Safe Speed Forums

61 year old Olive was left terrified after a cyclist (believed to be in his 50s" smashed the rear window of he Renault Scenic.

(Story by Frank Jones "Manchester Evening Page 15)

All because she overtook him!

OK - she was turning left. A wide junction and one car tunring right per the report - which my sister said she uploaded for me - but I cannot see it.. Ah well.. wimmin..

- but am sure it's in "manchesteronline" somewhere




It's somewhere in a place called Billinge, near Wigan per the piece. Upholland Road towards Windy Harbour if anyone knows it .... Handy - that near you?

Next thing Olive knew .. there was a



Then a man appeared at the side of her car.. swearing shouting - claiming she'd knocked him off his bicycle....

She asked how was this so.. and he smashed her window and then rode off on his bicycle.

Why did he not roll around in agony and claim mega insurance cash from her?



Olive says she was very shaken by this episode. Only natural.

Her son says he should be caught as soon as possible as





The incident occured at 8.30 a.m and according to the paper



Or even the car hit the bike

The police are investigating the incident. Let's hope they catch this person soon anyway.

There are obviously dangers in encouraging people to kick cars and throw stones at them on the "for cyclists only" chatrooms ....

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I wonder why people are so angry and aggressive, I am pressing charges against a man (sect 4 public order act) I met in the car park; car and me fine. As a polish man said in the police station "It is a worring world"

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So Doris has turned left over the top of a cyclist then gets confused when he gets upset. Bloody typical.

(ok, so perhaps he got a little too upset but you try reporting incidents like this to the police and see how far you get)

I'm impressed he got so angry that he managed to punch through her car window! Who is he the Hulk!?

I guess his hand hurt the next day!

Having said that, it is a bit like the Karate thing. Punching "Through" the brick is a lot less painful than wimping it and bouncing off it!

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"The road to a police state is paved with public safety legislation"

A link to somewhere

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Chris

It isn't clear from the article that this is actually what occurred - it just states that she was planning to turn left, not that she actually did turn across the path of the cyclist.

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Chris

sounds like she was squeezing between the right turning car and the kerb.
notice the paper doesn't say.... i was inching past him, i looked in my left mirror and saw it was clear to do so.... nor does the paper mention that she was indicating left.

in these kind of situations cars often brake in sympathy to the turning vehicle and then decide they can squeeze past. to a following cyclist the opportunity then is there to nip up the inside.

if it was me, i'd be looking out for/expecting that so dont tend to pass unless the car clearly can't get through (although often they don't leave a gap, occasionally on purpose) or clearly isn't making any attempt to do so.

even these days it seems unlikely someone would make this a random attack without any sort of provocation (even an irate cyclist), even if it was misplaced.

that said, i'm sure no-one here condones his actions.

the problem with articles & incidents like these (aside from the reporting) is that it makes it clear that the driver is not questioning her own actions at all, comes over as beleiving herself to be totally in the right.. and hence will not learn

I'm sorry, can you point me to the specific legislation that allows cyclists to undertake?

well if you want to get legalistic about it (rather than common sense)
no
but i can point you to where the HC says not to...



not that it's in red tho' so just guidance rather than legal.
rather implies it might be ok to do it to a vehicle thats not turning left....

was the lady in question indicating?

not wishing to perpetuate another left filtering discussion.... here's one:

http://www.safespeed.org.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5038
(and further linked posts from there)

We don't seem to know that the car actually hit the bike. However...

I recall an old lady pulling out of a car park straight into my path (on my bike). Fortunately there was nothing coming the other way, so I had room to do an emergency swerve out of her way. She was completely oblivious to what had - or could have - happened. At the t-junction 50 yards ahead, I opened her driver's door and shouted something about looking first before you kill somebody, then slammed the door and cycled off.

No doubt that shook her up a bit - but then I was pretty shaken up as well.

However some years later I banged on the side of a car that had jumped a red light as I was cycling through on green. Unknown to me, he parked up, followed me on foot to a shop, then yelled "you hit my car - why shouldn't I punch you in the nose". He didn't, because there were lots of people about. Instead he stalked off. What he then did was return to his car, follow me, and corner me in a cul de sac - except that there was a pedestrian escape route and he couldn't run fast enough to catch me.

The moral. Now if I get cut up, I think three times before losing my temper. Easier said than done though if some moron comes close to killing you.

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Brian

The highway code is explicit about what cyclists should avoid doing. However the cases where I've been cut up by left turners have been where they have overtaken me then immediately turned left as if I didn't exist. (Which in their minds I probably didn't . )

This is entirely different from cyclists trying to squeeze their way past the nearside of a car that is obviously about to turn left. Cyclists who do that deserve what they get.

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Brian

I nearly had one on kentish town road not long ago- queue of parked cars on the left, queue of cars waiting to turn right ahead and just enough room to flick left and squeeze between them with a few inches either side. except as I've braked right down do this mrs. cyclist has attempted to undertake me, only saw the dozy bint trundling up in my wingmirror at the last minute and stamped on the brakes.

usually a typical and forgettable experience for a london driver, but this one stands out because of her thank you tirade of sreaming abuse, in typical "blame the motorist rather than think about what they could have done differently" style.

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Fear is a weapon of mass distraction

I was cycling very tentatively* down the inside of a line of stationary cars, when a taxi passenger opened the door right in front of me. I only managed to avoid hitting the door by sort of throwing myself off onto the pavement.

The passenger said "Oh sorry, I didn't see you", which I'd kind of already assumed was the case.


*The reason I survived five years of cycling in London was that I did it very carefully.

Black cabs in London now have door locks under the driver's control, which is quite a smart way of reducing such risks. In fact I think that they lock automatically as soon as the cab starts to move, and are only unlocked when the driver presses a button.

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Paul Smith
Our scrap speed cameras petition got over 28,000 sigs
The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety

They do the same in Manchester.

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if it's an LTI cab (and if you're saying black cab its either one of them of a metrocab)..... the doors lock when the vehicle is moving OR when the driver has his foot on the brake (i.e. ya can't get out without paying).

I reckon those door locks are to stop people from legging it without paying.


I think theres more to this story than the article is letting on. It sounds very much to me like she was trying to get past the taxi and squeezing the cyclist into the kerb - without realising he was there.

He shouldn't have broken her rear window, but I can understand it. I've many times been very very close to putting a large foot-with-cleat sized dent into somebody's car door because of their ineptitude.

I'm inclined to think that she just didn't see the cyclist, she nearly killed him, and he had a go at her. I'm inclined to suggest that shes a crap driver tbh. Thats just my opinion though.

Maybe under some circumstances, but I've always paid through the front nearside window after getting out.

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Paul Smith
Our scrap speed cameras petition got over 28,000 sigs
The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety