Pride comes before a fall

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horizon
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Re: Pride comes before a fall

Post by horizon »

Heltor Chasca wrote:The motorist's wrongdoings are a given but the cyclist doesn't even really suffer a close pass. If he was having a bad day and that pass caused him to loose the plot and give chase, maybe he should have stayed in bed. What's he doing cycling? Certainly not enjoying himself. In the process of the chase it looks like he nearly has a couple of collisions with pedestrians.



It's only a video. No-one was really hurt. And it makes us chuckle because it's the big guy that's gets it and little guy escapes.

On the whole, I agree with you - the cyclist should have let it go. But we've all been there - the endless close passes, the aggression, the occasional low level assault. And always from people who believe in their right to intimidate. It might not be the right person who finally gets your reaction but it certainly isn't without foundation.

If the driver wasn't badly hurt (or at all) then it ended well - for the small guy in all of us that sometimes needs to let his feelings out.
When the pestilence strikes from the East, go far and breathe the cold air deeply. Ignore the sage, stay not indoors. Ho Ri Zon 12th Century Chinese philosopher
flat tyre
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Re: Pride comes before a fall

Post by flat tyre »

Looks to me as if the whole confrontation could have been avoided by the cyclist moving into the gap between the parked cars to let the car overtake safely, rather then blocking him off for the rest of the street.
The fat commuter
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Re: Pride comes before a fall

Post by The fat commuter »

TonyR wrote:
The fat commuter wrote:..... but in my opinion he was looking for trouble by pursuing the motorist and the police may see it that way too.


Sorry but there is no excuse for physical assault and there should be no place here for victim blaming either.


There is no excuse for assault - that's why I said that he should show the footage to the police. But, at what point should one realise that continuing with an argument is not a good idea? The cyclist caught up with the car (as others have mentioned, he put other road users at risk by doing this - but that could look worse due to the editing). He said what he had to say - fair enough, many of us may have done the same. The driver gives a load of abuse and then drives off - only for the cyclist to have another go. Any sensible person would have let the driver drive off and call it a day. The driver therefore stops and gives more verbal abuse - then drives off, parks up, returns and tries to grab the camera. He then walks off back to his car. The cyclist then has another go at the motorist - the motorist is actually driving off when the cyclist laughs at him. That is when the driver goes after the cyclist proper - and comes a cropper.

What started off as a tiny fracas could have ended up with many lives being ruined there. We have seen recently that some car drivers do arm themselves with knives. I'm not saying that the driver in this instance had one but had he actually caught up with the cyclist, who do we think would have come worst off? There is a time when you say that enough is enough. For me, I may have chased after the driver but, after receiving a load of abuse I'd leave it there - it's simply not worth it.

The above doesn't excuse the assault, btw. (Is grabbing a camera an assault)?
kwackers
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Re: Pride comes before a fall

Post by kwackers »

I suggest mentally bookmarking the roll for the times when a motorist give you grief and then imagine them in the same position.
Perhaps it's just me but that'll keep me amused for months.
thirdcrank
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Re: Pride comes before a fall

Post by thirdcrank »

bovlomov wrote: ... A beatific smile (like a member of a religious cult) works best for me - they can interpret it how they like.


Just watch out! The aggro might be a diversion by some cunning spook to get a look at your face. Probably best to remain totally inscrutable.
:wink:
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honesty
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Re: Pride comes before a fall

Post by honesty »

flat tyre wrote:Looks to me as if the whole confrontation could have been avoided by the cyclist moving into the gap between the parked cars to let the car overtake safely, rather then blocking him off for the rest of the street.


Specifically recommended against doing this in the various cycling training manuals isn't it? I know in cars they say not to hop between parked cars, but take the lane and stay there as its less dangerous.

Either way this could have been completely avoided if the driver hadn't driven like a prat. The victim was a bit silly chasing him down, but having done the same myself in the heat of the moment it's understandable. Also remember that the camera will make this look further away than it was as the lens angle will distort the image.
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bovlomov
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Re: Pride comes before a fall

Post by bovlomov »

thirdcrank wrote:
bovlomov wrote: ... A beatific smile (like a member of a religious cult) works best for me - they can interpret it how they like.


Just watch out! The aggro might be a diversion by some cunning spook to get a look at your face. Probably best to remain totally inscrutable.
:wink:

Now I think about it, the beatific smile might not show beneath the false beard. They'll just see the mad eyes.

It's only right that bicycling should be considered an indicator of domestic extremism. Why do you think the cyclist didn't take the video to the police? He feared they might see it - as all right thinking folk would - as a salt-of-the-earth motorist being set upon by an anarcho-cyclist.
thirdcrank
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Re: Pride comes before a fall

Post by thirdcrank »

bovlomov wrote: ... . Why do you think the cyclist didn't take the video to the police? ....


Unfortunately, at the general level, that seems to be a waste of time. The comments of other posters deterred me from watching this vid. It's not that I'm prudish about bad language etc., just that if it's been edited for dramatic effect, it's worthless as a record of what happened. So, I can't really comment on this cameraperson's agenda but it doesn't sound as though the detection and prosecution of offenders appears on it.
TimP
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Re: Pride comes before a fall

Post by TimP »

Mick F wrote:IMHO, it wasn't a close pass anyway! :lol:


Look at the total width available, not how far the car appears to be away from the cyclist. Camera angles are deceiving. The total width at the point of passing is only about 4 feet more than the width of the car. Allowing a bit of space between the car and parked cars means no more than 3 feet max for the cyclist in total - that is in total, parked cars on left to moving car with the cyclist in the middle, not 3 feet from the bike to the car. That is way less than should be the case.
TimP
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Re: Pride comes before a fall

Post by TimP »

The fat commuter wrote:
TonyR wrote:
The fat commuter wrote:..... but in my opinion he was looking for trouble by pursuing the motorist and the police may see it that way too.


Sorry but there is no excuse for physical assault and there should be no place here for victim blaming either.


There is no excuse for assault - that's why I said that he should show the footage to the police. But, at what point should one realise that continuing with an argument is not a good idea? The cyclist caught up with the car (as others have mentioned, he put other road users at risk by doing this - but that could look worse due to the editing). He said what he had to say - fair enough, many of us may have done the same. The driver gives a load of abuse and then drives off - only for the cyclist to have another go. Any sensible person would have let the driver drive off and call it a day. The driver therefore stops and gives more verbal abuse - then drives off, parks up, returns and tries to grab the camera. He then walks off back to his car. The cyclist then has another go at the motorist - the motorist is actually driving off when the cyclist laughs at him. That is when the driver goes after the cyclist proper - and comes a cropper.

What started off as a tiny fracas could have ended up with many lives being ruined there. We have seen recently that some car drivers do arm themselves with knives. I'm not saying that the driver in this instance had one but had he actually caught up with the cyclist, who do we think would have come worst off? There is a time when you say that enough is enough. For me, I may have chased after the driver but, after receiving a load of abuse I'd leave it there - it's simply not worth it.

The above doesn't excuse the assault, btw. (Is grabbing a camera an assault)?


yes, grabbing the camera is assault. More than one celebrity has been charged or threatened with charges by Police for grabbing paparazzi cameras and that is when the cameras are being shoved in the celebs faces, not when they have to lunge forward to grab it.
Manc33
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Re: Pride comes before a fall

Post by Manc33 »

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kwackers
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Re: Pride comes before a fall

Post by kwackers »

thirdcrank wrote:The comments of other posters deterred me from watching this vid.

Shame.
Put some Benny Hill music on, start the video and start watching from about 3.20. That'll give you some insights into Karma, the usefulness of helmets by pedestrians and a warm fuzzy feeling that slapstick isn't dead... ;)
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bovlomov
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Re: Pride comes before a fall

Post by bovlomov »

thirdcrank wrote:The comments of other posters deterred me from watching this vid.

In short: it's the sort of thing a high court judge would describe as an unedifying spectacle. You haven't missed much.
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mjr
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Re: Pride comes before a fall

Post by mjr »

honesty wrote:Specifically recommended against doing this in the various cycling training manuals isn't it? I know in cars they say not to hop between parked cars, but take the lane and stay there as its less dangerous.

I would also say that people cycling have a right to reach their destination in a timely manner without being held up by motorists behind them as well as in front, but in this video, he/she seems to have plenty of time to chase and argue with the motorist. :roll:

Either way this could have been completely avoided if the driver hadn't driven like a prat. The victim was a bit silly chasing him down, but having done the same myself in the heat of the moment it's understandable. Also remember that the camera will make this look further away than it was as the lens angle will distort the image.

Yes, based on my own handlebar camera, that looked scarily close... but you've chased people down? When someone passes me as badly as that (happily rare), I check all my extremities are intact, thank my lucky stars and hope I don't share a road with that incompetent/evil motorist again. I have once told a motorist I found their overtake scary when they had parked (illegally) in the cycle parking I used (some minutes later - they said sorry) and I once suffered an attempted road-rage attack because I said something ("whoa!" IIRC) when someone overtook so close I felt the air displaced by their wing mirror... but deliberately chase them down? Why do that?
MJR, mostly pedalling 3-speed roadsters. KL+West Norfolk BUG incl social easy rides http://www.klwnbug.co.uk
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kwackers
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Re: Pride comes before a fall

Post by kwackers »

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