight camera installed.
the amount of near misses and aggressive drivers that our group encounters seems to anecdotally be on the increase. there however, is a mechanism that we can use to make these guys accountable. a few months back the fast group had a bottle thrown at them on kalamunda road. they chased the guys down and surrounded them as they were stuck at the lights. yelling at them and bashing on the window is fine to let out some aggression, but no-one bothered to get the number plate.
this also goes both ways.
when we are riding around in groups and the majority of the kit is spr, then we are identified as spr riders. when you are in this group and do stupid things, then this reflects badly on the club as a whole. this includes things like sliding down between cars at the lights, going the wrong way around roundabouts, changing lanes so you can win the sprint without looking behind for cars, hogging the bike path (on the odd times that we actual use them), overtaking other cyclists and cutting back in too aggressively, etc, etc.
we have a big presence out there, so lets make sure it is a positive one.
Peter, couldn’t agree more with the saftey comments. The SPR website has been getting a few hits in Europe as I show a few people the club page. One thing a lot of people have commented on is the etiquette page – they are impressed about attitude to safety and development of group riding skills. Also, we shouldn’t be afraid to speak up if someone in the group does something silly.
the truck incident was particularly frightening – it was a close call. I’m really pleased that the incident was reported. The license plate was dirty so it was difficult to read, and the truck had just about jack knifed trying to turn down a dirt road at speed – and no one fancied doing “cycle cross” to follow it to get the necessary details. Great work whoever had the presence of mind to remember the company logo on the truck and reeassuring that the police took the complaint seriously enough to follow up.
Here is a true story and something to think about next time you want to chase down a vehicle that comes to close. An old friend and fellow cyclist, Oswald had a truck come past him and cut him off whilst out on his morning training ride (about 5 years ago). He chased the truck and managed to catch up to it at a traffic light. He pulled up next to the truck, grabbed on the door and banged loudly on the window, shouting the odds. The truck driver, who had not seen him approach got a fright and allowed the truck to roll backward. Oswald was caught off guard and his bike rolled under the truck, which then rolled onto his leg. The leg was crushed and he had to have an above the knee amputation. You can imagine the impact this had on his life.
i forgot to add. most people carry phones with cameras. get a photo of the car, the licence plate, the driver, and the passenger (if it was them throwing stuff). there is no way they can say it wasn’t them then.
1. Cyclists always lose against cars in an argument.
2. When provoked even more, the driver who is aggressive and dangerous to us is also likely to the kind who’s not afraid to hit or fight you with the car, or worse, anything they have in the car (think glass bottles, hard objects, or anything used as a weapon)
3. They don’t see cyclists as individuals.. so their rage could be directed at someone who’s really not got anything to do with the original incident.
So Confucius say cool the fire. Don’t pour petrol on it.
Unless the camera is rolling before the incident occurs, it’s hard to prove anything – especially if there’s no physical contact to their car to prove they caused an accident. I know some people ride with a camera just in case – are we really having to resort to this ?
I know my opinion is not likely to be popular but I write this in order to stimulate thought and discussion about this very important topic.
I fully support SPR’s constant push for responsible riding and measured response to incidents. Peter is a great ambassador for the club and speaks with wisdom.
However, I dont see the outcome of this “Main 1 vs truck” incident as being positive.
The truck driver has been reprimanded but continues to drive his B-Double truck, and any other vehicle on the road, but now with an even greater hatred of cyclists and a maniacal sense of retribution for being told off, seething within him.
It is my opinion that having him “spoken to” by his boss or Police is really just a waste of time. Progressing the matter right through to having him charged with something like Dangerous Driving, having him convicted in Court and having his licence suspended is really the only way to make any difference with a moron like him. Take away his licence and hit him in the hip pocket. He’ll still hate cyclists (always will), but he wont be driving a deadly weapon up behing any of us for a while.
Using a road is NOT a competition between cyclists and anyone else. Being “right” does not guarantee your safety. Stay upright, be safe.
I commute to and from work solo at really silly times of the morning as I’m a shift worker. A couple of years ago I had a car cut me off at around 3:30AM with no-one else around. I challenged the driver and he promptly got out of his car. After the first punch in the mouth I thought to myself…..hmm, this guy knows how to fight (I’m no small guy). After the third punch in the face I made my escape, all the while worried he might be chasing me down in his car.
I couldn’t help but think that the situation could have turned out a lot worse, no-one around middle of no-where in the dead of night, it really wasn’t worth it. What did I hope to gain, an apology? Would any confrontation really mean that the driver do anything different in the future?
At that point I decided that any “Near miss” I could ride away from was a good thing, and that confronting the driver would only upset them more and likely make them more cyclist UN-friendly.
I urge you to think very carefully before taking the risk of challenging a driver no matter how stupid the act. Chances are they are a Moron for a reason, and you stand to only steele their resolve against cyclists, at risk of being physically hurt when you have just been fortunate enough to avoid just that.
I can’t imagine that any form of angry response to any traffic incident is going to end in a positive outcome whatsoever. I understand that there’s a heat of the moment factor, but that’s never going to end well.
If there’s clear-cut dangerous driving, make all the notes you can and report the incident to the appropriate authorities. Nothing will be gained by directly confronting the person responsible.
If it’s just old-fashioned idiot drivers, either ignore them or give them a friendly wave (and I don’t mean the one fingered “friendly” wave either 🙂 )
A couple of months ago we had a similar issue in Main2 with a Taxi driver cutting off one rider on the group. Again, the rider engaged in an argument with the taxi driver which could have turned very wrong as the rider kicked the taxi’s door. Not good.
Peter, if you ask me, part of our riding etiquette should be that we DO NOT engage with drivers in any sort of altercations, as we’re the ones with most to lose.
I subscribe to what Jordan said about taking notes / plates etc and reporting the inicdent to the authorities.
I’d second that.. and not just because of the possible physical danger of the situation, but because how we handle confrontations like that will have a major impact on the club’s reputation, especially if the authorities need to be involved.
Also, have you ever tried to make a hasty retreat in cleats?
Doesn’t work to well… apparently. 😉
Everything that I have seen of SPR as a club does strongly indicate social / riding responsibility and a non-confrontational response to the (unfortunately) regular traffic incidents & near misses.
It is the individual’s responsibility to control themselves.
I was at the outside front of the SPR Main 1 group in the “Main 1 -v- truck” incident and had the behemoth only centimetres from my shoulder, forcing me into another rider and off the road. I certainly understand the danger the driver of that truck put us all in.
I applaud the riders who got the necessary details and made the report to the Police.
I just don’t think it went nearly far enough though. A warning, caution or “jolly good speaking to” does nothing to change behaviour with idiots like that truck driver. As I wrote before – it may even antagonise them and make their behaviour worse.
Unfortunately, even if you could badger the Police sufficiently into laying a charge against the driver, the chance of getting a conviction and licence suspension is not good. In the absence of independent evidence (Video, 3rd party eye-witness etc) it would be easy for a defence counsel to create reasonable doubt as to who was at fault at the time – “the cyclists were all over the road / not keeping left / blah blah” and the driver would be aquitted.
I don’t have an easy solution to it, and I am certainly not critical of any SPR member’s actions. I’m just stating it as I see it and hope that others might find a solution that improves all our safety.