[rhauft]

Wednesday (07/16/08) in Lafayette, on St. Mary's road, I was assaulted by a 60+ year old white male driving a late model dark grey Infinity G35. First he passed me aggressively close. Then, as traffic stacked up in front of me I moved to the shoulder to pass the stopped cars in front of me. This same driver, obviously spotting me in his mirrors, maneuvered his car into the shoulder right in front of me to block my pass. I then moved to pass him on the left... As I did this he instantly bolted to the left trying to block me again! As I approached him from behind, just a few feet from his rear bumper he did the unthinkable and slammed on his brakes. I was probably about 5-6 feet behind him when he did this. I locked it up and crashed hard into the back end of his car, then flopped to the pavement behind. Fortunately we were only doing about 15 mph so I was not seriously injured. I popped up off the road and with my adrenalin spiking, had a nice little fit all over the rear deck and roof of his Infinity. Traffic was now stopped and he had no where to escape so he finally got out. Thanks to the other drivers who witnessed his assault I was able to compose myself and because of them I am not in jail. God knows what I would have done to this old man if they did not intervene. I took a breath and pulled my phone out of my jersey and dialed 911. Lafayette PD was there in minutes. The cop wrote up a report, taking both of our statements. The cop shrugged and said: "Your word against his, no one was seriously hurt, I can't force people to behave nicely, what do you want me to do?" Hindsight tells me I should have ripped his mirrors off and beat him with them. I've attached a pic of his plate. When you're on St. Mary's be on the lookout for him.

You can clearly see the crease my tire left on his bumper just right of his left tail light

 

[mohair_chair]

At the very least, kick out his tail lights. Those things are expensive to replace, and if guy says anything to the cop, say it happened in the collusion.

If you had witnesses, how could the cop say it was just his word against yours?

 

[rhauft]

If you had witnesses, how could the cop say it was just his word against yours?

None of the witnesses were cops. "If a cop didn't see it, it never happened".

 

[wipeout]

You ran into the back of him? Doesn't that mean that the collision was your fault, no matter how hard he hit the brakes?

 

[rhauft]

You ran into the back of him? Doesn't that mean that the collision was your fault, no matter how hard he hit the brakes?

This is a very similiar scenario to the assault that occured on July 4th down in LA. Was that the cyclist fault to??? http://www.velonews.com/article/79771/la-incident-rallies-cycling-community
NO !!! If the driver intentionally maneuvers to block and create an accident, which is exactly what this M/F'er did. He had no reason to slam on his brakes other than to produce an accident. That's called assault with a deadly weapen with intent to commit bodily harm.

 

[IRMB]

Wednesday (07/16/08) in Lafayette, on St. Mary's road, I was assaulted by a 60+ year old white male driving a late model dark grey Infinity G35. First he passed me aggressively close. Then, as traffic stacked up in front of me I moved to the shoulder to pass the stopped cars in front of me. This same driver, obviously spotting me in his mirrors, maneuvered his car into the shoulder right in front of me to block my pass. I then moved to pass him on the left... As I did this he instantly bolted to the left trying to block me again! As I approached him from behind, just a few feet from his rear bumper he did the unthinkable and slammed on his brakes. I was probably about 5-6 feet behind him when he did this. I locked it up and crashed hard into the back end of his car, then flopped to the pavement behind. Fortunately we were only doing about 15 mph so I was not seriously injured. I popped up off the road and with my adrenalin spiking, had a nice little fit all over the rear deck and roof of his Infinity. Traffic was now stopped and he had no where to escape so he finally got out. Thanks to the other drivers who witnessed his assault I was able to compose myself and because of them I am not in jail. God knows what I would have done to this old man if they did not intervene. I took a breath and pulled my phone out of my jersey and dialed 911. Lafayette PD was there in minutes. The cop wrote up a report, taking both of our statements. The cop shrugged and said: "Your word against his, no one was seriously hurt, I can't force people to behave nicely, what do you want me to do?" Hindsight tells me I should have ripped his mirrors off and beat him with them. I've attached a pic of his plate. When you're on St. Mary's be on the lookout for him.

You can clearly see the crease my tire left on his bumper just right of his left tail light

That just gets my blood boiling!

Riding through Danville the other day, a guy pulled up next to me in his ford excursion yelling "GET OFF THE FCUKING ROAD, YOU'RE NOT A CAR!" From there he continued yelling, waiving his arms, leaning over his wife out the window, etc, etc.

I pretty much lost it - and reciprocated in like manner. It's really hard to remain reasonable when people are idiots.

 

[hclignett]

Just shoot two tires out and keep going.

 

[Bertrand]

Not to condone the driver's obviously reprehensible behaviour, where I live it is illegal for a bicycle to pass a line of cars on the shoulder at a controlled intersection, unless it is on a specific bike path. Bike riders are expected to take their place in line like other vehicles

 

[IRMB]

Not to condone the driver's obviously reprehensible behaviour, where I live it is illegal for a bicycle to pass a line of cars on the shoulder at a controlled intersection, unless it is on a specific bike path. Bike riders are expected to take their place in line like other vehicles

The OP said nothing about an intersection.

This section of road gets crowded in rush hour - but there is a marked shoulder/bike lane. Cyclists generally stay in the bike lane - but as you know, CA law allows us to ride with traffic as well.

This is where drivers get confused - bikes ARE TRAFFIC. We're allowed every right to the road, just as much as they are.

 

[wipeout]

This is a very similiar scenario to the assault that occured on July 4th down in LA. Was that the cyclist fault to??? http://www.velonews.com/article/79771/la-incident-rallies-cycling-community
NO !!! If the driver intentionally maneuvers to block and create an accident, which is exactly what this M/F'er did. He had no reason to slam on his brakes other than to produce an accident. That's called assault with a deadly weapen with intent to commit bodily harm.

My take on these situations is: there are always going to be asshat drivers (like Mr. 6AXA9O9) out there that do this sort of stupid thing and I've learned to expect unreasonable behavior from ALL cagers and now give everyone more room - so if they do decide to slam on the brakes I'll have time to avoid. You might be right about the intended assault on his part (but the police didn't think so?), but I'd rather be alive than roadkill!

Glad you weren't hurt and will live to ride another day.

 

[rhauft]

"where I live it is illegal for a bicycle to pass a line of cars on the shoulder at a controlled intersection"

This incident occured on a straight two lane, two-way road and it did not occur in an intersection. I had every right to pass on a marked bike lane that he intentionally blocked.

Next!

 

[wipeout]

This incident occured on a straight two lane, two-way road and it did not occur in an intersection. I had every right to pass on a marked bike lane that he intentionally blocked.

Next!

Now I'm confused by your original post. You say you were riding in the left lane - not in the bike lane when asshat passed you in an aggressive manner. As traffic stacked up for a light, you moved over to the shoulder to pass cars whereby asshat pulls into your space on the shoulder and then you try to pass him on the left, going back into the traffic lane. I guess traffic was moving again at this point, so you were behind him going 15 MPH when he hit the brakes and you ran into the back? Sounds like you had a lot of opportunities to back off and play it safe with this maniac!

 

[rhauft]

Wrong again, I had no time to do anything other than react to an assult. You were not there and therefore have no way of knowing.

You ass-u-me...

 

[Rojo Neck]

It sucks that this guy seems to have been harassing you but man, the road is the wrong place to try to prove that you have rights. When some idiot driver pulls that crap, the right thing to do is just back off and let him have the space, even if it's "rightfully" yours. That **** can escalate badly, and the cyclist will always lose.

Retaliating by purposely attempting to damage the car makes you no better than him and could actually get you into worse trouble (I'm referring to the idea of ripping the mirrors off or kicking the lights in, not hitting the bumper if that was truly unavoidable).

It is hard to do but sometimes you just have to suck it up and be the bigger person. Did you *really* need to get around them that badly? Probably not. That is the same argument we as cyclists use when we get pissy at cars passing us too closely. Relax, it's only going to be a small delay.

 

[wipeout]

Wrong again, I had no time to do anything other than react to an assult. You were not there and therefore have no way of knowing.

You ass-u-me...

All I know is what you wrote. You had the right to pass hime in the bike lane, but you said you were trying to pass on the left when he blocked the bike lane.

 

[rhauft]

All I know is what you wrote. You had the right to pass hime in the bike lane, but you said you were trying to pass on the left when he blocked the bike lane.

Which I had every right to do. He did not have the right to impede my progress twice and then slam on his brakes for no other purpess except to cause me to crash. I did nothing to provoke this m/f'er. He clearly has issues with cyclists. Now, I have issues with him. I want to eat his liver while he watches...

A bike forum is the last place I'd figure I'd encounter this b/s. You monday morning quarterbacks need to ride more and type less. Hope this never happens to any of you.
It's a jungle out there.

 

[wipeout]

Which I had every right to do. He did not have the right to impede my progress twice and then slam on his brakes for no other purpess except to cause me to crash. I did nothing to provoke this m/f'er. He clearly has issues with cyclists. Now, I have issues with him. I want to eat his liver while he watches...

A bike forum is the last place I'd figure I'd encounter this b/s. You monday morning quarterbacks need to ride more and type less. Hope this never happens to any of you.
It's a jungle out there.

I ride/commute every day of the week. I do everything on a bike and I'm pretty sure I'm out on the roads more than you are. This sort of thing HAS happened to me, but I'm much smarter now and learned that in a bike vs. car confrontation, the car always wins no matter who is 'right' - so I ride less aggressively in traffic and in your situation (as you described it), I would have backed off as soon as the yahoo crowded into the shoulder. Sure, the cager was in the wrong and acting like a dick, but trying to get around a car that is intent on keeping in front of me would not be the smartest thing to do. Anyway, Peace and glad you were not hurt...

 

[Gee3]

Is there a way to go up the line to the police and complain about the cop's attitude towards the situation? Maybe go to his Supervisor?

By your explanation is seems pretty obvious the guy was out to jack with you thus causing you harm. It seems that with witnesses, cops or not, their word should be enough to give the guy a ticket for endagering your life or wreckless driving or ? Or at the very least the cop should have verbally reprimanded the driver!

If you witness a theft the cops won't discount your account because you're not a cop, right? Why is there a double standard for cyclists in Lafayette?

The driver and cop drink too much cyclist Hater-ade!

Sorry that happened to you but glad you're okay! If it happens again pretend to hurt your self... and since there is a possible injury than maybe the cop will do something.

 

[Rojo Neck]

Is there a way to go up the line to the police and complain about the cop's attitude towards the situation? Maybe go to his Supervisor?

I think a formal complaint to the Police Department would not be out of line. It probably won't cause anything to change on this specific case, but if there are future incidents, particularly any involving this officer, it will at least be on record. If the officer has a pile of similar complaints it could be useful in court.

 

[B15serv]

I'd have a lawyer (or at least a friend pretending) call the guy and scare the crap out of him. If that would have happened in illinois the guy would have been ticketed a couple hundered bucks if not taken away in cuffs.