Cyclist enrages driver by blocking him from driving on wrong side of the road

Spike Bike would be proud.

I’m glad things didn’t turn out that grim in real life, at least, but then again, he didn’t anticipate texting and driving.

Ccyclists commonly have gopros attached, recording at all times on a loop, in case of an accident (or viral video material hah) so there’s nothing suspicious about that.

2 Likes

Given the cultural attitudes involved(viz. bicyclists are illegitimate enemies of the rightful owners of the road) I wouldn’t want to make it fly in court; but given how quickly aggressive proxity can turn fatal for the squishier of the two vehicles, I suspect that there are a lot of bicycling situations that meet the letter of various ‘stand your ground’/‘imminent threat’/‘feared for my life’/‘justifiable homicide’ standards.

Actively hunting vehicles with what the BATF would humorlessly describe as a “Destructive Device” would not; but bicycling is an area where “he’s coming right at me!” is not infrequently a direct prequel to emergency surgery…

1 Like

That’s not strictly true - The two factors are “Harm” and “Culpability”, use of a weapon raises culpability.
IANAL - But I am a magistrate!

4 Likes

Fair enough, thanks for the correction.

you all have it wrong. what would happen in America would be that the driver runs the guy over and keeps going never to be caught.

1 Like

This is a great resource for these kind of things.
https://www.sentencingcouncil.org.uk/the-magistrates-court-sentencing-guidelines/

There is another for the Crown Court on the same site.

2 Likes

A cyclist coming round the corner from the junction the police came from, turning left would be completely justified in looking right and ahead for any oncoming traffic, and would breeze round the corner - straight into the bonnet of some twat who’s decided he’s too good for the queue.

What the driver did here is in no way safe or justifiable. The cyclist was indeed waiting for this to happen to film it, but he’s only trying to point out an “accident waiting to happen” simply because some fools won’t wait their turn and abide by the rules.

3 Likes

Unless the person at the other end of the phone doesn’t know the NATO alphabet and is like “just say the letters”.

Occasionally I’ve gotten “C as in Ciera?”

2 Likes

I used the NATO alphabet (which I know as the international Engineers’ alphabet) it all the time in my thirty-plus years of computer support. I have a volume of “Punch” from 1928 with a cartoon of a man on a telephone. The text goes “My name is Lomax. Spell it? Certainly - L as in Lomax, O as in Omax, M for Max, A for ax and X as in Lomax”.

4 Likes

A is for horses

4 Likes
1 Like

I’m aware of the “cockney alphabet”. It’s my understanding that this originated by bored signallers in the first world war. Most of their work involved the signal alphabet at the time, which was pretty unwieldy. It seems reasonable they they would communicate with each other to satirise the painfully tedious part of their work. In my schooldays we were issued with a poetry book series (“Voices”) which included a version of the Cockney alphabet.

2 Likes

Before you get too excited stereotyping British (I think you mean English) people, listen to the cyclist a bit more . . . sounds pretty South African to me

I have no idea, but in the U.S. this driver would be a Trump supporter.

There’s a Zimbabwean flag on his twitter profile, for what it’s worth.

I imagine most British cops can spell Sierra.

1 Like

I wasn’t talking about British cops

Wouldn’t that be “A is for 'Orses?”

1 Like

My mind went to “A is for horse’s (arse)”, but “A is for 'orses” is almost certainly the intended meaning

1 Like