Fargo Wolf

Dunno if this is the right place to put this but this jack off on a bike needs to be found. A friend posted this on their Facebook page. Neither myself, nor my friend know the victim.

I am 5 months pregnant and I was just assaulted by this cyclist as I was on my way to vote. He ran a stop sign full speed and I yelled to him that there was a stop sign - as he almost ran me over. He stopped, turned his bike around and came directly for me, hit and knocked me over. I tried to hold on to his backpack to keep him at the scene after I got up but I wasn't able to. Thankfully a witness took this photo for me. Please, share this post and help me identify this man. I'm on my way to the hospital now to make sure everything is ok with the baby. If you can identify him, you can also call VPD at 604-257-3716. I would greatly appreciate any help.

There is also a story by CTV Vancouver (Canada).

Bike rage: Pregnant woman recovering after assault by cyclist | CTV Vancouver News

Just another moron who makes us cyclists look bad.

slimyfrog

*sigh* That's some impressive jerk-ness. I hope they find him.

Chris516

Cyclists' like him are a collosal embarrassment. Regardless of the locale.

genec

Not only is the cyclist a doosh as a cyclist, but as a human too... running over a preggers woman... sheesh. This person needs to be sent down to the woodshed for some remedial training on how to be a proper human.

TheLibrarian

The article you post yourself says directly that she ran her mouth off, then he turned around at which point she decided to grab the bike knocking herself over.

kickstart

While it does sound like she is less than a purely innocent victim, anybody with a lick of sense doesn't mess with a pregnant woman.

mr_bill

Cyclist comes forward, confirms most of the details of the story, and apologizes.


-mr. bill

FBinNY 

5 months pregnant isn't like 8 months pregnant, so while she was pregnant, how is the OP supposed to divine that?

This doesn't mean that he's right or innocent, even if we accept his version, but harping on the fact that she was pregnant unnecessarily inflames the story.

What this story points is that there is an undercurrent of antagonism between (some) pedestrians and cyclists. That's both a shame, and likely to lead to similar incidents in the future. It's another bit of what's wrong with group identity thinking.

kickstart

She looks pregnant in the video, and women tend to be emotionally charged when pregnant, therefore right or wrong its best to not antagonize them.
That's all I'm saying.

vol

This discrepency may make a difference:

She said she said: "Buddy, stop sign!"

He said she said: “There is a stop sign! A$$h0le!”!”

gregf83 

There is often an irrational venom saved for cyclists who violate any traffic rules. I'll admit I role through most stop signs without stopping. If there was a pedestrian there I would do something similar to what this cyclist did, i.e. slow down and pass safely. If someone calls me an ******* I'm likely going to turn around and talk to them as well.

The other day I was riding through a school zone(30kph speed limit) at 9 in the morning at 40kph. No one was around but myself and a car behind me. He didn't like that I was going faster than the speed limit and rolled down his window and let loose a string of obscenities. I slowed down and tried to get him to stop but these individuals feel tougher when they're in a 4,000lb vehicle and are generally not as belligerent if they have to talk to you face to face. I'm certain the driver that was upset at me and the pregnant women (and her husband) don't get upset when vehicles roll a stop sign. They are irrationally upset when someone on a 20lb bicycle bends the law, but say nothing when a soccer mom piloting a 5,000 SUV rolls through the same stop sign.

mr_bill

It doesn't.

-mr. bill

mr_bill

FWIW, I find that *people* get cranky when they are almost run over.

Doesn't seem to matter if they almost get run over by a truck, SUV, car, or bicycle. They get cranky.

I also find that many *people* operating vehicles are *convinced* *CONVINCED* that they passed at a "safe distance." Their perception is almost always wrong, unless you consider "safe distance" as "but I didn't hit you."

Oh, the same person who thought he passed her at a "safe distance" also says his "intention" was to stop "right next to her." Instead he struck her, this is my favorite turn of phrase, at "a relatively low speed."

-mr. bill

vol

How do you know? What I meant was it may make difference how the cyclist would react. I did not mean it makes a difference whether he was right or wrong. If she said "Buddy, stop sign!" then I tend to think the cyclist would not turn around to talk to her the way he did.

FBinNY 

Not that it matters, except maybe to an official considering criminal charges, but this is factually wrong. According to the victim---

"He basically comes right at me, and I'm screaming, 'What are you doing?'”, she says. “I had time to grab the handlebars and the bike came right through me basically and I had push back and then I just fell back down and the bike partly fell on top of me."

So it sounds like maybe she grabbed the bars before there was contact, and this might bolster the rider's claim that he wouldn't have hit her except for this.

Overall, I still believe the cyclist was more in the wrong, but there was childishness and stupidity on both sides.

gregf83 

They also get cranky when they see cyclists behave like vehicles and roll stop signs. He may have passed close by the pregnant woman but there's no evidence he did and she didn't claim he did. I think she was just upset he didn't stop.

f4rrest

It's best to just ignore those who voice an opinion on the road. People hate to be ignored.

vol

+1

"When I fell back down and I was screaming, 'I'm five months pregnant,'. I kind of saw a look of fear in his eyes, and then he just wanted to get out of there.”

This suggests the cyclist probably would not have behaved the way he did, had he known she was pregnant.

scott967

So the cyclist didn't "come out of nowhere" but rather seems to have been in one of these left-side-of-the-road bike paths (apparently 2-way?) that needs a warning sign so that drivers don't left hook cyclists. That doesn't make it OK to run through the stop, but it highlights what seems to me a deficiency with this type of infrastructure design.

scott s.
.

mr_bill

Are you the *only* person in Vancouver who hasn't seen her facebook posting? You can think whatever you want, but she said "He ran a stop sign full speed and I yelled to him that there was a stop sign - as he almost ran me over [emphasis mine]."


Put out your arms. Imagine handlebars at the end of those arms. Now imagine someone coming at you at a speed sufficient that he not only doesn't stop in time, he hits you hard enough to knock you to the ground at a "relatively low speed."

I don't know about you, but I'd have a hard time listening to someone who wanted to "talk to" me in such a fashion.


There was childishness, stupidity, and IF NOT ASSAULT AT LEAST *RECKLESSNESS* on ONE SIDE. On the other side there was a HUMAN reaction to being scared by an [expletive deleted] who happened to be on a bicycle.

So it was infra's fault. Got it. The person on the bicycle was just an innocent bystander in all this.

-mr. bill

hohum

It's not cool that the cyclist turned around to make another pass at the woman but she bears at least some responsibility here. If you yell and curse at people on the street, don't expect them to ignore you. Both parties acted irresponsibly.

mr_bill

Actually, she said she yelled, he said she yelled and cursed.

So, clarifying.
If we yell something like "stop sign - expletive deleted!" - we should not expect to be ignored, in fact we should expect to be confronted for our error?
If we yell something like "stop sign?" - we should not expect to be ignored, in fact we should expect to be confronted for our error?
If we yell something like "hey!" - we should not expect to be ignored, in fact we should expect to be confronted for our error?
If we let out a tiny "eek" but they heard us - we should not expect to be ingored, in fact we should expect to be confronted for our error?

How about pulling a Canadian?
If we say "sorry" - we should not expect to be ingored, in fact we should expect to be confronted for our error?

Just not sure how all grovelly we have to get.

-mr. bill

Chris516

Neither the cyclist, nor the pregnant woman was the salt of the earth in this incident. Sounds like they would be perfect for each other. Don't hit a pregnant woman(even a woman shouldn't hit a pregnant woman). But that doesn't absolve the pregnant woman of equal responsibility in the incident. Because the pregnant woman potentially endangered her unborn child by physically responding to the cyclist.

hohum

I believe him. I've had to deal with lots of hostile pedestrians in my time too; and while I don't have a scientific sampling, I'd wager more of them get hot under the collar than keep their cool.

Each actor in this little drama is playing to their strengths.

Her: The pregnant defenseless demure little girl. Wouldn't hurt a fly, much less use such foul and vile language.
Him: The victim cyclist, trying to get by in the world, constantly ridiculed for existing on everyone else's roads. Innocently tossed from his bicycle by the raging hormonal pregosaurus.

gregf83 

I suppose so. I just read the original news story. I don't read facebook. In any case, still no evidence other than contradictory statements from the participants so I think this story will die without much more happening.