CptjohnC

Ignore the cops - you probably won't get any further with the precinct captain, or even the chief/commissioner. Call your county supervisor, mayor, state representative/senator, or maybe even the sheriff -- in short, an ELECTED official. Send an e-mail AND a snail mail letter. CC the local paper (and radio and TV stations) on all. Make this a political issue, about how the cops ignored a dangerous incident. Don't try to make it too much about cycling, or about 'harm' -- make it all about the fact that you, a fine, upstanding, honest citizen were assaulted, and the cops all but refused to even take a report.

I am assuming that you believe you would be able to identify the driver, right?

|3iker

You felt bullied. That's what this is all about.
I agree they are too many buffoons with a piece of plastic that says they can operate a 2 ton vehicle. But being a road nanny will not net you the citizenship award.
If you got hit, make a factual report.

zoltani

I was involved in a hit and run, right hook, got the plate number and went to the police. They asked if I had a medical report to file with the police report. No I didn't cause I wasn't really hurt, just PO'ed about the hit and run part of it. It seems common practice for the police to do nothing if there is no injury involved. BTW this was in France.

JPprivate

New York City, of course!

exile

Just proceed with the police report. Unfortunately there isn't much you can do legally, but if you do seek revenge, don't tell anyone.

I filed a police report after someone threw a cup of something at me and drove off. After 2 calls to the police and waiting for about an hour for them to arrive to take my statement the officer was less than friendly. Basically the cop seemed upset I was wasting his time. Stated nothing could be done since it was my word vs. theirs (3 people in the car) and that nothing was going to happen and I couldn't prove it. I showed him my wet shell, gave him theirs License plate number and told them where they could find the cup.

With experience you will learn not to engage someone in the future. Lesson Learned. However, they escalated the situation by getting out of the vehicle and taking a swing at you with the driver hitting you with the truck. That situation escalated way out of control. Speak to whomever you need to in the police department, but don't expect much to happen. The media as another poster mentioned is probably another outlet.

Basically the driver will have some sort of record with the police department. The police department will possible get a bad rep leading to initiatives to educate the officers on how to better handle those situations. You continue to ride. That section of your commute may have a higher police presence.

pharasz

I've had similar experiences, but never as serious as yours. But I've changed my behavior, and not had a situation since. What do you do? Expect to be buzzed. People cut you off when you're driving your car - do you chase them down and explain proper lane changing to them? No. Why not? Because a) you are not their parent; and b) it can escalate into road rage.

At this point we get the endless point-counterpoint arguments from the hawks who want us all to carry guns and fight it out like the OK corral, and who then tell us "non confrontationalists" that we are left wing p-ssies that deserve the treatment we get. All I know is, complete non-reaction and refusal to acknowledge or interact with stupid and ignorant people ensures no road rage incidents will happen.

RichardGlover

Stop escalating minor incidents by letting your mouth and righteous indignation get you into more trouble than you can handle?

Pinyon

Being confrontational is not a good idea, even if you do it politely. Pissing off someone with a 4000 lb weapon is never a good idea, no matter how "right" you are.

They guy that threatened the OP with a dark object is another matter entirely. Being threatened with a hand-held weapon is different. The cops are supposed to do something about that. If they don't, then I'd probably start carrying a pistol when I rode.

dcrowell

Although I gave some advice on who to contact earlier in this thread, the other advice about not confronting/escalating is spot-on.

I ignore shouts/honks/whatever. Last month a guy on Eastern Parkway threw a stack of (magazines? junk mail?) at me. I hit my rear wheel, and I just ignored him.

To me, being assertive means taking the lane, not explaining the laws to motorists who don't want to listen.

riddei

Yup, if I get buzzed, honked at, etc... I just wave with a big dumb grin.

akohekohe

Well, one idea I have had for a pro-active way that can let people vent and actually possibly do some good is a website where you could post the details of what happened and where, with the description of the vehicle and plate numbers if you have it. What would this accomplish? It establishes a record of the incident and will provide evidence if the perp. actually harms someone. So if you get hurt you (or your estate) can check the database and see if the perp shows up. Remember that doctor in California that slammed pulled in front of some cyclists and slammed on his brakes, he ended up getting convicted with a non-trivial sentence because there of the evidence that he had harassed cyclists before. Maybe we could get a sticky thread somewhere on the forum where you could post your harassment info. If it was searchable by zipcode that might be very useful.

CliftonGK1

Spare water bottle full of Zip-Strip?

dcrowell

Don't drink from the wrong one!

HahnTronix

Well I guess I'd have to admit being on the hawk side of this situation. I used to live in a state where you could openly carry or concealed carry firearms on the way to a "known target shooting area". I used to bike to a gun club, near where I lived, to target shoot. From time to time I would ride on back country roads, carrying what was obviously a military style assault rifle. People are very careful to give you a lot of room when passing if you are carrying a rifle . Please note: the weapon was always unloaded when I rode with it. I may be a hawk, but I try to be a safe hawk.

I don't advocate that anybody should carry guns while cycling, but I suspect cyclists would get a whole lot more respect if there were a few motorists who lived to tell stories of buzzing a cyclist, and then having their back window shot out. Of course the hard part to pulling something like that off is you'd have to not kill anybody, you'd have to be a very good shot, and you'd have to be sure they buzzed you intentionally (which your case sure sounds like). You'd have to be the sort of person who has very tight control over their anger. It takes very steady hands to put a .357 wadcutter slug thru the rear window of a pickup speeding away from you while you're buzzed from the adrenaline rush of almost getting run over ... or so I've heard .

But back to your story ... if the passenger who got out and menaced you with something dark was packing a gun, he was in violation of Kentucky's concealed carry laws. In your position I'd have just said to the cop "I saw him wave a gun at me". That tends to get the attention of police pretty much everywhere. At the very least it gets the pickup pulled over and searched. Usually by a whole bunch of officers if they think the miscreants might be armed. If they find nothing you can always claim "It was dark, I couldn't be sure, but it looked like a gun". But odds are that asshats like the ones you encountered would at least have an open container in the truck, or maybe a bag of weed. That should help get their license pulled. That'll be one less asshat for you to deal with on your commute home and one more newly minted (grumpy) bike commuter.

I've only been to Louisville once recently. It seemed like I saw a lot of signs advising folks to not bring their firearms inside. Makes sense at a bar, but is kind of unnerving to read on the door of a wedding chapel (I was there for a niece's wedding). If I were you I'd just sort of assume all of the asshats I encountered were armed and behave accordingly. So even though I have hawk-like tendencies, I'd advise you just let it slide.

Mark

CB HI

Please do provide the link where a BF member said they wanted YOU to carry a gun and that they were wanting of a OK Corral style shoot out.

Again, please provide the link where a BF member called you a left wing p-ssies that deserves the treatment you get for being a self described "non confrontationalists".

Wrong, many of us have experienced road rage for simply riding our bicycles.

kralizec

would that be "legal"?

aussieinva

That's pretty much what I was thinking. When we drive you get cut off, tailgated and buzzed by those who don't follow the law so its not unexpected to have similar treatment on a bicycle. These people often are unfocused or aren't concerned about you. I believe the best thing to do is just let it go and not get in a confrontation as we aren't likely to make a positive difference in most cases.

Some police departments now have online crime reporting so you can file a report with them online and not have to deal with cranky cops. Since most of us would report soley to give the police a record of the driver's antics this may solve your diliema in future cases.

richkarr

I've visited the Philippines several times and found there are a number of cyclists that keep a ball bearing or two on their person with which they retaliate when buzzed by a passing car. They will toss the ball bearing at the rear window of the offending vehicle and hope for the worst. I'm not condoning the behavior. Just reporting what sometimes occur in another culture in the same situation. Note there seems to be a fair amount of road respect for cyclists in the Philippines even though they are quite SLOW when attached to a sidecar hauling a couple of passengers along with their groceries.

irclean

Anywhere North of the 49th Parallel! Just kidding... we have our share of a-holes in Canada, too, and some of them wear police uniforms.

This past Sunday I had a very similar experience to the OP's. The difference was that I did nothing; when the driver buzzed me and the pulled over to the right as we approached the next stop sign, I just came to a stop behind him and waited for him to proceed before carrying on. I was tempted to give him a blast with my Airzound, but IME passive-aggressive behavior like that only serves to turn a non-issue into an issue. By letting it go I never gave it a second thought until I read this thread.

woodway

I'll side with the cop here. Nobody hurt, no property damage, no witnesses, it's just your word against the driver/passenger. Not a whole lot he can do.

I've had a couple run-ins with drivers that buzzed me/cut me off in the last couple of years and the last one kinda scared me, not because the driver threatened me when I confronted him, but afterward I realized just how exposed I was if he had decided to take some sort of retalitory action. Since then, I've just started letting driver stupidity go. Maybe a shout and a shake of the fist as they go by, but that's it.

referee54

I know that you were extremely polite, and I know that you had the law on your side, but no matter how polite, legal, and logical you could have been, you were just wasting your time, and giving that driver more illogical ammunition to upset him even more. I believe that in the vast majority of times, it is better to keep one's mouth shut instead of getting into the "You know I am right" type of discussion---they do not want to hear what you have to say anyway. As difficult as it may seem, ignore the boogers because they probably wanted you to talk to them. You did what they wanted you to do. You could be the "rightest" man in the world and it wouldn't matter.

As another said, give the whoopy smile and keep on ridin'.

Tim C.