silmarillion

Hi beloved,

I've been away for a while, and I need to whine a little.

First the good news! I just crossed the 2000K commuting mark. Now that there is a new route open for me to take to and from work I ride a solid 25 miles a day now. I know that isn't really that big of a deal for some of you, but I'm so glad to be able to train, save my family money on fuel costs and keep very fit.

Now for the not so good report...

I was on my way home Thursday evening. Great weather, moderate traffic, and all in life seemed to be going pretty well...

So I'm riding up to an intersection, and there happens to be a racetrac gas station on the right. To make a long story shorter, this lady in a 4Runner passes me up, and cuts right just in front of me. Now I'm traveling around 30 mph, (slight downhill ) which is still 5mph slower than the speed limit. Needless to say I slammed on my brakes, un-clipped from my pedals, and just managed to avoid hitting her by I would say, a solid 1/2"!!! No kidding, it was that close. If I would have hit her I most certainly would have gone underneath the truck just before the rear wheel.

Needless to say I was a bit "excited"...

So I yell at this lady, Hey, hey what the hell was that all about? I followed behind her, and to my horror she was actually avoiding the traffic light by cutting through the gas station. She was on the phone too. She says "I don't give a damn about you a$$holes!" I stopped and made note of her tag, and called the police.

So the cop comes out. He's very sympathetic, but proceeds to tell me there is nothing he can do about someone assaulting me with their vehicle. "besides, the tag number you gave me is registered to a white F150 pickup not a black 4Runner." I told him there was definitely NO mistake on the tag.

"Now you know, you guys kinda bother me from time to time too..." The cop says to me. He proceeds to tell me then how we block traffic, and many many of "you guys" constantly disobey traffic laws. So it becomes more about bad cyclists then what just happened.

If that lady would have hit me she would have left me there. No doubt about that. Of course, several people saw what happened. So she would not have gotten too far I would hope.

So, in Gwinnett County Ga. You can almost be hit by a person who has a bad tag on their car. And the best you can hope for is that you won't be dressed down for the bad behavior of others.

In my book, there are 2 reasons that she is guilty of assaulting me with her vehicle.

1) Her disregard for others rights by saying she didn't care about us "a$$holes"
2) She obviously had a bogus tag on that truck to begin with, so she shouldn't even be driving it on public roads. My guess would also be that she probably had no insurance on the truck either.

Be careful out there. We gotta watch out for them, because they definitely aren't watching out for us...

Dchiefransom

Gee, I wonder how that cop would take a report on a **** or murder? You notified a cop of a possible stolen vehicle, and he brushed it off. I'd have at least tracked down the vehicle and towed it in, with the driver handcuffed in the back seat.

fuji86

The tag, that was probably someone avoiding financial responsibility, rather than stolen, it happens quite often. I have empathy for the whole ordeal you went thru, but 30 mph, slow down at intersections, it only takes a moment and a dumb move by a motorist to change the blissful ride you were having into that reality that happened and this as a follow up. Unless the officer witnesses it, there's very little they can do. That said, we all have to ride to live to make up for what others seem to get away with. I have a gut feeling the karma is going to get that motorist somewhere down the road. She'll hit another car or the police will pull her over for something else and that's when the list of what she has done will just pile up on her. She'll get a citation for driving a car with a plate registered for another vehicle, probably doesn't have insurance and whatever else she's done that her bs won't get her out of ?

CB HI

More blame the cyclist type garbage from fuji86.

Additionally, the cop can file a report, talk to the motorist and set them straight. The cop also does not have to witness incidents like this for the motorist to be prosecuted. I once got a JAM convicted for reckless endangerment on my word alone. I was believable and he took the 5th.

silmarillion

Yeah, Fuji you're right. If I would have really been hammering that part of the ride, it could have been a lot worse. Advice well taken.

Sometimes I guess I can get complacent about where and how I commute/ride. I'm comfortable with it because I do it day in and out. We really do have to stay vigilant if we want to keep the rubber on the pavement.

silmarillion

Got a point there CB, I think the cop could have done a *little* more than what he did. She did recklessly endanger the safety of another by the way she was driving.

Her demeanor alone was grounds for a little police brutality.

unterhausen

they won't even investigate the tag on the wrong vehicle? I think I can expect better of my police department than that, but if I did meet up with an idiot like that, he would hear more about it later.

curbtender

I don't know what enviroment you all get into, but a quick FU and hope karma rheems a new hole is about right here. Stressed out dim whits are pretty common.

CB HI

OP, I feel for you having to ride in Gwinnett County, GA:

Gwinnett County, GA was made famous for having idiot cops in an episode of "COPS".

shoulder riding 14 year old cyclist gets hit from behind by women who drifts off the road

cyclist is thrown high into the air and off road, down an embankment into bushes

another motorist calls 911 and reports cyclist got hit

cop shows up and ask woman JAM where cyclist is, JAM says there was no cyclist, I did not hit anyone

dumb cop cancels EMS saying there was no injured cyclist, 911 caller made mistake (all without walking 50 yards down the road to look for cyclist first)

later, 14 year old cyclist boy stumbles up embankment onto road confused and bleeding, has concussion, cannot remember anything

dumb cop then points to car with dented hood and smashed windshield and says, 'oh yes you can see where the cyclist hit the car'

https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...light=Gwinnett

silmarillion

There was a young man who was hit from behind last year and killed. They knew who did it because someone was able to identify the car that the police eventually found. Last I heard, the perp was to believed to have gone back to Mexico to evade prosecution for hit and run.

My guess is he's back now though. It's been long enough that the cops wouldn't recognize him now...

dprayvd

btw, kudos on the save.

Chris516

Long time, no see.

Congratulations!!

Ouch!!! I am glad you didn't get hit!!

I wonder what EVERYONE(pedestrians, traffic, gas station employees, gas station customers, caller on the other end of the phone) would have been thinking about what she did(apart from the 'get off the road' crowd), had she hit a gas pump because of her ignorant haste. That officer was also out of line suddenly giving his opinion on cyclists', during a call. That was close to saying, that it is a cyclist's fault every time something happens to them.

The same for Fulton and Dekalb County. I lived in Atlanta during the 1970's as a youngster, and I would go between Atlanta n' Athens a lot. The traffic is horrendous

I know what you mean about watching out for them. Yesterday, I was on a two-lane blacktop going south, that widens to a four-lane shortly before it ends, and a vehicle was tailgating just because they didn't have the patience to wait until it widened to four lanes. While I got the plate # and thought about tailing the vehicle, I had remembered an officer telling me that they had to see the traffic infraction to do anything. That even goes for any 'good samaritan' call about reporting a dangerous driver.

Basically, The police just don't care.

009jim

So now it is possible to understand why folks don't take any notice of the laws. Seems the laws can only be used to punish good honest citizens while the ratbags do what they like. I guess that's why people form up into gangs - so they can have some sense of protection.

Chris516

I agree that 30mph on a bike when approaching an intersection is a little fast. But I have approached intersections going 20-25mph.

Regardless of speed, the fact that the SUV driver cut him off, makes the whole concern about the OP's speed, a moot point.

Chris516

I go with a quick and verbose BO(BACK OFF!!) to get my message across.

Whiteknight

The cop was being a jerk. Too lazy to get into the job.

Under PA law.
Reckless endangerment.
"A person commits a misdemeanor of the second degree if he recklessly engages in conduct which places or may place another person in danger of death or serious bodily injury."

The woman's statement to you makes it clear that it was reckless on her part. There are probably 2 or 3 more charges that could be added to that.

In this city we have police officers who will do their jobs. Then there are others doing little to earn their pay while claiming how dangerous their jobs are.

RazrSkutr

If he was going below the speed limit on the road (which he says he was) then the road is engineered for that speed and he's completely not at fault. Attempts to suggest otherwise are blame-the-victim and uncalled for.

True.

gmt13

What?

Chris516

I wasn't faulting the OP, or even on the verge of claiming 'excessive speed', on his part. But I was pointing out the fact of the intersection coming up.

The only parts I didn't mention before, were lane position, and the braking distance needed at the OP's speed approaching the intersection.. Because, I am not surprised by a driver, cutting off a cyclist, who is riding on the shoulder. While the OP had good speed, for the speed limit of the road, lane position was obviously a factor(not the sole factor) in SUV driver's attitude.

curbtender

My son lives there and complains all the time about how unbike freindly the city is. Gotta ad that he also loves the city.

CB HI

In the last couple of months, fuji86 and some other new posters have made several comments blaming the cyclist for close calls or hits caused by poor motorist driving. Even though the cyclist were riding legally, they have blamed cyclist for close passes because the cyclist was not riding in the gutter, or like here, claimed a right hook was because the cyclist was riding too fast, etc.

fuji86

This was not blame, you need to reread the original post and then mine. The reality is, that the officer was provided a plate number that didn't match a vehicle. I guess they could track the Ford F150 owner and find out why his tag was on a 4 runner. But it doesn't match the 4 Runner description ? If the tag was stolen, the police will only confirm that. I offered advice to slow down at the intersection because a motorist can put a cyclist in a no-win situation. The other day I had a situation as a motorist where a BMW cut me off on the highway and then slammed on the brakes. I almost nailed that ****** with 4,000 lbs of SUV. I rode off to the left hand side where there was an emergency lane and avoided a rear end collision. Sure, I was angry, but I had to let it go and continue on. I could've reported that just the same, I left plenty of following distance until the BMW cut me off and slammed on their brakes. But it all comes down to a lecture and a report that has conflicting stories as to what happened. I'd bet that super beotch would be pleasant & sweet to the officer and the worst he could do is lecture her, that's if the tag on her 4 Runner isn't stolen or whatever. But again, they're going to have to find this woman. I can hear the woman's story now, she either passed him far enough in advance that it wasn't a violation of the passing in an intersection zone or she was already ahead of the cyclist doing about the same 30 mph and she made her right turn, she can't help it if he was doing 30 mph and that it takes more distance to stop a bike at 30 mph that it became a close call ? Either way/story, it'll conflict with the OP post and the police officer isn't in a position to do much of anything. Any citation for that is something a judge may hear in court. But the officer will not have observed it, the woman & cyclist will both have to show up to court and then the same testimony will have to be heard.

CB HI

There you go again, telling us about your SUV driving experiences.

sudo bike

1) Carry small bag of nuts/bolts.

2) Propel said nuts/bolts, through windshield.

3) Your word against hers. Must've been road debris thrown up by your or her tires. Apparently a cop has to see anything for it to be believable.

4) Laugh heartily.

(This is completely and totally joking. Sort of. )

dynodonn 

Thankfully, in my area, that's not the case since many LEOs have to contend with the same traffic while they are off duty that they patrol while they are on duty.

One local LEO that attended a local bike forum, made a comment on the many more types of motorist illegal/dangerous actions that they observed while driving their personal vehicle versus when they are in their patrol cruiser.

Personally, I get more satisfaction in recording a motorist's actions for posterity, and handing it over to local law enforcement authorities if need be, than doing an act of vandalism to a motorists vehicle, since I happen to see a number of the same motorists while on my commutes on a regular basis.