Commuting - Bonehead Driver Strategy

My new bonehead driver strategy is working. I don't flip them the bird any more. I take their picture. Follow them into their parking log, stop behind the car and take a pic of the license plate, the car, and the driver when they get out. I'm using a very small digital camera.
Today's star asked if she could help me and I told her that I take pictures of all the drivers that come that close to killing me. She was not amused and hid her face until she ran into her office.
It's non-confrontational-I don't even talk to them unless they talk to me. It makes me feel better about holding them accountable, and it gives my wife some evidence to use in court after I'm dead.
How do you deal with the boneheads?
Happy Monday, Commuters!
Ron,
Los Angeles.

As an idea with the pictures, send them to your local police department with a brief message about what occurred. As with most reckless drivers they will send them a warning about their driving habits. It will make them think twice next time, and you will get the satisfaction of being able to help the next cyclist that that driver may come across.

Originally posted by elares
[BIt makes me feel better about holding them accountable, and it gives my wife some evidence to use in court after I'm dead.
How do you deal with the boneheads?
[/B]

You probably won't have a picture of the one that finally gets you.

How do I deal with them? I ignore them. No harm, no foul. Almost doesn't count. "He almost hit me" isn't a crime, and "reckless driving" is only chargeable if observed by a cop.

If there's actual damage, I call 911.

RichC

"He almost hit me" isn't a crime, and "reckless driving" is only chargeable if observed by a cop.

That's why they send a waring about the drivers driving habits. We do it all the time here.

Originally posted by lamajo25
That's why they send a waring about the drivers driving habits. We do it all the time here.

Who are the "they" and "we" you refer to?

RichC

N/M didnt mean to high jack the thread

They meaning police departments, and we because I work for a police department.

Originally posted by lamajo25
They meaning police departments, and we because I work for a police department.

That's very interesting. Can you tell us more? What does it take to be sent a warning? Can it be based on complaints from other drivers, or does an incident have to be observed by an officer? If it's seen by an officer, what determines whether they get cited vs being warned?

Do the warnings cite a specific time and place of the incident, in case the registered owner is a rental company or commercial company or something?

I'm just curious, because I'd never heard of this before. Obviously, officers choosing to "issue a warning" instead of a ticket during a traffic stop is something we all know about, but this sounds different, right?

RichC

How do I deal with them? I ignore them. No harm, no foul. Almost doesn't count. from Rich Clark in earlier post.

I agree with this. I don't believe that motorists are out to run us all down or that they're somehow immune to the occasional stupid act. I, too, want to see the evidence where this type of behavior leads to a warning when the only "evidence" available as to the act (the photograph) contains no evidence of the act itself.

I also believe that many cyclists I see practically invite danger and that this little trick of photographing the perpetrator would apply equally to drivers and cyclists, based on my experiences.

Moreover, I believe that nearly every stupid motorist act can be anticipated and mitigated. (But I am also very well aware that this doesn't cover negligent or homicidal acts such as drunken driving, etc., for which there are already clear penalties.)

In the end, bicycling is a risk that you must assume. Bike-commuting's nature elevates that risk. If a cyclist has a propensity for encountering "stupid acts" then it's possible the cyclist may need to re-examine his/her own behavior and techniques. I don't claim any God-like powers of commuting but I rarely have the number of incidences I so frequently hear on this board.

Originally posted by elares
My new bonehead driver strategy is working. I don't flip them the bird any more. I take their picture. [snip]

I like the idea. It is a good way to deal with the accumulated stress. I too often feel the need to give someone the finger. Taking a picture may actually give them pause and will make me feel better which is all that matters.

Nice
/Duncan

I've become totally desensitised to incompetent/abusive/drunk drivers after several years living here. As a consequence I generally ignore them and move on. If someone does something that I consider to be really serious, I'll take down their number and report it to the cops. However, if I reported every incompetent driver I ever saw here, about the only riding I would do would be to and from the police station.

This is a repost from another thread; seems relevant to this discussion; if you've got a photo of the driver / vehicle, even better!:

I used to know a police officer that was also a cyclist and was on the City of Portland's Bicycle Advisory Committee with me. Whenever I was treated like this by a motorist, I took some notes at the scene regarding the incident (location, time, what happened, including actual or potential violations such as failed to yield ROW, reckless endangerment, etc., etc.), a description of the vehicle and driver (license #, make, model, age, color of vehicle; driver age, gender, race, physical description), and sent this info in a letter or email to my officer friend on a template form that I created and saved just for this purpose. Usually I wasn't interested in pressing formal charges, although I could have; my officer friend just tracked down the vehicle owner via the license plate number and gave them a lecture on cyclists' rights and a warning over the phone, in a polite way. The fact that there was an official police follow-up seemed to be surprising enough to many of these folks that they were usually extremely appologetic to the officer--"didn't know that what I was doing was illegal; sorry, won't do it again, etc., etc." In at least one instance a record of one of my complaints was used in support of incarcerating a repeat offender on a later DUI charge.

To make a long story short, if this is a frequent occurance, I would suggest making friends with a sympathetic local cop--i. e. bike officer, public safety officer, or anyone else on the force who understands this issue -- and try and establish a relationship with them that allows you to generate an official response to these motorists, through your police dept. contact.

What Randya said. I would say is get someone that does cycle but anyone will do. Most of the time if you bring the incidents to the attention of the administration of the department, more is done. Traffic enforcement, more awareness by officers, and by doing so they normally start sending out just warnings. A citation can only be issued if an officer sees what has happened. They will only send warnings. If one person starts getting too many warnings they will normally try and look into the driving history of that person to firgure out what they need to do next.

Like I said make a detailed written statement that has a time and date. The unfortunate thing is if it's a rental place we normally don't send warnings. They won't look up records to find out who had the car. Yes it's completely different than a traffic warning by an officer to an extent. And like the old saying states "A picture is worth a thousand words."

On a safety issues note. Don't get yourself into a confrontational situation. If you go to take a picture and the person gets upset with you ride away. You can still send a statement without a picture, the picture is just better evidence.

Originally posted by randya

To make a long story short, if this is a frequent occurance, I would suggest making friends with a sympathetic local cop--i. e. bike officer, public safety officer, or anyone else on the force who understands this issue -- and try and establish a relationship with them that allows you to generate an official response to these motorists, through your police dept. contact.

The problem with this is that a lot of the cops in my area are just as bad if not worse at driving! I have actually had a cop blip his siren at me, and I jumped like a mile! I looked at the cop as he was drving by, and he was laughing his ass off! what an a**hole BTW, I flicked him off.

Not so bike realted, I have had a cop yell at me when I'm out running, saying "where you running to, huh?" Worst of all is when I see them on the freeway going 90 miles an hour w/o their flashers on. umm...does anyone notice that THEY ARE SPEEDING TOO!? what crap. It seems like sometimes the cops just don't carae about the law, or even being considerate of others.

The key is knowing a sympathetic cop who actually understands the statutes.