Advocacy & Safety - Oregon motorist asserts road ownership; backs over cyclist

Read about it here (http://the-whir-of-spokes-in-air.blogspot.com/2009/02/how-did-your-ride-go.html)

Okay, the cager is a neanderthal.


We were riding right on the fogline (no paved shoulder beyond this at that point)...

The most dangerous lane position they could have possibly chosen.

A fascinating read. I look forward to updates.

Motioned the driver back. Whacked his mirror.

Driver was a flaming 'hole, and should be brought up on charges for assaulting the cyclist, but the cyclist didn't go out of their way to not escalate the situation...

my reading of the incident is that the motorist turned around and ran into the cyclist from the front. The cops around here have made radio announcements talking about how they are going to prosecute aggressive driving incidents. I wonder if they would ignore something like this as being a he-said-she-said incident. This seems fairly clear-cut to me.

Wow!:eek:

That really sucks for the cyclist! Hopefully the police will go ahead and arrest that ignorant driver. The cyclist could have shown a little more restraint though. (but I can't say I wouldn't have don't the same:innocent:)

Moral of the story don't mess with a road rager. Another point is that cyclist can have road rage too. Last point is that ALL police assume it was a cyclist fault when there is a car/bike confrontation, they don't like us on their roads either ;) And from my recent experience neither do Judges :(

Moral of the story don't mess with a road rager. Another point is that cyclist can have road rage too. Last point is that ALL police assume it was a cyclist fault when there is a car/bike confrontation, they don't like us on their roads either ;) And from my recent experience neither do Judges :(

What was your "recent experience?"

What was your "recent experience?"

I really didn't want to bring it up on BF but in short, I was riding down a one way street with parallel parking on the right and diagonal parking on the left. I was in the center of the lane doing the speed limit of about 18MPH in a 15MPH when up a head a guy was signaling to parallel park on the right. He backed into the spot and just as I was getting close he realized that he missed the spot and looked across the street and thought, "O goody I suck at parallel poarking so I'll just pull across the street in that empty spot." So he pulled out of the spot just as I was passing and it was all my fault :rolleyes:

My bike went flying through the air and hit an SUV, broke the tail light and the collectors are after me for $750 bones. The guy that hit me, while a bad driver, was actually pretty cool and very concerned about my health. He did not charge me anything for the damage to his car which was significant. The judge said it was my fault even though Virginia laws clearly state taht a bicycle can pass a car in a one way street if the car is slower then the bike. Thats not even what I did but the law states that. I would never pass a car left or right on a one way - no way just follow it. but this guy was 95% parked in his spot. By the time I noticed he was pulling out my first thought was that he was adjusting his spot till I heard the motor rev and then 4....3....2....1... I am flying through the air headed for a parked SUV :eek:

I really didn't want to bring it up on BF but in short, I was riding down a one way street with parallel parking on the right and diagonal parking on the left. I was in the center of the lane doing the speed limit of about 18MPH in a 15MPH when up a head a guy was signaling to parallel park on the right. He backed into the spot and just as I was getting close he realized that he missed the spot and looked across the street and thought, "O goody I suck at parallel poarking so I'll just pull across the street in that empty spot." So he pulled out of the spot just as I was passing and it was all my fault :rolleyes:

My bike went flying through the air and hit an SUV, broke the tail light and the collectors are after me for $750 bones. The guy that hit me, while a bad driver, was actually pretty cool and very concerned about my health. He did not charge me anything for the damage to his car which was significant. The judge said it was my fault even though Virginia laws clearly state taht a bicycle can pass a car in a one way street if the car is slower then the bike. Thats not even what I did but the law states that. I would never pass a car left or right on a one way - no way just follow it. but this guy was 95% parked in his spot. By the time I noticed he was pulling out my first thought was that he was adjusting his spot till I heard the motor rev and then 4....3....2....1... I am flying through the air headed for a parked SUV :eek:

Sounds like he hit you... period. If he had done the same thing to another motor vehicle, I suspect the judge would have ruled against him.

From reading the article I cant tell if the driver left the seen of the accident or not. If he did then the cyclist has a good case against him. The driver should be charged with assault with a deadly weapon and leaving the seen of an accident. Both of these are very serious crimes. Although I also believe the cyclist could have handled things better than he did. He did provoke the guy!

Assault with a weapon is a class A FELONY in the U.S. and is covered by section 265a of the Canadian Criminal Code.

A weapon is defined by something that is not part of one's being like your hands or feet and a 2 ton vehicle makes a fabulous weapon.

Conversely... if you hit someone with your bike, u-lock, or pump that too would be considered assault with a weapon if it was not something that was done is self defence.

When the driver of a vehicle has the option to drive away and chooses to run someone over then this becomes a deliberate attempt to injure.

In the U.S. this could rate a life sentence.

In Canada you could spend 10 or more years in a Federal Prison.

This works for me.

The penalties handed out to motorists that have killed cyclists through negligence are in themselves appalling but in the case of deliberate attempts to injure I feel the maximum penalties should be applied.

From reading the article I cant tell if the driver left the seen of the accident or not. If he did then the cyclist has a good case against him. The driver should be charged with assault with a deadly weapon and leaving the seen of an accident. Both of these are very serious crimes. Although I also believe the cyclist could have handled things better than he did. He did provoke the guy!

What accident? What this motorist did was purely intentional.

I did the same thing (whacking a cager's side view mirror) in a heated argument. Believe me, definitely not something you want to do. Luckily, I didn't get run over. The cager simply followed alongside me for about a mile, backing up traffic, and yelling everything under the sun. Finally, I suggested that he should follow me to the police station. That quieted things down. I went left at a fork, and he went right. End of road rage on both sides.

Moral of the story is bite your own tongue and take down the license plate.

Sounds like he hit you... period. If he had done the same thing to another motor vehicle, I suspect the judge would have ruled against him.

There is no doubt in my mind that that is true.

... bite your own tongue and take down the license plate.

Spot-on. A difficult, but vital, skill to master is how to shut up and avoid provoking the offender and escalating a bad situation. I am still a student of this, but I am improving, or perhaps just mellowing with age. :)

this is why we carry pepper spray O:-) for dogs

I think the JAM would have hit the cyclist even if he did not hit his mirror. I do not think hitting the mirror had anything to do with what the JAM did. The JAM was hell bent on proving his point and so he did so by using his Stupidly Useless Vehicle as a weapon.

I've been trying to avoid escalating things like this. In CO, we have a road rage hotline. If an aggressive motorists attempts to show me that only they own the road, I grab the cell phone and start dialing. It usually calms them down, plus the cops have a record of it. I'm not saying I'm perfect, or even close to it. It's easy to lose your temper when someone is attempting to run you down.

Assault with a weapon is a class A FELONY in the U.S. and is covered by section 265a of the Canadian Criminal Code.

A weapon is defined by something that is not part of one's being like your hands or feet and a 2 ton vehicle makes a fabulous weapon.

Conversely... if you hit someone with your bike, u-lock, or pump that too would be considered assault with a weapon if it was not something that was done is self defence.

When the driver of a vehicle has the option to drive away and chooses to run someone over then this becomes a deliberate attempt to injure.

In the U.S. this could rate a life sentence.

In Canada you could spend 10 or more years in a Federal Prison.

This works for me.

The penalties handed out to motorists that have killed cyclists through negligence are in themselves appalling but in the case of deliberate attempts to injure I feel the maximum penalties should be applied.

I'm not so sure. I see it as similar to a bar fight. You should give them harsh punishment but take into account the heat of the moment and the restraint they did show: In this case the guy hit him but didn't roll over him.

Hi all,

I'm the guy on the bike that was involved in this. Yes, I could have handled it differently, but if you read my blog post you will see my reason (formulated in about 0.0004 seconds!) You may not agree, heck, I may not agree next time, but I wanted to make sure that this guy did not give the excuse "Hey, it wasn't me. They must have mistaken the license number"

Also, I guess I wasn't clear in the posting. He backed up to come "talk to us" and ended up beside me, still facing forward. We discussed the situation with him in the driver seat talking though the open passenger side window with me astride my bike standing beside the passenger side, on the shoulder of the road. (at this point actually the driveway to a rural home)

Thinking it was time to go I turned my back to get clipped in. My riding partners tell me that he backed up, turned the wheels towards me and accelerated forward. The first I know of this is that I am laying on the ground under his front bumper/radiator. I slid forward to get a view of his front plate. After hitting me, the guy backed up, turned back onto the road and accelerated away.

Indeed, hit and run. A felony in Oregon under these circumstances. (injury involved)
Assault 2, another felony. (again because of injuries and intent)
a list of misdemeanors also apply.
A partial list appears on my blog on the following day's post.

Ya, I shouldn't have whacked his mirror. I can't tell you that in identical circumstances I wouldn't do it again.

I won't clutter up the forum on the whole "escalation" thing. I'll just say that I give a wave of thanks when a vehicle does the right thing. I let them know when the mess up. I do the same for cyclists. Never had a guy run into me for it before.

Kevin
http://the-whir-of-spokes-in-air.blogspot.com (http://the-whir-of-spokes-in-air.blogspot.com/)

When the police are chasing someone and corner them, if they pull that with the police, the video usually shows all the officers there emptying their clips into the vehicle. If that's an appropriate response for the police, then the charges for this guy should reflect that seriousness.

Cripes! Our ride this Saturday will be in Marion Co :eek:

Hi Kevin, welcome to BF! Glad you weren't hurt!! And it's good to hear you're pursuing this. This guy needs to be off the roadway.

be safe out there
kari

Good luck Kevin. I hope they find this guy and you use every means possible to prosecute him to the full extent of the law. I don't agree with your reaction though I am a hot head at times and cannot say I wouldn't do the same thing but according to your account this guy should be held on attempted murder charges.

The doctor on trial in Los Angeles:
http://la.metblogs.com/2008/12/12/anti-cycling-dr-to-face-trial-over-vehicular-assault/
I think his trial has started. I don't recall the outcome. He had a similar previous incident as well. AND this psycho is a ... doctor?
dc

Hi all,

Until the matter is settled, remove your post.

-Kurt

Good luck Kevin. I hope they find this guy and you use every means possible to prosecute him to the full extent of the law. I don't agree with your reaction though I am a hot head at times and cannot say I wouldn't do the same thing but according to your account this guy should be held on attempted murder charges.

Oh, they found him. The next day (Sunday) they found him at home. Luckily all 5 of us had the license plate number. He admitted being the one that hit me.
That's why this frustrates me. He hit me, he admits it. He didn't stay and give contact and insurance information. Black and White hit and run as far as I see it, yet no citation.

And yes, hindsight tells me better if I hadn't whacked his mirror. That being said, maybe he wouldn't be in the trouble he is if I hadn't.

Kevin (http://the-whir-of-spokes-in-air.blogspot.com)

Good thing you didn't have this meet up with the dude while riding solo..

They didn't cite the guy!?! WTF is up with that?

Glad to hear you were not hurt. I do see that you didn't help the matter by escalating the situation. Up to the point of you hitting the mirror he was the only idiot. You then elected to join him by your actions. What did you think this moron would do...just leave ? Just take the reg. number next time and back off to an area of safety and wait for the PD.

There is an update: Here (http://the-whir-of-spokes-in-air.blogspot.com/2009/02/some-unknowns-now-known.html)

While I don't condone the OP's actions in striking this moron's mirror, If he is telling the truth, this is a major miscarriage of justice. Even if the Durango driver is prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law and convicted of the felonies of which he's accused, it seems excessive to cite the rider for a $5000 misdemeanor.
Hopefully his witnesses can back up his story that there was no damage to the mirror he hit.
I hope it all works out for the OP.
Bikesafer
Jeff

Doesn't sound like much of a problem. The four witnesses probably won't remember that part clearly and there is no evidence of any broken mirror. The only witness that shows up has to worry quite a bit about what the other four witnesses are going to say at his hearing and trial. Best he just keep his mouth shut. A good lawyer will make this abundantly clear to the PU driver's attorney.

Kevin,

Use Google and punch in ORS 164.354.

That will get you a bunch of hits that define the charge.
This ORS 164.354 charge in criminal mischief in the second degree.Damages exceeding $100.
Listed as a Class A misdemeanor
there is a reference to 164.345 where causing inconvenience is spelled out.


164.365 is criminal mischief in the first degree.
Damage exceeding $750
A class C felony

If there was no actual monetary damage then the worst would be disorderly conduct.


Here in this neighborhood having your rear view mirrors hit with a hand is common. Report it to the police and they stop short of laughing at you.

Makes me think the driver may have intensionally damage the mirror, after the fact, and blamed the cyclist as a excuse for his actions.

One of the few times I ever called the cops was when a guy pulled up next to me as I was riding in traffic. I slapped his car. Later when I rode around the other side and explained that he was endangering me, he grabbed my arm and pulled me off my bike. Cop got a statement from him and said I hit his junker with a hammer. I suppose it's best to just yell or use a horn if you have one while riding. If there was some sort of confrontation while stopped, obviously it makes no sense to touch the vehicle. I think we have to think these things trough ahead of time so the outcome is in our favor as much as possible.

I'll probably continue to smack cars that are too close and endangering me, I'm sure reasonable people might disagree with this approach. I don't do it often.

Makes me think the driver may have intensionally damage the mirror, after the fact, and blamed the cyclist as a excuse for his actions.

Definitely plausible.

One of the few times I ever called the cops was when a guy pulled up next to me as I was riding in traffic. I slapped his car. Later when I rode around the other side and explained that he was endangering me, he grabbed my arm and pulled me off my bike. Cop got a statement from him and said I hit his junker with a hammer. I suppose it's best to just yell or use a horn if you have one while riding. If there was some sort of confrontation while stopped, obviously it makes no sense to touch the vehicle. I think we have to think these things trough ahead of time so the outcome is in our favor as much as possible.

I'll probably continue to smack cars that are too close and endangering me, I'm sure reasonable people might disagree with this approach. I don't do it often.

Next time just say that he hit you with his car.

There is an update: Here (http://the-whir-of-spokes-in-air.blogspot.com/2009/02/some-unknowns-now-known.html)

While I don't condone the OP's actions in striking this moron's mirror, If he is telling the truth, this is a major miscarriage of justice. Even if the Durango driver is prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law and convicted of the felonies of which he's accused, it seems excessive to cite the rider for a $5000 misdemeanor.
Hopefully his witnesses can back up his story that there was no damage to the mirror he hit.
I hope it all works out for the OP.
Bikesafer
JeffI think this is what the Sheriff's Deputy meant when he said the driver was willing to let it drop.

In order to prosecute the cyclist, the D.A. is going to need evidence. Where's the evidence? The cyclist's confession to the Sheriff's Deputy? Maybe, but that alone isn't enough evidence; the D.A. will also need proof of damage in excess of $100. Given that, it seems likely that the driver will be called to testify.

Now, the Sheriff's Deputy won't tell the cyclist whether the driver was cited. But the same questions are raised-- if the driver was cited, the D.A. will need testimony. Who will testify-- the Deputy? If the cyclist and the other witnesses are going to be called to testify, the D.A. is going to have to contact them. So if they don't hear from the D.A., can they assume that the D.A. doesn't need their testimony to prosecute?

In Oregon, there are strong victim's rights laws. Among other things, the cyclist has a right to know if his assaulter is being prosecuted, he has a right to know the court date, and he has a right to know if any deals are being cut, and to voice his objection to a deal. He can pursue those rights through his attorney. The D.A is bound by law to respect those rights, so the D.A. can't put up the same wall of non-information that the cop put up. The cyclist should ask his attorney the full extent of his rights under the victim's rights law, and ask his attorney to pursue those rights.

The cyclist ALSO has the right to prosecute the driver himself. This is through a law that is probably unique to Oregon. The cyclist can cite and prosecute the driver, but the D.A. can motion to dismiss the prosecution if the D.A. is prosecuting or intending to prosecute for the same conduct:


153.058 Initiation of violation proceeding by private party. (1) A person other than an enforcement officer may commence a violation proceeding by filing a complaint with a court that has jurisdiction over the alleged violation. The filing of the complaint is subject to ORS 153.048. The complaint shall be entered by the court in the court record.
(2) A complaint under this section must contain:
(a) The name of the court, the name and address of the person bringing the action and the name and address of the defendant.
(b) A statement or designation of the violation that can be readily understood by a person making a reasonable effort to do so and the date, time and place at which the violation is alleged to have occurred.
(c) A certificate signed by the complainant stating that the complainant believes that the named defendant committed the violation specifically identified in the complaint and that the complainant has reasonable grounds for that belief. A certificate conforming to this section shall be deemed equivalent of a sworn complaint. Complaints filed under this section are subject to the penalties provided in ORS 153.990.
(3) Upon the filing of a complaint under this section, the court shall cause a summons to be delivered to the defendant and shall deliver a copy of the complaint to the district attorney for the county in which the complaint is filed. The court may require any enforcement officer to serve the summons.
(4) If the complaint does not conform to the requirements of this section, the court shall set it aside upon motion of the defendant made before the entry of a plea. A pretrial ruling on a motion to set aside may be appealed by the state.
(5) A court may, acting in its sole discretion, amend a complaint filed under the provisions of this section.
(6) A court shall dismiss a complaint filed under this section upon the motion of the district attorney for the county or of the city attorney for a city if:
(a) The district attorney or city attorney has brought a proceeding against the defendant named in the complaint or intends to bring a proceeding against the defendant named in the complaint; and
(b) The proceeding is brought by the district attorney or city attorney by reason of the same conduct alleged in the complaint.
(7) Any political subdivision of this state may require by ordinance that violation proceedings for the purpose of enforcing the charter or ordinances of the political subdivision may not be commenced in the manner provided by this section and that those proceedings may be commenced only by enforcement officers.
(8) A person other than an enforcement officer may commence a violation proceeding under this section only for:
(a) Boating violations under ORS chapter 830, or any violation of rules adopted pursuant to ORS chapter 830 if the violation constitutes an offense;
(b) Traffic violations under ORS chapters 801 to 826, or any violation of rules adopted pursuant to those chapters if the violation constitutes an offense;
(c) Violations under the wildlife laws, as described in ORS 496.002, or any violation of rules adopted pursuant to those laws if the violation constitutes an offense;
(d) Violations under the commercial fishing laws, as described in ORS 506.001, or any violation of rules adopted pursuant to those laws if the violation constitutes an offense; or
(e) Violations of ORS 618.121 to 618.161, and violation of rules adopted pursuant to those laws if the violation constitutes an offense. [1999 c.1051 §11]Because the court must dismiss the cyclist's prosecution upon motion from the D.A., this should only be used if the motorist has not been cited and the D.A. does not intend to prosecute.

Had someone else in the riding party thrown a bike at this d-bag's SUV (equivalent of intentionally hitting a cyclist with a car), I guarantee there would have been on-the-spot arrests made. This is an f'ed up situation that I hope gets resolved appropriately.