Brusheda

On a recent episode of cops, there was an incident involving two vehicles. A van came up fast behind a car and swerved around, coming withing inches of clipping them. Both driver and passenger appeared to be road raging. The passenger threw a glass bottle at the car. The cops found the guys in the van. The passenger was charged for throwing the bottle. The driver was charged with assault by means of a deadly weapon (motor vehicle). Does that mean that a motorist dangerously buzzes me while cycling they can be charged with assault?

sggoodri

They would have to have evidence of intent, which is difficult.

Had they just said on their radio show that they were going to stock their vehicle with empty Yoo-Hoo bottles to throw at cyclists and drive to endanger them, then there is evidence of intent.

ken cummings

Your word against theirs. Outside witnesses? Videotape? I had a friend with a rear view mirror on his helmet who saw a car passenger setting up to club him. He ducked and the stick skipped lightly off of his helmet. The Fountin Valley police took it very seriously, someone had just clubbed their leiutenant who had been cycling home. The cops drove my pal around for a couple of hours looking for the attackers.

littlewaywelt

depends on local law
either way, you'd need strong evidence of what happened for any prosecutor to move forward.

rwp

Does that mean that a motorist dangerously buzzes me while cycling they can be charged with assault?

He could be convicted of assault only if he was really trying to hit you. There's little chance of only being dangerously buzzed by someone who is really trying to run you down.

trackhub

I saw that one, it happened in Lowell, MA. I was glad as heck that those two brain stems were caught, arrested, and handcuffed.

For those of you not in MA, there are certain cities and towns within the state that, when their names are mentioned, just make people shake their heads and roll their eyes. Lowell, sadly, is one of those places. Another such place is Lynn. There is even a poem about Lynn, that has been around for decades:

"Lynn, Lynn. The city of sin.
You won't come out, the way you went in."

Anyway, the evidence was some visible scratches and a small dent on the victims' car, caused by the bottle impact. Someone just buzzing you probably would not result in charges. Any Legal folks care to offer an opinion here?

mandovoodoo

Just buzzing w/o any other action wouldn't generally do much for you. Here in TN, within 3 ft is criminal, but I don't know how one would go about getting the casual buzzer cited. Typically one would simply memorize the license number and pop a snickers bar in the gas tank.

Evidence of intent is good. Ex-GF hit with stick, I witnessed, we chased down & saw attackers. Jail time for the passenger. That dang car gave so much trouble to the driver. Always something expensive wrong with it.

closetbiker

We have a pasing too close and a returning to the lane too soon law, but of course, one neds a witness for a charge to stick.

I was once heading into work when a truck passed me. It gave me lots of room when it made the pass, but I guess the driver wasn;t looking too far down the road and didn't see the oncoming car in the other lane, so the truck cut back in too soon cutting me off very close.

I happened to notice following us was a cop. I managed to get the cop to pull over to make a complaint about what just happened but the cop wasn't paying attention. Even though he was following right behind us, he didn't even notice the pass.