RogerThat wrote:Oh, I'm a rank amateur!! There's a guy we ride with on Wednesday evenings who, every time a driver tips him off the bike or had a very near miss, he'll just roll over anyway and play dead at the side of the road till the ambulance/police arrives and then miraculously regain consciousness and demand to be taken to A+E. Its not an activity I could condone, but it doesn't half scare the living daylights out of the offending motorists! I suppose it's his own personal version of 'presumed liability'. He's had at least four bikes out of it the last five years, and a fair bit of out of court compensation.
I guess it's a sort of cycling vigilantism. Though I would frame the behavior in the fact he was the subject of a very bad hit and run ten years ago, from which he's never really recovered physically, or emotionally. I was with him at the time and it was a truly horrifying thing to witness: like someone just came up behind us and shot him with a gun.
Luckily I was able to scratch nearly all the number plate into the road with a stone before the car got out of sight. The result of this attempted murder: £1200 fine, six months ban. Absolutely disgusting sentence for a potential murderer. And apparently the driver (a local radio DJ) was just milligrams under the limit.
Wow... I suppose the way he sees is, life owes him - I can understand that. Don't suppose we can imagine what it's like, although you were there so you don't have to imagine. Brilliant thinking to scratch the car's registration number on the road with a stone - I'll remember that, although I hope I never need to.
On a lighter note, about 'playing dead then miraculously regaining consciousness': Before I got into cycling I was into motor sport, and there was a funny story told by Professor Sid Watkins, the F1 doctor, who rode in the Safety Car and was first responder whenever there was a crash. Nigel Mansell was an awful ham at times - he would ham it up for the gallery, although he suffered a fair few serious injuries - and when there was a pile-up on the first lap at one of the Grands Prix, Sid Watkins arrived on the scene to find 'Our Nige' slumped in the cockpit of his Ferrari with his head down and his eyes closed, apparently unconscious. Watkins jumped out of the Safety Car and went to sprint (he was no spring chicken at the time) across the track to the Ferrari, only to hear a loud 'CRACK!' - he'd snapped a hamstring! He hobbled the rest of the way to Mansell's cockpit and shouted, "Nigel - are you alright?!" To which Mansell raised his head, opened his eyes and replied, "Yeah, I'm fine." Sid Watkins said if Mansell hadn't been wearing a helmet he'd have thumped him...