I don't know how it'll turn out, but I just did a similar thing today. Yesterday, I was riding home in a bike lane and a couple of doofuses rode past me and the passenger tossed his drink at me as they drove by. I only got a couple of splashes on me, but it pissed me off. I got a plate number, vehicle description and vague occupant description. I filed an online complaint with that municipality and today I got a call from an officer who told me that they were filing it as a simple assault and battery. She asked me what I wanted to do and I asked her what were my options.
She said if I signed a complaint an officer would contact the owner of the vehicle, take statements and attempt to determine who was in the passenger seat. The DA would file a complaint and I would sign it, then it would be presented before a judge.
I'm going to see where this ride takes me. Though it wasn't that big of a deal in and of itself, who knows what could be next, so I'm going to continue. Fortunately, this is the first time in the year and a half I've been commuting to work or riding around town that something like this has occurred to me. Usually, it's just been the standard drive up behind you and hoot or yell at you as they pass in order to startle you thing. Thanks katinka for writing about your experience, it reinforces what I think I should be doing in this sort of a situation.
Originally Posted by
katinka
Last month, I was riding my bike in the left hand turn lane of a road. I am in this lane for about 1/10 of a mile, and I was taking the lane because it is not very wide, and at the end of the lane, there is a concrete median that is about 40 or 50 feet long.
Anyhow, a car came up behind me and was frustrated by me existed and really laid on the horn for a really really long time and scared the crap out of me, and then proceeded to pass me anyhow. The light was red at the intersection, naturally, so I caught up his the driver and tried to explain why I was riding in the manner I was. Seriously, I have a speech all ready to go and sometimes it goes fairly well. This did not go well at all, and the driver was convinced I should not be riding in the road (or highway as he likes to call it), and I backed my bike up and took a pic of his plate and made a police report. When the police spoke to the driver, he claimed I was weaving all over the road, and it was still clear to me that he does not understand how to safely drive around cyclists.
So, while the police officer did not see it happen, it turns out in New Jersey, you can file the charges yourself (or your lawyer) and he will have to come to court. I met with a police officer who then told me what charges to file, and I filed these: Careless Driving, Harrassment, and Illegal Passing.
Not to be outdone, the driver has responded by filing a complaint against me. I sort of hope he goes first because I am really interested in how the turning charge applies. I also am thinking he did not really read the things he charged me with, as the first exception with the keep to the right rule is when turning left. Here are the 3 tickets I received:
39:4-127. Backing or turning in street
No vehicle shall back or make a turn in a street, if by so doing it interferes with other vehicles, but shall go around a block or to a street sufficiently wide to turn in without backing.
Failure to Keep Right
39:4-14.2, 39:4-10.11 Operating Regulations.
Every person riding a bicycle on a roadway shall ride as near to the right roadside as practicable exercising due care when passing a standing vehicle or one proceeding in the same direction. A bicyclist may move left under any of the following conditions: 1) To make a left turn from a left turn lane or pocket; 2) To avoid debris, drains, or other hazardous conditions on the right; 3) To pass a slower moving vehicle; 4) To occupy any available lane when traveling at the same speed as other traffic; 5) To travel no more than two abreast when traffic is not impeded, but otherwise ride in single file. Every person riding a bicycle shall ride in the same direction as vehicular traffic.
Careless Driving
39:4-97. Careless driving
39:4-97. A person who drives a vehicle carelessly, or without due caution and circumspection, in a manner so as to endanger, or be likely to endanger, a person or property, shall be guilty of careless driving.
I am sort of interested in knowing if anyone has filed a complaint against a driver and what the outcome was.